Autonomy: Ability to have self-direction.
Mastery: Ability to get better at something.
Purpose: Ability to contribute to something great.
With brands like A Bathing Ape and Neighborhood under his belt, one better pay attention when he plans to unleash a mountain full of new brands and designs for the upcoming decade.
Today's humanistic reaction to technology takes the form of discipline convergence and an ever increasingly large pool of devices embracing the semantic, social, and structured web.
From a user perspective, this means a constant array of surprises around every corner. New ways of thinking. New methods of communication. New outcomes. And because of increased collaboration via these tools, it's often not industry which drives innovation, but the users themselves.
From an industry perspective, making sense of all this "stuff" isn't all that easy. If technology didn't matter, perhaps it would be favorable to ignore it altogether. However, to some degree, today's complicated networks of information and cross-collaboration creates an environment which requires an attentive eye for refinement and ability to identify these new trends. But how exactly do you understand all of this?
Let's just put it this way. Keeping persistence is being fair to the user. As fields come together, it's becoming more and more obvious everything is connected to information. In a trans-disciplinary world, narrow perspectives only make things harder to grasp. By designing with users in mind (whose requirements are constantly evolving), one can essentially create effective "tools" needed in the future context.
So, design for the future. One probably wonders, "How do I fit into this whole collaboration-hungry notion of constant change?" As a student, this means understanding a resume for the future isn't merely composed of a set of tools, but a portfolio full of experiential expertise. Now you have something to talk about.
As an employer, this means placing an emphasis on integration of cross-disciplinary teams. This comes with the acknowledgment that tools do and often change, but problem solving often stays much the same. So, you don't need team with merely sharpened utensils, but one that can challenge the numerous weeds out there. A team capable of chopping them down and taking cultural responsibility for fertilizing multiple channels of knowledge throughout the entire world.
Dan Pink discusses the current inverse business approach with financial incentives and how it hinders the speed of cognitive tasks instead of strengthening it. The shift, he proposes, should be towards Autonomy (intrinsic motivation to direct our own lives), Mastery (ability to improve oneself), and Purpose (a long-term goal). This translates to paying people adequately and fairly, but also allowing them freedom to discover new things on their own, with less focus on time frames and deadlines and more focus on creativity and discovery.
As uncertain as our generation's "American Dream" has turned out to be during these past few years, leaving many folks of our Y-generation out of jobs right out of college and struggling to pay off loans meanwhile getting by on a dime, I still cannot help but dream about the potential of our future.
For now, those nickel and dimes will continue to amount to much more than we ever imagined they would be. While we try and step back to absorb wise words from our parents and elders, more often than not, we're only welcomed by discouragement tied by a dated mindset. A mindset that has led to dissimulation of our current economy. A mindset filled with overconfidence in choices based on safety, tradition, and job security.
So how does one design a successful company/venture in this dire situation, in this early age, surrounded by the endless stream of crap that's disillusioned us for so long? The more I gather ideas from speaking with associates and writing for Unplggd, the ethos of creating such an environment that fuels creativity and becomes more and more likely that it's still possible to whip up something the works, as long as you continue to have the drive to do so.
It's a secret formula, while risky in nature, has managed to continue coming together during the uphill battles I've held through the past few years. A concoction of ideas and ideals, fueled by what I like to call, "the empowerment of people other than yourself" - working on and off each other in a work flow that can only push forward, never back. And while it's not perfect, it's enough to keep me going in the direction I'm going in. So that even when I'm stranded in my bedroom with no gas money to spare, I'll still be enjoying my 10th cup of Campbell's chicken noodle soup with no regrets.
Recession can be tough when you're losing lots and making nothing. Still, in the darkest hours, a silver lining may be just the thing you need to keep that head up for another day.
