ramp / Latest issue

Control-freak decision-makers are going to need nerves of steel. Because the culture of senseless activism is here to stay. “Change” is the mantra of constant transformation, “innovation” the refrain that defines the prevailing imperative. The visionary is happily galvanized and electrified by both and wants everything of everything, all at once, completely planned out and perfect to boot. A pretty silly strategy. After all, the future is open precisely because not everything is possible all the time. Instead, new things always emerge from whatever happens to be at the moment. We need to be inspired, eager, open to what is possible, seeing all that is already there. And it is completely irrelevant if the possible becomes possible through coincidence or as the result of an evolved idea. Innovations and novelties develop from the interaction of man and the environment. All you have to do is to trust in the art of combination. Mindful action, not mindless activism. As in improv theater, what counts is the willingness to take up ideas thrown at you by the audience and to perform them at the right moment. The ability to anticipate, the instinct for good timing. Along with intuition, it’s the moment that matters. “Carpe diem” is what good old Horace called it more than two thousand years ago.