Many of the US commencement address videos, such as the famous Steve Jobs speech at Stanford, offer me a strong dose of inspiration. Many of these movies (hundreds can be found online) express the same essential message: find your passion and pursue your dreams. David Brooks, an NYTimes columnist, has written a powerful critique on this preachment in a recent article. His mantra: it’s not about finding yourself – it’s about losing yourself.

Speaking from my personal experience, it’s pretty hard at age 22 to define clearly who you are, what your calling is and what your future life is going to look like. More importantly, even if you manage to take a long summer day to define your passions and your calling, it’s very uncertain that these will remain the same over the next months, not to speak about the rest of your life. Maybe we should embrace that we don’t know exactly who we are, and rather summon ourselves to causes we can lose ourselves in. Happiness does not come from finding yourself, it comes from losing yourself – in a company you believe in, a cause worth fighting for or a commitment to solve an “unsolvable” problem.

As Bill Taylor puts it boldly in his HBR article: “The trouble with always looking for yourself … is that you spend too much time looking in the mirror rather than at the world”. And, as Pixar University’s former dean Randy Nelson says it: “It’s not trick for talented people to be interesting, but it’s a gift to be interested”.

Here’s to losing ourselves in the endeavours that form the journey of life!

Articles: “We is Bigger Than Me” and “It’s not about you”

Meet Warren Buffet, one of the richest guys in the world. Through his investment fund, Berkshire Hathaway, he has been able to generate billions of US dollars by investing in ventures that have a clear value proposition.

But did you know he’s also a great life coach? In a YouTube video that was sent to me by Eiso Vaandrager, Warren Buffet gives the electoral speech to a class of MBA graduates. In his speech, he tries to convince the MBA graduates of the importance of integrity, next to intelligence and energy.

He explains the importance of integrity by a very simple thought experiment. The experiment is so simple yet so true, that I’d love to share it with you. Check out this video, and do the experiment yourself!

On the field of the self stand a knight and a dragon.

You are the knight – Resistance is the dragon.

From “Do the Work” by Steven Pressfield.

Download for free here

If you ponder to much about who you really are, you become paralyzed. This is the solution: start making things and find out who you are along the way. This holds true for finding out your passions too, as Randy Komisar says in this video. Don’t ponder about what THE passion is, but use your portfolio of passions and marry your passions to the opportunities in front of you.

And that brings us to Seth Godin‘s territory: Don’t wait for permission to start shipping. Get started. It’s scary. Do it anyway!

Another great lesson: you are responsible for who you become, by selecting the people around you, the stuff you read and the things you do.

This is very true, and therefore you better start actively collecting. If you listen, read and discuss soccer all day long, chances are you’re not going to come up with a new Theory of the Universe. Collect the things you love and the things you feel hit home – those are the things that are close to you as a person.

For more great lessons, take a loot at this blog by Austin Kleon I just stumbled upon: “How to steal like an artist and 9 things nobody told me” – absolutely wonderful.

Are you a top entrepreneurial student working hard to fulfill your dreams? Are you interested in meeting 150 prominent leaders to discuss your vision of the future? Become a Kairos Global Fellow and join us at the World Foresight Forum from April 13th to 15th in the Hague!

The World Foresight Forum will bring together prominent leaders from politics, business and science and 100 international future leaders like you, to attend plenary sessions, have facilitated discussions in smaller groups and build new initiatives. Speakers include Edward de Bono, Sang Hyun Song (President, International Crime Court), Naveen Jain (founder-CEO Intelius) and Jose Maria Aznar (Former Prime Minister, Spain).

The Kairos Society has created a global network of excellent students, in an effort to unite the next generation of leaders to foster the development of impactful innovation. Kairos Fellows work together on a global level under the guidance of today’s most respected leaders, to develop entrepreneurial solutions to tackle society’s most daunting challenges. Throughout the Forum, special events will be organized to connect with other Kairos Fellows and share dreams and experiences.

The program of the World Foresight Forum can be found here. More information about the Kairos Society can be found here.

Interested? Apply here. As you will represent the Kairos Society at the World Foresight Forum, you pay a reduced rate of only €140 for this €2000 event!

Titiaan Palazzi

‘From Data to Impact’: het thema van het Cleantech Forum in San Francisco mag erg abstract klinken, het is gebaseerd op een concrete trend.

De Cleantech Group, organisator van het forum, identificeerde het afgelopen jaar een sterke conversie van cleantech en IT. Bedrijven als OPower, Tendrill en eMeter richten allen hun pijlen op het verminderen van energieverbruik door het inzichtelijk maken van data voor eindgebruikers en energieleveranciers.

De conversie van cleantech en IT is één van de vele trends die de organisatie binnen de industrie waarneemt. Andere belangrijke trends zijn de groeiende rol van China (inmiddels goed voor meer dan 50% van de productie van zonnepanelen) en het groeiende tekort aan voedsel en drinkwater. Energie, water en voedsel worden door Nicholas Parker, oprichter van de Cleantech Group, het ‘trilemma’ van de toekomst genoemd.

Hoop

Het trilemma creëert een grote opgave voor onze samenleving. Om iedereen op deze wereld de komende 40 jaar te voeden, is evenveel voedsel nodig als de afgelopen 8000 jaar geproduceerd is. Daarnaast is de voedselprijs het afgelopen decennium met 150 procent gestegen [bron: FAO]. John Dennington van Kleiner Perkins noemt dit als de oorzaak achter de onrust in Noord-Afrika.

Maar op het Cleantech Forum is ook plaats voor hoop. Zo wist de 80 jaar oude ‘rocket scientist’ Art Rosenfeld de zaal warm te maken met zijn wittedakenplan: verf alle stedelijke daken wit, wat leidt tot substantiële afkoeling van de aarde (tot 15%). Een goedmakertje ter compensatie van de verdwenen gletsjers.

Nederland in het zonnetje

Nederland werd op de eerste dag van het forum in een positief daglicht gezet. Chrysalix, een investeringsfonds opgericht in 2001, werd gecomplimenteerd omdat het zich als een van de sterkste fondsen in cleantech positioneerde. Oprichter en voorzitter Wal van Lierop greep de kans om de oprichters van de Cleantech Group zijn zelfbedachte ‘Green Elephant’ prijs uit te reiken – een prijs voor leiders die zich succesvol inzetten voor duurzame energie.

De rest van het congres zal met name een plek zijn waarin cleantech bedrijven hun toekomst laten zien. Daarover in het volgende bericht meer.

Why I am writing this blog? A good question, which deserves to be properly answered.

I started this website to create a digital personal introduction. The site should contain info about me: Titiaan Palazzi (despite the name, a guy who definitely doesn’t look Italian). If someone starts google-ing for me on the web, I’d like that person to get to know me by visiting my website – a place where he or she can read about me, the projects I have delivered, the pictures that are dear to me and the thoughts that I want to share with the world.

But not only did I want the website to be an introduction, I also wanted to start writing. I think regular writing is a great exercise for the mind.

After going through several websites that explain how to create a successful blog, it daunted to me that in order for me to keep writing, my blog had to focus on a specific topic. After an intense brainstorming session (one of the few solo brainstorms I’ve had!), I found my focus: inspiring people and their world-changing ideas.

PEOPLE + IDEAS. That’s what drives change. For better or worse. It’s what keeps me inspired to build new things that make this world a better place.

So, this website serves to purposes:

1. an introduction to Titiaan, info about me and the things I’ve shipped and

2. blog posts about the people and ideas that drive change in this beautiful world and inspire me to perform as well as I can