Two weeks off, and a trip to visit Machupicchu is coming up. It’s a time to stop and take stock. After all, it’s been ten years since I started IBO and at times it has seemed almost mind numbing.
Like usual, I gathered some reading materials before leaving Houston. THE INNOVATORS by Walter Isaacson, STARTING WITH WHY by Simon Sinek and the April issue of WIRED with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un gracing the cover. It seems like the theme of my reading would become clear once I started turning the pages!
It didn’t take long. Sinek’s book is about how great leaders inspire everyone to take action. Isaacson’s focus was more on how great teams have innovated to change the world. The WIRED story by Greenberg, was about the plot to take down a tyrant. My own story is hidden in all of this. The idea that we can empower global citizens to govern their relationships in an emerging global order has global precedent going back to the times of merchants selling their wares across civilizations on the silk road. But how do we inspire the great action it will take to do this?
Awakening to the notion that this work is less about law, and more about the art of inspiring change is straightforward for sure. But most inspiration that seems to come from the emotions which rise up from inside that change is beautiful. Law seems to be more about a power which governs using fear as a motivator. Though N. Korea’s Kim is an extreme example of power gone wild, the story of revolutionary change in that country is being written by activists introducing art and music surreptitiously into the country on USB sticks. Then, the power of fear is attacked frontally by the inspired action of freedom fighters bringing movies that tell stories, music that sings joy, and documentaries that teach potential.
We’ll see! IBO has the arts on the front line. Our top people and our leading projects are inspired by the arts. We aim to inspire in the days ahead.