I have read about the notion of the 'Global Individual' and contemplated what it really means and its potential, but this week, I had a realisation that seemed much stronger.
Let me paint the picture.
On wednesday, I sent from S.France, where I am currently living, a work document to my team colleagues in Tokyo, Singapore, New Delhi, Manilla and Kuala Lumpur.
It was the evening for me and I went to bed, knowing that I had a videoconference with them all at 7.30am the next day. All that was required was a simple click of the email to the group. A few seconds of effortless work.
At 7.30am on thursday, we conducted the videoconference, hosted by Tokyo and facilitated by Tokyo and Singapore.
I was pleasantly surprised to hear from the team that they had read my document and that they proceeded to discuss it and adopt it. This really should be no surprise to me because I work with them in Asia frequently and I know well the time difference of up to 8hrs ahead of Europe. So when I went to bed, after a simple click of the email, they were soon getting up to start the new day, and have the videoconference with me in the afternoon in Asia.
The videoconference was a rich, but normal, exchange of information, status reporting, comments, support and action planning. After the videoconference, I sat back.
Why was I so surprised? I have spent years communicating and collaborating with virtual teams all over the world. Why did this have a deep impact?
Well, first of all, I strongly realised again that thoughts are dynamic global things with energy.
I had some thoughts in Europe. I communicated them in writing, digitally, to colleagues across Asia. They were influenced by these thoughts and expanded them.
We took action. But also, I did not feel like an individual in a team, but instead, I felt more just absorbed in one team. We still have a way to go with effective group videoconferencing, but, together with other collaborative tools and technologies, I think we are reaching a new plateau in human evolution and knowledge work.
I walked out into the garden. My wife must have thought that I was going simple, or something similar, because I felt compelled to say:
'How marvellous, how miraculous. I had some thoughts in the kitchen on wednesday,
I tapped a few keys, and I had a meaningful conversation with colleagues in Asia the next day!'
So what?
Shouldn't we all take the rapidly increasing power of the world wide web, computers, email and videoconferencing for granted? Aren't they simply normal, mainstream knowledge working tools?
I felt... many human beings around the planet have certainly evolved to the point where we can now think anywhere, communicate those thoughts everywhere, and work with time and space in completely new ways. 'Going to work' is being augmented by 'thinking to work' too, from anywhere.
For several years, I have perceived the global internet and world wide web as a growing collective third brain that is getting smarter and smarter, and is there to assist humans with developing and applying their collective intelligence. We can transfer our thoughts and information around the planet, seemingly at the speed of light! This seems to be a natural extension of turning our thoughts into reality.
Thanks to my Asian friends, I feel, as we can all feel, like a Global Individual.
Ron Young
