At times, the average Gen-Y/Millennial/Digital Native might feel somewhat lost with regards to what is happening in the world and how we can find our piece of that world to truly make our own. We live in a world where we all have our own respective podiums in social media. Our connectedness is -historically seen; unprecedented, while our know-how on world-affairs and ability to deal with information surpasses that of the average computer from the year we were born. (This is an aesthetic argument, don’t quote me on that)

But do we still have the context necessary to put ‘life’ into perspective?

Our education focuses all it’s effort on helping us become valued contributors in a (semi-)liberal market economy. It, unfortunately, doesn’t give us any scope or insight in how this market-driven world works and what it’s consequences are on the larger reality of life. And, increasingly, we see our education become irrelevant in what we end up doing, how we do it -and most importantly; why we do it.

But how is that related to progress?

My question exactly. When I hear talk of progress and I watch the news, and see it related only to economical/financial news, hardly any mention of health, the state of nature, bio-diversity, quality of food, or -dare I say; quality of life. But what of the increasing inequality both abroad and at home? What of cuts on education-budgets? (Which could prove to be a push towards out-of-school education in relation with the ever increasing amount of stored knowledge in 1′s and 0′s and alternative platforms for education arising.) Then I haven’t mentioned the increasing amount of people on either uppers or downers, increasing obesity in kids, rising prices of food, increase in gen-modified foods which haven’t been very extensively researched, (Don’t mind me, I am aware of the possibility of genmod’s ending up as the only option to feed the world at some point, I don’t know, but I find the code-of-conduct of -for instance, Monsanto, not very heart-winning.) What about the rising nationalistic sentiment in countries all over the world? (Most visibly in the ‘developed western world’.) How do these elements tie into what we have coined progress?

The negativity that is projected on society, is taking its toll on people’s imagination, creativity, hope and even love. I feel we are wasting human potential. Might it be an idea to use the second wave of the Information Era in order to self-organise? To try; city by city, community by community, school by school, market by market, brand by brand, push towards a frame-work for society that re-institutes a societal-fabric that allows for an engaged and responsible paradigm for policy-making, business ethics, educational models and media-platforms.

I feel the current ‘trend’ around sustainability might allow us to renew the frame-works and incentives in which we work and live. It can function to re-trace the current consumption/waste model (in every aspect of society). I also feel (and some might perceive this to be ignorant, but the belief is fueled by the people I keep on meeting even as I have now moved to the boiler-room of capitalism that is Shanghai) that business (brands) can (and must?) take a leading role in the development of these systems and enable people to articulate their ideas and suggestions for code-of-conduct, policy and different ways of consumption.

Talk about stuff like this with your friends or random strangers you meet on the street of cities you have never before visited or with trees or your grandmother or your colleague and your sister and mother too. Or not. Suit yourself.

I’m just saying that if the rest of the world is doing well, chances are likely you will be too.

Happy hunting.

Love, L

I’ve started calling it the second wave due to the fact that the Industrial Revolution was divided into two parts. Part One was about the discovery of technology itself, the incredible efficiency of which humans all of a sudden seemed capable of in terms of production.

Part Two came when we started using these discoveries for exploration (physically as well as imaginary) and increasing connectivity between people and places. This resulted in developments such as railroads, the combustion engine and steamboats.

I feel the same has been happening in our Information Age. Despite the fact that it is not called a revolution (but than again maybe that’s more constructive), our world has drastically changed in the last 15 years. My parents, who have grown up with television being a new development, are now checking their email on their HTC and iPhone and are ‘friends’ of mine on Facebook. When at a party with friends, we switch seamlessly between playing someone’s own tunes (made on a music-software downloadable for free), to iTunes, to Spotify, someone’s iPhone, and on to the good old record-player, playing punk from the 70′s, skipping cd’s.

Let me elaborate on my (non-academic) theory of ‘the second wave’.

We are currently finding ourselves in a world which, through technological development, has brought us all so close together, it fits into our pockets. The start of Facebook (biography) and Hyves (Dutch, interview with founder), LinkedIn (interview with founder) in 2004 and the acceptance of Wikipedia as a trustworthy source of knowledge followed by the increased use (and importance) of social media in the media landscape. I believe this is the start of this second wave.

From the start of ARPANET to the point of acceptance of TCP/IP as the standard for ‘the internet’ (a term coined in december 1974), I think we can term this period (74-79) as the start of the Information Era.

What happened in the following decades is the kind of development one also sees when you start living with someone. Remarkable beauty, small irritations, inspiration, resistance of giving up certain boundaries, and slowly but surely a deeper integration of social structures of two entities.

With the arrival of the bigger social media platforms and the enormous flow of information we thereby started to release about ourselves, every social dynamic changes. An example thereof was my post about a guest-lecture by Hill & Knowlton, which got me in the picture with their marketing director and eventually led to being offered a traineeship with them (WPP). Or my friend Omar who after our adventure with Mr. Branson decided to start his platform for ambitious people which now scores over 10K hits a month. Or, Bas Grasmayer who before he finished his thesis became a blogger with Techdirt on future of the music industry.

We have reached a point in which media -and consequently the information-flow it creates, is now so dominant in how we live our lives that it has started to reflect in the ‘grander scheme of things’ in a way never imagined.

It started with WikiLeaks, it went on to bring over a 100,000 students to London in a protest against educational cuts and has now claimed to be the driving force behind the current uprisings in the Arabic world, whereby the happenings in Egypt were even baptised a ‘Twitter revolution’. Which is a ridiculous statement if you’d ask me. (As most of the communication took place through a muslim dating site, if I’m informed correctly.)

People, are waking up. People -quite possibly spurred by their knowledge of what is going on through the increasing amount of information and their increased ability of communication, feel more connected and are thus willing to risk more for what we here in the west consider ‘normal’.

So now what?

We have the power to re-structure and conceptualise the world. It will take a lot of bright minds, positive attitudes and the willingness to look out for others as you would for yourself. But as a civilian, consumer, parent, student, friend and lover, your every move has the potential to reach millions. What if we would rethink our use of the tools now so readily and freely available and decide to use it in a constructive, collaborative manner that enables us to take out the corrupt elements of our societies and create a more equal and honest playing field? Whereby responsibility for other human beings and the planet that gives us all this splendour, is made the highest good?

A small example is the accumulation of what we now call Wikipedia, the creation of Wikipedia cost 2,000,000 hours to build and is watched by 400,000,000 people every month. Which sounds like a lot but if you put that against the 4 hours of TV the average US citizen, day whom count about 300,000,000, watches every, it’s not that hard a sum to make.

Point being, we can together, tackle the problems of global warming, inequality, poverty and rising food-prices. All it takes is cooperation. Because whether or not we like it, and whether or not we feel it, we live on a planet that has X amount of space and X amount of resources which all of us need to sustain ourselves.

The more or less part is based on the fact I’d like to address travel. Because I’m traveling to India in, ehm, 17 hours. After I had finished my thesis (according to me, not my coordinator), I was stoked and annoyed with the fact (very dualist I am aware), and decided to get out of the country for a while, as it has been a very intense last 10 months. I’ll leave out the details, you’ll just have to believe me. (BTW, really stoked about the visual identity of Cradle of Design I received just now, looks great and will be ‘alive’ August)

Alright, travel.

The thing is, I’m quite surprised about the reactions people have been giving me about ‘just leaving’. A selection; “Wow, you’re nuts” (that’s not a very original one though, and not necessarily concerning the travel part), “How do you afford that?”, “I wish I could do that”. I think you can, both afford it, and do it (Yes we can type deal, but than for real).

First of all, it doesn’t have to be all that expensive; put some time in finding a ticket. I found a ticket for 420,- euro’s two-way. (here) It took me 3 days and the great help of Femke, but still. Than, I became a member of an organisation called WWOOF which is an NGO that enables us Western kids to really engage in ‘cultural understanding’. You work on an organic farm in a local, small community, 5 hours a day, in exchange for food and a spot to sleep. This ‘work’ ranges from building sheds, milking cows, teaching kids English, sweeping the place, cooking or planting seeds. It gives you the opportunity to get a taste of the local community and learn about organic agriculture (no use of chemicals and/or pesticides). Next to that the people (seem to be) (are) very willing to teach you things such as yoga and/or meditation, local cuisine, language and culture.

The thing is, besides that it’s very cheap travel, it also helps you to not just ‘do’ a country (the typical backpacker-attitude where we all just gather on the other side of the world and get wasted on both alcohol and hallucinates (don’t get me wrong, nothing wrong with that, but you can do at home too) but really visit a country and gives you an opening into a culture in order to ‘live’ it (although for a very short time). (articles on ‘vagabond-travel’ here & here)

Next to that, the I wish I could, is, for me anyway, just an excuse. I’ve once learned, at some point, that if something scares the living shit out of you, it’s probably because you haven’t got a clue what to expect and it’s easier to just let it sit there in your mind and move along the steady path of current life. In my opinion, this results in people (I’ve met loads of them and so have you I guess), saying, oh yeah, but you’re young, easy life, etc. Well, sure, I am young, sure, I have an easy life, but I’m also building a company, I’ve also graduated, I’ve also done loads of network building in the last months, some projects etc. ect. It’s not an excuse not to do other stuff. If you feel like leaving for a while, do it. Life is too short to have to say; “Oh, I wish I had done this, or that.” It’s a choice, sure, but well, if you feel you ought to do something, go f&%^* do it. The only time is now and if you have the opportunity, grab it. Don’t be afraid of things you don’t know, all learning comes with pains and gains, and scary things are most likely the ones that’ll teach you most.

I think we can all agree on the idea of life being a journey, and I found this quote from Vonnegut the other day;

“Peculiar travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God.”

Now, I don’t necessarily believe in the monotheistic view upon God or anything (more so that it is all one, including all of us, which in itself is monotheistic again, circle, circle, let’s talk about that some other time), but the opportunities arising in our lives are too often past by and left alone, which is a bloody shame.

For now, I wish you all love and peace, hope to see you upon return, take it easy.

A bit opportunistic perhaps, but I felt like writing something on the subject of my thesis, so I did. The thesis is in its final stages and consists of a range of interviews with; David Fellah, Herbert van Hoogdalem, Dan Germain, Mikal Hallstrup and last, but surely not least, Sir Richard Branson. Also, a survey with 150 respondents, loads of literature review and the text here would, I think, be classified as my conclusions without the sources. Hope you enjoy it.

Throughout the process of compiling the thesis I came across several often returning ‘tag-words’ if you wish. One of them; ethics, others; transparency, genuine behaviour and long-term strategy. These four ‘drivers’ so to say, are very important in implementing a CSR strategy. In my personal opinion, Dan Germain put it very well, CSR is not a strategy, it is part of the DNA of a company. Yet, I would like to say, it is not the DNA of the company, it is the DNA of the people behind the company.

The most important part, when it comes to social behaviour, is that it needs to be true, the truthfulness, of CSR, no matter what it’s business or communication consequences, is vital in even considering implementing a strategy as such. Although currently CSR is becoming somewhat of a ‘trendy thing to be in’ and a popular thing to implement, in the base, it should be a feeling of people who control the larger sums of money in this world, to do ‘something good’. This, in times of declining world economies, based on unclear, confusing financial constructs, leaving, hardworking, honest people bankrupt, job- and homeless, is a message received with a heartfelt cheer by activists, political left and right-wingers, consumers and non-consumers.

This, as touched upon earlier (in the thesis that is), is also the risk. In times of superficial entertainment, de-humanised wars (on the Western side of the equation), increased negative outlooks on world economy, the return of ‘pirates’ in our daily news and the continued callings of the ruling western spiritual leader- the Pope, to not use condoms in Africa, news, which is ‘true, ‘good’ or ‘positive’ is received with great enthusiasm and appreciation, without looking much further into the matter.

Companies have a responsibility to, if they choose to, be truthful, transparent and ‘in for the long run’, when it comes to Corporate Social Responsibility. The interesting conclusion I came to, through talking to the ‘business-leaders’ for this thesis, is that most of them claimed companies have more ‘power’ to instigate change than governments do. This, I personally believe to be true, it is also interesting to see the response coming back in the questionnaire, in which the respondents show an obvious ‘pro’ corporate responsibility and are willing to pay more, with money being the ruling paradigm in our world, I find this a very interesting development. This also indicates, I believe, a system change, in which companies are going to be ‘platform creators’ in which civilians are to participate, thereby, together, creating a world of which one can be proud.

The ‘change in the system’ cannot be ‘announced’ with any light concern to the ruling ideas that are here now, and therefore, I found a nice and ‘simple’ illustration to accompany it, I believe (based upon the 6 product-phases Eger has once proposed).

When we look at the process of becoming who we are today we, as a species, have had a long journey (and still a long way to go?). When we first got up on our two hind legs (homo erectus), we had to start evolving ourselves in several ways, in a physical way, which lead to the emergence of the species of homo sapiens (Performance). After that we started to optimise our bodily functions that lead to increasing mental development (Optimisation). Through that optimisation we began to develop skills other homo sapiens had not (itemisation). Through that we were lead to segmentation by the skills we had attained, worker class, bourgeoisie and royal (segmentation). When this wasn’t enough anymore we started to individualise which lead to the last couple of decades of the self (individualisation). Which brings us to where we are now. Awareness.

As such, I believe, we humans are increasingly ‘aware’ of what is happening around us, mind me, we are merely at the beginning of this stage, but as seen in (and enabled by) the increase of communication means we have at our disposal, internet ‘activism’, for instance, is an increasingly important mean to people who wish to ‘change the world’ and, even in mainstream news gathering, becoming a force to be reckoned with.

If a company or brand chooses to indulge itself into a strategy that addresses social behaviour of the company itself, it needs to be heartfelt, I would even say, they should not even want to communicate it. Although this, especially coming from a communication student, is perhaps not the most ‘financially profitable’ way of going about it, surely would indicate it’s sincerity.

The core beliefs of wanting to be a ‘Good Global Citizen’ should come from within a company, otherwise they cannot be lived, and therefore they will, most likely at some point, fail to be responsible, resulting in a massive spanking. Corporate Social Responsibility can be a very useful and profitable addition to a company strategy, what is vital it to realise how much you will lose if you do not treat a strategy as such with honesty, sincerity and loyalty, it is a long-term, costly and hard process and one not to be taken lightly.

The fact that people are dying due to this evolved ‘flu’ is, obviously, very sad. Yet, it is also so incredibly clear that we, as humans, are the single reason for this to happen. With our ‘continuous growth’ paradigm, a mostly western issue, we have created ourselves the need to keep growing, otherwise we would ‘stagnate’. But what exactly would stagnate? Human satisfaction of the current moment? Self-development? The planet?

No. I don’t think so.

A striking illustration of our misconduct, I find, is the existence of ‘mega-farms’. These farms sometimes ‘house’ up to 10.000 cows, who do not get any ‘outdoor-activity’ or ‘raise’ chickens in 40 days (from chick to full-grown chicken), which would, from a natural point of view, normally would take between 90-110 days. The idea is that a chicken that grows twice as fast, will be replaced by a new chicken that can than again, be sold, thus, making twice the money you would with a normal chicken. Good thinking, right?

Ehm.

Well, in a way, sure, we live in a society that is based upon economic continuity and growth, thus having a turnover that goes against organic development seem reasonably feasible. The only problem is, it comes at a cost. The ‘normal’ chicken we eat is pumped with hormones stimulating growth, these hormones, of which the use is denied by the USDA (here), are implemented not only in the animals, but also in the humans that eat them. This, just the same as eating veggies that are sprayed with chemicals, or soil in which they grow is fertilized with non-natural products to limit the degeneration of the soil because of exhaustion, is simply not beneficial for human bodies.

The consequences of our ‘waging war upon the planet’ (argument put forward by Daniel Quinn in his book Ishmael), we can see all around us. Rapid development of obesity as a ‘decease’ (come on…), 2 in 4 children in the UK is now officially diagnosed with overweight, the staggering idea that Coca Cola in some countries is cheaper than water, (an interesting article I found recently about the effects of Coca Cola upon the human body, here), the rise of several animal viruses within the last 5 years (Mad-Cow-decease, Bird-flue, Pork-plague) and now the ones that are potentially also threatening human life; SARS, Swine Flue and it wouldn’t surprise me we’ll be facing another one, but one that actually does kill more than the 903 confirmed cases worldwide (4-5-2009). I mean, on a daily base there are still 15,000 children dying of diarrhea due to the lack of clean drinking water.

I’m sorry I just can’t get worked up about this ‘possible pandemic’. Except for the idea that it is so deeply rooted in our societies, “You are what you eat” type deal, this does worry me, because how to stop something when when a society is based upon the principle that most things and problems are never something directly associated with people themselves but every problem is faced with an attitude in which people say “well, but what can I do about it?”

Well, first of all think about what you eat, your own eating patterns have enormous impact upon, among others, environment, animal ‘guardianship’, social structures (fair trade, all that) and most directly, your own health (you care about that I assume).

Next to that you can ask your local supermarket to actually offer food that has been produced within ‘sustainable boundaries’ and with respect towards the animals we use as food.

So to start, my supermarket is Albert Heijn, if you wish to ask them to elevate the standards of their ‘footprint’ go here, I’ve prepared a text for you (in Dutch) if you don’t feel like typing.

Geachte heer/mevrouw,

Ik wil op deze manier aandacht vragen voor de, in mijn ogen, vreemde verdeling van ‘biologisch voedsel’ en ‘normaal voedsel’ binnen uw assortiment. Daarnaast is de prijsstelling van het gezondere en sociaal ‘eerlijkere’ (ook tegenover dieren) ten opzichte van ‘het doorsnee voedsel’, mijns inziens, contra-productief voor het stimuleren van een gezondere levensstandaard van uw klanten (waar u met uw “Gezonde Keuze” producten wel de indruk wekt dat dit een interessepunt van uw bedrijf is), als wel positief voor het in stand houden van de zogenaamde ‘megafarms’ die op vele manieren geen boodschap hebben aan dierenwelzijn of de milieutechnische consequenties die het runnen van een boerderij als deze heeft.

Ik begrijp dat u een beurs genoteerd bedrijf bent en als zodanig winst dient te maken om de aandeelhouders gelukkig te houden, alsmede ‘de Holding’. Maar, mijns inziens, de toekomst van zowel onze planeet, als onze maatschappij heeft bedrijven als u nodig om de huidige omslag te maken die we nodig hebben om als planeet gezond en zonder ons te hoeven schamen voor ons gedrag ten opzichte van andere diersoorten de toekomst in te helpen.

Hopende in de nabije toekomst een verandering in uw strategie ten opzichte van voedsel verstrekking tegemoed te mogen zien, wens ik u alle goeds.

Hoogachtend,

(Your name)

Well, long story, hope you understand my point though. And please take this little action in order to actively contribute to a ‘better future’ for planet, humanity and animals.

Love & Peace,

Len

My website will be a bit messy today, (header for instance) I’m playing round with some new ideas. Not going offline though, work in progress it is for today. =)

Peace & Love.

Now, having friends that make music is real nice, always original music round, free piano or guitar concerts, quite inspirational I must say. I got him a gig at OT 301 in Amsterdam and it was real sweet, he also got asked to come back which is even nicer.

Also, which crossed my attention, someone who I wrote about before Little Boots is coming to town! 1st of May we’ll all be able to do her thing in Paradiso. Which is real nice too!

Next to that; Still writing my thesis, more or less getting there soon, for those who’d like to take the survey please do: http://bit.ly/gQX1q

Besides that there are some good things going on. I was asked for this congress which is about making business more about skill and passion than about corporate profit machines. Among the speakers are Michel Albert and the former prime-minister of Belgium. More info on the congress you can find here (sorry in Dutch). I was asked to take part of the congress after the kind of unexpected presentation I gave at the ‘Birthday-bash’ of Great Place to Live about the Magical A4 I’m writing together with Herbert van Hoogdalem.

Next to that there are some projects coming up. On which I’ll tell you more soon. =)

Cradle of Design is also showing its first signs of life. Working on it. =)

So far, wish you all the best, I’m back to work!

Love & Peace.

Being a student CAN be hard. The only thing is, when you work (in the mainstream use of the word) there’s someone who will kick your ass when you don’t (work that is). Which is exactly what makes it hard being a student. There’s no one who will, and if ‘they’ try, you’re not very likely to give a flying fuck. Of course being a student is a very relaxed way of living, you don’t have very filled days, classes are more of an inter-social happening than a ‘must’ and next to that, you don’t have all too much ‘responsibilities’.

But, then you have to write your thesis. There’s this gap of, hey, we want you to do this 15,000 word paper, we give you until June, report back to us every now and again, good luck. When you actually HAVE until June that’s cool I guess, I mean you won’t notice ‘pressure’ (which is completely self-created, I am aware) until June. But when you (hey, here I am) give yourself to the end of Febuari, things start to look pressured around the 12th of Febuary. You find out that, you still need to write your literature review (and kinda still need to read some of it too), are not too sure where it’s all moving towards, but you do have an interview with Richard Branson, but you doubt whether they’ll let you pass on that alone (must admit, haven’t tried it).

My thesis is on Corporate Social Responsibility and whether it could strengthen customer relationships. I think it’s an interesting study and I will inform you guys here on what the outcome will be.

Anyway, only reason for this post is: PLEASE TAKE THE SURVEY and help a self-pressurised student out!

Much appreciated!

Peace & Love,

Len

But, I think I should give it a try. I came by this blog on StumbleUpon called (surprise, surprise) Daily Routines and got inspired. The blog writes about the daily routines of successful (and not so successful) people, writers, politicians, businesspeople.

Why would I need a daily routine, I asked myself. Especially in the last 3 weeks after the whole adventure I noticed I was running after myself a lot. Of course, you can’t expect to jump into an adventure like that and not expect an aftermath, I understand, but for some reason I felt it was more. I’ve got the feeling that time is not so much simply an object in existence for me as a tool, but more so, it is a 3D kind of cubical in which I am to create whatever it is I wish to create.

As both me and my housemate are trying to move ourselves into a certain direction (his; a spot in art school Rietveld, mine; a successful business start-up (more on that subject soon)) we are ‘struggling’ to get into the right mind frame. Loads to be arranged, ‘cleaned up’ and foundations to be laid.

I am lucky in so far that Herbert has proven himself willing to be my Virgil, but it’s not like that excludes me from having my act together.

I guess when I talk about a daily routine I should explain what I mean by that. For me it is creating an environment in which I have a ‘waking-up ritual’ on weekdays, thereby, I’m thinking, a basic energy level to start the day with. Don’t be afraid, I won’t become a 9-5 kind of guy, as such, my mornings from now on will consist of;

6.30: Wake up
6.31: Coffee, Fruit shake & Cruesli
6.35-7.30: News
7.30-7.45: To do list for the day
7.45: Work-out, shower
8.30: Get to work

Now, some of you might tell me, that’s no daily routine. Well, for me it is =) It is a routine and a daily one at that!

“May you be orderly and regular in your life, like a good bourgeois. So you may be violent and original in your work.” Flaubert

Only thing with that quote is that I think my work is my life, it’s quite inevitable that I do what I do, don’t think I can do anything else, thereby making what I do, what I am. Yet, at the same time, when you look at the overall picture, there’s so much more too, like waking up and setting yourself up to do what you do best, I’m thinking, sweet!

Do you have a ‘routine’? Or tips? Or reasons why I shouldn’t? =)

Take care!

Love & Peace.

Well, Tuesdays are a good one for those (well, they’ve proven to be in the past 2 weeks anyway).

Being someone who loves a good song, sang from the heart, I’ve been going to the singer/songwriter night in Sappho on the Vijzelstraat in Amsterdam (straight across the old ABN building). Nice vibe, good music, cheap beer and great staff.

Well, my point being, last Tuesday we (together with Artun) went to Sappho again and met an awesome singer/songwriter by the name of Matthew Davies. Besides making super nice music, also a fun guy to hangout with, although I’m not entirely sure whether he was too convinced of our sanity (completely understandable, I’ll spare you the details). BUT, I’d like to put his music out there. Check it out! =)

Matthew in StumpJack Coffee in Two Rivers, Wisconsin.

You can find him: here & Myspace with more songs of his making.

Also, perhaps if you’re around Amsterdam, come to Sappho next Tuesday, it’s a blast! Perhaps good to know, it’s an initiative by the Amsterdam Songwriter guild

Maybe see you round, otherwise, take care and enjoy the music!

Love & Peace,

Len