so what does this don’t be a consumer be
a stakeholder saying here’s what I you
you probably notice I’m wearing a
Chinese jacket that’s a hint I’ve spent
a lot of my life in a place that’s kind
of a group culture it’s a group culture
I’ve spent the rest of my life in the
United States of America which is
distinctly not a group culture it’s an
individual culture so in one way
everybody in China at the extreme of
group culture travels through life on a
bus yeah there’s good things and bad
things about that when you’re on the bus
you’re never alone you never have to
drive you’re always with people who are
going where you are you’ve got something
in common their shared energy you run
out of water somebody else has water you
run out of food somebody else has food
got interesting conversation the problem
is you can’t get off the bus and if at
some point you’re on the bus and you
decide that you know something comes up
in your personal life and you need to be
somewhere besides the buses going you’re
sort of Sol now in America we travel
around on motorcycles
we are relentlessly individualistic we
plan our days for ourselves we drive
around our cars we listen to our
podcasts we play with our cell phones
it’s a lot of kind of extreme individual
as agent as unit of society piece so a
stakeholder so I’ve lived because I’ve
lived in China because I’ve lived here
I’ve been able to see the good and the
bad in both the extreme individualism
and the extreme group identity I’ve been
able to see the things that can be
achieved and I’ve looked and observed
for ways that are in between and that’s
what a stakeholder is a stakeholder is
somebody who operates in a fluid
non-transactional vision driven
structure for pooling resources energy
and power that is not a bus and it’s not
a bicycle so what I’m here to talk about
is the things that I saw in China
pulling 700 million people out of
poverty building world dominant sectors
in telecommunications
renewable energy all sorts of things
from pretty much nothing in 25 years
well how did they do that well they did
this thing called stakeholder engagement
and that’s what I’m here to talk about
that’s what Albany can code is based on
it’s based on a model of first thing
about stakeholder engagement is it’s
driven by a vision it’s like a big
umbrella now if you start something in
the u.s. you’re supposed to have a
mission statement but there’s problems
with that a mission is restrictive as
soon as you have a mission statement you
have we us the organization shall
provide product service definition to
group over there it assigns roles it
becomes fixed it becomes rigid and it’s
implicit in the mission statement that
everybody within the wall of the
organization or business as its most
likely to be has a vested interest to
keep that organization alive in
perpetuity as soon as you have a mission
statement
your first job becomes to keep the unit
that created the mission statement alive
so you’re bound rather to a larger
vision that is that is a big big we you
still have kind of a group me follow me
you’ve got competitors so even if you’re
in social enterprise you know I know I
mentioned this talked to a couple people
said what are you doing this TED talk on
I said don’t be a consumer be a
stakeholder what does that mean to you
and they said well that means that I
should shop locally and numb and that I
should give I should be vested in the
you know the success of local businesses
I should give them really good feedback
and I’m like that’s good be a conscious
consumer by all means but there are
things that give us purpose give us hope
give us narrative give us a sense of
being connected and useful that just
buying coffee from the people who have
the same values as you down the street
it’s not going to get us toward I don’t
know about you guys I want to feel
connected I want to feel useful I want
to have a life
purpose and narrative and there’s no way
I can shop myself toward that goal so we
are sort of at this moment here being
invited by me little ol me to think
about the ways that all of our being a
consumer stands in the way of our
becoming effective stakeholders and I
bumped into this when I came back from
China and I you know became a co-founder
of this thing called Albany kink code
and my friend said we’re having trouble
with the tech talent pipeline in the
Capital Region can can you go out there
and help us find some more developers
I’m like I don’t really know but I know
how the Chinese solve their workforce
problems and they do it across the
entire ecosystem and they they create a
vision and our shared vision is a talent
fueled vibrant tech sector talent fueled
means there’s a lot of people who are
technically literate enough that we’re
prepared to you know to make ourselves
or our kids or our friends whoever has
the aptitude into someone who can work
in the tech economy it’s across the
whole ecosystem and what you do as a
consumer is I want I shop I choose or if
you’re on the other side of the wall
inside the mission statement I serve
write what you do when you’re a
stakeholder is you explore you convene
you pull resources you brainstorm you
get a map of the minefield from the
people who are like in that minefield
all day every day I don’t go around and
say I have the answer to your problems
we have a program I say so hey are you a
stakeholder in this vision of a talent
fuel tech sector and the cap region do
you think that would be a good thing
okay give me the minefield of your life
day in and day out as an educator as an
employer as a community member as a
parent give me the map of your minefield
I’m not gonna come in here and write you
a prescription and try to sell you
something I’m not gonna sell you
something I don’t have a mission
statement that has a product to sell a
stakeholder behaves in ways that are non
transactional everything that a
stakeholder does is towards the vision
of you know the shared group everything
that a stakeholder does is a combination
of giving in
thieving there aren’t these defined
roles that consumers have and when I
started going around with Albany can
code to convene and explore and
brainstorm pilot people would say I
don’t get it what are you selling or
like what does it cost I said I don’t
know that you give me let’s talk about
the map of the minefield let’s everybody
put it all out let’s define the problem
in a way that it’s solvable and let’s
figure out what resources are missing
let’s see what pieces of the puzzle are
already here because we don’t need to
fix it if it’s not broken and let’s find
the pieces that are missing and figure
out how we put them together and then
let’s empower people to run with that
vision so that’s kind of what being in a
consumer frame of mind obstructs it’s a
bit of a barrier it tends to this
mindset of always either selling
something or buying something it gives
us a lot of habits of thinking and
seeing the world what am i what’s in it
for me what am I getting wait a minute I
don’t understand I thought you were
working with k12 are you doing workforce
– what’s your line of business you know
where’s the money come from how much
does it cost because a minute ago this
look like it could cost $10,000 and now
it looks like it only costs $500 you’re
all over the map I’m like we’re just
defining the scope of what we need to do
here so it’s fluid being a stakeholder
is a we positioning rather than an I
want I shop I choose you don’t really
it’s a fluid situation it’s not about
the perpetuation of Albany can code when
I sat down with my the founder of Albany
can code year and a half ago when we
started this and real Annecy I said you
know I’ll do the operational part but
maybe for just like two years and she
said why only two years and I said
because in two years from now it’s not
gonna be necessary anymore everyone in
the cap region will be like up to speed
and all the stakeholders will be
empowered and they’ll be running with it
and we will have built all this capacity
she’s like no no no no you’re from
Shanghai it takes a while here so maybe
it is gonna be more than two years maybe
but I’m really not wedded to the you
know the survival of Albany can code I’m
not build
Empire I’m not you know accumulating
capital this is a stakeholder engagement
initiative where everybody who’s got
some ideas a map of the minefield some
resource some creativity some skin in
the game to having a tech sector in this
region you know so that we can be sort
of regionally relevant and competitive
and more the you know the locals who
have talent and aptitude and motivation
for this gets killed up so that software
isn’t just you know run by white male
nerds with four-year computer science
degrees and ten years of experience who
we have to recruit to come back to the
region after they leave oops I founded
somebody everybody who’s got to get in
that game come to us we’ll brainstorm
we’ll pilot will chase the vision and we
won’t be we won’t be selling and buying
and transacting will be will be
stakeholders engaging together and I
don’t think that was 18 minutes but
that’s pretty much all I have to say
a stakeholder saying here’s what I you
you probably notice I’m wearing a
Chinese jacket that’s a hint I’ve spent
a lot of my life in a place that’s kind
of a group culture it’s a group culture
I’ve spent the rest of my life in the
United States of America which is
distinctly not a group culture it’s an
individual culture so in one way
everybody in China at the extreme of
group culture travels through life on a
bus yeah there’s good things and bad
things about that when you’re on the bus
you’re never alone you never have to
drive you’re always with people who are
going where you are you’ve got something
in common their shared energy you run
out of water somebody else has water you
run out of food somebody else has food
got interesting conversation the problem
is you can’t get off the bus and if at
some point you’re on the bus and you
decide that you know something comes up
in your personal life and you need to be
somewhere besides the buses going you’re
sort of Sol now in America we travel
around on motorcycles
we are relentlessly individualistic we
plan our days for ourselves we drive
around our cars we listen to our
podcasts we play with our cell phones
it’s a lot of kind of extreme individual
as agent as unit of society piece so a
stakeholder so I’ve lived because I’ve
lived in China because I’ve lived here
I’ve been able to see the good and the
bad in both the extreme individualism
and the extreme group identity I’ve been
able to see the things that can be
achieved and I’ve looked and observed
for ways that are in between and that’s
what a stakeholder is a stakeholder is
somebody who operates in a fluid
non-transactional vision driven
structure for pooling resources energy
and power that is not a bus and it’s not
a bicycle so what I’m here to talk about
is the things that I saw in China
pulling 700 million people out of
poverty building world dominant sectors
in telecommunications
renewable energy all sorts of things
from pretty much nothing in 25 years
well how did they do that well they did
this thing called stakeholder engagement
and that’s what I’m here to talk about
that’s what Albany can code is based on
it’s based on a model of first thing
about stakeholder engagement is it’s
driven by a vision it’s like a big
umbrella now if you start something in
the u.s. you’re supposed to have a
mission statement but there’s problems
with that a mission is restrictive as
soon as you have a mission statement you
have we us the organization shall
provide product service definition to
group over there it assigns roles it
becomes fixed it becomes rigid and it’s
implicit in the mission statement that
everybody within the wall of the
organization or business as its most
likely to be has a vested interest to
keep that organization alive in
perpetuity as soon as you have a mission
statement
your first job becomes to keep the unit
that created the mission statement alive
so you’re bound rather to a larger
vision that is that is a big big we you
still have kind of a group me follow me
you’ve got competitors so even if you’re
in social enterprise you know I know I
mentioned this talked to a couple people
said what are you doing this TED talk on
I said don’t be a consumer be a
stakeholder what does that mean to you
and they said well that means that I
should shop locally and numb and that I
should give I should be vested in the
you know the success of local businesses
I should give them really good feedback
and I’m like that’s good be a conscious
consumer by all means but there are
things that give us purpose give us hope
give us narrative give us a sense of
being connected and useful that just
buying coffee from the people who have
the same values as you down the street
it’s not going to get us toward I don’t
know about you guys I want to feel
connected I want to feel useful I want
to have a life
purpose and narrative and there’s no way
I can shop myself toward that goal so we
are sort of at this moment here being
invited by me little ol me to think
about the ways that all of our being a
consumer stands in the way of our
becoming effective stakeholders and I
bumped into this when I came back from
China and I you know became a co-founder
of this thing called Albany kink code
and my friend said we’re having trouble
with the tech talent pipeline in the
Capital Region can can you go out there
and help us find some more developers
I’m like I don’t really know but I know
how the Chinese solve their workforce
problems and they do it across the
entire ecosystem and they they create a
vision and our shared vision is a talent
fueled vibrant tech sector talent fueled
means there’s a lot of people who are
technically literate enough that we’re
prepared to you know to make ourselves
or our kids or our friends whoever has
the aptitude into someone who can work
in the tech economy it’s across the
whole ecosystem and what you do as a
consumer is I want I shop I choose or if
you’re on the other side of the wall
inside the mission statement I serve
write what you do when you’re a
stakeholder is you explore you convene
you pull resources you brainstorm you
get a map of the minefield from the
people who are like in that minefield
all day every day I don’t go around and
say I have the answer to your problems
we have a program I say so hey are you a
stakeholder in this vision of a talent
fuel tech sector and the cap region do
you think that would be a good thing
okay give me the minefield of your life
day in and day out as an educator as an
employer as a community member as a
parent give me the map of your minefield
I’m not gonna come in here and write you
a prescription and try to sell you
something I’m not gonna sell you
something I don’t have a mission
statement that has a product to sell a
stakeholder behaves in ways that are non
transactional everything that a
stakeholder does is towards the vision
of you know the shared group everything
that a stakeholder does is a combination
of giving in
thieving there aren’t these defined
roles that consumers have and when I
started going around with Albany can
code to convene and explore and
brainstorm pilot people would say I
don’t get it what are you selling or
like what does it cost I said I don’t
know that you give me let’s talk about
the map of the minefield let’s everybody
put it all out let’s define the problem
in a way that it’s solvable and let’s
figure out what resources are missing
let’s see what pieces of the puzzle are
already here because we don’t need to
fix it if it’s not broken and let’s find
the pieces that are missing and figure
out how we put them together and then
let’s empower people to run with that
vision so that’s kind of what being in a
consumer frame of mind obstructs it’s a
bit of a barrier it tends to this
mindset of always either selling
something or buying something it gives
us a lot of habits of thinking and
seeing the world what am i what’s in it
for me what am I getting wait a minute I
don’t understand I thought you were
working with k12 are you doing workforce
– what’s your line of business you know
where’s the money come from how much
does it cost because a minute ago this
look like it could cost $10,000 and now
it looks like it only costs $500 you’re
all over the map I’m like we’re just
defining the scope of what we need to do
here so it’s fluid being a stakeholder
is a we positioning rather than an I
want I shop I choose you don’t really
it’s a fluid situation it’s not about
the perpetuation of Albany can code when
I sat down with my the founder of Albany
can code year and a half ago when we
started this and real Annecy I said you
know I’ll do the operational part but
maybe for just like two years and she
said why only two years and I said
because in two years from now it’s not
gonna be necessary anymore everyone in
the cap region will be like up to speed
and all the stakeholders will be
empowered and they’ll be running with it
and we will have built all this capacity
she’s like no no no no you’re from
Shanghai it takes a while here so maybe
it is gonna be more than two years maybe
but I’m really not wedded to the you
know the survival of Albany can code I’m
not build
Empire I’m not you know accumulating
capital this is a stakeholder engagement
initiative where everybody who’s got
some ideas a map of the minefield some
resource some creativity some skin in
the game to having a tech sector in this
region you know so that we can be sort
of regionally relevant and competitive
and more the you know the locals who
have talent and aptitude and motivation
for this gets killed up so that software
isn’t just you know run by white male
nerds with four-year computer science
degrees and ten years of experience who
we have to recruit to come back to the
region after they leave oops I founded
somebody everybody who’s got to get in
that game come to us we’ll brainstorm
we’ll pilot will chase the vision and we
won’t be we won’t be selling and buying
and transacting will be will be
stakeholders engaging together and I
don’t think that was 18 minutes but
that’s pretty much all I have to say
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