Issue #9
Time to Dream?
A few years ago, a friend recommended that I read Utopia for Realists: How We Can Build the Ideal World by Dutch historian and philosopher Rutger Bregman. This great little book advocates three simple ideas: Universal Basic Income, a 15 hours workweek and open borders for the free movement of people.
Today, we spend a lot of energy focusing on the follies of our time: how to accelerate our socio-economic machinery so humanity can crash on the planetary boundaries even faster.
Yes, I am being sarcastic here. But the same picture is to be seen everywhere: climate change, droughts, health crisis, social injustice, biodiversity loss, loneliness and depression. Scientists have been warning us for decades, Pope Francis and UN Chief Antonio Guterres have now joined them. Together, they make a nice background music we can listen to when we need to feel concerned or to alleviate our consciousness.
Maurice Strong, the Canadian businessman who co-initiated the 1992 Rio Earth Summit would have said about the summit that “there were many heads of state, but no real leaders.”
Today’s heads of state are no different. They are managers that can navigate through a jungle of competing interests, optimising existing economic “processes” and keeping day to day “operations” running. They are focused on the “now”… leading us nowhere. They have no grand vision, no dream to share.
As Greta Thunberg famously (and angrily) expressed during her speech at the UN: “You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words.”
Yes, we need a dream
We need a positive dream that will give us the energy to achieve the seemingly impossible. Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream. He changed America. The Wright Brothers had a dream. Humans have walked on the Moon!
And that is where Rutger C. Bregman’s book can help: in teaching us how to dream again.
Let’s look at his propositions one by one:
The 15 hours workweek is a beautiful idea… if you don’t like your work. I think we can dream bigger: could we imagine a system where everyone had a fulfilling job? We would not be counting our hours and looking forward to retirement. (And pension reforms would be greatly facilitated!) Yes, some vocations might not be sufficiently rewarded in our current system and, for better or worse, shelter or food aren’t free.
That is where universal basic income could help, not only in alleviating poverty, but also in freeing energies for less profitable endeavours. Artists would freely create the art that will fill our grandchildren’s museums. Inventors could take the time to imagine the next breakthroughs.
If all this sounds like a utopia, it is! But not because it is impossible: many successful experimentations have been run all over the world. It is simply that no leader has yet had the courage to push through.
Anthropology teach us that human societies can change dramatically throughout history and I am convinced universal basic income could be part of a sustainable social organisation.
But we can dream even bigger with Rutger’s third proposition: open frontiers.
I love sharing with people of various cultures and learning from them. But with about 60 open conflicts in the world today, it is indeed hard to imagine frontiers opening globally. However, that should not prevent us from dreaming! After all, who would have imagined 100 years ago free movement of people across the Franco-German border, let alone most of Europe?
Dream big. Start small
Dreams do not have to be realised overnight. Successful entrepreneurs have taught us that we can (or must?) start small to achieve big things.
Borders are not only between countries: they are everywhere between people from different areas, of different ages or with different social backgrounds. Maybe we could start by opening these “little borders”? And maybe this could give us the momentum to later open the “bigger borders”?
One example of a small step is that of a medium size company offering cleaning services (on which we conducted an extra-financial due diligence earlier this year). Most employees were immigrants and work was organised so that they could take language classes and acquire an essential skill to communicate, integrate and grow. A simple and elegant solution that only required creativity on the part of the management and customers to make it possible.
Another example of reorganising things to make a difference is that of Alenvi: Last year, I had the pleasure of interviewing Guillaume DESNOES, co-founder of the company with his partners, Thibault de Saint Blancard and Clement Saint Olive. They wrote a beautiful little book (La Société du Lien in French) in which they explain how they build multiple businesses that reinforce human relationships. Again, simple ideas that needed imagination to reorganise work in order to build bridges between people and emphasise their well-being.
In both examples, these successful companies get paid for the service they render. The big difference is in the mindset: “how can I grow WITH my environment and FOR our mutual benefit?”
Not only will this question help us find ways to make our dreams reality, it is also a great guide to avoid catastrophic maladaptations like the mega-basins build to circumvent water restriction rules or some huge renovation works that will emit more CO2 than they will save on the lifespan of the renovated skyscraper.
What is your dream?
I dream of a fully circular economy where we could all use our talents to build a rich, diverse and thriving environment. And it may sound naive, but I believe this world is possible! However, before diving into the circularity concept in the upcoming letters,
I have one simple question: WHAT IS YOUR DREAM?
Please share your hopes, comments or questions below. Maybe we could imagine one big dream and find ways of making our world an even better place.
As usual, this letter, originally published on LinkedIn, is meant to open a discussion: join it here.
Lenny Kessler