5:15 (or Rethink the Future)
By Anders Drejer
Out here in the fields
I fight for my meals
I get my back into my living(Pete Townsend)
2020 — a Teenage Wasteland?
Although this may seem like a terribly small First World Problem to some, it seems as if the raging global pandemic of 2020 has been hardest socially on our teens. Whereas my generation have been contempt to adjust to working from home, having (more effective) meetings online, and seeing our parents (even) less than usual, I found that my teenagers missed their peers.
Given that my teens play games online and is in all but constant contact with friends on social media, one can wonder why? Part of the explanation I, as a father to girls, do not wish to know too much of … I raised my girls well and they know how to protect themselves in more ways than one. In a modern world, it has seemed relevant to teach them how to through a good punch!
Funnily, when you can through a good punch, you never seem to have to.
The Kids aren’t alright
But, alas, the kids are not alright as witnessed by the Financial Times article of that title. A whole generation of youngster are missing out on education, jobs, and the very important physical and mental social contact that is needed to construct a sustainable and viable human identity for a young person growing up in a (post) modern world.
I am not sure that my oldest daughter is best off by studying at home in the almost constant company of her father. Sure, my impression is that teachers are actually better prepared than they used to be — online teaching has certainly forced us to rethink both process and content of teaching. And we must take valuable lessons away from the strange year of 2020 as educators and managers.
But we must also rethink the way we organise and manage the work and world that our children are going to inherit. I take much joy from discussing politics with my girls, none of which are of legal ate to vote (just) yet, and the vast amount of reductions in CO2 emissions — and, in Denmark, people killed in traffic, influenza, and crime — are frankly encouraging. Having had two aging dinosaurs, to say the least, compete for the position of American President — not so much.
But the stimulation probably is loop-sided in my favour.
‘Love, Reign O’er Me’
None the less:
I don’t need to fight
To prove I’m right
I don’t need to be forgiven(Pete Townsend)
I am proud to be part of the rethinking of education and management that is underway after COVID-19. My Felág, Christer, and I invented a 5R-model for conducting intense, physical Master Classes on issues related to Strategy, Innovation, and Management. The Model’s elements (subject to further development) — Relate, Reflect, Respond, Repair and Reboot — are 80% online combined with two-days of well-prepared, yet improvised Socratic Dialogue/teaching.
I am a Boxer, I think very well on my feet. But knowing what is coming is a good thing. Therefore, in 2020 — in one of the few opportunities that I had — I reinvented something like the wheel. In preparation for a strategy workshop for a company, I got the idea of having the employees record a short video message on their phones (it is all you need today) introducing themselves and had it sent to me. The result, I “knew” everyone in the room as I started provoking and creating dialogue on what was truly a fantastic event. A couple of days later, in a Zoom meeting with the CEO, I caught myself saying — why diden’t I do this 15 years ago?
Indeed, why not? The Technology has been there for long than 15 years ago. And I distinctly remember friends at the KaosPilots showing me the great reception of their short film introducing them ahead of time to students in Spain — 15 years ago!
My mind, however, was not there 15 years ago. It is now. I am proud to be part of the rethinking of what it is that we do. Rethink should be the word of the years to come.
Having said that … when a prospective son (or daughter) in law is introduced to me as a Father, there will be words. In a boxing-ring. With gloves. 2020 taught me that in some ways I am still old school. And that is fine by me.