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System versus change
“What happens when you lock up 300 eager pioneers in a container of a sinking ship on shipwrecking course with the message that they have to save the ship without food nor support while the ship’s captain and his team party on deck inside their self made safety rafts?”
That was the feeling I got yesterday when I was invited to the first “Smart City and Communities” encounter in Brussels. It was organised by the EU for the 300 smart city commitments that had been gathered earlier this year. People from 30+ countries had invested in creating ideas, some already in phase of implementation, and travelled to Brussels to see if they could get support to further work it out or expand their work. Many of the pioneers had gone little further than expressing an ideal, often technology based, in need for cash. Others, like myself, presented working instruments for change, with a 4 year precedent, hardly any money need and ready for growth.
When you arrive at such EU scene you feel somehow “selected”. After all you received acknowledgment that an idea seems valid for the future of Europe. You expect to be received accordingly. After all, Brussels is the capital of Europe and well known for the many billions of public tax money that is used to sustain banks, governments and, above all, them EU selves. As pioneer of a new era one feels suddenly welcome in a systems reality that can facilitate our growth and new stability. We can indeed save Europe but need support, freedom to create, connections and means.
When we arrived at the meeting centre our cheerful sentiments changed rapidly. The reception inside was a hidden away garage hall where we could collect a badge. A labyrinth of stairways and corridors, resembling a mix of hospital and prison, took us to a side room where we could listen to the monotonous program explanation of a lady with limited communication skills and no charisma. We were asked to join one of the 6 clusters to see how to take steps along a 6 month time line from idea to successful implementation.
Had no one read our commitment? We were not in for such old time industrial nonsense. We were ready to work and expand across Europe. During the opening speech it was made clear that technology would not be leading yet the clusters were managed by people from the largest technological organizations and lobbyists of Europe. Who was fooling who? On the EU Smart City site we could see the billion euro lobby of the big ones and we were there to expose ourselves to them.
The message was clear: “You have to save Europe”, create things that we can eventually sell to others in the world, become successful fast, “it is the performance that counts”, economy rules. “Money needs to make more money”. But there is no money for you so try to strengthen each other. The message was enhanced by a chaotic, hierarchy driven structure, old fashion techniques, boring presentations and set-up. One single piece of bread per person with water for lunch (various people had no lunch!), bad air circulation, over heated meeting rooms, low quality programming, bad hosting, hopelessly poor cocktail ending, it all showed the lack of understanding of EU management forces on how change and entrepreneurship works or how to create involvement.
The overall impression was of a shambles, with total lack of creativity, highly managed, cheapest of the cheap, encounter. For me and my people it felt like an insult when we consider the personal effort we put into co-creating our wellness with strong innovation plans and proof.
System versus culture change
Not the system’s dynamics of mismanagement and political abuse made the day successful for us. It were the 300 beautiful people that had come and tried to connect in the scarce moments of open interaction. Many pioneers had just come for money but those of us who really had something to work with started their own structuring and openly began searching for network contacts to work with. What the system did not achieve was achieved by these people themselves. It showed very clearly the difference between two worlds:
* System oriented people: hierarchy, management, instruct, money driven, growth oriented, avoid change, time managed, fragmented, standards, bureaucratic, etc
* Change oriented people: visionary, (ex)change oriented, value driven, changed and desire growth, entrepreneurial, leadership, break through, etc
The pioneers for change felt of course bored, insulted, misunderstood, abused, etc while the system’s reality tried to structure feedback, avoid chaos, risks and change. They were two different worlds. The system’s world does not understand the world of change. In essence that is the problem of Europe. The EU system tries to solve its issues by applying what caused them in the first place, their own money driven, blindly managed rigidness, influenced by big multinationals that equally have difficulties upholding themselves. The tax payers money should be used to provide a sense of progression and innovation rather that a bureaucratic status quo.
It is good to have met some people who are also in the field of change. If the system wants to uphold itself it has to open up to the invitation of change or be prepared for chaos. That is the evolutionary law of living complexities through counter forces interacting on each other.
Those focused on economic growth only fear chaos and stand progress in the way
Brussels city
It was magnificent when we could turn our back to the prison and cold mechanisms of this encounter to enjoy the human chaos of a beautiful evening on and around the Gran Place of Brussels. We needed a couple of hours and few drinks to shake off the old age disappointment and gather back the positive can-do energy that characterizes our pioneering spirit. Two public demonstrations on the streets showed the discontent of other people. The beer was good, the evening nice and warm, the food great and the atmosphere overwhelming. Not at all bad after all.
STIR Academy, the power of change
STIR Academy is recently accepted as partner in the Smart City and Communities program of the European Community because of our network structure of HUBs to share knowledge, innovative initiatives, inspiration and best practice on sustainable progress. From Eindhoven we coordinate the growing network of HUBs in every city of Europe (and the world).
Your own STIR Academy HUB
A STIR HUB consists physically of a simple classroom and ICT communication facilities. Functionally the STIR HUB is a gateway to inspiration and best practice in the world. Any existing college infrastructure can become a HUB. You can also start your own if you have access to facilities. In Eindhoven we are being facilitated by a local high school.
Inspiration is not enough. The STIR HUB is also the local starting point to form implementation efforts for local change, adapting the ideology and foreign best practice to local workable formats.
The STIR HUB structure is as follows:
The local STIR Academy HUB
STIR College for inspiration
Everywhere in the world people are actively introducing change through vision or need. Such inspiration is shared across the STIR network of HUBs inviting the pioneers to explain their motivation, the essentials to change and the results of their work. The inspiration is not just product or services oriented within the context of business or consumer economies. It can also introduce challenging changes in systems complexities, social innovation, applied knowledge, etc that upsets everything we have known to date. The inspiration forms the basis for creating local innovative work groups.
The STIR College is always open for general, low cost participation.
STIR work groups for innovation
From global inspiration to local innovation is an open, guided work group process. The work group evaluates the possibility to implement the innovations within the local complexity and context. The work groups are open for multidisciplinary participation and narrow down until projects can be defined with those who commit to the implementation.
STIR project teams for implementation
When the implementation phase has been agreed the work groups close in order to formalize and connect commitments, means and resources. Projects have a starting point, an objective and finishing with measurable results.
Not just one way
The international HUB network does not just work one way into the HUBs. Inspirational innovations are appearing anywhere in the world and also in the regional environment of the HUB. They do not alway reach out for globalization due to lack of visibility, language issues, entrepreneurial short comings of pioneers or lack of resources.
STIR HUBs are therefore also a gateway to the rest of the world for local initiatives that have a story to tell or inspiration and proven innovation to share.
Disruptive innovations
Many changes can be considered disruptive innovations. They upset traditional markets and behavior by introducing something totally new. The old establishment has long opposed such disruptions but now is reaching a point that more and more multinationals and local governance use the STIR network and inspirational evidence to strengthen their own transformative positioning. STIR Academy itself is a disruptive innovation and source of inspiration.
International STIR HUB network
STIR Academy has started the European and Global network initiative and now receives the support of the Smart Cities and Communities commission. The STIR HUB structure connects bottom up and top town innovation for sustainable progress within the scope of “global issues, local solutions, global inspiration”. The first HUB was created in Eindhoven (Holland) in 2009 and has been the transformative engine for local change ever since. The expertise has been contained for expansion with the specialization in the field of awareness development, psychology of (transformative) change, multidisciplinary co-creation and sustainable progress through cooperative interaction, primarily focused on “hotspots” (hotspot: complex local issues with sense of urgency).
The international STIR Academy structure interacts with multinationals, subsidy providers and international programs for innovative change. It also provides a framework for interaction and protection of interests of small local SME players who internationalize their ideas through SME cooperative chanels.
STIR provides educational support for multidisciplinary (hotspot) co-creative processes in international networks. Within the model of human complexities of founding father Jean-Paul Close the STIR Academy and all inspirations are positioned in the leadership field of cocreative change for symbiotic harmony and new phases of growth.
Can you see the awareness breakthrough? It is the gateway to a new perception
STIR Academy HUB agreement:
1. Commit to the executive challenge of innovative change
2. Accept the operational and financial structure of STIR Academy
3. Accept the coordination, sustainocratic framework and guidance function of STIR academy international in Eindhoven.
Interested? Contact jp@stadvanmorgen.com (Jean-Paul Close) for detailed agreement.
STIR Lustrum 2 – learning to live life
This second blog about STIR’s first lustrum deals with awareness and education as it developed in STIR. On the day of our announcement in 2009 Nicolette Meeder participated and found her own life’s mission to commit to STIR. Now she is founding partner of the STIR Academy.
Enlightening
In the early phases of the STIR Foundation “City of Tomorrow” we already developed very strong impulses to try to get an understanding on the complexity of the “human being” itself. My own very deep moments of inner illumination had made me aware of new dimensions of spirituality beyond the dogmatic mechanisms of churches and within the true meaning and significance of life. It also made me aware of awareness and life before and after enlightenment. This all had come together in a clear understanding of the “I am” breakthrough and the revelation of the abundance of the universe, the force of life through energetic cycles and the disturbance of self awareness until the moment of spiritual awakening.
All this also revealed a critical view on our evolutionary path and the way we reached a point of singularity that would either produce a gigantic collapse or a mayor breakthrough of humankind. In my own research I came to the conclusion that one cannot happen without the other. The only difference with the past is that I envisaged the possibility of a mayor breakthrough and collapse occurring peacefully through a burst of awareness rather than a traditional confrontation through arms.
In the first blog “re-positioning society” I described the practical possibilities to address the global issues through local solutions using sustainocratic ventures and the transformation economy. Its precedents in Eindhoven have made the working and values visible. Expanding it across the world will take tensions away through applied knowledge and integral system and social innovations.
To consolidate this the practical approach should repeat itself as much as possible but also should become part of our learning processes.
Breakthrough of the collective consciousness
The transformation of education
My own learning and awareness processes had shown me that life itself is a teacher and our education at school would need to change too if we want to prepare our next generations within the context of sustainable human progress. Many people already showed a critical standpoint on the current way we educated our children and displayed the wish to change the system. Within STIR it became an ongoing process too.
STIR Academy
STIR Logo
When I developed the societal redefinition by positioning our interests in awareness and co-creation using human values rather than economic growth and greed, it became clear that our educational system was not adequate anymore either. Our constitution states that “education serves government and business interests” which is a relic from our industrialization and history. No wonder we feel that our children are being educated to populate a puppeteer theater rather that develop insight on life’s essentials and personal development.
Every interaction with our school system got us into trouble between management, teachers and pupils. The students loved our humanitarian approach, many teachers did too but the management and system were totally against. “Entrepreneur of your own life” is of course not done when the hierarchies in society demand docile youngsters who look for a lasting job to pay for their mortgage and loans in a consumer driven money dependent system’s reality.
In STIR Academy we created all kinds of instruments based on the development of awareness through physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual impulses. Examples of our invitation to a new world have been filmed (in Dutch)
And in English
We designed minors and mayors, university lectures, games (“The secrete” and “The hero”), challenges, etc. but the old system would not connect massively to our initiatives. The financial dependence on state financial means and inspections blocked openess to educational innivation and modern insight of system’s and human complexities. Government was still very much focus on trying to solve its problems through the money driven mentality of the last decades as described in a recent blog.
If we wanted to proceed with our intentions we were forced to build our own school and education platforms. We started to work with the “drop outs” from the old system that either had become a financial burden and bureaucratic challenge, or became new age entrepreneurs through their own chaos and awareness development. They are all talented human beings that have a lot to offer but fall out of the old system for many reasons. We learned to see all these people as potential pioneers of the new world that was arising and slowly started to challenge the old one by making the power of this type of learning visible to the world. We could further facilitate that by:
- Offering precedents of change and insights from all over the world
- Getting local speakers to address those interested with new insights and their personal experiences
- Challenge people to not just listen but also stand up and do something with the inspiration
- Help those who do step forward with guidance and support
- Connect those who are ready to increasingly complex co-creative ventures or challenge them to start one of their own
The STIR Academy started to develop leadership HUBs (STIR Portals) through those who were interested in displaying a changing world to their own community and see what happens. STIR Academy developed relationships with intellectuals and new age pioneers across the world, inspiring itself through the wisdom of nature and the universe.
STIR Academy, global awareness building and knowledge sharing (Sustainocracy)
In Eindhoven we had experimented with this type of value driven humanistic education by showing that our entire live is a school. We live through our own cyclic patterns all the time, developing awareness as we go along. We needed not just address the cognitive basic of education but also the emotional, spiritual and physical values of reflection through action. If we wanted the cultural change we needed to facilitate the entire cycle of human complexities by inviting people to simply do it, experiment and challenge themselves to work together in meaningful ventures.
We now envisage STIR Hubs everywhere, simply exchanging knowledge and best practice through internet, skype presentations and online training. We all take from STIR and give back, forming an organic platform that runs itself. The only guidance is the STIR definition of sustainable human progress and the co-creative positioning of progress in the top of our complexity model
STIR Academy positions itself in the field of co-creation between change and symbiosis
Human evolution is a co-creation
AiREAS was the first sustainocratic venture and STIR Academy the very first school to live life by learning to understand it. We also needed to transform the practical reality of our daily life. AiREAS would measure our progress and STIR Academy provides us with the understanding. FRE2SH was born to deal with the practicalities in our daily lives.
But that I will deal with in the third and final blog about our first 5 years.
Sustainocracy, the new democracy 