Are you in the Rat Race?
Democratisation of employment opportunities in the face of blatant Nepotism will only become easier as the peer-to-peer economy further entwines itself within the market of employment. Nepotism, the practice among those with power or influence of favouring relatives or friends by giving them jobs, is, in fact, the antithesis of democracy and capitalism but has been perpetually abused by both. Hereditary peerships, titles and monarchy are all indicative of this on-going repression of those seeking to have social mobility and scale the ladder to a better life. The peer-to-peer economy will change this by becoming a meritocracy.
To an extent, the capitalist way of life has been coloured by the genetic lottery of life being the biggest indicator of your future success. Personally, I believe this to be fundamentally and morally wrong. Your success should be based on your capabilities/experience/drive and be mutually exclusive from your family tree. Thankfully blatant discrimination has been all but eliminated from the workplace. Race, religion, age and gender play little in deciding whether your job search will be successful yet the tentacles of Nepotism persist in ensuring certain jobs are unattainable for worthy candidates.
Regardless of where you look, whether it is into historically high-earning white collared jobs or politics, you will see remnants of specific groups of people shoehorned into positions of power. Those educated by the same people at the same schools coming from the same social classes disproportionately represent the people. The disparity them between the haves and have-nots is continually widened. The argument that hardworkers rise to the top regardless of the aforementioned truths is disingenuous at best or a blatant lie pedalled to ensure it continues at worst. In fact an argument could be made that democracy has been ‘gamed’ by a certain elite to become a dictatorship that’s voted on. The case can be made that democracy is but a choice of the options we are faced with; if the options never change to reflect the wider society as a whole what is being democratised?
The peer-to-peer economy then is an adversarial opponent to the status-quo. It cares little, if at all, for who you are and instead prioritises what you can do and how well you can do it. It doesn’t care whether you father is the Sultan of Brunei, if you don’t produce a product of the expected standard, a task to the anticipated level or comply with the rules of the platform you will be very quickly weeded out. The peer-to-peer economy is a meritocracy on an unprecedented scale, unconstrained by borders with the capability for adoption ubiquitously across the globe. Ratings replace nepotism and those who are most capable rise to the top. The higher rated you are the easier it is for you to participate: trust is the currency which enables transactions to occur at a higher frequency on platforms.
Welcome inside Iglu
What then is Iglu? Iglu is the personification of the peer economy. It is my projection of everything required to enable both a successful global platform with a thriving network of contributors and users. It is a democratisation of employment opportunities while quintessentially disrupting an established market dominated by monopolised high costs with little choice of alternatives. Think Uber but with a socially charged mission enabling the mobilisation of an army of incredible workers which will enable employment on an unprecedented scale. Iglu is my startup and will remain in Stealth mode until the product is ready for consumption, hopefully very soon.
The Big HR Myth
The majority of HR departments are continuously responsible for spreading the most universally fallacious myth of employment. The myth is the insistence that the core values of a company are to develop you as both a person and member of staff through training and continued professional development which will enable your ascent through the company. This is almost always untrue or misleading, there will usually always be glass ceilings. In an ideal world, you would learn the skills necessary for the position you are in and remain there. Advancement is false opportunity which manufactures trust and ensures longevity.
Train the best, be the best
My proposal is to give the producers of Iglu an opportunity to control their destiny. Training would be controlled by the individual and be tailored to their specific interests. Continued professional development would make way for personal development. Iglu is going to schedule an hour every single day for personal development which you are paid to complete. Want to learn how to code? Here’s FreeCodeCamp. Operations? Here is a Wharton approved course on operations management via a MOOC. Spanish? Meet duolingo. The benefit for each employee would be monumental.
I truly believe this would make for the most employee friendly enterprise on the planet, who wouldn’t want to work for that? Education ensures against obsolescence. It begs the adage of what happens if we train them and they leave? What happens if we don’t and they stay? At Iglu we not only want to foster the most educated workforce in the world, we want to pay them to learn and excel. If people leave, which they invariably will, we will have benefitted from their unquestioned commitment while contributing to their future success. For me, that is an incredible thing: to be able to give back to the people who have built the company. From there we hope to build partnerships with our producers which are entirely mutually beneficial. The most important element of Iglu is customer service. You can only ensure great customer service by ensuring those serving are happy. Iglu seeks to ensure happiness by enriching every producers future prospects whether that is with us or elsewhere.
I guess it is appropriate at this time to welcome you to Iglu, and although I’ve told you very little about what it entails I hope you are intrigued by it’s values and what it hopes to acomplish. I’m the first persion to realise the perilous journey that is ahead, but im filled with the unbridled hope of making a difference to the lives of others simultaneously leading to growth. I would greatly appreciate any feedback you may have. Whether that comes in the form of thoughts, comments, criticisms, mocking or wishing of luck.
Success and failure are inexplicably linked. Successful failure can be measured in actions and what you have learned whereas failure without action leaves the possibility of regret. The fear of failure can be paralysing. Don’t let it be. Sure, you should be afraid of failing, but you should be even more afraid of failing to try. I can openly confess I’m afraid to fail, but I am for more afraid that I will fail to accomplish anything of significance. Failure is not a sign that your ideas are doomed but as a necessary step toward success.
“If at first you don’t succeed, you’ll know you’re aiming high enough” — Adam Grant
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