Newly returned from some wild.ass pilgrimage - traversing between sleek conference rooms with ergonomic chairs and mountains in the winelands - I introduced my new series I’ll be doing in the regular Monday slot at SA Rocks. Celebrating some of the wonderful inspiring people who make the land at the bottom of Africa their home. Those who make it worth staying in South Africa. Worth pouring our talents into, to generate sustainable growth and maybe inspiring a daring pitch for the impossible.. peace?
Sharing their vision is exhilarating - and refreshing - especially after the numbing effect of news. The news presented by mainstream media, (TV & papers particularly) is largely reactive, and leaves us feeling impotent to change the outcome of almost everything we’re offered.*
No wonder so many of us are disproportionately stressed. We’re operating on hair.trigger fight or flight. Pumping our adrenals, pushing blood.pressure and flooding our blood with redundant cortisol. Not a foolproof recipe for creative healthy problem.solving. And yet the world is demanding that we operate at higher speeds, learn faster to keep up with technology, innovate, take on multiple projects just to get into the game.. aah yes and then we have to bloody well be remarkable too!!
It’s frankly exhausting.
So who the hell are the brilliant ones who get it right? The ones who determinedly live out their dreams & follow their hearts & minds into places most of us won’t dare. Curiosity drove the hunt, love drives the connection: gratitude that these power people exist. Each is a thought leader, as well as expressing their being in their doing.
My choices may surprise you.. but you’ll surely know why soon enough ;-)
* [hunt down a copy of Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death if you haven't yet - it made a ding in my perception of the media/publishing/ entertainment industry years ago - it's still right on the mark]
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What better way to ensure that you get readership for your blog from day one - with streams of incoming links. So go welcome the man who crashed through the door.
David Bullard is consistently spared through style, the saving grace that will allow for otherwise vile or unpalatable expression. It’s the confounding quality of charisma that keeps Robert Mugabe rockin’ and Donald Trump well served with the best life has to offer despite a perennial badhair day of questionable ethics.
We just can’t get enough of the bad boys despite the trail of bushfires and enemy snipers in their wake. Rasputin-like the Bullard has defied the bullet, and comes back unrelenting.
That said it’s probably a whole lot safer to inflame a bunch of bloggers, than those with more than words in their weaponry.
Can’t remember where I read this but seemed apt :
People are more violently opposed to fur than leather, because it’s safer to pick on rich women than biker gangs.
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There are two fronts at which I work as a hunter of genius:
1st the individual - to discover, develop and define the vision of the visionary so they can apply their genius in the world.
Too many brilliant ones find themselves frustrated and working at a fraction of their capacity; or worse yet, surrender to being cubicle slaves (even if the handcuffs are platinum). If you’re particularly gifted the rewards can be so much sweeter than could be expected of common existence; but the hero’s journey to get there, to birth your vision into reality, requires irrational optimism, often ferocious detemination, a bloody good sense of humour and a clarity that sees you through cynicism, challenge and the perennial offers to take the easier route (ie. choosing Life Lite).
Going this route alone is what wears most genius-types down. Risk is not as risky when taken with others braving their all, sometimes betting finances, family, looking foolish. Why test the edge when the safe ground has been proven stable?
Some people just don’t have a choice, the compulsion to explore, experiment and dare is deep-infused into their entrepreneurial blood. I believe and have empirical evidence that absolutely supports that genius begets genius. It statistically outclasses genetics or formal education.
Put bright people together and let them play, socialise, debate, create, compete and very soon a culture of exceptional quality grows, and starts to attract more of these high calibre beings effortlessly! Silicon Valley is a case in point.
So you guessed it: the 2nd aspect is being a gatherer of genius.
Creating collectives of the talented, group genius. Developing culture in which fiercely independent and wild beings can connect with others to create & work on daring projects together. Explorers Societies of our age.
Continue reading ‘Hunter/Gatherer of Genius that is..’
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(..and no though I love them muchly, this has nothing to do with the African Digerati WebAddiCTs)
If you ARE SouthAfrican, been to South Africa, or happen to have given up your otherwise civilised life to make this wild country your home (or even.. ag, shaaame a South African far away from home). Can you quantify what the hell it is about this place that makes it get under your skin? It’s rough & rowdy, beautiful and dangerous.. I think it may be the energy that throbs here that keeps me here. It’s not safe to stay but OMG it’s ALIVE! & addictive.
“I have lived in countries that were coming out of conflict: Ireland, South Africa, the Czech republic. People there are overflowing with energy“
Brian Eno Continue reading ‘‘fessing up to the addiction’
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