Alex Lindsay was in town a couple of weeks ago and I got to do my tourist
thing taking him around the Peninsula. I was really impressed with his vision
for Pixel Corps and the project he is busy with in Zimbabwe. You can follow
his journey at
http://alexlindsay.vox.com/
.
One of the most interesting things was his view that the people who do all
those amazing Zimbabwean rock sculptures are so skilled that they can sit down
in front of a computer and be modeling 3D images in a couple of days. It
really struck me as such useful connection between 1st and 3rd world.
It also challenged me to think about other ways in which we can learn from
African traditions. One of the most obvious is of course in the executive
coaching field. I remember years ago sitting one evening with a local tribe in
Namibia. We all sat in a circle drinking Mohango Beer as each person told
their stories of the day, their trials and tribulations and a conversation was
held to support the person.
In our world we sit down one to one and do the same thing only we call it
coaching and we do it for money. The commoditising of the process is a good
reflection of the world we live in - not good or bad - just that things of
value need to be represented by money and packeged in a way to fit our fast
moving world - 'confirming our next session, 8h30 on the 13th' has replaced a
timeless conversation at the end of the day with the African sun setting in
the distance.
The world changes and it stays the same.