Thread by @swardley

X : Do you ever get bored of research?
Me : Nope. I got bored being a CEO, being a CIO, being a VP ... I get bored easily. Research is fun, hard and always interesting. Why?
X : Well, I just wondered what was next?
Me : Oh, more research. It's amazing how little we know.

X : Well, how about building a research team?
Me : Hmmm ... I sense an agenda. But why would I do that?
X : You could do more research.
Me : No, I could replace research with more management and the team would do more research. That doesn't sound fun.

... so instead, I keep a lot of my stuff open and create a community which I help guide towards self management. It enables more research into mapping whilst creating interesting discussion points and minimising my need to do any management or leadership thing, Perfect.

X : But you could build a team.
Me : Why would I want to? I have an entire guild / army of mappers, If I need to do a "research" raid then I can make the shout and create a crew.

70 person research raid to tackle traditional vs next gen ... sorted - swardley.medium.com/how-organisati…

X : That seems very world of warcraft.
Me : One of the finest executive training tools that exists - business2community.com/leadership/wha…

X : I don't understand you.
Me : How do you mean? I'm quite open about what drives me ... happiness. I just need enough "stuff" to be content and I don't need much. Happiness doesn't come from the things you own.
X : But with wealth comes power.
Me : Take a look at Gamestop / WSB

Me : You don't need power and wealth to influence the world, you just need an idea and a community. The idea that you can't change the world without things that you don't have access to is simply a control mechanism, an illusion created by the system. It's simply not true.

X : A research raid?
Me : Yep, 70 people involved, organised into 11 smaller raid groups with me acting as the conduit for information, in total over 200+ meetings, all on zoom - swardley.medium.com/how-organisati… - led to this ->

It was amazing -

https://twitter.com/futuristpaul/status/1399836391979192320

- however, a couple of things to note

a) This couldn't have been done offline.
b) I used a lot of past experience from World of Warcraft RAIDs to organise this.
c) What that group found, statistically speaking, is through the roof.

... but even more than this, it was a lot of fun to do. This will be my new norm for research.

X : Do you think this is applicable to business?
Me : Swarming of people, leaderless leadership, situational awareness distributed throughout the group ... acting like a raid? Oh yes, that's the point of the work.
X : But will it have impact?
Me : Ask GameStop / WSB.

X : Gamestop was a ponzi scheme.
Me : Err ... no. And, it's not over yet.

X : But the financials of the company don't justify the valuation.
Me : You're thinking money here which is the problem. The collective around WSB isn't acting like your normal hedge fund, there's a wider purpose and intent with its own symbols and rituals.