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to do on this planet? My boyhood dream o becoming a

millionaire had lost its lustre by then. I wanted to develop

my talents and do un things with un people.

On his website he calls himsel connector and resourcerer,

a wizard with resources. You can call him a philosopher

al-though he never nished college; he was too busy star-

ting his companies. You can call him a born entrepreneur,

but its not his mission to make a prot. He calls himsel a

boy scout more than anything, still abiding by the scou-

ting rules rom his childhood: A Boy Scout goes out into

the world together with others to discover it and make it a

better place.

One day he decided he was no longer or rent and stop-

ped sending tenders and invoices. From now on he would

share his knowledge, ideas and networks with the world

and let others decide aterwards how they valued his con-

tribution. He still makes a decent living regardless. Its a

mistake to think that you have to ask beore you are given.

I learnt to have aith that I would get what I need and itworks miraculously: giving results in more.

Talent is an important compass in a knowledge economy,

says Martijn, and social capital is the currency. In a nut-

shell, social capital is the sum o your network , your repu-

tation, your visibility and your capacity to bring people

together. Martijn moves like a juggler. He is involved in

dozens o projects every year, he ounded the Elvenstone

network and works anywhere and everywhere. I link up

people, ideas and inormation. Thats my passion: to get

people thinking and get things moving.

His lectures are sometimes rewarded with a sum o mo-

ney, other times with a book token, some oce space, an

airline ticket or a subscription to a magazine. But what I

really get out o it is a reer contact with people instead othe classic customer-supplier relationship. I dont work or

a person, but with a person. Clear communication results

in a short eedback loop. I Im o little value to someone, I

want to know about it. That way I can learn what I have to

oer and to whom I can oer it. I dont ask mysel: what

will I get out o this? Instead I get to the real question: do I

make people happy?

From profts to values

The rock band Radiohead uploaded its CD In Rainbows

and told people to decide o r themselves what they wan-

ted to pay or downloading it. This playul approach to

payment is part o a much bigger change, according to

Martijn. A shit rom prots to values, rom possess to ac-

cess, rom shortage to abundance. Our economy is going

through a transition phase. Technology, lower communi-

cation costs and greater awareness are undamentally

changing our way o discovering, playing, cooperating

and organising. Our economy used to be based on short-ages: anything not available goes up in value. The current

network and inormation society has dierent rules. By

giving knowledge away, you dont lose out; on the con-

trary, you get eedback and that makes you grow. In a

knowledge economy you compete on content, so lear-

ning and being open to others is ver y important. The rea-

son Obama ound so many people prepared to help him

was that he used modern technology to reach them. The

possibilities are unprecedented; all we have to do is learn

how to use them.

Give away what you can give easily, what you have and

know in abundance. It makes you a better person. People

have been deriving their status rom possessions and how

many nice things they acquired. In a network society, yourstatus will be based on having access, having something

to oer. Having access to a boat may make you eel weal-

thier than actually possessing the boat. Theres no main-

tenance and insurance and all that to worry about. People

are discovering that its not how many houses you pos-

sessed but what you experienced that will count on your

deathbed. Did I seize the chances and opportunities I was

given? Did I develop my talents? And did someone else

benet rom that?

Organic collaboration

In this economy o giving, as trend watcher Justien Mar-

seille calls it, inspiration is an important drive. Martijn no-

ticed this in his contacts with volunteers; they cant be

motivated by obligations and duties. Organisations with

a hierarchic structure try to make a prot by using control,

ear and mistrust; these days its much more about trust,

interaction and connectedness. This type o organic col-

laboration, in which everyone can ocus on their strengths,runs a lot more smoothly than the rigid old boys network.

Working rom nine to ve and then joining the trac jams

is a thing o the post-industrial era o physical labour. John

doesnt have to get to work at nine sharp to pick up a

screw so Jim can then twist the next click. John might be

a lot more productive at night. Golden ideas are born in

just a ew minutes. Exchanging time or money is outmo-

ded. Time is relative. Picasso once put a squiggle on can-

mens & m

TTalk to Martijn Aslander or ten minutes and hell

have your head spinning. He talks ast and enthu-

siastically about many things at once. His whirl-

wind o words, ideas and unexpected links seemsto open up all sorts o drawers inside your head.

The basic drit o his account is that the current inormation

society and knowledge economy oer way more opportu-

nities than we realise. We have come to regard old habits

and xed ideas as incontestable patterns; that the economy

is always about shortages, or example, or that time is mo-

ney. Aslander states that the knowledge economy has new

rules. Smart players are fexible, commit themselves to many

people and pour their talents out onto the world in a con-

dent manner. Its about daring to give rather than just wan-

Ideas wizard

Martijn Aslander (37) is a

thinker and adviser. Heg

seminars on thenetwork

society, writes columns a

up inspiration performa

(Amsterdam). His websit

andmartijnaslander.nl of

inspiration and simplem

and livemoreefficiently,

sustainably.

Its not what you possessed but what you

experienced that wil l count on your death-

bed. Did you develop your talents?

And did someone else benefit from that?

ting to receive; about sharing what you have and being ge-

nerous to others. Ive always loved working with other

people to get things done, even as a child. There was a play-

ground a couple o blocks rom my house, but our street

didnt have one. I remember cycling over to the town hall

with some riends and asking to speak to the mayor. We

were given lemonade and a ew weeks later the municipa-

lity built a playground in our street.

Resourcerer

When Martijn was 30, he decided to build the largest me-

galith on earth, by hand. He inormed his riends and a-mily o his idea and gathered hundreds o volunteers

around him. They thought up the Gathering Stones Festi-

val and the megalith was built in two weeks using rocks

brought in to Drenthe rom Germany, amongst other pla-

ces, with the spontaneous help o thousands o estival

visitors. The projects budget was a million guilders (about

680,000 dollars) and the preparation phase took two

years. Once we had managed it, I thought: What do I want >

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On Wednesday 9 December, Martijn Aslander will hold an in

ration session for readers of Happinez. More information ca

found on page 90

mens & m

vas and charged his commissioner thousands o euros.

The man said: But you o nly spent ve minutes making

this! Picasso replied: No, it took me a lietime to get to

this point.

Communicate

OK, but not everyone is a Picasso. And isnt it easy or Mar-

tijn to talk compared to a mother o three on welare? I

get that reaction a lot: I have to bring home the bacon, I

have responsibilities, I have a mortgage. But here in the

Netherlands youd have to screw up royally beore you

end up homeless with nothing to eat. Sel-ullment is

closer than ever. Never beore did mankind have such

cheap access to inormation, has knowledge been so

transparent, was connecting to so many others so easy.

Thanks to the internet, even mothers on welare can re-

veal all their capacities.

Theres no need to turn your lie upside down. Refect on

what you like to do best. Communicate, talk to ten nice

people in your environment and ask them what they va-

lue in you. I no one knows about your desires, no one can

help you ull them. The good thing is: You dont have to

wait around or a job or a vacancy you can get startedright away! Find the places where you think you can pro-

vide added value and help out. Start with one day a

month, do it or six months. The basis is already there:

your own network. Everyone needs someone else. The car

you drive was made by someone else. Perhaps you paid

or it yoursel, but you used money someone else had

printed or you.

A man in Estonia saw that his whole country was ull o

dumped garbage. He thought about it or six months and

then went online and ound 50,000 people who were pre-

pared to help out. The whole o Estonia was cleaned up in

one day! People preer helping out to being helped, pro-

vided it is something they like doing and it doesnt take

too much eort. Theres a lot o questions we dont ask or

ear o looking stupid. Dare to ask. Say no i you dont want

something. When I meet other people, I ask: What do you

need? What will make you happy? I want to help other

people, and in so doing I help mysel too. In the end, al-

truism is the highest orm o selshness.

Falling and getting up again

Is Martijn a big optimist? Optimism, pessimism, theyre just

labels. I detect and ormulate changes. I believe in evolution.

What works and what doesnt? I try things. People oten

describe me as spiritual, but I dont ormulate spiritual laws.

I you put spirituality into words, you risk misunderstan-

dings. I dont proclaim a doctrine, I dont claim to be right. I

When I meet other people, I ask:

What do you need? What wil l ma

happy?In so doing I help myself

Im wrong, Id like to know about it because I want to learn

and move. Evolution demands constant adaptation, innova-

tion, trial and error. The most brilliant discoveries are oten

made accidentally. The only way to grow is by making mis-

takes, but people are terribly araid o making them. Our

whole system is based on shame and ear and trying not to

lose ace. But you should go as ast as you can without

rushing. Embrace your insecurities, avoid saety. Make sure

you do something that rightens you once a day.

When was the last time he himsel did something righte-

ning? The other day I aced an audience o 600 coaches a-

ter I had written a critical article on coaching. I was there to

do a try-out or my new theatre show and went on without

having rehearsed at all. Scary! But Ive learnt to express my

ears and to say: Folks, my ace is red because Im very ner-

vous. During my rst lecture I actually ainted because othe tension. I could have drawn a conclusion that day and

think I didnt have this in me. Fortunately I tested that as-

sumption and it turned out to be unounded. I get a lot o

responses ater every lecture. Every time Im surprised that I

apparently inspire so many people with things that are like

childs play to me.

Who or what is Martijn inspired by? Lots o dierent things.

The expectation that in the near uture one computer will

be able to think as ast as all o mankind put together. That

will have enormous consequences. For example, a compu-

ter like that could work out the best medication or your

personal DNA in mere minutes. Many people say theyre not

very interested in technology. Thats like saying: Im not very

interested in electricity. Technological changes can have gi-

gantic implications. I think well be able to solve global pro-

blems like ood and water shortages in a very short time by

bringing people together in inormal networks. Thats what

I want to dedicate my lie to. Im a pragmatist rather than a

dreamer. Theres only one way to nd out whether or not anassumption is right: Shoot or the moon. Even i you miss,

youll land among the stars!

>

TEXT: RENSKE HILLEN, PHOTOGRAPHS: ERNIE ENKELAAR