SA Rocks

No matter how smart you are, how much money you have, how many Facebook/MySpace/SecondLife/real.world friends you’ve amassed, what cool companies you work with, how deep your bloodline runs, how beautiful your car, computer, phone, house, partner is :: none of it really counts until you do something that only YOU came here to do. Unlike anyone else.

When you’re in the company of someone who is doing their life’s work it’s almost impossible not to be profoundly rocked.

I’ve just been through a heavy course that walloped me back into my Maxness. Part of what defines me is the Hunter of Genius gene:: I’m lucky enough to know some of the exceptional people who are powerfully influencing South Africa.. people who are brave enough to have surrendered the safe options to follow their vision. [Respect to those whose lifework is to open the way for others to live their dreams. Confidently. We need more of you guys]

This isn’t about feeding the cult of celebrity: where you’re only worthy if you’ve been on TV, earn a million a month, or recognised at the supermarket. It IS about celebrating the genius of YOUR unique coding & expresssion. Like Van Gogh, Tesla or Bach, many brilliant humans sadly blazed in anonymity or died in poverty, their gift to humanity discovered a little late. Outward success is not a reliable indicator of future radiance. It’s not a bad idea to get the word out a little earlier, because the world isn’t good at rewarding those who don’t market themselves, no matter how talented or brilliant.

As with every age or movement, it’s always the strength of the characters & individuals who colour the stories and drive social evolution. I’m cracking open my black.book to celebrate those who rock my world.

So every Monday at SARocks will be devoted to someone I’m excited to share with you.. to connect, inspire or support..

PS. thanks to Nic who embodies all the good stuff that makes this place rock!

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..this could be one of those obvious no-brainers – but then again it might just be one of the deepest questions we can ask ourselves (if existential’s your thing)..

but just for today – why are you literally here: why do you live in the city that you do, the continent , the climate, the neighbourhood that you do? What makes a place feel like home.

I was chatting to a guy from Burundi who sought to assure me that “white people like the cold“, or at least extremes of temperature (WTF?! was my initial reaction followed in due course by much uproarious laughter.. then curiousity).

It got me thinking about how we humans move about on our great big home.ball. Why do we cluster where we do? If every modern human, [no matter how different we look 50 000 years on] started walking from the deserts of Southern Africa, why hell didn’t we all stop when we made it to the tropics, kick it back on the beaches, pick low-hanging fruit & make music? Surely that would be sensible?

If there’s one thing that I have learnt from studying the learning patterns & cognitive evolution of our species it’s this:

Humans aren’t machines. (oh yeah max, how profound!) smirk if you will, but governments around the world, incredibly smart people with MBA’s, multinational companies and grade 8 teachers are true believers. No matter how efficient the system, it’s never a guarantee that humans will work efficiently or be perfectly trained. We just aren’t an engineering problem. We are fundamentally counter.intuitive in our behaviour, and though we may honestly believe that we would be happiest lolling in an endless summer, that we truly want peace, that we really really want to live in luxury and ease.. our history says otherwise.

The weird thing about humans is that we ACTIVELY choose challenge. We yearn to grow beyond ourselves, to make a dent in history. It may be part of a greater plan (Orgel’s 2nd Law – “evolution is smarter than you are”). Yet for some peculiar reason, you have chosen to live where you do (even if you feel like you’re irrevocably bound – mortgage, marriage or money – remember there were decision points along the way).

If, today, you find yourself living in a place that irritates you, scares you but occassionally inspires you & makes your heart leap – you’re home. This place has a challenge level appropriate to your spirit.

If you’re one of those people who works best under pressure, and you love the rush when you’ve accomplished something that you thought was impossible; this is doubly true for you. We have the ability to be digital nomads, free to roam our world & ply our trade. Why are you here? What did you come to do here? Is it just to ingest info, to be productive, manage efficiently, reproduce, consume goods to keep the wheels of the economy going. Work.Buy.Display.Repeat ?

When we try to apply the rationality of engineering processes to our lives, somehow the wheels come off. [Admittedly there are some for whom it works - but generally they're not the kind of people you enjoy hanging around with at a braai]. You’re here for a reason, and it’s probably not a rational one, or you too would probably be Shaiking in your boots and packing for Perth.

It’s the one in your heart. Remember why you stay here.

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WOW.. what an interesting week this has been. Have you been finding that there are more opportunities, changes, things to learn, things to read, people to meet than you’ve got time for?

.. the feeling of how the hell am I EVER going to catch up?!

I woke up this morning with the words of powerful exponent of innovation and leadership – GE’s Jack Welch – cutting through the clutter.

Shun the incremental, and look for the quantum leap

As South Africans this kind of thinking is crucial to our success. Anyone who’s travelled through countries with developed economies and you’ll agree that we haven’t a hope of catching up if we choose a tried & tested, conservative, incremental route to get there.

I laughingly inferred that the Patricia de Lille camp had strategically been campaigning a la Bullard on the post that I thought I was posting for SA Rocks on Monday. South Africa has slipped backed again on the Global Entrepreneurial Monitor’s annual report. Nigeria kicks our butt in entrepreneurial confidence, and hungrily using any tools that give inexpensive leverage.

Technology, particularly web and mobile technology offer us the opportunity to circumvent the heavy infrastructure that was historically required to be a world force. South Africa’s success in business or politics requires a perception shift, from working hard to working smart.. the lifeblood charged with embracing innovation. Innovation requires leadership to provide a solid framework, and guidance but NOT control. Do our leaders have that level of courage?

“Small companies have huge competitive advantages. They are uncluttered, informal. They thrive on passion and ridicule bureaucracy. Small companies grow on good ideas – regardless of their source. They need everyone, involve everyone, and reward or remove people based on their contribution to winning. Small companies dream big dreams and set the bar high – increments and fractions don’t interest them.”

Confidence always precedes courage. The risk to venture into using emerging technology or taking the entrepreneurial leap, is most often not taken because of a lack of knowledge. Being clear kills fear.

I’m helping to design the Nomadic Marketing course running at the UCT Graduate School of Business using the principles of tech-enhanced brain-based learning to make a daunting subject relevant and immediately useful. [So if you find yourself at sitting next to someone at dinner who's in digital denial.. send them the link. They NEED to know how easy it actually is to use technology without being a geek or spending a fortune now]

South Africa hasn’t got the luxury of waiting for the hand-me-down, safe applications of social technology if we have big dreams for our little country.

BUT if we’re happy hanging out on the benches .. then slamming blogger’s rights, or waiting till the “playing field” is levelled is the surest path. Uninspired, derivative success is guaranteed, we’re getting there: slowly and incrementally.

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One of the things that I’ve seen come up time & time again on the blogs of our local web.entrepreneurs is the sheer frustration at the lack of innovation in the ideas that get funded.

What’s going on here? Is it risk-aversion or just a lack of creativity? Are we South Africans a little short on the firespark of innovation? For a country with such diversity, such a powerful emotion.soaked history, it can’t be because we have a shortage of inspiration.

I believe it’s fear. PLEASE challenge me with strong evidence to the contrary if you believe this wrong. But I see a leadership that shows the backs down in matters of moral courage & calls it diplomacy. An education system that only rewards us when we conform, and give the right answers. Banks that cheerfully charge like a bull & foreclose if you fail in your first round of business. And let’s not go near the productivity.leeching ball & chain Telkom. Innovation just isn’t supported by industry, society or infrastructure, because it’s RISKY & requires change, and potential loss to those who have the current system serving them well. Oh yeah, and in-built is the possibility of looking like an ass. It requires courage to be different.

I would LOVE to see SA starting to shake off the shackles of learned helplessness and shining as one of the brightest hubs of fresh ideas. But it won’t happen if we don’t step a little beyond the tried & tested. One sure-fire way to ignite creative genius is creating a culture that supports the brave. The Free Culture Tour was a small but potent reminder that we need to individually start rocking it hard if we want this country to get the right kind of attention (that we can be proud of please – not the Bullard version – there are times when all PR is good PR is bollocks)

So there a couple of things that you can do today to start rocking with the revolution:

1. Support Creative Commons esp. iCommons because the global HQ is here in SA!! If you have a healthy interest in change & a healthy bank account, consider being a benefactor (or get your company to sponsor – hint: sweet branding opportunity)
2. Use your inborn genius to think of creative ways around the stuff that doesn’t work efficiently here, create a business out of it or create a rock.solid campaign & join or start a lobbying group to influence policy.making.
3. If you have expertise in a particular field and speak another (official) South African language contribute your knowledge to Wikipedia. (Afrikaans up & running already)
4. If you’re a creator & your inspiration overflows – consider offering some of your brillance to the world to play with – video, text, art, design, ideas. Rock a Creative Commons license on it to get attribution :: & set it free

PS. if you want to support iCommons I’ve done a couple of buttons you can grab & use as you choose (a linkto: http://icommons.org would be schweeeet & seriously appreciated).

Get creative & take more daring actions this week & use your powers for good!

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Bullard’s heated sideswipe blistered the blogosphere ..and just blasted home another powerful reason why SA ROCKS! what?! Why in the world would I claim this as a positive about South Africa?

The constitutional right to freedom of speech that each of us enjoys today has been exercised. Regardless of whether that opinion is one we share or rail vehemently against – the RIGHT to express that opinion is something we enjoy in this country. For now.

Set in a global context, there are people are being jailed in Iran, Egypt, China, Zimbabwe for the rights we enjoy here. (For those impassioned enough to write in response consider lending your voice to the greater force for good, bloggers & ‘real‘ journalists lives are at stake for the right to banter as we do). Even if it’s hate speech or degrading polemic humans have a birthright to rant.

I heartily agree that most of the blogosphere is bogus bollocks – it’s reflective of life.

“The best argument against democracy is a five minute talk with the average voter.” -Winston Churchill

But thanks to search engines and RSS I don’t need to come into contact with unnecessary swill enroute to the good stuff. We have choice what to pay attention to, rather than being offered a slim filter of what is deemed acceptable by those who know better than you (you swarthy heaving masses who need your untamed minds tranquilised for civility).

Like Wikipedia you have the right to put up whatever crap you like, but eventually knowledge neutrality smoothes out what is flaming unsubstantiated bullshite ..and oddly enough the result is an increasingly accurate view of reality to date.

So I have the right to be irritated by the article, but the only thing that could have done with editing was the peculiar association with the Virginia Tech massacre. The right to free expression had Seung-Hui Cho flagged by his professors for his violent and malevolent spewings in creative writing classes. He was a writer but not a blogger, and that fetid association sparked the flame of fury online because it was baseless.

I do certainly agree with the headline that cowardly cowering behind anonymity online allows for the depraved and sexually-frustrated to exercise their power to disseminate fear. But oddly very FEW bloggers take the route of anonymous expression – particularly because they AREN’T paid. Humans always have to have a What’s In It For Me angle. Like David Bullard, the majority of bloggers are out there to get attention. Within an Attention Economy this can translate into being paid if you prove your expertise. Most drop their blogs when they don’t get enough attention in reward, because they’re braindrainingly dull. Natural selection. But I digress.

We are so damn lucky to have the window of opportunity to evade being muzzled in this playground of paperless publishing. Policies of control instituted when people are reacting out of fear plays right into the hands of unhealthy dictatorship – political, religious or corporate. 1 order of thought-leadership not thought-control please.

This is not about oldskool journos vs bright young bloggers, it is about seeing the potency of words to shift attention. Those with the most power are those with the biggest audiences, simple. This is why entertainers & sportstars can command surreal salaries – they can capture and sustain attention. Traditional media has earned its sway. It is evolving, but still commands the lionshare and its effect proven today.

Bullard trippingly set a trap to test the bloggy waters & found his bait handsomely rewarded. It would have been a wonderful time to translate that attention: but wait, hark! ..you think Groogle hasn’t been sharing a tip or two with the man. LOL!! Ray and teamsters have been hard at work, and no doubt delighting in David taking on the bad cop role so eagerly. Sun Tzu, nay Machiavelli would be glowing with pride.

David Bullard is a court jester among the finest of the archetype, sparing no sacred cow.

Give thanks that you woke up in South Africa today, and blog for all you’re worth. Rock your bullhorn boys & girls. Who knows, you may even refine your skills and one day rise to the hallowed domain of the pressroom, I know you all secretly long for it, now dontcha?!

PS. check Bullard’s response on video (sorry bandwidth starved South Africans, but this one’s worth it)

PPS. use your powers for good and support freedom of the press, or join ISOC’s policy-making committee on digital freedom – one day this may affect you.

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Last week South Africa played host to two freedom fighters of the digital domain. Genius of stature both. Founders of culture-shaking organisations that are reshaping our reality: Prof Lawrence Lessig (Creative Commons) and Jimmy Wales (Wikipedia).

[The heavyweight slammers with Sunday Times' Gregor Rohrig on his birthday]

I believe the SA Free Culture Tour (thanks Heather Ford & team of iCommons) has marked a turning point in ZA digital culture. It was huge fun, but there was also a huge message to get more active in policy-making and culture-building to ensure South Africa doesn’t slip into digital obscurity.

If you give a damn about the future of this country, especially if you intend to keep living here, I suggest a little listen to some of the recordings (the Sunday Times’ Special Report especially good). Unless of course you really enjoy limited bandwidth, paying staggering costs for the right to connect with other humans on the planet or other such injustices.. (there are those who enjoy S&M so I don’t want to assume, but I’d say the likelihood is that most of us find being a Telkom hostage horrifying).

We have more to be concerned about than the irritation of cost. The real tragedy of Telkom’s trickleflow of telecommunications to this promising young country, is that with the digital world accelerating and opening global connections of trade, education, distribution and capital flow, if we are left puttering in the slowlane it won’t be long before South Africa becomes a backwater. The braindrain will continue to pour out and Africa will be the poorer for their lack of foresight. [check Chilibean Paul throwing a solid klap at the parasitical parastatal]

We don’t need to whinge impotently about it though, there are a couple of things that we can do to respectfully suggest a longer-term vision.

Joining ISOC’s (Internet Society of South Africa) Public Policy group is a good start. Getting a proactive creative strategy mapped out for policy changes to help government serve us better is a great alternative to filling out all those tedious working visa forms. When you’re feeling particularly infuriated as your mailbox needs panelbeating from the last Telkom bill crashing in, take heart, you never know when you may find your self seated next to our Minister of Public Works Alec Irwin or Dr Ivy Matsepe-Cassaburi for dinner. You may have the opportunity to present that 3,8million signature strong petition you’ve collected through your site, politely, (with dessert to avoid indigestion).

If we all have a clear and constructive, practical approach to the problem, we may well offer our expertise as allies to help the government get Telkom out of the sticky patch of greed and seeming indifference to the future it has stumbled into. I’m going to take the Jimmy Wales’ default optimism stance, and believe that people inherently want to do good – even telecom monopoly excutives.

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Pardon me if I’m going on about this, but I am flippin’excited about the SA Free Culture Tour. Particularly for the fact that CAPE TOWN, not Jozi for once gets to have the lion’s share of the fun. If you don’t know by now:

Jimmy Wales (iconic founder of Wikipedia) and uberbrain Lawrence Lessig (lead revolutionary of Creative Commons) are going to be rocking the muthacity this week!

There are events through the week, but the BringnBraai party is going to ROCK solidly! Serious, SArockstars get your bums hustled along & come & join us, don’t forget to bring blank CDs to hook up some kif free content & beats.

PS. we are looking for sponsors to pay for Jimmy’s flight : in reward you’ll get to chill with the guys at the braai, get a logo on the blog and respect on the night [if you have any promo goodies you want distributed we can organise]. Show your colours & support the revolution as a freedom fighter for global culture.

PPS. (and you get to claim that you helped bring Jimmy Wales to South Africa! how cool is THAT!) Get in contact with Heather Ford (director of iCommons) or leave a comment & I’ll contact you

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Geeks, creatives, muzos & freedom fighters for the common good ..boys & girls of TALENT across this beautiful land.. this one’s for you >>

If crowdsourcing and wikis, collaborative creative projects and flickr have been a part of your life recently you want to pay attention to this. The founder of Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales and Creative Commons founder, Lawrence Lessig are going to be in South Africa this month!

The shape of our reality is changing, and the global economy is morphing and moving at a pace that is mindblowing from a macro level. These two men are at that leading edge. Driving its progress and monitoring its boundaries as it heaves and swells with the force of millions of people’s contributions to our evolving metabrain.
No mistaking, this is deep. If you want to interact realtime with true genius: I suggest you go to iCommons, check the program & if you aren’t in Cape Town, go book a flight, pronto >> you don’t want to miss this.

And besides – there’s a PARTY! afterwards on Friday 20th – I know all you Jozi guys need an excuse to come to Cape Town, this may be the one!

PS. even if you can’t come to join us – sharing is caring – we’d LOVE it if you grabbed the pic & link above & shared it on your site :: the more support we can show for this the better for ALL of US

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Winter’s on it’s way.. the Southern Hemisphere has taken the tilt into cooler days to come.
…sounds a bit bleak? Not a chance!

One of the top reasons stated for people coming to live in South Africa is the great weather. It’s been another glorious Southern summer, but the winter wonderland is about to unfold: and Cape Town is one of the best places to be, if you must endure winter*

If you happen to live here it’s the beginning of the fireside, friends, wine & wild wave season. It’s the season for the locals & secret spots. If you’re a surfer this is when it starts getting really exciting..
Big ripples from the powerful Antarctic storms start rolling towards our shores.

I know one friend who will be missing it madly because he’s moved to Jozi, bigwave surfer and wonderbeing Christof Appel, know he’ll be finding lots of excuses to come home in the months to come. The best way to find out when you should be heading to shore to meet the thundering giants is to get the feed from Dr Spike (of Wavescape fame). If you’re a surfer I don’t need to introduce you to the legendary Wavescape, but if you aren’t: I’d be honoured to introduce you to one of my favourite SA Rocking it hard sites.. don’t miss out on the catching this one. It’s right at the heart of SA surf culture’s adrenalised pulse.

You can get THE country’s best surf report in your mailbox/sms, check the pics of Durb’s being hammered by some early monster sets, learn some surfrican slang, meet the ZA surfstars, get insider travel info for a little SA surftripping.. etc.etc. it’s jammers with goodstuff. Just go, it’s kif, promise. Okay, I am a little biased because I learnt surf.reporting and general surfstoke from working with Spike.. but it’s no exaggeration to say that Wavescape is among the planet’s best surf portals, you can be seriously proud of this South African product.

[And yes, I used to surf (this was my 2nd beloved board that would toss me about like an untamed horse in the waves) but I'm shocking at it. Wearing a 4:3:2 wetsuit and still getting screaming ice-cream headaches from the friggid Atlantic waters is not superfun. However: pop me in the worldclass J-Bay waters at play with dolphins and the solid chance of spotting a surfing legend like the delicious Kelly Slater or our local heroes like Cass Collier out on the back.line & I’ll paddle in for sure

In the meantime.. I’m looking forward to enjoying a season of Stormhoek & watching the storm.spawned surf from the cozy shore, yum..

* hmmm.. I think somebody ought to give me an honourary position in Cape Town Tourism – this is absurd! I heart Cape Town. reaaaally?!.. no kidding Max.

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High winds fanned a spark that erupted into a wildfire that spread into the forests on Signal Hill that overlooks Cape Town yesterday. This happens occassionally though summer in our beautiful mountain- and forest-encircled city. As always, it was high drama with the sky looking like a helicopter highway swinging big buckets of water in their wake, firetrucks wailing as the blaze devoured trees and flirted with a line of houses. Through the night the fire carefully subdued & by morning was out thanks to the emergency crews who stepped up to help – MOST of them volunteers.

Who does this? Who the hell jumps into a full jumpsuit on a blazing summer’s day to battle towering flames or flies into a blinding wall of heat and choking acrid smoke – without being paid to do something so insane?

Bright brave people whose jobs clearly don’t give them their daily dose of purpose they crave – some of the local crew are accountants, MBA students, attorneys, CFO’s, a lot of techheads – not your average burly fireman/paramedic archetype. I think that what drives a lot of these heroic men & women is the privilege of being in the company of other brave people. Among them you won’t find too many that are parking off and sharpening their pointy perfection pencil to prod those in the public eye while whining about how kak stuff is. Continue Reading

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