“Our entire education system is still based on preparing children to join the industrial age…” – Roger Hamilton
What is a blindside? A blindside is something that comes from your side when you’re least expecting it. Yes, we’ve all experienced it — but this can be a very good thing.
In this 15-minute video filmed at Awesomeness Fest Croatia, 2015, Roger Hamilton puts into context our journey from the end of the industrial revolution to the current technological revolution, to now — where we can become even greater than we can imagine.
In this talk, you’ll learn how even intelligent, organized and coordinated individuals, thriving countries, successful companies and entrepreneurs, and, yes, animals can be blindsided. But why is that — and how can we use this to our advantage?
Roger delves into The Battle of Trafalgar (1805) between the British (led by Lord Nelson) and the French (led by Napoléon Bonaparte), as an example of blindsiding which has permeated our society evolutionarily, culturally and historically.
The traditional strategy of winning any battle back then, he says, was to have more artillery and a larger fleet than your enemy. Naturally, you would think that whoever has the strongest army would usually win.
In the Battle of Trafalgar, however, Lord Nelson, who had half the fleet size and artillery compared to the French, instead surprised Napoleon’s troops by attacking at an unsuspecting angel, directly blindsiding their enemy. In the end, Napoleon’s fleet was decimated and this became a pivotal point in the entire Napoleon war.
How is this example relevant today?
Roger illustrates how in our modern-day world, blindsided angles/approaches from some of the most influential and intelligent people are happening increasingly often. This is allowing entirely new ways of seeing how the world works and how we as human beings can do exactly what Lord Nelson did: win some sort of “battle” and become even more than we imagine.
He further highlights how people like Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk and Richard Branson, who are known to “disrupt” the world with their ambitious technologically-based (albeit sometimes crazy) goals, reach their goals by approaching current industries in a “horizontal” or blindsided angle.
“These people are coming in sidewise, not from an industry, but from a technology… All of the people that you admire most out there who are harnessing technologies, the way they could figure out which industries they should go into, was not by saying, ‘Is this something that makes me more profit?’ but rather, ‘Is this something that serves my purpose?’”
The Industrial Revolution vs. The Technological Revolution… and where the Blindside Revolution fits in
Roger ends his talk with this thought-provoking insight:
“The industrial revolution, which was based on vertical industries (these are the ones we’ve seen our parents through and we got educated into ourselves), are all getting disrupted horizontally by 12 technologies…. If you’re still focusing on what industry you’re going into, you might miss altogether the fact that the people coming in and disrupting the industry is doing it at right angles as a result of technology.”
Does this then mean that our children are not equipped for this modern-day Blindside Revolution?
Roger Hamilton is a New York Times bestselling author, educator, social entrepreneur and chairman of the renowned Green School. If you want more ideas from exceptional individuals on how to hack your life, upgrade your beliefs and habits, and learn how to be extraordinary in every aspect of your life, check out Consciousness Engineering.
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