I attended my second UP* meeting yesterday, and the first-ever in the USA. Several East-coast members gathered to make introductions, share ideas and motivate each other about ways to grow the business.
What was most remarkable about the meeting (aside from the lovely historic nature of the meeting room held in the Nassua Inn in Princeton), was the truly internationally diverse nature of the small (only 6) group of people gathered there. Especially for an American meeting. Really. We had two Americans who have lived more than just a few years abroad, a Brit living in the USA, a Jordanian by way of Canada who grew up in Spain, and two Swedes transplanted to the USA (DC and NJ).
This is like a microcosm and representative sample of what is typical for UP* members across the world. A very international bunch…not afraid to live among and try to understand a culture outside the one into which they were born. I think that makes us unique, as a group. Not all people are like that. Surprising, I know.
Yes, I am often shocked, mystified even, about the general lack of curiosity (or maybe it’s complacency) I encounter in the majority of people I meant “back home” (particularly in the USA, but abroad as well). How can they have so little interest in the world outside their own little circle? That does set UP* members apart, I think. And it lets us bring something unique to clients. A sense of respect, appreciation, admiration even, for other cultures and ideas. It’s the foundation of creativity really.
For truly, there can be no innovation where there is only complacency. No ideas where there is no curiosity. No breakthroughs, without a sense of possibility. Perhaps it was this recent article I read in Newsweek about the “creativity crisis” in America that sparked my view point. But, regardless…
I love that about UP*. The members are interesting…and interested. No lack of creativity here.