I challenge anyone to watch the video below and not feel good. The infectious humanity just makes you smile, regardless of your musical taste.  

Whenever I need a shot of ‘feel good’, I watch it.

So, other than making more people smile, why am I sharing it here?  

Well for me, it sums up the tech-human balance I often wrestle with.

For those of you who don’t know how the video came about, in 2015 a small group of Italians calling themselves the Rockin’ 1000 wanted the Foo Fighters to come and play in their small city of Cesena, not the sort of venue a stadium filling act like the Foo Fighters usually play.

So, using social media, they started a campaign to find 1000 musicians, plus an army of logistics, filming and events people in order to create this amazing ‘please come and play for us’ video. They rehearsed using online tools, co-ordinated their efforts using social media, and then in July 2015 came together to record the video, which to date has had over 36 Million views on youtube.

The Foo Fighters frontman, Dave Grohl responded within 12 hours –  “Of course we will come, how could we say no!”.  The team hadn’t had to send it to him – through social media, it had found him.  The Foo Fighters then played a special concert in Cesena in November that year.

I share it as something deeply human and moving, which without the use of now commonplace digital tools, simply would not be possible.

A complaint I hear when working with some clients is that technology is working against human interaction, especially when they refer to how they perceive how their younger colleagues use it.   And I also  see some less than helpful tech driven traits emerging – more distraction, less ‘being present’ and as a result the danger of more superficial relationships.

But on the other hand, amazing, creative and humanity-improving things – like the Rockin’ 1000 – are the result of using these tools wisely.  It’s just about balance.

If you’d like to inspire and enable your leaders to better engage their teams by embracing the future of work, then call Simon on 020 3488 0464 or email simon@simonwalker.org

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