InTension

The current legal and administrative infrastructure as well as economic systems in most countries are still very much unsupportive of such independent workers, entrepreneurs or people who take the risk of living and working outside of what Henry Timms and Jeremy Heimans refer to as the “Old Power” world of long-term stable jobs and affiliation, of professionalism and career paths, of competition and status.

These tensions between enjoying the life of freedom I want and being able create my own reality every day on the one hand, and the uncertainty, unpredictability and responsibility this brings on the other hand, are increasingly going to be the life of many of those in my generation who see themselves as “makers”, who are unsatisfied with the world as it stands today, and who seek to create a new one by harnessing the collective intelligence and energy of the crowd — or what Jeremy and Henry call “New Power”.

To be able to handle the tensions inherent in living in a world of New Power requires a whole new set of competencies which most of us have never learned at school, in our families nor in society at large.

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