Jeremie Averous | The Fourth Revolution Blog

Beyond fear

I am deeply scared.

Now that I have resigned from my conventional job to start my own venture, I am really, really, very scared.

It is a fear that comes from far. A fear not to be able to support my family. Of having taken the wrong decision.

Logically, I know I should not be so scared. I have savings to allow for some idle time. I am finalizing a significant contract for my new company that should allow to secure sufficient income in 2012.

Still, I can’t avoid to be scared. I have to learn to face my fear. And I am going through a tremendous learning curve now.

Of course I toyed with the idea of creating a company for some time. I spent hours on numerous simulation spreadsheets, studied the market, involved friends and sought advice. Still, now that I am in it, having cut the bridge to the company that employed me, WOW, fear hits big time! And it is not reality that hits, because reality seems to be OK – it is an irrational fear of the unknown with the thought that my life is at stake.

Now I do face my fear. And it is huge, scary, smelly. It is incredible. As I stand up to face it I feel exhilarated to look at my fear in the eye and with the internal belief that I am going to overcome it.

Because facing my fear makes me realize how committed I am and how deeply resilient I can be. Much more than I thought, actually.

Beyond fear I discover myself.

Maybe that’s an experience everybody should go through to discover oneself?

The under-rated power of Appreciative Inquiry

Have you heard about Appreciative Inquiry?

It is certainly one of the most powerful coaching tools I know. It works extremely well in change situations – personal or organizational.

What is it about? Often people and organizations know they have to change. They know what they need to change. And they often go in negative spirals like “we have never been able to do that”, “that’s not possible”.

Appreciative inquiry challenges this by pushing people or organizations to find situations in the past that were different and had a little bit of what we intend to change. To the heavy smoker: What were situations where you managed to smoke less? To the organization that never seems to be able to innovate: what were situations in the past where you managed to be a bit innovative?

There were always such occasions, because of the intrinsic variance in the way we behave, in the way things happen. Appreciative inquiry then digs appreciatively into these past events to find what were the factors that elicited those changes, and how it did feel.

It shows that the individual or the organization is able to do the change, and identify what needs to be done more or less to achieve the change that is needed today.

Appreciative inquiry requires external help, and is deeply powerful. It allows to figure out the highly emotionally engaged simple actions that make successful large changes.

Next time you think you are faced with a dead end, something you think is impossible, turn to appreciative inquiry. Dig into your past and recognize how you can change.

More so, appreciate your past and build your future upon the lessons you learnt. They may be hidden but they are there. Go and find them.

The incredibly far reaching Industrial Age imprisonment, crushing our dreams

Why is there so much frustration and so many people that don’t really do what they long to do, what they dream to do?

Ever since I have written a book, every time I present it, I get more questions on how I managed to write and publish it, than on the book itself! So many people dream to write a book, or have written a book already!

Ever since I have announced to the world that I was leaving the comfortable corporate environment to be an entrepreneur, I get more questions on how I manage to do it than on my actual project itself! So many people dream to start their business, so many people have a truly good business idea ready for application!

The answer is obvious, of course: fear, which often hides behind busy-ness (being busy on actions with little impact, spending one’s time). All of this entertained by Industrial Age institutions, which repeat endlessly how inappropriate it is to be weird, to have initiative, and lock us into a system from which it is difficult to escape.

Of course these institutions look like they provide us with a stable, safe environment. That was maybe true in the past, but today we know that’s really overrated. No job is really safe today in any corporation. Still, we cling to that mindset for lack of another safe haven. And the Industrial Age system also cleverly provided barriers to our dreams: large mortgages that limit drastically our financial freedom; tax, professional and immigration legislation that limit our freedom of movement or of choosing our activity.

parachute tandem jump — do you need a buddy for tandem jump?

There are ways to minimize risk when starting a venture. Have good advice and support from people who have gone through the transition (like you stay safe during your first free fall jump by having an experienced person jumping in tandem with you). Have a parachute already open that slows down your scary dynamics (a signed contract, savings…) and gives you more time. Have encouragement and support from your family and friends.

You know what? It is rare to find someone who has jumped out of the Industrial Age system and has really, deeply failed. Of course people go through temporary failures until they find their way; they might not seek and get those shiny things that Industrial Age ego would crave (a larger car, a larger house, etc); still, overall I find that people who jumped are more happy. And above all their contribution to the world is just tremendous.

I can barely imagine how the world will be when a significant portion of people will have jumped outside the Industrial Age, when the number of K.E.E.Ns will have increased dramatically, and when all these people will share their talents and contributions with all of us, creating a very different place to live.

Let’s go and do it. Overcome your fear. Become a real K.E.E.N.. Come on, jump!

Fourth Revolution Video of the month: John Hagel on modern organization and work

John Hagel in his video on modern organization and workforce explains

how management – and the organization – and our life – will change with the Fourth Revolution. Watch and understand how your life will change!

Find more videos and resources about the Fourth Revolution on the Fourth Revolution’s resource center on the Fourth Revolution website!

I’ve left the Industrial Age and jumped into the Collaborative Age. Right now!

I just resigned.

I quit my cosy position as an executive in a large international organization to go down the path of the Fourth Revolution entrepreneur.

In my book I have described how the Fourth Revolution K.E.E.Ns (Knowledge Exchanging Enhancing Networkers) drive their career by being more of free agents than conventional Industrial Age employees of a Corporation. That they drive their career, moving from project to project, over the world.

Although I am involved on a day-to-day basis with project management, my professional life was not just quite according to this model. Now, I just did jump into it. I just completed my transformation.

Yes, that’s right, I am leaving the comfortable corporate world for the adventure of the entrepreneur. I have incorporated Fourth Revolution Private Limited as a company in Singapore. Fourth Revolution Pte Ltd will be the vehicle for my publishing, speaking and entrepreneurial activities.

My first entrepreneurial venture will be in a company setup with some partners, that we have called Project Value Delivery Pte Ltd (see Project Value Delivery Pte Ltd website here), a consulting company to support organizations in setting up and executing projects, and in particular, large infrastructure projects. I hope ultimately to help organizations become effectively the open, fluid organizations of the Collaborative Age, learn firsthand the obstacles on that road, and the solutions to overcome them. And see the organizations we will support unleash the unprecedented Fourth Revolution value, at the same time developing irresistible competitive advantage, and changing the world!

I’m both scared and excited by the prospects and the infinite potential of the future.

Follow me on my blog in the next few months as I go through this transformation from the conventional corporate executive to the Fourth Revolution entrepreneur! I’ll start this new life early 2012!

Life begins at the end of your comfort zone

“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” – Neale Donald Walsch

WOW. That’s really an inspirational quote, and a pretty strong statement at that.

So, how often are you living? How often do you let yourself bring beyond the end of your comfort zone? How often do you progress?

No often enough? Get help to make sure you’re safe, and just do it! Jump!

[I just jumped outside my comfort zone… more on this in the next post!!]

The time spent on social networks by users went up by 30% in one year

According to Nielsen studies, the time spent on Facebook on average in the US is now (August 2011) almost 8 hours per month – up from a bit less than 6h in August 2010.

That’s the average for 163 million US Facebook users. Or, in total, an astonishing cumulative 54 million days spent by all US Facebook users during that month. Communicating, chatting, sharing, collaborating.

It’s a flood of collaboration. Is that time wasted or time used appropriately? Some bloggers seem to think it is time wasted: see for example http://mashable.com/2011/09/30/wasting-time-on-facebook/. The name of the link is revealing of the mindset of the writer, although the post itself is just named “You spent 8 hours a month on Facebook [STATS]“.

Well people obviously find an interest and prefer to go on Facebook rather than watching TV. And although many Facebook posts are quite superficial, no doubt there are nuggets there ready to be harvested.

The Fourth Revolution is just kicking off. Time spent on Facebook and other social networks generates value. How do you benefit from this value?

What’s hiding behind crowdfunding sites?

Kickstarter (www.kickstarter.org) is a site that crowd-funds creative ventures.

It is part of the history of crowdfunding.

Have a look at the homepage. You’ll see many projects looking for funding. An example of a successful project is given in this excellent post by Mitch Joel: “kickstart your economy”.

Actually I encourage you to dwell into the projects and see how the site works. Did you get it?

No, the power of Kickstarter does not lie only in the fact that it allows funding for creative new ventures to happen through the accumulation of numerous small donations (the crowdfunding bit).

It also lies in the fact that donors vote with their feet (or rather, their keyboard and plastic card) on what projects they find the best. It is intrinsically a voting engine.

It also lies in the community building power around each project, with the project owner giving away some goodies to the generous donors, giving updates on the project progress after it has been funded…

Thus, what looks like pure crowdfunding is also a vehicle of choice and community building. It is a vehicle of the Collaborative Age. Below what just looks like a fun crowdsourcing service for weird creative projects lies the fuel of the Collaborative Age value production system: communities and crowd-voting.

Welcome to the Collaborative Age.

The corporate revolution is upon us!

The coming corporate revolution due to collaborative technology becomes mainstream. See for example this interesting article by Forbes “Social Power and the Coming Social Revolution”.

Several examples in this paper show how consumers can influence company decisions, sometimes decisively. While most of the examples are negative (social networks impede organizations to do something), no doubt that with experience, those contributions will be leveraged positively by successful organizations.

Some quotes for thought from the paper:

In this new world of business, companies and leaders will have to show authenticity, fairness, transparency and good faith. If they don’t, customers and employees may come to distrust them, to potentially disastrous effect.

When confronting social power, you might as well jump in with both feet, because you just can’t hide. […] For one big company it recently turned up 60,000 different social media pages where employees mentioned or discussed company matters. (Not to mention the thousands of employee profiles on LinkedIn.)

Accepting social power as inevitable can significantly change the kind of products you design.

Says Microsoft and Lotus veteran Ozzie: “All this was unstoppable from the moment somebody installed the first network—this steady march toward reducing friction and reducing transaction costs faced by individuals. And you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”

So, when do you start opening your organization? It becomes every day more urgent! And soon it will be too late!

Are you afraid of the light?

“We can easily forgive a child to be afraid of the dark, but the real tragedy of life is when adults are afraid of the light” – Plato

We encounter this situation everyday. And I do encounter it often when it comes to the Fourth Revolution.

The natural reaction is always one of resistance, of hiding, of avoiding the glaring light.

Only those that come out in the light will learn how the world changes.

Think about your life now. Are you afraid of the light? Come on, put your sunglasses on if you need, but come out in the open, with us. It’s worth it.

10 personal practices to thrive through the Fourth Revolution

I have been asked to summarize the main practices of the successful K.E.E.N.

So, here are 10 basic practices to be successful through the Fourth Revolution, into the Collaborative Age:

Practice regular, holistic exercise (not just the body, but also the emotions/ mind exercises)
Lean into the Collaborative Age. Become literate in social networks: use them – even only at a basic level. You’ll progress soon enough;
Be open to new ideas by following some leading blogs and publications;
At the same time, make sure spare sufficient quality time every day to focus on activities that are important for you;
Practice overcoming Resistance more often by practicing dedicated Creative Work time
Establish your clear purpose – what can you do better than everybody else, and how can you contribute to the world through this talent? (on that one in particular you might need external help)
Write your purpose and 1 year goal on a paper and post it on your bathroom mirror to watch them morning and evenings
Practice and enhance your connection and giving skills
Practice being fully present, controlling your inner chatter, filters and impulses;
Be flexible – master your ego – remember the law of requisite variety: the most flexible prevails at the end.

More of it and more details in the Fourth Revolution book!

The Fourth Revolution in 10 bullet points

I have had some requests for a quick digest of the Fourth Revolution book.

So, here is ‘The Fourth Revolution’ in 10 points:

the Fourth Revolution changes the world as we know it fundamentally: our society, our institutions, the way we live… as much as society was transformed between the Agricultural and the Industrial Age;
The Fourth Revolution root cause is cheap long distance interactive communication capabilities; that’s new and unprecedented;
the Fourth Revolution will take a few decades to spread completely, yet it changes our world quickly already, and we need to change ourselves now to thrive through it;
The Fourth Revolution development will be difficult and possibly painful at times. Yet overall, the development of humankind will allow more people to contribute to our collective cognitive capability, changing the world ultimately for the better;
The value creation capability of the Collaborative Age is orders of magnitude higher than Manufacturing or Agriculture, the latter activities will become subsidized;
The organization will become open and fluid – open to the influence of the outside, to a network of followers, a turbulent succession of temporary projects;
The prevailing leadership style will be ‘mutual learning’ leadership. The leader is not any more the person who knows the way, he is the one who catalyzes the group;
The leaders of the Collaborative Age will be the nomad K.E.E.Ns (Knowledge Exchanging Enhancing Networkers). They will drive their own career, and are fully nomadic;
It is possible to be happy being a farmer or working in a factory. It is a choice. The worst is not to make any choice. Choose now whether to lean or not into the Fourth Revolution;
On an unprecedented scale, each of us can change the world. The world can shaped the way we want, let’s do it now!

Of course each of these bullet points warrants a full development, which is exactly the purpose of the book…

Would you have additional bullet points to add?

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