[Music]
it’s a warm September evening in 1988
I’m surrounded by more people that I’ve
ever seen I’m five years old but I can
see far sitting on my father’s shoulders
wearing Talon the capital of Estonia and
I’m excited because we drove all the way
to Tel in from my little hometown on the
other side of the country but there’s
more my mom and dad are really excited
about something people are singing I’m
singing to my mom he’s holding my little
brother but she’s crying but I don’t
mind because I have a flag that flag has
been always hidden in the closet like a
big secret and cutting me into trouble
every time I tried to play with it no
trouble today it seems and I can stay up
late best night ever
my father year old self doesn’t know it
but I’m witnessing one of the most
remarkable events in the history of my
home country the singing revolution more
than three hundred thousand people have
gathered to tell in on that evening to
literally sing their way to freedom from
the Soviet occupation the singing
revolution has been named one of the
most peaceful revolutions in the human
history the singing revolution took down
the Iron Curtain three years after that
evening 27 years later the same country
is one of the most digitally advanced
societies in our world and a pioneer for
a democracy and governance since my
childhood I’ve done many things that my
parents didn’t even dare to dream of
behind the Iron Curtain
I started my first company when I was 16
and it was my late father
and who grew up in the Soviet Union who
encouraged me that my idea deserves a
journey to the Patent Office his
encouragement helped me to step beyond
my personal borders you know the feeling
like you could do anything well that’s
exactly how my dad made me feel by just
believing in me but of the many things
that my parents couldn’t do that I have
enjoyed the most has been traveling I
have traveled to more than 40 countries
and lived shorter or longer stints in
several of them last year I spent
hundred and forty three days abroad and
my then three-year-old daughter had more
flights in one month than I had within
the first 20 years of my life many
things have obviously changed during the
past two decades for me but not only due
to the circumstance of my location but
because moving around is just so much
easier for all of us humans in a way
reflecting what Phil Knight said in his
memoirs the world was much bigger in
1962
yes the world is much smaller now
William swing the director-general of
International Organization for Migration
says that every seventh person on the
planet is a migrant today we are living
in the era of highest human mobility in
the recorded history what is happening
let’s look at one simple structure in
our lives that has changed friendships
once almost exclusively formed around
our neighborhood of school our workplace
our grocery store have suddenly expanded
thanks to global networks suddenly
instead of being connected because of
our location we are connected in the
verticals of interests my best friend
can be sitting in Japan India or the
United States and we are connected
through a mutual interest I’ll come
persons have expanded globally because
our people are everywhere and we are
more comfortable to be anywhere the
world has become more fluid economist
Michael Clements from the center of
global development claims that there’s
one simple policy that could make the
world twice as rich as it is open
borders his colleague has even gone
further economics prying poplin and data
scientists people might claim that the
world of free movement would be 78
trillion-dollar richer it was the idea
around the movement of people that
sparked the inspiration for the company
that I am building it was in Silicon
Valley when I asked myself why is change
happening here
why aren’t Google and other gigantic
powerhouses emerging from anywhere else
on the planet the answer I realized was
knowledgeable people who are drawn to
this location so in this more fluid
world what if we take a person with
knowledge and expertise to place lacking
that knowledge and expertise could that
be the start of an actual change even
Google was built by human beings so
potentially moving around knowledgeable
people could help us build Silicon
Valley’s from anywhere in the world in
2014 I started to work on that idea and
thus sabbatical with a mission to
distribute knowledge to the far-flung
cities of the world was born three years
later we’re connecting talent from all
over the world to organizations in 49
countries but since the beginning of
Tibet achill one of the most commonly
asked questions I have got this what
about immigration because yes talent is
more open to move around for a career
and yes talent shortage is a problem
growingly for businesses all over the
world and yes we could potentially solve
that problem by just taking people to
the places where the skills are needed
but the rules and regulations will not
allow it for a long time I
thought that policy is a problem created
by politicians and bureaucrats I thought
that when an employer in Estonia wants
to hire highly skilled specialists and
can get a work permit within 24 hours
but a company in Greece has to wait one
year and even then most probably will
not get the permit then it’s because the
policy makers and politicians in Estonia
have made better decisions that’s what I
thought until one evening in February a
year ago I’m in warm and humid Kuala
Lumpur my my colleagues and I we are in
our very favorite restaurant in the
yellow and a lower area this time my
little three-year-old daughter is with
us and we love this place because they
have probably the best chicken wings on
planet Earth those chicken wings alone
are a reason to fly to kuala lumpur
simply a notice that my colleagues are
looking at something behind me then i
realized that everybody else in the
restaurant is looking in that direction
too
i turn around and what I see is my
daughter hugging a little Muslim girl
they just stand there what seemed like
forever holding each other no borders no
fear of cultural difference just two
little humans finding joy in each other
Here I am in Malaysia five thousand
miles from home and I realized that
borders and policy are not not about
politicians they are their reflection of
the borders in our heads those are the
borders that keep us from pursuing our
dreams because we are afraid we’re not
good enough it is the fear that somebody
who is good enough it’ll take away
what’s ours I realized that policy is
just a mirror of self doubt of its
citizens in my childhood hi I have
witnessed how one peaceful revolution
can change the world and lives of people
how taking down isolation borders can
bring the society from desperation and
suffering to innovation and success now
it is time for another peaceful
revolution and it is the revolution to
take down our personal borders those are
the borders that keep us from pursuing
our dreams and as a consequence we limit
others to pursue theirs those are the
borders that are fueled by our
self-doubt and fed by hate and Sena
phobia taking down our personal borders
would be the most powerful policy change
towards a collaborative and richer world
just like me as a five year old about to
witness the change I ask you tonight
when you go home and you’re thinking
about a day acknowledged that you me us
we are the border guards of our lives
and we are in control of a peaceful
revolution towards a better world and
you can start that by just sitting down
for a coffee with a person that with
whom you usually disagree or plan a trip
to a country that is uncomfortably to
foreign this could be the start of your
revolution
[Applause]
it’s a warm September evening in 1988
I’m surrounded by more people that I’ve
ever seen I’m five years old but I can
see far sitting on my father’s shoulders
wearing Talon the capital of Estonia and
I’m excited because we drove all the way
to Tel in from my little hometown on the
other side of the country but there’s
more my mom and dad are really excited
about something people are singing I’m
singing to my mom he’s holding my little
brother but she’s crying but I don’t
mind because I have a flag that flag has
been always hidden in the closet like a
big secret and cutting me into trouble
every time I tried to play with it no
trouble today it seems and I can stay up
late best night ever
my father year old self doesn’t know it
but I’m witnessing one of the most
remarkable events in the history of my
home country the singing revolution more
than three hundred thousand people have
gathered to tell in on that evening to
literally sing their way to freedom from
the Soviet occupation the singing
revolution has been named one of the
most peaceful revolutions in the human
history the singing revolution took down
the Iron Curtain three years after that
evening 27 years later the same country
is one of the most digitally advanced
societies in our world and a pioneer for
a democracy and governance since my
childhood I’ve done many things that my
parents didn’t even dare to dream of
behind the Iron Curtain
I started my first company when I was 16
and it was my late father
and who grew up in the Soviet Union who
encouraged me that my idea deserves a
journey to the Patent Office his
encouragement helped me to step beyond
my personal borders you know the feeling
like you could do anything well that’s
exactly how my dad made me feel by just
believing in me but of the many things
that my parents couldn’t do that I have
enjoyed the most has been traveling I
have traveled to more than 40 countries
and lived shorter or longer stints in
several of them last year I spent
hundred and forty three days abroad and
my then three-year-old daughter had more
flights in one month than I had within
the first 20 years of my life many
things have obviously changed during the
past two decades for me but not only due
to the circumstance of my location but
because moving around is just so much
easier for all of us humans in a way
reflecting what Phil Knight said in his
memoirs the world was much bigger in
1962
yes the world is much smaller now
William swing the director-general of
International Organization for Migration
says that every seventh person on the
planet is a migrant today we are living
in the era of highest human mobility in
the recorded history what is happening
let’s look at one simple structure in
our lives that has changed friendships
once almost exclusively formed around
our neighborhood of school our workplace
our grocery store have suddenly expanded
thanks to global networks suddenly
instead of being connected because of
our location we are connected in the
verticals of interests my best friend
can be sitting in Japan India or the
United States and we are connected
through a mutual interest I’ll come
persons have expanded globally because
our people are everywhere and we are
more comfortable to be anywhere the
world has become more fluid economist
Michael Clements from the center of
global development claims that there’s
one simple policy that could make the
world twice as rich as it is open
borders his colleague has even gone
further economics prying poplin and data
scientists people might claim that the
world of free movement would be 78
trillion-dollar richer it was the idea
around the movement of people that
sparked the inspiration for the company
that I am building it was in Silicon
Valley when I asked myself why is change
happening here
why aren’t Google and other gigantic
powerhouses emerging from anywhere else
on the planet the answer I realized was
knowledgeable people who are drawn to
this location so in this more fluid
world what if we take a person with
knowledge and expertise to place lacking
that knowledge and expertise could that
be the start of an actual change even
Google was built by human beings so
potentially moving around knowledgeable
people could help us build Silicon
Valley’s from anywhere in the world in
2014 I started to work on that idea and
thus sabbatical with a mission to
distribute knowledge to the far-flung
cities of the world was born three years
later we’re connecting talent from all
over the world to organizations in 49
countries but since the beginning of
Tibet achill one of the most commonly
asked questions I have got this what
about immigration because yes talent is
more open to move around for a career
and yes talent shortage is a problem
growingly for businesses all over the
world and yes we could potentially solve
that problem by just taking people to
the places where the skills are needed
but the rules and regulations will not
allow it for a long time I
thought that policy is a problem created
by politicians and bureaucrats I thought
that when an employer in Estonia wants
to hire highly skilled specialists and
can get a work permit within 24 hours
but a company in Greece has to wait one
year and even then most probably will
not get the permit then it’s because the
policy makers and politicians in Estonia
have made better decisions that’s what I
thought until one evening in February a
year ago I’m in warm and humid Kuala
Lumpur my my colleagues and I we are in
our very favorite restaurant in the
yellow and a lower area this time my
little three-year-old daughter is with
us and we love this place because they
have probably the best chicken wings on
planet Earth those chicken wings alone
are a reason to fly to kuala lumpur
simply a notice that my colleagues are
looking at something behind me then i
realized that everybody else in the
restaurant is looking in that direction
too
i turn around and what I see is my
daughter hugging a little Muslim girl
they just stand there what seemed like
forever holding each other no borders no
fear of cultural difference just two
little humans finding joy in each other
Here I am in Malaysia five thousand
miles from home and I realized that
borders and policy are not not about
politicians they are their reflection of
the borders in our heads those are the
borders that keep us from pursuing our
dreams because we are afraid we’re not
good enough it is the fear that somebody
who is good enough it’ll take away
what’s ours I realized that policy is
just a mirror of self doubt of its
citizens in my childhood hi I have
witnessed how one peaceful revolution
can change the world and lives of people
how taking down isolation borders can
bring the society from desperation and
suffering to innovation and success now
it is time for another peaceful
revolution and it is the revolution to
take down our personal borders those are
the borders that keep us from pursuing
our dreams and as a consequence we limit
others to pursue theirs those are the
borders that are fueled by our
self-doubt and fed by hate and Sena
phobia taking down our personal borders
would be the most powerful policy change
towards a collaborative and richer world
just like me as a five year old about to
witness the change I ask you tonight
when you go home and you’re thinking
about a day acknowledged that you me us
we are the border guards of our lives
and we are in control of a peaceful
revolution towards a better world and
you can start that by just sitting down
for a coffee with a person that with
whom you usually disagree or plan a trip
to a country that is uncomfortably to
foreign this could be the start of your
revolution
[Applause]
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