I’m gonna tell you the secrets of the
world’s greatest rule breakers
troublemakers and rebels so that you two
can break the rules change the world and
get away with it in preparation for this
talk I was in Parliament Square seeking
inspiration as I looked around I
realized something there are no statues
for people who are just following orders
in fact heroes rarely ever seem to do
what they’re told I think that rule
breakers should be considered like like
great painters whose art often isn’t
properly valued until after the times
but these times that were in we don’t
have time to wait until we’re recognized
as great artists or or as statues I
think that actually the only thing worse
than following stupid rules the only
thing worse than a stupid rule is the
people following them the times that
were in call for change and I think Mike
like digital skills were maybe over the
last few years or or right now are
growing awareness around mental health
and well-being the next great skill for
the 21st century is going to be
professional rule breaking and I know
rule breaking can sound uncomfortable
but that’s really entirely the point and
we need to break out of the comfort that
we feel we sit in because the only real
mistake that we could make is that the
way things are is the way things have to
be if I was 20 years old now and
inheriting the world
I think I’d asked for a refund these
kind of conventions this level of social
inequality this is the Paradiso cervelas
in in Brazil has become so commonplace
yet it’s these conventions that sit
beneath some of the world’s most
intractable challenges from from poverty
to radical extremism and this has become
normal that is not okay there is no
shortage of other rules that we could
challenge and go out to break I would
suggest that non circular or or non
sustainable business has become
thing less than a war crime in a world
60% over its biosphere capacity the
notion of taking resources from
communities to hit a profit line is
unacceptable images like this a
generation ago would have denoted a war
zone yet now there immediately
recognizable as the output of extreme
capitalism there are many more the
notion of a drug like addiction to
consumerism is killing us and the drug
dealers in this analogy have got to be
the advertising industry an entire
industry that has to ask itself whether
or not it’s going to be part of the
wake-up call or ultimately the the
signature on humanity’s own suicide note
this idea of selling happiness over a
brand in a world absolutely dying of its
resources is a change that needs to come
or is it going to be the convention
around technology the most connected
generation ever whose legacy may well be
a growing sense of anxiety we’re so far
away from fulfilling the potential of
mass participation when actually the
vast majority of power sits in the
smallest hands ever and if we think that
the where the power does lie is anyone
coming to save us is there a greater
plan has anyone truly got our back the
answers clearly no no one is coming to
save us the rules that serve
self-interested few whilst selling the
future for a small bump on a budget line
are the rules that have to be challenged
and needs to be broken well I don’t
think it’s just rule breaking I think
it’s rebellion I think that’s the sense
that we need and I know that rebellion
is a really strong word but I do mean a
kind of a sexy Star Wars cool rebellion
but that’s exactly where I think we need
to go or in other words in fact in the
words of representative John Lewis who
said who led the march across the bridge
in Selma who led the civil rights
movement through the 1960s the most
recently led a sit-in in Congress to
demonstrate against gun laws in the US
and the way he puts it is this we need
to get up we need to get out wind it
stand up and we need to speak out we
need to get in the way
we need to cause trouble we need to
cause necessary trouble we need to cause
good trouble good trouble is exactly the
kind of benchmark that I think we need
to be advocating to a new generation a
young generation who’ve got power in
their hands an enterprising generation
because the benchmarks that we give them
aren’t fit for purpose I’ll be goddamned
if I have to give Boober as the
benchmark of the business of the future
of everything ever again to the bright
young changemakers the eyes met around
the world who too often are pushed
towards Silicon Valley as their kind of
the answer for everything the truth is I
think sitting behind so many of the
unicorns of Silicon Valley is far too
much horseshit and we are too wedded to
this notion of a small community who are
somewhat introspective and ultimately
have a relatively low EQ when what we
need is longer-term solutions that look
to history and that look to the future
so to look to the future I think is
necessary to look to the past and as we
look to the past and we see leaders with
real ideas and we see movements that
were more than just advertising
campaigns I think we begin to see the
kind of leadership and change that’s
required but as I’ve looked back out
across history seeking role models for
the younger generation that I believe in
so much
I found a gap and in that gap I found a
group of working class heroes and social
revolutionaries who I think might be the
heroes of the hour and the role models
that we need I would like to suggest
ladies and gentlemen the Pirates notably
the Golden Age of pirates should now sit
alongside the Levellers the suffragettes
in the civil rights movement as the
heroes that we need today for the future
that’s coming our way
I appreciate the cynicism skepticism and
somewhat raised eyebrows across the room
and that’s exactly how it should be
because I know the view that we all have
of Pirates of course but I’m suggesting
we’d be a bit more pirate because I
would like to suggest there are real
attributes in this group real examples
of innovation in this community that are
well worth learning from your skepticism
as well founded it comes from a really
clear place a sense of piracy that we’ve
all grown up with been completely
indoctrinated in but it’s not the truth
in fact the truth has been written out
of history by the establishment that
they threatened
let me introduce you to some of my
pirate heroes over here we have back Sam
Bellamy age 28 he was known as the
Prince of pirates one of the most
successful and fantastically wealthy he
was team were known as Robin Hood’s men
and he was most famous for the eloquent
articulations and arguments he would get
make against the dawn of capitalism and
in favor of fairness and over here we’ve
got Edward Teach KK Blackbeard possibly
the most famous pirate of all time the
architect of the brand of piracy he was
so dedicated to living this brand that
he’d set light to the end of his his
beard with sulfurous fuses so that he
could actually participate in less not
more violence
some historians will go on the record to
say back they’d never actually killed
anyone over here we’ve got black Caesar
one of the many freed slaves who turned
into piracy and here’s one of the few
black captains that were out there and
over here at the far end is my favorite
of all the Pirates and Bonnie blowing a
hole the size of a galleon through some
of the biggest conventions of the day
that women weren’t just a equal
capability but but of equal intelligence
and Anne Bonny fiercely fearless Lee led
crews of Pyrus pirates alongside her
male counterparts representing the only
place in the world at that time where
people of color or people different
gender or backgrounds would have had
equal opportunity and equal say this is
all true
these are masters of historical fact but
to put these guys into context as to
where they might sit today you could
equate them to the Mark Zuckerberg Steve
Jobs jay-z and Sheryl Sandberg of their
time because they were the the front
page news they were the gossip of the
hour they were almost the unicorns of
their day they were they were loved and
they were hated and they were they were
they were hotly debated but they were
the news and they were the example of
what was to come the truth continues
though the facts are out there the we
think in business terms that coca-cola
were the first people to come up with
the idea of global branding but no of
course it was the Pirates with the skull
and crossbones two hundred nearly two
hundred years before the first viral
meme of its day
there had a very clear message and a
message that drove their bottom line and
the notion of dual governance that sits
in all of our businesses and in our
democracy the notion of two houses which
which which protects good governance
within all organizations first seen on a
pirate ship when the quartermaster was
elevated to the same position and
seniority as a captain so that
could return to a predatory sense of
power and an abusive power as they’d
seen in the Navy the idea of social
insurance if anybody should aboard a
pirate ship should lose a leg they were
given 800 pieces of eight as a
compensation an arm with 600 pieces of
eight and I a hundred and fifty pieces
of eight the first written record of
workplace compensation even a
pensionable scheme if people were to
lose their position on a pirate ship who
offered another place perhaps as a cook
or something else onboard universal
suffrage over 150 years before it was
first seen in the UK and then around the
world everybody on board a pirate ship
had equal say in the matters at hand pay
equality on board a pirate ship total
transparency around pay structures and
an index linking between the highest and
lowest paid I mean I can’t give the
update on that because we still haven’t
managed to get there the Pirates are
still ahead of us on this count and the
list continues modern notions like
facilitative leadership or even
self-organizing teams were first seen
clearly and recorded on pirate ships and
it doesn’t stop there I can go on and on
but there’s a couple more just to cement
this in your minds same-sex marriage
first seen on a pirate ship called
Mattia Lodge it’s so it’s sophisticated
it even had an inheritance clause
alongside it and if you’re still not
convinced I’ll seal the deal and let you
know that Pirates were the people who
invented the cocktail francis drake with
some mints and tree bark some rum and
some sugar essentially it’s a mojito but
without the ice you can see now why this
famous quote from Steve Jobs exists when
he took the Apple team away and turned
that business around and famously came
out with the first Mac the line that
stood above the whole team that time was
I’d rather be a pirate than joined the
Navy because we know it deep down don’t
we there’s a sense of rebellion which is
so intoxicating and exciting yet why I
mean there aren’t many murderous rogues
in history that it would be acceptable
for you to have a children’s party in
that kind of theme a Pablo Escobar party
for a five-year-old would be really
weird but somehow in this notion of
piracy there is something strong there’s
something powerful it’s something that’s
not understood and I think it should be
because when you look back across
history when we look at major moments of
innovation often they are driven further
forward by a sense of piracy by
challenging market failure and unmet
needs of audiences and organized
that’s how we move from a monopoly of
radio through pirate radio to a you
between a bit of a choice that’s how
their that’s how their the internet
really advanced is why biotechnology is
moving so fast because the establishment
will take the ground and the Pirates
will come and challenge and change that
and that’s why now where we stand 300
years exactly after the Golden Age of
pirates once again in need of rebels who
can shake things up because it’s
surprisingly similar in 1718 there’s a
backdrop of interconnected international
conflicts so confusing nobody knew what
was going on there was a millennial
generation looking out to a miss sold
future mass redundancy through
automation a self-interested
establishment and a broken society I
mean sound familiar and 300 years later
we face exactly the same challenges and
I think we have a crisis of imagination
at a level of leadership to show us the
way which is why I think there’s some
role models missing and it is time to be
a little bit more pilot about how we
create this change so how did they
create their change
well fundamental to the pirate success
was a thing called the pirate code you
may have heard of it it gets referenced
in lots of pirate law sometimes as
guidelines but these were not guidelines
the pirate code was law and you
certainly lived or died by it these are
some of the exact wordings that can be
found in the in the surviving records of
it and to be honest there aren’t many
surviving records because to be found
with the copy of the pirate code would
have been a death warrant but there was
such principles there was such profound
principles that many of them last and
remain over time so these ideas of flat
structures of self-organizing teams of
democracy and more participative
democracy than have been seen since
Athens and actually arguably more
participative than the democracy that
was first seen in Athens because in
Athens only the white men had to vote
and on board a pirate ship everybody had
the vote so this pirate code sat as a a
series of principles of frameworks that
allowed these organizations to stay
nimble and agile as networks before such
things were even buzzwords and they
could take on the might of entire
empires and for nearly 40 years they won
they challenged the status quo and they
changed everything
and so I think if we’re going to bring
this forward now when we find ourselves
in such similar times how
we gonna pull this together what could
be a modern pirate code and it hit me
the pirate code 2.0 what would that look
like would it be as powerful as it was
then
could we have ideas that would have
found so outrageous I mean imagine if we
were a pirate crew right now 300 years
ago no about to set out discussing ideas
like what will pay everybody equally
well we might have female leaders ideas
that were seditious at the time where
are those ideas now where are those kind
of ideas have changed are we dreaming
big enough
so I’ve there now I’ve been looking I’m
very fortunate I’ve work with young
changemakers social entrepreneurs
idealist artists and activists around
the world and I have assembled the
beginning of what could be a pirate code
2.0 ideas whose hour may have come that
just might be powerful enough to change
the world I’ll share some of them with
you I’m still I’m still seeking more I
went to speak to a group of young social
entrepreneurs in the Far East incredible
ideas ideas a scale that could change
everything like so profoundly impressed
and sat down with them to ask them what
their structure of business planning was
they said business plans granddad
business plans are dead which is a
relief to anybody who’s been involved in
a business planning process and has put
together an 18-month forecast and those
absolutely fundamentally that you’re
making it up I asked them what they
replaced it with and they said well we
get together and have manifesto jams we
come up with principles that we can make
decisions by we come up with really
clear metrics and we establish some
outcomes and then we get back together
when we need to and jam our manifesto
they pointed out that a business plan
format is about 140 years old anyway and
hasn’t been updated even when business
has transformed along with the earth
around it I realize they want to
something I work with another
organization a really fast growing
hostel who are doing incredible work
across Europe and they’re in buildin
that you can fight back against Airbnb I
asked them what they thought the secret
of their success was they told me their
pirate code fundamentally they operate a
no asshole rule it’s very simple it’s
it’s above everything no are supposed to
be employed no are supposed to be worked
with no clients could be ourselves and
now our thoughts go out to the guests
and once you’ve got that right
everything else amazingly falls into
place
it’s the secret behind their success and
like the original pirate code there are
there are profound and strategic notions
and there are sometimes some more simple
ones but but this one to leave you with
I think is pretty exciting and sits
almost as big as some of those original
ideas of the pirate code it’s from an
organization of pirates called the the
new citizenship project and they
discussed the way that we about 2,000
times a day see the word consumer on the
back of every product that we lift up we
hear it on the news constantly
constantly constantly and this notion of
consumer therefore brainwashes us and
defines our mindset and in a world
that’s run out of resources should have
find an air consumable
well frankly there’s a problem and what
would happen is if we changed every
single time you saw the notion of
consumer to citizen if you became a
citizen in relationship with the things
that you bought if you became a citizen
and relationship with the shops that you
go to if you became citizen in
relationship to the Internet and
everything around you a very different
sense of Rights what if the the the
whole relationship that we had was based
on one of citizenship and in this
suddenly I found an idea that seems
almost impossible almost crazy but
really simple and kind of logical and
wouldn’t that just change the world
and so now I’m amassing these ideas I’m
pulling them together and they’re all
similar they’re all similar that they’re
don’t rely on plans and these are not
just these glib words that sometimes you
know you know these organizations you
turn up and they’ve got honesty written
and three four letters on the on the
firm reception and you know anybody that
needs to remind themselves to be honest
and letters that Lodge
shouldn’t be trusted these are
principles principles on which you can
make decisions measures in which we can
trust and outcomes based on what works
why aren’t we organizing ourselves
around what we know works so these are
the conventions that I’m talking about
defying this is the professional level
of rule breaking that I’m suggesting and
around these ideas that collaboration
that I’m talking about can only be
described as mutiny but a modern mutiny
a constructive mutiny a positive and
optimistic mutiny and if you’re thinking
well maybe that sounds like a slightly
random bunch of rebels that you’ve
pulled together there that’s exactly the
point
small groups small groups there is
Margaret Mead who said the infamous
immortal line that nothing ever changed
the world except
a small group of thoughtful and
committed citizens and I would like to
upgrade that to nothing ever changed the
world quite so effectively as a small
group of thoughtful and committed
pirates because this goes back this goes
back to the very beginning and as this
group of pirates three hundred years ago
became world famous and they truly were
working class heroes whose ideas had
spread around the world they took them
off the ships and onto land and in the
heart of the Caribbean the epicentre of
the global trade and industry in the
dawn of capitalism they took their ideas
into an island and formed a proto
Democratic Republic where all people
were regarded equal this didn’t happen
anywhere else in the world up until this
point and it was predating democracies
that spot everywhere else and this proto
democracy bought pirates from all over
the world and they had a great time how
I like to think of it it’s just I mean
this is radical empowerment people of
color women you know an equal
opportunity empowerment not enslavement
that was taking place around the rest of
the world this was such a radical notion
but it was also a very grave threat and
it would be you know obviously naive of
me to say that pirates invented modern
democracy but it’ll be equally diet
naive to miss the influence that they
had this threat was so grave and taken
so seriously by the old empires and
powers that they eventually sent to the
fleet to crush it these are exact words
taken in 1718 from a report that’s made
to the laws of trade back in London this
is official wording and terminology this
is not romantic notional me over selling
the idea of pirates but the reason
they’ve become so popular the reason
they’ve become so powerful is because
they represent equality I mean and ROM
obviously and camaraderie and equality
and democracy these were the ideas that
were so powerful because these ideas
were beginning to spread around the
world this this predates the revolutions
and rebellions that changed the world
this time this was their crucible and
the powers that be made sure that they
were exterminated crushed and that these
ideas would never be had again except of
course these ideas were had again
just a few short years after when a
group of very genteel men got together
and held these truths to be self-evident
and these colonial governors who were
operating and managing the whole of
northern States of America who had been
tolerating the Pirates industry and
Empire hadn’t just been watching and
observing this proto democratic
experiment in democracy there had been
funding it and fueling it and it turns
out in history you will see that the
colonial governors as they prepared
their departure independence from
English rule were actually employing
pirates to Harry the tax industry and
Harry English trade and prepare America
for its independence so you see this
small group of rebels are profoundly
important and the truth is that American
independence identity and democracy is
rooted in Caribbean piracy and once
again as the world and its leaders think
about the future and think about our
current identity and independence and
democracy and what it means we begin to
realize that for too long the wrong
pirates have been in charge and it might
be time to address that so this begins
with you because we are all in this
together and we all have a choice we are
now either part of the problem or part
of the solution and when I say we I mean
you and if you two want to be more
pirate and tap into this power it begins
with a simple act breaking of a rule I
truly believe this is a an essential
skill for the 21st century I truly
believe that we live in historic times
and for those who live in historic times
the hour may well be upon you like it
was the figures that have become statues
back in Parliament Square where I was at
the beginning of this but the question
that I ask if history judges those who
broke the rules to sometimes be the
heroes and and those who are just
following orders certainly don’t have
that same status when it is the right
and responsible thing to do to not do
what you’re told will you be ready for
it so I advocate a daily act of rule
breaking to prepare that in a rule
breaking muscle that’s in all of us so
picked a rule now cast your mind to
something perhaps you were told to do
this morning or or a convention that you
come across
even just a bad habit or practices out
there and get ready to break it break it
like you mean it
break it today break it tomorrow and
then find one to break every single day
you’ll know it’s the right one cause
you’ll feel just uncomfortable enough
when you did it and you’ll feel really
great when it’s done now all have died
the world continues but you will have
found a strength that will take you a
step closer to the kind of radical
change this world needs and the you will
find yourself being a little more pirate
thank you very much [Applause]
world’s greatest rule breakers
troublemakers and rebels so that you two
can break the rules change the world and
get away with it in preparation for this
talk I was in Parliament Square seeking
inspiration as I looked around I
realized something there are no statues
for people who are just following orders
in fact heroes rarely ever seem to do
what they’re told I think that rule
breakers should be considered like like
great painters whose art often isn’t
properly valued until after the times
but these times that were in we don’t
have time to wait until we’re recognized
as great artists or or as statues I
think that actually the only thing worse
than following stupid rules the only
thing worse than a stupid rule is the
people following them the times that
were in call for change and I think Mike
like digital skills were maybe over the
last few years or or right now are
growing awareness around mental health
and well-being the next great skill for
the 21st century is going to be
professional rule breaking and I know
rule breaking can sound uncomfortable
but that’s really entirely the point and
we need to break out of the comfort that
we feel we sit in because the only real
mistake that we could make is that the
way things are is the way things have to
be if I was 20 years old now and
inheriting the world
I think I’d asked for a refund these
kind of conventions this level of social
inequality this is the Paradiso cervelas
in in Brazil has become so commonplace
yet it’s these conventions that sit
beneath some of the world’s most
intractable challenges from from poverty
to radical extremism and this has become
normal that is not okay there is no
shortage of other rules that we could
challenge and go out to break I would
suggest that non circular or or non
sustainable business has become
thing less than a war crime in a world
60% over its biosphere capacity the
notion of taking resources from
communities to hit a profit line is
unacceptable images like this a
generation ago would have denoted a war
zone yet now there immediately
recognizable as the output of extreme
capitalism there are many more the
notion of a drug like addiction to
consumerism is killing us and the drug
dealers in this analogy have got to be
the advertising industry an entire
industry that has to ask itself whether
or not it’s going to be part of the
wake-up call or ultimately the the
signature on humanity’s own suicide note
this idea of selling happiness over a
brand in a world absolutely dying of its
resources is a change that needs to come
or is it going to be the convention
around technology the most connected
generation ever whose legacy may well be
a growing sense of anxiety we’re so far
away from fulfilling the potential of
mass participation when actually the
vast majority of power sits in the
smallest hands ever and if we think that
the where the power does lie is anyone
coming to save us is there a greater
plan has anyone truly got our back the
answers clearly no no one is coming to
save us the rules that serve
self-interested few whilst selling the
future for a small bump on a budget line
are the rules that have to be challenged
and needs to be broken well I don’t
think it’s just rule breaking I think
it’s rebellion I think that’s the sense
that we need and I know that rebellion
is a really strong word but I do mean a
kind of a sexy Star Wars cool rebellion
but that’s exactly where I think we need
to go or in other words in fact in the
words of representative John Lewis who
said who led the march across the bridge
in Selma who led the civil rights
movement through the 1960s the most
recently led a sit-in in Congress to
demonstrate against gun laws in the US
and the way he puts it is this we need
to get up we need to get out wind it
stand up and we need to speak out we
need to get in the way
we need to cause trouble we need to
cause necessary trouble we need to cause
good trouble good trouble is exactly the
kind of benchmark that I think we need
to be advocating to a new generation a
young generation who’ve got power in
their hands an enterprising generation
because the benchmarks that we give them
aren’t fit for purpose I’ll be goddamned
if I have to give Boober as the
benchmark of the business of the future
of everything ever again to the bright
young changemakers the eyes met around
the world who too often are pushed
towards Silicon Valley as their kind of
the answer for everything the truth is I
think sitting behind so many of the
unicorns of Silicon Valley is far too
much horseshit and we are too wedded to
this notion of a small community who are
somewhat introspective and ultimately
have a relatively low EQ when what we
need is longer-term solutions that look
to history and that look to the future
so to look to the future I think is
necessary to look to the past and as we
look to the past and we see leaders with
real ideas and we see movements that
were more than just advertising
campaigns I think we begin to see the
kind of leadership and change that’s
required but as I’ve looked back out
across history seeking role models for
the younger generation that I believe in
so much
I found a gap and in that gap I found a
group of working class heroes and social
revolutionaries who I think might be the
heroes of the hour and the role models
that we need I would like to suggest
ladies and gentlemen the Pirates notably
the Golden Age of pirates should now sit
alongside the Levellers the suffragettes
in the civil rights movement as the
heroes that we need today for the future
that’s coming our way
I appreciate the cynicism skepticism and
somewhat raised eyebrows across the room
and that’s exactly how it should be
because I know the view that we all have
of Pirates of course but I’m suggesting
we’d be a bit more pirate because I
would like to suggest there are real
attributes in this group real examples
of innovation in this community that are
well worth learning from your skepticism
as well founded it comes from a really
clear place a sense of piracy that we’ve
all grown up with been completely
indoctrinated in but it’s not the truth
in fact the truth has been written out
of history by the establishment that
they threatened
let me introduce you to some of my
pirate heroes over here we have back Sam
Bellamy age 28 he was known as the
Prince of pirates one of the most
successful and fantastically wealthy he
was team were known as Robin Hood’s men
and he was most famous for the eloquent
articulations and arguments he would get
make against the dawn of capitalism and
in favor of fairness and over here we’ve
got Edward Teach KK Blackbeard possibly
the most famous pirate of all time the
architect of the brand of piracy he was
so dedicated to living this brand that
he’d set light to the end of his his
beard with sulfurous fuses so that he
could actually participate in less not
more violence
some historians will go on the record to
say back they’d never actually killed
anyone over here we’ve got black Caesar
one of the many freed slaves who turned
into piracy and here’s one of the few
black captains that were out there and
over here at the far end is my favorite
of all the Pirates and Bonnie blowing a
hole the size of a galleon through some
of the biggest conventions of the day
that women weren’t just a equal
capability but but of equal intelligence
and Anne Bonny fiercely fearless Lee led
crews of Pyrus pirates alongside her
male counterparts representing the only
place in the world at that time where
people of color or people different
gender or backgrounds would have had
equal opportunity and equal say this is
all true
these are masters of historical fact but
to put these guys into context as to
where they might sit today you could
equate them to the Mark Zuckerberg Steve
Jobs jay-z and Sheryl Sandberg of their
time because they were the the front
page news they were the gossip of the
hour they were almost the unicorns of
their day they were they were loved and
they were hated and they were they were
they were hotly debated but they were
the news and they were the example of
what was to come the truth continues
though the facts are out there the we
think in business terms that coca-cola
were the first people to come up with
the idea of global branding but no of
course it was the Pirates with the skull
and crossbones two hundred nearly two
hundred years before the first viral
meme of its day
there had a very clear message and a
message that drove their bottom line and
the notion of dual governance that sits
in all of our businesses and in our
democracy the notion of two houses which
which which protects good governance
within all organizations first seen on a
pirate ship when the quartermaster was
elevated to the same position and
seniority as a captain so that
could return to a predatory sense of
power and an abusive power as they’d
seen in the Navy the idea of social
insurance if anybody should aboard a
pirate ship should lose a leg they were
given 800 pieces of eight as a
compensation an arm with 600 pieces of
eight and I a hundred and fifty pieces
of eight the first written record of
workplace compensation even a
pensionable scheme if people were to
lose their position on a pirate ship who
offered another place perhaps as a cook
or something else onboard universal
suffrage over 150 years before it was
first seen in the UK and then around the
world everybody on board a pirate ship
had equal say in the matters at hand pay
equality on board a pirate ship total
transparency around pay structures and
an index linking between the highest and
lowest paid I mean I can’t give the
update on that because we still haven’t
managed to get there the Pirates are
still ahead of us on this count and the
list continues modern notions like
facilitative leadership or even
self-organizing teams were first seen
clearly and recorded on pirate ships and
it doesn’t stop there I can go on and on
but there’s a couple more just to cement
this in your minds same-sex marriage
first seen on a pirate ship called
Mattia Lodge it’s so it’s sophisticated
it even had an inheritance clause
alongside it and if you’re still not
convinced I’ll seal the deal and let you
know that Pirates were the people who
invented the cocktail francis drake with
some mints and tree bark some rum and
some sugar essentially it’s a mojito but
without the ice you can see now why this
famous quote from Steve Jobs exists when
he took the Apple team away and turned
that business around and famously came
out with the first Mac the line that
stood above the whole team that time was
I’d rather be a pirate than joined the
Navy because we know it deep down don’t
we there’s a sense of rebellion which is
so intoxicating and exciting yet why I
mean there aren’t many murderous rogues
in history that it would be acceptable
for you to have a children’s party in
that kind of theme a Pablo Escobar party
for a five-year-old would be really
weird but somehow in this notion of
piracy there is something strong there’s
something powerful it’s something that’s
not understood and I think it should be
because when you look back across
history when we look at major moments of
innovation often they are driven further
forward by a sense of piracy by
challenging market failure and unmet
needs of audiences and organized
that’s how we move from a monopoly of
radio through pirate radio to a you
between a bit of a choice that’s how
their that’s how their the internet
really advanced is why biotechnology is
moving so fast because the establishment
will take the ground and the Pirates
will come and challenge and change that
and that’s why now where we stand 300
years exactly after the Golden Age of
pirates once again in need of rebels who
can shake things up because it’s
surprisingly similar in 1718 there’s a
backdrop of interconnected international
conflicts so confusing nobody knew what
was going on there was a millennial
generation looking out to a miss sold
future mass redundancy through
automation a self-interested
establishment and a broken society I
mean sound familiar and 300 years later
we face exactly the same challenges and
I think we have a crisis of imagination
at a level of leadership to show us the
way which is why I think there’s some
role models missing and it is time to be
a little bit more pilot about how we
create this change so how did they
create their change
well fundamental to the pirate success
was a thing called the pirate code you
may have heard of it it gets referenced
in lots of pirate law sometimes as
guidelines but these were not guidelines
the pirate code was law and you
certainly lived or died by it these are
some of the exact wordings that can be
found in the in the surviving records of
it and to be honest there aren’t many
surviving records because to be found
with the copy of the pirate code would
have been a death warrant but there was
such principles there was such profound
principles that many of them last and
remain over time so these ideas of flat
structures of self-organizing teams of
democracy and more participative
democracy than have been seen since
Athens and actually arguably more
participative than the democracy that
was first seen in Athens because in
Athens only the white men had to vote
and on board a pirate ship everybody had
the vote so this pirate code sat as a a
series of principles of frameworks that
allowed these organizations to stay
nimble and agile as networks before such
things were even buzzwords and they
could take on the might of entire
empires and for nearly 40 years they won
they challenged the status quo and they
changed everything
and so I think if we’re going to bring
this forward now when we find ourselves
in such similar times how
we gonna pull this together what could
be a modern pirate code and it hit me
the pirate code 2.0 what would that look
like would it be as powerful as it was
then
could we have ideas that would have
found so outrageous I mean imagine if we
were a pirate crew right now 300 years
ago no about to set out discussing ideas
like what will pay everybody equally
well we might have female leaders ideas
that were seditious at the time where
are those ideas now where are those kind
of ideas have changed are we dreaming
big enough
so I’ve there now I’ve been looking I’m
very fortunate I’ve work with young
changemakers social entrepreneurs
idealist artists and activists around
the world and I have assembled the
beginning of what could be a pirate code
2.0 ideas whose hour may have come that
just might be powerful enough to change
the world I’ll share some of them with
you I’m still I’m still seeking more I
went to speak to a group of young social
entrepreneurs in the Far East incredible
ideas ideas a scale that could change
everything like so profoundly impressed
and sat down with them to ask them what
their structure of business planning was
they said business plans granddad
business plans are dead which is a
relief to anybody who’s been involved in
a business planning process and has put
together an 18-month forecast and those
absolutely fundamentally that you’re
making it up I asked them what they
replaced it with and they said well we
get together and have manifesto jams we
come up with principles that we can make
decisions by we come up with really
clear metrics and we establish some
outcomes and then we get back together
when we need to and jam our manifesto
they pointed out that a business plan
format is about 140 years old anyway and
hasn’t been updated even when business
has transformed along with the earth
around it I realize they want to
something I work with another
organization a really fast growing
hostel who are doing incredible work
across Europe and they’re in buildin
that you can fight back against Airbnb I
asked them what they thought the secret
of their success was they told me their
pirate code fundamentally they operate a
no asshole rule it’s very simple it’s
it’s above everything no are supposed to
be employed no are supposed to be worked
with no clients could be ourselves and
now our thoughts go out to the guests
and once you’ve got that right
everything else amazingly falls into
place
it’s the secret behind their success and
like the original pirate code there are
there are profound and strategic notions
and there are sometimes some more simple
ones but but this one to leave you with
I think is pretty exciting and sits
almost as big as some of those original
ideas of the pirate code it’s from an
organization of pirates called the the
new citizenship project and they
discussed the way that we about 2,000
times a day see the word consumer on the
back of every product that we lift up we
hear it on the news constantly
constantly constantly and this notion of
consumer therefore brainwashes us and
defines our mindset and in a world
that’s run out of resources should have
find an air consumable
well frankly there’s a problem and what
would happen is if we changed every
single time you saw the notion of
consumer to citizen if you became a
citizen in relationship with the things
that you bought if you became a citizen
and relationship with the shops that you
go to if you became citizen in
relationship to the Internet and
everything around you a very different
sense of Rights what if the the the
whole relationship that we had was based
on one of citizenship and in this
suddenly I found an idea that seems
almost impossible almost crazy but
really simple and kind of logical and
wouldn’t that just change the world
and so now I’m amassing these ideas I’m
pulling them together and they’re all
similar they’re all similar that they’re
don’t rely on plans and these are not
just these glib words that sometimes you
know you know these organizations you
turn up and they’ve got honesty written
and three four letters on the on the
firm reception and you know anybody that
needs to remind themselves to be honest
and letters that Lodge
shouldn’t be trusted these are
principles principles on which you can
make decisions measures in which we can
trust and outcomes based on what works
why aren’t we organizing ourselves
around what we know works so these are
the conventions that I’m talking about
defying this is the professional level
of rule breaking that I’m suggesting and
around these ideas that collaboration
that I’m talking about can only be
described as mutiny but a modern mutiny
a constructive mutiny a positive and
optimistic mutiny and if you’re thinking
well maybe that sounds like a slightly
random bunch of rebels that you’ve
pulled together there that’s exactly the
point
small groups small groups there is
Margaret Mead who said the infamous
immortal line that nothing ever changed
the world except
a small group of thoughtful and
committed citizens and I would like to
upgrade that to nothing ever changed the
world quite so effectively as a small
group of thoughtful and committed
pirates because this goes back this goes
back to the very beginning and as this
group of pirates three hundred years ago
became world famous and they truly were
working class heroes whose ideas had
spread around the world they took them
off the ships and onto land and in the
heart of the Caribbean the epicentre of
the global trade and industry in the
dawn of capitalism they took their ideas
into an island and formed a proto
Democratic Republic where all people
were regarded equal this didn’t happen
anywhere else in the world up until this
point and it was predating democracies
that spot everywhere else and this proto
democracy bought pirates from all over
the world and they had a great time how
I like to think of it it’s just I mean
this is radical empowerment people of
color women you know an equal
opportunity empowerment not enslavement
that was taking place around the rest of
the world this was such a radical notion
but it was also a very grave threat and
it would be you know obviously naive of
me to say that pirates invented modern
democracy but it’ll be equally diet
naive to miss the influence that they
had this threat was so grave and taken
so seriously by the old empires and
powers that they eventually sent to the
fleet to crush it these are exact words
taken in 1718 from a report that’s made
to the laws of trade back in London this
is official wording and terminology this
is not romantic notional me over selling
the idea of pirates but the reason
they’ve become so popular the reason
they’ve become so powerful is because
they represent equality I mean and ROM
obviously and camaraderie and equality
and democracy these were the ideas that
were so powerful because these ideas
were beginning to spread around the
world this this predates the revolutions
and rebellions that changed the world
this time this was their crucible and
the powers that be made sure that they
were exterminated crushed and that these
ideas would never be had again except of
course these ideas were had again
just a few short years after when a
group of very genteel men got together
and held these truths to be self-evident
and these colonial governors who were
operating and managing the whole of
northern States of America who had been
tolerating the Pirates industry and
Empire hadn’t just been watching and
observing this proto democratic
experiment in democracy there had been
funding it and fueling it and it turns
out in history you will see that the
colonial governors as they prepared
their departure independence from
English rule were actually employing
pirates to Harry the tax industry and
Harry English trade and prepare America
for its independence so you see this
small group of rebels are profoundly
important and the truth is that American
independence identity and democracy is
rooted in Caribbean piracy and once
again as the world and its leaders think
about the future and think about our
current identity and independence and
democracy and what it means we begin to
realize that for too long the wrong
pirates have been in charge and it might
be time to address that so this begins
with you because we are all in this
together and we all have a choice we are
now either part of the problem or part
of the solution and when I say we I mean
you and if you two want to be more
pirate and tap into this power it begins
with a simple act breaking of a rule I
truly believe this is a an essential
skill for the 21st century I truly
believe that we live in historic times
and for those who live in historic times
the hour may well be upon you like it
was the figures that have become statues
back in Parliament Square where I was at
the beginning of this but the question
that I ask if history judges those who
broke the rules to sometimes be the
heroes and and those who are just
following orders certainly don’t have
that same status when it is the right
and responsible thing to do to not do
what you’re told will you be ready for
it so I advocate a daily act of rule
breaking to prepare that in a rule
breaking muscle that’s in all of us so
picked a rule now cast your mind to
something perhaps you were told to do
this morning or or a convention that you
come across
even just a bad habit or practices out
there and get ready to break it break it
like you mean it
break it today break it tomorrow and
then find one to break every single day
you’ll know it’s the right one cause
you’ll feel just uncomfortable enough
when you did it and you’ll feel really
great when it’s done now all have died
the world continues but you will have
found a strength that will take you a
step closer to the kind of radical
change this world needs and the you will
find yourself being a little more pirate
thank you very much [Applause]
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