Impulse acting

Intuitively innovating, with a finger on the pulse

Š Gorsad

Entrepreneurship

Ime s l u P Ac tin g

Skills

Design The younger generations are the quickest in identifying and seizin g opportunities in today’s economy. They are used to instant information, instant gratific ation and instant reactions. Their intuition is better trained, so they know how to mo ve in a society with diminishing structures and an unknown future. In their bold and driven hunt they search for ways to bring about the ir plans. And because they are chi ldre n of their time they have their finger on the pulse.

Many find their way, devise innova tive solutions and drive things forward.

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Education

The

power

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intuition

Today, the increased pace and the wide range of possibilities compel us to take more and faster decisions than ever before and much more information is available on which we can base our decisions. In new situations, there is no time to make a thorough cost-benefit analysis. Intuition acts as a compass in these situations.

And the more you develop your intuition, the faster you can obtain a clear understanding of the situation and instinctively identify the best course of action.

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Intuition provides you with views, understanding, judgements, or beliefs that we cannot in every case empirically verify or rationally justify. There are different forms of intuition. O r d i n a r y i n t u i t i o n is a form of emotion: feeling, not thinking. E x p e r t i n t u i t i o n allows you to make intuitive decisions based on knowledge acquired in previous situations. It is a fast form of intuition and is most common in business but only works in familiar situations. S t r a t e g i c i n t u i t i o n is the opposite: it’s thinking, not feeling. Strategic intuition is slow and it works for new situations.

This difference is crucial because expert intuition can be the enemy of strategic intuition. As you get better at your job, you recognise patterns that let you solve similar problems faster and faster. That’s expert intuition at work. In new situations your brain takes much longer to make enough new connections to find an effective answer. If you want to respond constructively to change, it is useful to switch off your expert intuition and disconnect the old dots, to let new ones connect on their own.

Good ideas come to you as flashes of insight, often when you least expect it. It hits you, you connect the dots, and you know what to do. That’s how innovators create their innovations, how artists conceive their creative ideas, how visionaries dream up their vision and how scientists make their discoveries.

Behind every story involving a significant advance there is a turning point where someone has a useful idea that changes the field or starts a new one. Strategic intuition describes what happens in the mind of whoever has that idea.

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Often young entrepreneurs don’t have any expertise. And this is exactly why they are good at strategic intuition. They are open and alert to their environs and what occurs around them. They skilfully use their networks, cope successfully with information overload in a data driven society and effectively sense what the n e e d s a n d o p p o r t u n i t i e s a r e i n t o d a y ’ s w o r l d. They create fast and in the moment. They don’t wait for permission or need proof to be confirmed about the brilliance of their idea. Bottom-up innovation in which young people excel is one of the most fascinating phenomena today.

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How can you stimulate your intuition? Can intuition be trained at all? Kids today grow up with intuitive technology and learn in an intuitive manner. Classic education is not adapted to this. O 4 N T aims to provide a solution, with a new type of school, which affords the digital world a prominent place alongside the real world. It is fine example of individualised education, in which the teacher increasingly takes on the role of coach. Pupils each receive their own tablet and use it to access the virtual school. Since September 2013, the Netherlands has seen seven different S t e v e J o b s s c h o o l s emerge.

The aim is to provide children with education that is adapted to the 21st century. educationforanewera.com

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Background: young & impulsive As a society we are increasingly experiencing impulsiveness as a disturbing factor. Our ancestors had to be impulsive in order to survive. They were driven by rewards obtained in the short term. As society became more organised, it became increasingly important to plan in advance. However the future is unpredictable in a rapidly changing society that is casting off fixed structures. It is difficult to plan ahead and perhaps less relevant too. In order to evolve and move forward, we must respond to change without being afraid of making the wrong decisions.

Focus

on

Generation

Z

Generation Y (born between 1980 and 1994) was already an extremely entrepren eurial generation. However Generation Z is even more ambitiou s. They grew up in a crisis and have a real fighting spirit. While Generation Y wants to fulfill its dreams, Generation Z have proven to be ingeniou s problem solvers. They go their own way and make optimal use of all the online channels with which they are familiar. They don’t need education or qualifications. They teach themselves the tricks of the trade using numerous online sources and learning platforms.

Social media and access to knowledg e has shaped Generation Z into an eman cipated, social, mature generation. They s e e k m e n t o r s in their areas of interest via blogs, Twitter or e-mail, who are only too happy to help these youn g talented entrepreneurs take the right decisions. Companies are increasingly looking for young talen t themselves. And there are many start -up programmes to support young entrepreneurs. This generation of business-savvy entrepreneurs are the CEOs of tomorrow and will leave Generation Y trailing in their wake .

Social researcher Mark McCrindle, of Sydney-based McCrindle Research, studied Generation Z for seven years. “They are the most conn ected, educated and sophisticated gene ration in history.” And he states, just like we did in our previous trend report: “They don’t just represent the future, they are creating it.” They cooperate effectively, are decis ive bellwethers and embrace disruptive ideas. Where Generation Z goes, our world goes.” And fortunate ly they want the best for the world. The Financial Times posed the question: “Generation Z, the world’s saviours?” We are already believers.

So like, I’m curious as to how all this came about, I guess it all came natu rally, but what where the major things that brought you to where you are? drugs, friends and the Internet Question and answer in Molly Soda’s

blog

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Flashback

In our last report we discussed the realistic optimism of the Millennials. Intuitively s e a r c h i n g f o r s o l u t i o n s t o t o d a y ’ s p r o b l e m s with the simple desire to make the world a little better.

Future

Preparedness

Young people are resilient beings. They are not taken aback by prophecies of doom and crises. They see the future as a challenge and prepare for it. They fantasise, join forces and are not scared of approaching things pragmatically. They are not entrepreneurs with grand ideologies; they hold ideals, which they approach realistically.

Ready for future challenges, with a hands-on mentality.

Entire libraries and video shops have been filled with fantasies about the future. Nowadays we circumnavigate the globe in 40 hours, instead of Jules Verne’s 80 days. We are no longer surprised by the Big Brother-type situations George Orwell already warned us for. And Star Trek’s Gene Roddenberry would turn in his grave if he’d hear that ‘space’ is no longer ‘the final frontier’. A mere $200,000 will buy us a trip to space in the near future. But even though science and technology have achieved more than our forefathers even could dare to hope for, there is a great deal of pessimism today about what the future holds in stake.

Not among young people. By honouring the slogan ‘the best way to predict the future, is to create it’, they search for solutions. W i t h b o t h f e e t o n t h e g r o u n d a n d w i t h a s e n s e o f r e s p o n s i b i l i t y. Web2.0 has empowered young people in the most spectacular ways. Social networking sites, blogs, wikis and video sharing sites have provided young people with the tools to school themselves and to build up something from scratch. They can make a difference with a good idea, the right contacts and minimum funding. Their intention is not to make as much rofit as possible. Rather they strive to develop a product that is meaningful to society.

We constantly ask young people how they envisage the future. These are some of their answers:

We live in a fantastic era, everything is gradually becoming technological.

We are going to experience the most amazing things.

Gertjan, 23

My optimistic side sees the modern world flourishing with advancements in technology leading us to hitherto unforeseen triumphs as a species. On the flipside, it’s equally plausible to envisage a world in which centuries of neglect will lead to calamitous circumstances. The eventual scenario is probably somewhere in the middle.

I don’t think there have ever been as many opportunities for young people; you just have to seize them firmly with both hands.

Thomas, 25

James Aviaz, 32

I feel the world is in good hands. The Internet can connect people who haven’t had access to knowledge, and who knows what amazing positive ideas they will come up with! And I’ve met kids of my own age who are passionate about what they do and about changing the world for the better.

Jack Andraka, 17

The crisis is the beginning and the end. And it is our generation that will take this world forward.

Luna Miguel, 24

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Change can’t happen on its own, just as you can’t achieve dreams if you never work for them. What good is wishing without building? You won’t make it to that castle in the sky unless you build your steps. We are the generation, the catalysts of change to fuel our destinies.

Rebecca Garcia, 23

Interview

Fr om p r ob l em t o s ol ut ion : a s t a r t - u p s t o r y Gertjan and Thomas found it easier to organise parties and events than to study.

Gertjan did study ‘a bit of IT’. Thomas tried his hand at event management and advertising but neither was really his cup of tea. They hadn’t met yet but shared a passion for music events and technology as well as frustration resulting from the inefficiency with which events are organised: “walkie-talkies and ridiculously large Excel sheets that nobody can make head or tail of.” Gertjan went in search of a software solution to this problem. Thomas was looking for someone that could find a solution. They met and set off on their adventure. Today, Beatswitch is a fact, they employ seven staff members and Tomorrowland is their first client.

Thomas: Beatswitch is a platform that the music sector uses to communicate and cooperate. We wanted to s i m p l i f y t h e p r a c t i c a l s i d e for all parties: a r t i s t s , b o o k i n g a g e n c i e s a n d o r g a n i s e r s. Now they can perform all their tasks on a single platform.

It was rather complex in development terms but the strength is that you create a closed circle. And that it is free for artists.

Personal contact opens doors. You don’t get anywhere in this sector with a regurgitated sales pitch.

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Gertjan admits that he is still a rebel. “In the beginning I wanted to do everything and I thought that I didn’t need anyone else. Then at a certain point you run into a wall and realise that you do need other people to elevate your idea to another level. I particularly lacked sales experience, I went to present Beatswitch to Laundry Day and it went disastrously wrong. I was already following Idealabs* to a certain extent. I then submitted the project to Idealabs in June 2013 and we were invited to pitch. And it worked. And that’s where I met Thomas.”

“I convinced him to let me jump on board”, adds Thomas. “Gertjan had already done a lot of the work.”

Gertjan: There were 75 registrations for the Idealabs a c c e l e r a t o r p r o g r a m m e.

Finally we were the only ones left and we received all the coaches’ attention. That was a great help.

Three months of intensive support, free office space, room for holding meetings and events. And the possibility of attending all the Idealabs events free of charge.

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The ball had started rolling, the money from Idealabs was in the bank and the young men decided they had to go further. Looking for investors they presented their project alongside eight other start-ups.

Thomas: We clicked immediately with the final investors. They made a good offer but it was the click that was particularly important. Jumping on board with investors means you relinquish part of the ownership.

It also has to click with clients. And that immediately gives us an excuse to party. We c o m b i n e t h e f u n e l e m e n t w i t h t h e p r o d u c t i v e. In this sector you first have to establish a personal contact, which opens doors. You can’t just launch into a regurgitated sales pitch.” * Telenet Idealabs is an accelerator program lasting between 4 and 8 months that boosts tech and media ideas through seed-funding, intensive mentoring, a creative workspace, professional services and leverage of the Telenet network.

73 Gertjan De Wilde (23) Thomas Van Orsh aegen (25) Founders BeatSwitch Based in Antwerp @gertjanwilde, @TVNRSH GN beatswitch.com

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Idealabs helped them to produce a prototype and test it in the market. They taught themselves how to set up a company and establish a company culture. By t r i a l a n d e r r o r.

“It went fast. Managing a team is a serious affair. If you have never done it before you certainly get a reality check,” states Gertjan. “You have to learn everything. Such as the first time you talk to a client; it’s all a challenge. And if your company grows quickly you grow even faster as a person.”

Thomas: And if you have investors you are also accountable. Just as you are to your employees.

However this makes you push yourself even more and introduce more structure to the company.”

Gertjan: “You have your u p s a n d d o w n s. We have had some serious arguments but it’s all part of it. Knowing that you’ll arrive in the morning, drink a cup of coffee and get going with the team, it’s great.”

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What binds the men is their vision and drive. “We want to s t i m u l a t e c r e a t i v i t y i n t h e s e c t o r. The time that organisers and booking agencies save with our application can be used to improve the visitor’s experience and work on the music,” says Gertjan. Thomas enthusiastically joins in: “We have already met a couple of the sector’s major players. We get to meet them and even help them with our product. That is absolutely fantastic.”

Gertjan: We want to do something good. After all, we are in a way, also helping to screw up the world.

We have to change something before it’s too late.

Thomas: We are a generation that realises that we have to make a contribution. Everyone tries to interpret it in his or her own personal way. Many festivals evolve into multinationals, which different teams must be able to manage remotely. Beatswitch offers a solution for this need.

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Neither of these guys comes from a family of entrepreneurs. Though Gertjan’s best friends are all entrepreneurs. “All ex- top sports people. We are independent and couldn’t work for a boss”, he announces with a grin. “Entrepreneurship amongst young people in Belgium is not considered cool just yet. That said, a lot has changed in the past year. Organisations and schools are making more of an effort to make business sexy.”

Thomas: If we look for a developer we will find him or her in an agency, not wasting their time, but not fully exploiting their talent. That’s a shame. I don’t think there have ever been as m a n y o p p o r t u n i t i e s f o r y o u n g p e o p l e; you just have to seize them firmly with both hands: be bold and break down some doors.

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It is not entirely clear where Beatswitch is heading. But they’re surely brimming with ambition.

Thomas: The focus is currently on making this a sound business, acquiring great clients that open doors to other festivals. We have compiled a list of ten festivals that we would like to have as clients one day. We want to m e a n s o m e t h i n g i n t h e s e c t o r that people cannot easily manage without. If Tomorrowworld appears then we will obviously have to think on a more international level. We may already have one in New Zealand in December. Festivals happen the whole year round, so we have to think big. New players also appear on the market, for example there are an increasing number of festivals taking place in India.

74 You have to learn everything.

And if your company grows quickly you grow even faster as a person.

We get to meet our heroes with our product, and even help them. That is absolutely fantastic.

My friends are also entrepreneurs. We couldn’t work for a boss.

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You must be shapeless, formless, like water. When you pour water in a cup, it becomes the cup. When you pour water in a bottle, it becomes the bottle. When you pour water in a teapot, it becomes the teapot.

Water can drip and it can crash. Become like water.

Bruce Lee

The criticism that young people are less likely to dig deep to find out or to memorise something, is justified. However there is also a positive side to the story according to paediatrician Michael Rich*. Where one skill is lost, another may be gained.

Their brains are rewarded not for staying on task, but for jumping to the next thing.

And that is a useful ability in the digital era. Their a d a p t i v e r e f l e x e s are better developed. They can switch faster, have more active working memories and are better at filtering information. In an increasingly rapid and complex world of organised chaos they possess the skills to respond in a flexible manner to disruption, to embrace opportunities and turn everything upside down if necessary.

By trial and error, focused on the future.

I look at the future with multifocal binoculars, always adapting the focus to the flux.

Cata Pirata (31) from Skip’n Die

If I come up with a good idea, I feel a great desire to implement it immediately. I don’t sleep that night, I drop everything I am doing at that moment and get started. I began working on the Let’s Play app one and a half years ago with Thomas Lievestro. Eight months later, we realised we were not on the right track. The app and interface were too focused on fanatical sports enthusiasts.

We literally threw everything out that we had made and started again from scratch.

Samuel Beek (19) from Let’s Play

Staying small is very interesting for us because it gives you the chance to constantly work with different artists instead of employing someone in your company and being responsible for them. By loosely experimenting in many directions with Glitchnap we are searching for our own identity in the games sector. Our goal is not necessarily to grow.

We just want to continue to do our thing and we will look for the right freelancers for each project.

Joon (28) from Glitchnap

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* Michael Rich, director of Harvard’s Centre of Media and Child Health, entered the field of medicine after a twelve-year career as a filmmaker. In his current areas of health research he brings together his experience and expertise in medicine and media.

F l e x i b l e

p r i c i n g :

c h a f f e r i n g

Young consumers are flexible but also expect others to be. If they order a black coffee without a biscuit, they want to pay less than their colleague who does consume milk and a biscuit. If there is a scratch on a device, they want it for 10% less. They are conscious of costs and they are often manufacturers and retailers themselves. They haggle and bargain, over prices, agreements, and deals. They want products, services and prices perfectly tailored to their personal needs. This also works the other way around. If a product is in demand, they are willing to pay more than the indicated price. That way, young people are creating their o w n p r i c i n g p o l i c y and their own values in relation to consumption.

There are already several market trends that respond to this need for customised prices. The G o D i s h a p p introduces dynamic pricing in the catering and hospitality industry. If customers collect their lunch before or after the busiest time of day, they get a discount. T r u s t is a lunch and coffee spot in Amsterdam that doesn’t apply fixed prices. Customers fully determine how much they pay for their food and drinks depending on their level of satisfaction. M e r i t is an online shop that allows customers to pay with their talent. If you upload an original video and showcase a particular talent, you can purchase various products. The products range from a kilo of rice to an iPod.

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Young people today grow up in a digital world, saturated with interactive screens and wireless technology.

Their relationship with information differs from previous generations particularly when it comes to speed and access. Their lives and social activities are constructed around the expectations of high speed, always-on connectivity. They live ‘in the moment’. They are used to technology that provides them with time and location-specific information, around which they organise their actions. They are not fans of plans and appointments. They want their decisions to be determined by the moment, ad-hoc and on demand.

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R e a l

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Responding to the need for instant gratification is an intense task for a business. Consumers are very demanding when it comes to service. They demand permanent availability and want to receive an immediate answer to their questions. In terms of marketing it is also important to set aside a budget for both major campaigns as well as impulsive campaigns, leaving the option open to respond quickly to current events. This ad hoc aspect involves real time marketing, based on up to date events, instead of creating a marketing plan in advance and executing it according to a fixed schedule. It is creating a strategy focused on current, relevant trends and immediate feedback from customers. The goal of real time marketing is to connect consumers with the product or service that they need now, in the moment. In February 2014, Evergage conducted a study of how marketeers from all over the world view real time marketing.

Tactics that Qualify as R e a l - T i m e M a r k e t i n g According to Marketing Professionals Worldwide, Feb 2014 % of respondents Personalizing content or creative in response to customer interactions 76%

Responding to customers in the context of their web interaction 74%

Responding to trends and specific cultural events in social media 68%

Live website chat 66%

Triggered emails 54%

Engaging with prospects & customers on social media with content and offers 49%

Mobile apps with geofencing 42%

Channels Used by Marketing Professionals Worldwide for R e a l - T i m e M a r k e t i n g, Feb 2014 % of respondents

Note: n=114 Source: Evergage, ‘Real-Time for the Rest of Us: Perceptions of Real-Time Marketing and How it’s Archieve’ fielded by Researchscape international, March 24, 2014

Note: n=97 Source: Evergage, ‘Real-Time for the Rest of Us: Perceptions of Real-Time Marketing and How it’s Archieve’ fielded by Researchscape international, March 24, 2014

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The TV event that probably supplied the most famous #selfie of all time was the Oscars of 2014.

S a m s u n g spent millions on it but seriously cashed in with regard to product placement. Ellen DeGeneres, popular host of the Oscars, asked Bradley Cooper to take a photo of her with several celebrities with her Samsung Galaxy. Meryl Streep, Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Lawrence, Julia Roberts, Lupita Nyong’o, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were happy to oblige, Ellen shared the photo on Twitter.

The snapshot became the most tweeted picture to date, even beating U.S. President Obama’s hugging Michelle after winning the 2012 election.

In fact responding to current events is not as easy at it might seem. By responding to an event, you automatically assume a point of view. This is precisely a quality that young people appreciate in brands: being brazen enough to make statement.

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Other companies also took advantage of the Oscars, such as NASA and Beats by Dre, an American producer of audio products.

Critics thought the situation had been staged but Samsung swore that Ellen’s selfie was totally spontaneous. Ellen was free to use the telephone and decided to take the photograph in the moment.

Spontaneous moneymakers Young people discover new media channels considerably faster than older generations. They pick up technology, experiment and use it in a playful manner. They intuitively create content that is eagerly viewed and shared. Companies and organisations need them to get social media attention. There are an increasing number of creatives that produce crazy short films and earn decent pocket money from sponsors as a result. The stars are asked to share messages or produce special sponsored short films.

For the rest they can simply carry on their crazy antics.

Social media stars can earn a lot of money especially in the United States. Eager to drive sales, luxury brands and retailers are offering outsize appearance fees to Internet-famous trendsetters. Princess Lauren (16, Miami), with 2.9 million followers, earns $2,000 per sponsored Vine. Cody Johns (24) with 2.3 million followers and Marcus Johns (20) with 5 million followers are asked for example to act dumb at the Oscars where they make short films. Marcus earns such a good living with Vine that he is now considering quitting his studies at Florida State University. vine.co/LGlaurenn, vine.co/codyjohns, vine.co/marcusjohns

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Where these and other social media stars excel is in their spontaneity. Without any premeditation they film their idiocy, flaws and failures. While photographs allow you, to a certain extent, to hide behind a perfectly designed image, video does not lend itself to this in the same way. I m p u l s i v e, i m p e r f e c t a u t h e n t i c i t y is greatly appreciated.

The queen of spontaneity is, of course, J e n n i f e r L a w r e n c e (24). The Hollywood star always stays loose, and that’s how she is always so in-the-moment and hilariously funny. She has already received several awards and nominations for her work, was named as one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time, Elle Magazine called her the most powerful woman in the entertainment business and she occupied 49th place in the Forbes list of the world’s most powerful celebrities. And all that by shamelessly falling over in Dior dresses, pulling silly faces and making farting jokes.

Watch YouTube: ‘Jennifer Lawrence — Funny Moments’ or the compilation called ‘Jennifer Lawrence Funniest Moments.’

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The e-mail company M a i l C h i m p is a master in spontaneous human communication. They prefer to be clear, informative and entertaining writers rather than grammar nerds. In their own words: “MailChimp’s voice is human. It’s familiar, it’s friendly, and it’s straightforward. Sure, we crack jokes and tell stories, but our priority is to explain MailChimp and help our users get their work done and get on with their lives. We use language that educates and empowers people without patronising or confusing them. MailChimp’s unofficial tagline is ‘Love what you do’, and that spirit should come through in every piece of content we produce.”

They also developed a style guide for their copywriters that clarifies the tone of voice of the message and best answer, per theme. And even their style guide is a pleasure to read.

VoiceandTone.com

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Interview

Intuitive enter prising: *bliep Three years ago, Jeroen Boschma was asked to think about a telecom operator for young people. His response: “The biggest mistake we can make is to try and figure out what young people want.” He sat around the table with Jeroen (16), Evy (12), Quinten (14), Pam (16), Volkert (16) and Femke (17). * b l i e p was launched on 30 May 2012: a prepaid SIM card for smartphones that provides unlimited Internet access for € 0.50 a day.

Even the initiators, Jochem Wieringa and Joost van der Plas, who come from the telecom industry, are amazed at what *bliep has become. “Realising that the current way of thinking in the sector is no longer befitting, we got a serious, much needed wake-up call from these youngsters.” *bliep is not designed to achieve results for shareholders but for the consumer. No tricks for earning more money, no hidden price increases, no small print (to which the ‘*’ in *bliep refers).

There are an incredible amount of *bliep fans all over the world, even though at the moment you can only use *bliep in the Netherlands. “No other brand has more fans than users”, reveals Jeroen, who has an impressive CV as a young marketeer and is honoured and excited to be able to contribute to *bliep as an old hand. Freek is the company’s product, service and operations manager, quite a mouthful for a 19 year-old. We visited *bliep and asked these two enthusiastic individuals about the recipe of their success.

We absolutely detest small print and we are sick to death of the sneaky tricks employed by the telecom industry. With young people all over the country, *bliep aims to make the telecom industry fairer and more transparent.

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Jeroen: At *bliep everything is designed and developed in an intuitive manner by young people who also run the company. The strategy is: advance by trial and error.

Freek: What’s great is that here e v e r y o n e c a n a n d m u s t b e c u r i o u s. You can discover something cool and try and fail and that’s ok. Someone then comes along and gives you a clip around the ear and explains how you should have done it or you have to find out for yourself. As long as you work together on the dream there isn’t a problem.

Jeroen: It is e x t r e m e l y i n s p i r i n g , it is a l s o c h a o t i c, and it always produces something unexpected. The greatest thing about *bliep is the share button devised by Evi when she was 11. With one press of the button you can donate 50 cents to a friend who can then access the Internet again. Evi came to a brainstorming session because her mother was an account manager and didn’t have a babysitter. And then she simply didn’t want to leave. First the developers just designed a share button. Evi saw it and didn’t understand. Of course it had to be possible to add a message!

I feel as though a day here teaches me more than a day at university.

*bliep is like a playground, you try and see what works and mostly do what you enjoy.

79 Jeroen Boschma (48) Youth marketeer Flying between Amsterdam, Barcelona and Mumbai @jeroenboschma

Free

k Gi lle (17) roun d fun servi -do’e ces r, m From Ame & opera anager p rsfoo t rt, liv ions at *b roduct, ing in liep Ams terda @Fre ekG m All-a

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Marketing = organising fun things for fans When *bliep was launched, the largest Dutch newspaper offered the company € 2,500,000 of advertising space. What an incredible opportunity. But the youngsters weren’t interested, because that’s what all the other operators do.

Freek: *bliep doesn’t need to appear in a newspaper because young people don’t buy them anyway.

Youngsters knew *bliep from Facebook and were already tweeting about it even before it was launched.

We never asked for anything to be shared, we just gave things away and they liked what we were doing.

Jeroen: Marketing at *bliep is never aimed at attracting more customers, but at organising f u n t h i n g s f o r t h e f a n s.

Freek: That’s the great thing about it. If someone in my class comes to me with a problem, we know we have to solve it. You just do it for your friends and for yourself, not for anyone else. You try not to think about everyone as long as you think it’s cool and your friends like it.

And don’t be mistaken: *bliep is not a mobile provider aimed at a young target audience. Our target group encompasses everyone. We don’t exclude any target group. In fact, we hope our product suffices everyone. Our younger employees love it when a grandma drops in, when the helpdesk has invited her to the office so they can explain and install *bliep to her. This event is actually posted on Facebook and results in a considerable amount of enthusiasm. Anyone can use the product; it’s a sign that it is good.

Young people will not shun it because the elderly use it too.

Everyone

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Being a telecom operator involves communication, being social, so our helpdesk employees are incredibly important.

Jeroen: They are our heroes, so why should they earn less than a young person who helps develop the product? Why shouldn’t they also sit around the table during discussions? At *bliep everyone earns the same and everyone is equally important. The young people in the management team are awarded a bonus if *bliep does well, but they don’t accept it. They reinvest it in the company.

Freek: If there is equality we can move forward together. Otherwise some people may feel as though they are less valuable and that’s nonsense.

Freek: We have s t r o n g v a l u e s at *bliep. It is not like Starbucks, where all the youngsters love Starbucks but Starbucks loves nobody. Standards are extremely high at *bliep. You just have to be honest with your friends, whether they are customers or colleagues.

Jeroen: *bliep’s principle is to bring young people together, explore the dreams they share and how they can fulfil them.

Freek: And there is no room here for personal ambition, personal status. We filter out those kinds of people. We are also critical when it comes to investors. If they believe in *bliep, *bliep believes in them.

Otherwise it doesn’t work.

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Freek completed secondary school this year but wasn’t very keen on going to university.

Freek: Many people tell me I should have followed business studies, but I think that business studies is a theory that says: ‘that’s the way to do it’. At *bliep I f o l l o w m y i n s t i n c t a n d t r e a t c u s t o m e r s t h e s a m e I w o u l d t r e a t my friends. That’s difficult to imagine if you are not familiar with it. Here things don’t have to be done ‘by the book’. At *bliep everything works, without any marketing theories. We just do things differently. For example it seemed fun to dress someone up as a banana, place them somewhere, and let them work on the helpdesk from there. So we just did it.

I want the product to be good for people like me, making things better is a consequence of that.

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The customers are grateful.

We receive chocolates, Christmas cards and birthday cards.

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As a telecom operator *bliep is now moving into different countries but they are also setting up ‘*bliep Global’. They examine what they can do for young people all over the world. How they can act as an example. They brainstorm about how they can inspire young people and show them that they can achieve so much themselves. The Dutch *bliep needs a flagship store to demonstrate that it is possible.

Freek: Young people can achieve a lot themselves. Lots of young people are involved in programming so they can create what they want. This is an entire generation that has a g r e a t i d e a a n d i s s i m p l y g o i n g f o r i t. Often they are also held back by adults that do not want to lose their systems. Sometimes we visit companies to help them think about how they can improve. This results in some fantastic ideas, but they first have to be presented to the Board of Directors and take all kinds of cumbersome detours. Somewhere along the way in the maze it falls silent. We want to make it clear to young people that they can also do it themselves and that we are happy to help them develop their projects.

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And there are more plans. Young people want to be permanently connected so *bliep also wants to connect everyone, even if they have no more credit. That’s the current project.

Freek: We simply want to connect you to your friends. And our revenues only come from our users.

Jeroen: We do not sell our user data to anyone. It all sounds fairly normal but that is not how the world currently operates.

Freek: We aren’t afraid of competition either. They say that if our idea catches on they can also offer it and we will lose our customers. They are wrong, they can’t do what we do because they aren’t young people. You need to have young people in control; if you don’t then you cannot take over our system.

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Freek: I don’t do it to make the world a better place. I want the product to be good for people like me, making things better is a consequence. It’s the same with money. It’s not our goal here, but a consequence. The result is that the landscape is changing, but that is not the objective.

Jeroen: Yes, if I look from a distance, I think they are do-gooders. They just do what they enjoy and things happen. It is not ideological or pragmatic, it happens intuitively.

Fans of *bliep show their support through a Twibbon Campaign.

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Y O U N G

M A K E R S

A brief look back at the Young Makers trend, which still applies, about the mentality of joining forces and making things

Making and enterprising amplif ied by the Internet Anything you are capable of doing yourself, makes you independent of others and of the system. Creativity and innovation are stimulated and facilitated by the Internet.

Whether it involves 2D desktop creativity, 3D tools or installations, youngsters love to make a difference through their crafts. The sky is the limit.

We are all ‘makers’. We are fascinated by building and making from childhood — from towers, forts, doll’s dresses and model airplanes to cakes, flower arrangements, barbecues and houses. M a k i n g s o m e t h i n g p e r s o n a l attracts us in a way that totally differs from consuming something that has been made by somebody else. It’s all about the process, coming up with a plan, doing the research, looking for the materials and then getting to work, digging, sawing, welding, drilling or carefully filing something down, assembling and solving puzzles. Digital natives know the possibilities the web has to offer better than anybody else. The Internet amplifies human potential. It provides us with opportunities to educate ourselves. It serves as an endless supply of inspiration, offering possibilities to collaborate and generate networks to raise funds and/or to reach out to potential clients. T u m b l r , Y o u T u b e, K i c k s t a r t e r and E t s y are but a few examples of the web tools used by young creative minds. When they discover a gap in the market within their area of expertise, they jump at the chance, unafraid of losing anything. Trial and error is common practice for them.

And what exactly do they make? It goes a lot further than a DIY hobby. Not only are young people r e i n v e n t i n g things from an umpteenth different creative perspective but they are also surprisingly innovative and they astonish us with their solution-oriented, user-friendly products fully tailored to contemporary society. They work in different ways. On the one hand, they develop digital tools, such as websites, apps and games. On the other, making physical objects is actually enjoying a boom. This applies not only to technological marvels, such as drones and 3D printed objects, but also to old crafts, which may or may not be given a new dimension.

Some start from scratch, whereas others develop new creations from existing elements. By doing so, they motivate and inspire each other. Here too, c o l l a b o r a t i o n takes place both online and offline. Ideas are exchanged online and workshops and equipment are shared offline. Makers from different fields meet in workshops. They share their knowledge, help and assist one another. There is no envy or competition among young makers, but rather, solidarity and respect for each other. They jointly represent an important driving force for youth culture.

The strength of the young makers’ movement lies in the fact that it can be b o t h l o c a l a n d g l o b a l, both high-tech and low-cost, and they launch products for which the world has been waiting but not because there is money in it for them. They are energetically making their way and creating a place for themselves in the system from the bottom up — and they’re enjoying it. Will these young guns succeed in bringing manufacturing back to the West on a small scale and, to some extent, in liberating us from our dependence on large companies that replace manpower with machines?

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W e b 2 . 0 opened up a wonderful world to young creatives. With inexhaustible sources of inspiration, a free flow of tips and tricks from ‘fellow makers’, channels for finding investors for your projects, a rich variety of marketplaces for selling your wares and tools to build online shops, make your own marketing stuff, and a lot more. The Internet has an enormous influence on creativity, and it has emancipated and stimulated the young makers movement.

Several websites that form part of the daily lives of young makers were developed by young people.

• T u m b l r — David Karp (19 at the time) • P i n t e r e s t — Ben Silbermann, Paul Sciarra, Evan Sharp (all under 30 at the time) • T h e F a n c y — Joe Einhorn (31 at the time)

• Y o u T u b e — Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, Jawed Karim (28, 27 and 26 years old respectively) • K i c k s t a r t e r — Perry Chen, Yancey Strickler and Charles Adler (36, 33 and 38) • D a W a n d a — Claudia Helming (33 at the time)

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Kids of today grow up in an environment where almost everything — from homework to MP3s — is shared. This makes them social creatures. Sharing and collaborating is in their blood. They are accustomed to working in a team and they are aware of the p o w e r o f t h e c r o w d. They do not protect their ideas, no: they share them and try to fine-tune them with input from others. They are continually pushing the boundaries, finding solutions and inventing new things by working together to create, think and learn together. That’s how progress is made.

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One of the cornerstones that young people work with is c o d e l a n g u a g e. Interest in coding is growing at an incredible pace. Information and communications technology has conquered many areas of our society. We are becoming increasingly dependent on digital applications and there is a constant and continuous flow of new computer technologies, which results in this sector taking up an increasing share of the labour market. Being at home in the world of programming is certainly an advantage in the search for work.

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Until recently, it was very expensive to create prototypes and the price of admission to many product businesses was very high. This has changed with the advent of low-cost manufacturing tools such as 3 D p r i n t e r s , l a s e r c u t t e r s , A r d u i n o* and sophisticated CAD design tools.

Young people have embraced these manufacturing tools with great enthusiasm. Creative minds can make their own autonomous flying drones for example. They take off, fly and land all by themselves using radiographic control. All this for a mere 110 dollars. It is the cheapest autopilot system ever.

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The way in which innovators — young and old — create something is far different than how it was done in the past. In bygone times, people traditionally obtained an MBA, wrote a plan, looked for funding, recruited a designer or engineer, arranged all the formalities and then launched something on the market. Today you just create something, then you raise the money, then comes a business plan, people may be brought in with the necessary knowledge and requesting permission is the very last thing concerning the majority of today’s entrepreneurs.

Accessibility of the technology, in terms of price and the online information provided by communities, enables creative young people to start working at their own ‘kitchen table’ themselves. They are developing robots, cranes, 3D printers and more, while exchanging user manuals. Low cost technology has elevated the entire Do-It-Yourself movement to another level. As far as millennials are concerned, anything can be done or created. The world is their oyster. This evolution is turning the infrastructure of design, manufacturing and retail completely on its head.

The industry had already adapted to a mass customisation system before, whereby people could personalise and finish their own product at home. But now they are optimising that process by following the mindset of young professionals. Business models are emerging with very s h o r t s u p p l y c h a i n s that can offer c u s t o m - m a d e p r o d u c t s. Short life cycles, the e f f i c i e n t use of materials and energy, and a u n i q u e p r o d u c t that does not discard consumers so easily are the key elements to success.

* Arduino is an open source program that everyone can use and which can combine software with user-friendly hardware.

It opens up the use of electronic devices to all kinds of things, artistic as well as very practical applications.

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I n t u i t i v e

d e s i g n

Consumers’ requirements and expectations in terms of design have evolved dramatically in the past fifteen years. Efficient functionality and outstanding user-friendliness are now prerequisites. The focus is on the consumer’s intuition.

Impatient consumers are familiar with complex products with a l o g i c a l u s e r i n t e r f a c e, which are suitable for everyone, regardless of the user’s prior knowledge. Although not everyone finds it easy to use. Highly aware of the potentiality of the situation that things could turn sour (again), young people have a tendency to act more impulsively. Older generations take more time to think about an action, afraid of making a mistake.

The domain of intelligent design, which develops intuition, is also growing, alongside design in which users act intuitively. N e s t thermostats adapt to the habits of the homeowner. And the open source N i n j a S p h e r e promises to manage your home. M i c o headphones read your mood and select the most suitable type of music. nest.com, ninjablocks.com, micobyneurowear.com

Intuition and simplicity are concepts that are closely linked. T h e A s c e n t by the Norwegian, Daniel Rybakken (30), is a fine example of this.

By sliding the lampshade upwards you increase the intensity of the light emitted.

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Randomness

Revived

Science and technology make life predictable and controllable. Thanks to big data our habits and needs are traceable and a world in which we exclusively receive tailor-made offers is just around the corner. But it is the unexpected that thrills in life, and makes experiences and products special and meaningful. A survey of 1,400 high-profile technology thinkers from the Pew Research Center concluded that personalisation of content could even be a threat to healthy serendipity in what we read, watch and think about.

Designers and artists experiment with materials and (technological) processes that have an unpredictable outcome, which makes them unique. Algorithms are used to make digital prints unpredictable; one example is the printing process of the Absolute Vodka bottles. Analogue materials are used to make uncontrolled artworks. Seven kilograms of purple-orange slime; that was what the Dutchman B a r t H e s s (30) needed for his Lady Gaga dress. He combined materials from the supermarket, DIY store and toyshop. It is precisely the spontaneity of the design process and the interplay of keeping and losing control of the output that matters. Surprise is fun, and fun is what it’s all about. barthess.nl

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T h e d r i p c h a i r s that Swedish Therese Granlund made for her graduation at Design Academy Eindhoven are created from low-grade material. The piece is called Form Follows Foam, which says it all.

“My way of working involves the randomness of nature, the core of materials and their mark in the process.

This project is an investigation into how design could be more vital, more challenging and less predictable.

It explores different possibilities for confronting and a t t a c k i n g t h e o b s e s s i o n w i t h p e r f e c t i o n and control.”

“I started to actively seek a method/material that forced me to confront my own conclusions of aesthetics, to sacrifice my obsession of control in order to reach a better state of creativity. They become an ongoing opposition, a balance between authority and randomness, prediction contra openness. How much should I involve myself without killing the energy in the material, how do I best illustrate the power and wildness?“ What she goes on to say is perfectly consistent with our New Modesty trend. “I choose to construct my design out of polyurethane; a low grade material which lacks any pretension or artificiality that would vainly outshine meaning and function. As it is the most commonly used material in the furniture industry today, it became my representation for what I was criticising. The usually concealed material was taking revenge, striving to become the star of the act, a play with the material taking the lead and me, as the designer, becoming inferior.”

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L u c y is an Amsterdam-based collective of 3 graphic designers. Celina Yavelow, Freja Kir and Lotte van de Hoef are studying at the Rietveld Academy and like to spend their free time creating live analogue visuals with old projectors and u n c o n t r o l l a b l e c o l o u r f u l l i q u i d s. Their love for organically moving imagery constantly evolves into new ideas for any kind of space, and flowing it to music makes it even more magical. They often create visuals at parties, and also produced a video clip for the Danish music producer UFFE.

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Scan this page with the Layar app to see this video come to life

Battle

with

randomness

‘Thick, greasy blobs of fluorescent paint on a large canvas’ is how an art lover would describe the work of the Spanish painter Yago Hortal. The slightly more advanced art lover would describe it as somewhere between art and sculpture; canvasses on which the painter has engaged in b a t t l e w i t h h i s m a t e r i a l s. Leaving behind the colourful remains of the battlefield. Hortal also struggles in ‘real life’ to exist as an artist, commuting between Berlin and the city where he was born. An optimistic battle, looking to the future. Totally consistent with what his work represents.

Fluorescent optimism and a hint of escapism Why all these bright colours at a time when young artists are frequently assigning the raw, dark and painful a key role in their work? “For me it is not something sought or provoked, it is something natural.

I work with colour intuitively and if that reflects optimism, then that’s good, I guess. I believe in optimism rather than in pessimism.” Yago’s optimism reflects the spirit of the times: not a boundless, naive optimism but a (literally) ‘composed’, enforced optimism. Making the uncontrollable controllable. For better or worse, he searches his way through.

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“Randomness is very important in my work. I like to discover new things to not get bored but refuse to make randomness the protagonist. I like to lead this randomness to a perfect balance with control, where both find the perfect point. It is like a friendly dialogue between the painting and myself, concluding with the perfect painting, if possible.” In his perfect painting the viewer becomes fully immersed, swallowed up by the liters of thick, smeared paint. A good painting always provides a little escapism (there you have it again!). “My work is based on the d u a l i t y b e t w e e n s p o n t a n e i t y a n d c o n t r o l o f t h e p a i n t. I try to create a balance between these two things by understanding the material itself. I like to create spaces and atmospheres in which the viewer can get lost and imagine what he wants, trying to escape to the limitations of the themes to result in pure abstraction.”

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Yago Hortal is grateful that he is able to live off his work. “The biggest threat for young artists today is to be discouraged too soon. I think as an artist it all starts with your own work. The main challenge is to be happy with it and be aware of what you are doing. Once you have that, then begins the challenges of the art market: a big spider web in which it is difficult to know how and where to move. It’s something that not only depends on oneself.” One piece of advice by Yago: l e a v e y o u r c o m f o r t z o n e.

“I decided to move to Berlin because I think it is one of the greatest cities in the world. You can live there with the feeling that you are living in a village when actually it is a huge capital. I think it’s important to move out from your home city to keep discovering things.”

The biggest threat for young artists today is to be discouraged too soon

Randomness is very important in my work, but I refuse to make it the protagonist

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Yago Hortal (31) Painter From Barcelona, living in Berlin yagohortal.com

Š Yago Hortal

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Uncontrolled

expression

Spontaneity is a key aspect in many forms of expression. Dance for instance is one such spontaneous expression. Up until today, it is an important aspect of youth culture. Dancing is a skill and is closely linked to music; these are both important elements young people use to c o n s t r u c t t h e i r i d e n t i t y. And ‘going dancing’ is also a release combined with social interaction. Endorphins are released when you dance, just as in other forms of exercise. The feeling is reinforced by all the positive effects music has on the brain, and the satisfaction derived from social contact. In recent years, interest has increased in body culture and movement as a counterbalance to the fast pace and highly demanding climate in society. Yoga and meditation are practiced to bring the body and mind in balance. Dance is a (less spiritual) way of connecting with your inner soul.

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Dance is an extremely emotional form of expression. It is a non-verbal way of communicating that can produce a remarkable degree of appreciation and admiration outside the original socio-cultural context.

As long as the movements do not contrast too explicitly with prevailing local norms and values — think about twerking* and the young Iranians that were arrested because they wanted to post their own version of Pharrell Williams ‘Happy’ online. Dance films score well on social media as do all other emotional content. The flash mobs have now passed their peak. The latest hype revolves around footage of dance theme interpretations.

T he f A B U L E U S R osas R emi x P roject 30 years ago, Belgium dance company R o s a s put itself on the map with the production ‘Rosas danst Rosas’, an international classic. For the 30th anniversary of the piece, Rosas invited everyone to dance their own version of ‘Rosas danst Rosas’, make a video of it and upload it to the online platform ROSASDANSTROSAS.BE. More than 250 videos were uploaded from all around the world. rosasdanstrosas.be/home YouTube: Re:Rosas! / The fABULEUS Rosas Remix Project G angnam for freedom of speech In October 2012, Chinese dissident activist and artist Ai Weiwei made a video showing off his moves to the worldwide music hit Gangnam Style. The video was almost immediately blocked from Chinese video sites. As a reaction, British sculptor A n i s h K a p o o r made his own parody of the international K-pop hit single to protest against censorship by the Chinese government and to support the Chinese dissident Ai Weiwei in his fight for freedom of expression. He asked the staff of numerous contemporary art museums as well as human rights activists from all over the world to join in the compilation.

Scan this page with the Layar app to see this video come to life * Sandungueo, daggering, or twerking is a dance that focuses on grinding, with one partner facing the back of the other (usually male behind female).

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H appy around the world In November 2013, Pharrell released the first 24-hour music video to his song, ‘Happy’ on the website 24hoursofhappy.com.

The video consists of the four-minute song repeated with various people dancing around Los Angeles and miming along. Williams himself appears, as do a number of other celebrities. The original video spawned many cover videos on YouTube called “Pharrell Williams — Happy — We Are from... in which people from different cities throughout the world dance to the song. So far 1,950 videos from 153 countries have been made. A French couple launched a website wearehappyfrom.com to showcase the re-makes. The meme’s virality was unprecedented. On April 8th, 2014, the social news and entertainment website Buzzfeed posted an image that represented the backlash against how overplayed the song seemed.

YouTube: Pharrell, Happy, Worldwide Compilation #HappyDay

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‘ A l g o r a v e s ’ is a new kind of clubbing, where people dance to music generated by algorithms.

By using software, DJs create tracks predominantly characterised by the emission of a succession of repetitive conditionals. Using systems built for creating algorithmic* music, these barriers are broken down, and musicians are able to compose and work live with their music as algorithms. The focus is entirely on the music and the people dancing, and stimulates a state of trance.

YouTube: Live coding and algorave interview on NOS.nl

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Flexing is a contortionist style of street dance from Brooklyn, characterised by rhythmic movements, combined with waving, tutting** gliding and footwork that simulates levitation. It is somewhat of an ‘underground sport’, primarily performed to hip-hop music. It evolved from a Jamaican style of street dance, which in turn holds close alliance to dancehall and reggae music. There are no rules, the choreography is improvised ‘in the moment’, everyone has their own moves and movements are taken from other forms of dance but the most important element is uncontrolled expression.

The dance has received considerable media attention since 2011. It has been performed on America’s Best Dance Crew (ABDC), at the Guggenheim Museum and at various dance conventions. In 2014, the film ‘ F l e x i s K i n g s ’ was released that followed several flexors for two years. The director Michael Beach Nichols explains why he wanted to make the film: “Our protagonists jump off balconies, spit birds from mouths, play Pinocchio in avant-garde dance companies, travel to Scotland, and build time machines. The flex scene is unpredictable and full of heart. Who wouldn’t want to film that?” tribecafilm.com/stories/flex-is-kings-michael-beach-nichols

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For J o g g J e a n s, trousers that combine the coolness of denim with the comfort of sweatpants, Diesel produced a marketing campaign with dance as the centrepiece. They first made a short film with the alphabet of dance. Together with i-D they then held castings and called on people to make short dance films and share them using the hashtag #JOGGJEANS and #iDdance. They used them to produce a compilation and christened the short film U-Dance. diesel.com/joggjeans + YouTube: A-Z of dance, Diesel channel

* Programs such as IXI Lang, overtone, puredata, Scan this page

Max/MSP, SuperCollider, Impromptu or Fluxus

with the Layar app

** Tutting is changing the angles of your arms according to see this video to the beat, like the positions in which Ancient Egyptians come to life were drawn.

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Impulsive strive for change Replace jazz with punk in Frank Zappa’s quote “ j a z z i s n o t d e a d, i t j u s t s m e l l s f u n n y, ” and you obtain a summary of the 25-year old Polish photographer, Gabriel Orlowski’s work. Photography as punk: raw and impulsive, chaotic and in-your-face. Fast and loud. “Should a photographer strive to change the world with his work?”… “Everyone should!.”

Orlowski is one of the young photographers that exude a kind of Sturm und Drang with ‘anti-photography’.

An iconoclast who is not prepared to wait for the perfect framing or setting. He prefers a ‘take-it-orleave-it’ approach, resulting in the display of minor banalities that nonetheless provide insight into the subjective of his specific social environment. The spontaneous, the unexpected, the intuitive are key to Orlowski’s work. He explains it himself in a more compressed manner than the average art critic. R a w, e n e r g e t i c i m p u l s e is better than any kind of set-up. Sometimes abstractions reveal more about life than anything else. What is in-between all the conscious acts and decisions is, in my opinion, more veritable.” What we see is a poetic result of the life of a young Polish man in a DIY-subculture. No Facebook happiness collection but a n h o n e s t p o r t r a i t of friend, vague acquaintance and the environment.

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To Orlowski photography is clearly more than ‘shooting nice pictures.’ “For me it mostly comes down to continuously questioning things, doing stuff independently, keeping a distance from any rules, avoiding repetitiveness and having the balls to go against the grain, that is the masses. It’s trying to say something that might be u n c o m f o r t a b l e, yet truthfull. I try to concentrate with what I do on subjects that concern common things, exposing what’s wrong and pointing out what I believe is right.” So it should come as no surprise that in terms of the medium he also searches for the imperfect, unstable and what is ‘true’. “I find digital pictures too smooth and pretty, they reproduce the colours and light almost perfectly and tend to idealise reality. They demand shooting thousands and thousands of similar photos, creating picturesque gibberish, then choosing the most appropriate one, manipulating it etc. With analogue photography, the image doesn’t consist of blocks, pixels or 0-1 data, but rather organic matter. The grain generally just looks better. The image is often less stable and more fluid, leaving room for randomness and potential errors and mishaps, which in turn can come to be amazing superstructures. As there is a limit to how many photographs you can shoot, it forces the user to properly think the image through, making it far m o r e i n t i m a t e a n d f a m i l i a r than using digital photography.”

Analogue pictures are organic matter. The grain generally just looks better. The image is often less stable and more fluid, leaving room for randomness and potential errors and mishaps, which in turn can come to be amazing superstructures.

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Growing up with certain technological possibilities is easier than learning them.

Children born today have an advantage over those born yesterday. Research that compared patent citations and CEOs’ ages led to researchers establishing that the younger the CEO, the more groundbreaking innovations there were in the company concerned. Creative disruptive innovation is a prerequisite for success. We assume that the remaining age-related hierarchy in companies and organisations will not endure for much longer. Young people assert themselves in a company and expect to be paid according to their skills and input and not their age.

The world is in a constant state of change and chaos. Although more and more tools and companies emerge that attempt to predict change, a positive attitude to change is a must. The time of mapping out future plans in detail is definitely over. What matters now is being optimally connected to people, companies, and regions, being aware of what is going on around you. Learning from what you see happening around you and doing what you feel you have to do.

If we leave it to young people we are radically heading for a shortcut economy.

Unnecessary intermediaries are thrown overboard. We will buy directly, so importers and intermediate traders are not needed. Peer-to-peer networks respond better to the needs of the consumer and can almost eliminate companies or entire sectors. In years to come they will have a major impact on various sectors and industries since their approach is faster, cheaper and more efficient.

According to the German sociologist, Ulrich Beck, in his book ‘The brave new world of work’, permanent jobs will become increasingly scarce as a result of the rapid pace of economic change and increasing flexibility on the labour market.

People will more frequently find themselves ‘in between jobs’ and start their own business. Generation Z and probably subsequent generations will feel most comfortable in this respect and will take advantage of the situation to build up new businesses. Independent entrepreneurship will act as an additional shock absorber that will help soften the blow of the economic recession.

Given that the cost of innovation has greatly decreased and that it has become much easier to test new things and introduce them to market, innovative entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship involving young people will provide a breath of fresh air. For young people this is their response to things they do not agree with. Instead of taking to the streets and demonstrating they are rushing to their workshop or computer screen to find a solution.

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The rate of change and market disruption is accelerating. Thanks to instant worldwide communication, free information and the ease with which people can organise themselves and work together, creativity and innovation can emerge faster without hierarchy than in traditional organisations. In 2008, IBM * already recognised this in its report ‘The new collaboration’: enabling innovation, changing the workplace’. It states that the old business model — encompassing ‘exclusivity, hierarchy and solitude’ — was no longer competitive in a globally interconnected world.

With their fresh outlook, young people possess an exceptional gift for managing change.

Therefore they are an indispensable part of every future-oriented company or organisation.

For employers and colleagues however it is a challenge to keep them happy and make room for their wilfulness and impatience. Nevertheless their vision and drive is more than worth the effort.

The way in which young people approach business is inspiring and can be applied at any age.

It means unlearning everything you have been taught about doing business and taking risks, not being afraid of failing, trusting your gut feeling and fully committing. The greatest challenge herein is ‘unlearning’.

Marketing is an intuitive sector by any account. You have to be familiar with the external characteristics (age, gender, social standing, etc.) as well as the inner properties of your target group. You have to know what is important to them, their aspirations, their dreams and their desires. The human approach is experienced much more positively than mechanical marketing.

Young consumers appreciate spontaneity and sincerity, something that is very personal.

Sincere spontaneity and transparency with no hidden agenda. For an organisation it involves a mission to communicate consistently across all its communication channels. With the same spontaneity and ‘tone of voice’.

Small flexible start-ups and businesses, which respond to change in a fast intuitive manner, are encroaching more and more on large traditional institutions. They can cope with unexpected challenges more easily, test new methods, innovate, experiment, apply flexible personnel policy based on mutual loyalty and build a strong and efficient team in which everyone’s strength is valued.

Chaos management is the way to go. You have to continuously adapt to the changing environment and respond quickly. There is often no time to conduct any market research and develop strategies. So it is a question of trial and error. And in the search for a creative solution, try a ‘heartstorm’ instead of a ‘brainstorm’. * The International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation.

When you have to change something, think about the people that are using your product and make sure that it still attracts and delights them and it’s a joy for them to use. That just makes the rest so much easier. Because when it’s not the thing itself that you care about anymore, it’s a lot easier to change it.

Peter Vidani, creative director of Tumblr

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