I’m not going to the CGT

The CGT is the annual Conference for Global Transformation, where people look at possibilities of transforming the world, breakthroughs and workshops, plus a presentation of metrics about the state of the world. It’s open to people who've taken both the Landmark Forum and their Wisdom Course.

If you follow me, you know that I’m not just interested in transforming the world. More than that, I’m committed to a viable plan. Without a team, however, I haven’t made an impact.

I went to CGTs three years in a row starting in 2012. For the second, I made a poster.

A poster at the CGT is an attempt to reveal a new possibility in 20-120 seconds. The year I went, PeopleCount was young. What I’ve learned in the years since then is that it’s too well thought out and too counter-intuitive to be compelling.

"Well thought out" seems nice, but it requires thinking- the kind that takes more than a few minutes.

For the third year, I wrote a paper about my experiences. They published it in the journal. Several hundred people were there. Maybe a half dozen congratulated me for having it published. No one seemed to be interested in joining me.

Sure- I was disappointed at each one that no one was interested in joining me. But more than that, I found no real value.

Mostly, I found that lots of people were working on projects of various sizes. Lots of them seemed unrealistic and small. A few were moderately realistic. None seemed to be remotely as planned out or as impactful as I was looking for.

Most people seem to assume that if an "idea" is good, they’ll recognize it quickly. We think our own clarity after a few minutes is a good indicator about whether something will work. If an idea is counter-intuitive, people rarely accept it unless it's delivered with exceptional inspiration.

Even then, it must be followed up with material to not just reinforce it, but drive home how our normal, cultural ideas flawed. Otherwise they'll rattle around in our heads, negating the doability of the proposal.

It’d best be delivered by an authority with a polished, inspired TED-quality talk. I spoke to a couple of people about TED talks. Mostly, they require 6-12 months of practice, polish and even competition at city-wide and regional events.

Unfortunately, I can't go back to my pre- Ah-ha! mindset to see for myself what kind of delivery might work. In general, what I've found is that if people spend hours with me, we can unearth their ideas that conflict and see if they're really true. In general, I've done my homework and they're not. There are a few entrenched ideas that a fraction of people can't seem to get over.

On the one hand, when I went to the CGT, I was disappointed. I had invented that people at the CGT would be open to a real and powerful plan, and I’d either find partners or would find people who’d help me find partners. I made all that up and then disappointed myself. No problem, I can let that go.

So the point of the CGT is what? To see old friends and indulge in some excitement. To explore workshops and mostly abstract questions. To have some fun and look at the state of the world and hear some inspiring talks.

Since 2014, I haven’t seen how that’s going to help make the difference I’m committed to making. Perhaps someday I'll have time for that again.

May 3, 2020