Life is a laboratory, and you are the experiment that you are conducting. There is no right or wrong, it is about learning about what brings joy, fulfillment, happiness; and what you create and how you create it. We all create life experiences, relationships, products, and our lives consciously, or unconsciously; and all of what we create have impact on people and the planet.

As challenging as it is right now to still be dealing with the pandemic and all of the disruption it brought all over the world, let us look at the bigger perspective of what is happening in our lives right now as if it was an experiment about evolution of human beings.

For a bigger perspective, we need to step away from being in the situation and look at it from afar, from a different viewpoint, as an observer looking at our planet and the situation, or we travel to a different time in the future and look back at “now” as history.

Before the pandemic the effect of technological development was complex. Mass manufacturing has grown tremendously as a result of the first two industrial revolutions. The natural resources were used without consideration of the future and the environment was affected in many ways. There was so much garbage, that it formed many islands in the Pacific Ocean. Most people worked hard and long to make sufficient money, the pace of life was accelerating and there was less time to relax and enjoy life with friends and family.

Machines were getting faster, and people had to find ways to be faster thank the machines as well. The overwhelming amount of information and tasks to be done, accelerating pace at work, and growing inability to do all that was needed and do it well has been exhausting, and at times seemed almost impossible to keep up with the necessary momentum.

The skills and abilities taught in schools and universities were not enough to cope with ever growing speed and complexity at work. Less than one in seven employees (15% of people engaged at work per Gallup research) were enthusiastic about their work and performed well. Others felt stressed and depleted and had limited energy for work and life, and were dis-engaged…

When the global pandemic started it appeared that human activity on the planet stopped. People were isolating in their homes and only people whose jobs were essential for all came to work in person. There were no planes in the skies, no cars on the roads, no people on the streets. It felt like a scene from a futuristic movie about a major disaster.

The global pandemic compressed most of the 4th industrial revolution from what could have taken decades to practically a year. The work, gatherings, conversations with friends and family became digital. People felt separated physically and polarized over health, political, and related issues. What is ahead is still unknown and the changes continue to accelerate.

The big global crisis disrupted every aspect of our life and created perfect conditions and pressure for radical change both, externally and internally. To survive and thrive, this new condition requires from us a different level of thinking and abilities, a performance level that feels almost superhuman.

The 5th industrial revolution has already started, and it is focused on people as well as sustainability of our Earth. Human-computer interface, restoring and amplifying the five senses, increasing mental capacity and abilities, as well as extending human life are just a few examples of what is coming.

The most important thing is what we choose to do with these new abilities. Whether people create weapons of immense destruction or build ecological cities that become a part of healthy ecosystem on Earth, depends on the mindset of those who create it. The greater the purpose, the more beneficial it is for people and the planet, more energy and abilities it will awaken. A truly great intention, the big transformative purpose could be so strong, so compelling, that it can awaken the Genius within.

Historically, pandemics have forced people to break from the past and imagine their world anew. Then build it as imagined. This one right now is no different. It is a transition between the world we knew and the next one, the one we will create… We can create it from a place of fear, or from a place of our Genius—we collaborate, apply our unique Genius together, co-create an inspiring future that transcends our imagination. It is up to us what we choose to do as collective Genius of humanity can solve any challenge, however big it might be.

What is Genius?

In dictionaries it is defined as “Exceptional intellectual or creative power or other natural ability”.

NASA found during its studies that “Genius is human intelligence is having fun”.

Psychology Today speaks of “quality of work that transcends… Genius transcends both the time and the place of its origin.”

“Geniuses are the luckiest of mortals because what they must do is the same as what they most want to do.” ~ W.H. Auden

Alfred Noble set awarding yearly prizes “to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind.”

Genius is an expanded, alternative state of being where our imagination and intelligences play together to create what is of extraordinary quality for the benefit of all.

Being in that free flowing dreamy creative and incredibly productive state is one of the most enjoyable and gratifying experiences in life. Creating together with others multiply that state and the results are often beyond what we could imagine.

While some say that ordinary people create extraordinary experiences, it might be that when we are in that state of creativity, in our Genius state, we all are extraordinary. Finding how to get into that state has been a quest of humanity since Plato and Aristotle and today it appears that we cracked the Genius code and are evolving into new species as humanity.

“Do not train a child to learn by force or harshness; but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each.” Plato

Can the environment switch on your DNA of Genius?

Think of DNA as a computer hardware. There may be several types of software programs that can regulate what the hardware does. Software, in this case the external and internal environment, does not change the master blueprint of DNA, instead it can switch genes (gene expression) on or off.

Today, the external global crisis, our environment is requiring more capacity and different skills and abilities from us than ever before. The mass manufacturing of products in the 3rd industrial revolution has been automated and the skills that were needed then are no longer needed.

The 4th industrial revolution was accelerated by the pandemic and we now live and work in a digital world. The 5th industrial revolution that is also happening right now will automate 50% of work and the new work environment will need different skills.

Human intelligence and creativity are rated as most important skills by CEOs. (Gallup Research).

To access the unique combination of human intelligences that each person has and tap into different level of creativity, the inner operating system, the software that is comprised of conscious and unconscious beliefs that run our lives needs to be updated. One of the most important premise here is about the innate Genius potential within us.

Decoding your Genius Blueprint

People often think that Genius is about the work that you do. For example, if you are a mathematician, then it is assumed you are going to be a genius at performing complex calculations, when in reality, Genius is your passion expressed through your uniqueness.

For example, Shakespeare’s real genius was in understanding what drives human beings, which he expressed it through writing plays and passion for beauty was the driver for Steve Jobs in creating elegant and simple to use products.

Both, adults and children often struggle to identify what they are passionate about. An easy way to find the passion is to follow natural curiosity. However unusual or impractical it might appear, passion and curiosity will find a way to create something novel. As a student, Steve Jobs took a calligraphy class which was not related to his studies at all. It was his appreciation of beauty of writing and calligraphy skills that drove him to create beautiful fonts for Macintosh computer and was key for the incredible success of its products.

In American and Russian cultures, children are taught to focus and appreciate what comes with hard work and pay less attention to what comes easy. This often means that the natural talents are not appreciated and developed, instead all the energy is spent on what has limited potential. When we do what we love, things come naturally easy to us, we enjoy the process and develop mastery 300% faster.

With mastery, work becomes a creative process, an expression of our natural genius, brings deep satisfaction, and fulfillment. When we lose track of time and are fully focused on what we do, it is an alternate state of mind and creativity is abundant. Poets, writers, composers, software programmers say, “I downloaded it and just had to write it down”.

All living systems either evolve and grow or disappear. We, as humanity, have been walking a path where we have been increasing our capacities through technology externally but have not changed much internally. Our inner operating system, the one that is built on our individual and collective beliefs is outdated. The current times require that we upgrade it so that we can grow and evolve.

When you know that you have your unique Genius the world needs, and know that everyone around you also have their unique Genius potential, what future will you dream up? What genius future can you create together?

Coronavirus has drastically changed our approach to work, it is often said that it is the most effective accelerator of digital transformation. Is there a recipe for becoming a game changer? What is the role of HR teams in digital transformation, and how have various organizations dealt with this challenge? Among other things, we covered these topics during the third edition of HRevolution, the theme of which was Digital Priorities in a Never Normal World.

What can we do to adapt to the upcoming changes? For the organization, the key issue will be the implementation of Employee Experience (EX), which will gradually replace Talent Management. The very experience in the workplace is extremely important and is associated with various factors, such as trust. Anna A. Tavis notes that they should be taken into account when planning HR, strategic and company-wide activities. It also encourages changes in HR indicators to reflect employee experiences.

The labor market will face further changes in the coming years. Among them, we will see the transition to project work, as well as the dissemination of remote and hybrid work systems. Dariusz Jemielniak notices that the new normality may stay with us for a whole decade. What will be important for employees is the support of mentors and trainers who will help to adapt to the pace and type of changes to come. It will also be important when changing the approach, because, in the face of ongoing changes, reacting, not planning, may bring greater effects. Błażej Jurewicz mentions it, introducing the concepts of VUCA and Top-Team.

Our competences evolve along with the ongoing changes. Maria Belka mentions that in the coming years, life-long learning, specialization and interdisciplinarity will be important, as well as new skills – tech disruptive skills – which will allow us to change the business and labor market.

During the second part of the conference, we learned how to become a game changer. We started it with an intense discussion about the role of leadership and digital competences in building a culture of a future-oriented organization. John Guziak notices that many things have been reevaluated and the concept of work needs to be redefined. During the discussion panel, John Guziak, Rafał Mrówka, Piotr Smoleń and Grażyna Rzehak provided us with a solid portion of knowledge and allowed us to look at the changes in recent years and digital culture.

In this part, we also learned about the practices of various companies in the face of upcoming changes and the characteristics of future leaders, and we heard a bit about the 4E approach, i.e. elasticity, emotion, empowerment and ethics, as well as the use of Experience Journey, through which we were led by Sylwia Górska-Przytulska. Przemysław Szuder, on the example of Aviva practices, told us about how the organizational culture made the company react quickly to changes in the market.

During the third part of HRevolution, we got to know the perspective of both large organizations and startups. Our panelists introduced it to us: Maciej Noga, Julia Kiełbasiewicz-Zarębska, Maciej Czerwonka, Szymon Pruszyński, Bartłomiej Nowak and Adrian Witkowski. We learned how important the role of HR teams is in digital transformation. Thanks to Oren Yerushalmi Rosenbaum, we also learned a number of good practices related to the adaptation of offices to the new requirements of pandemic reality, the need to maintain a distance and cooperate at the same time.

Josh Bersin drew our attention to one more important aspect – the change intensified the integration of life and work, and together with it, we paid more attention to optimization, productivity and flexibility. At the moment, we don’t know much about the future, but what we are sure of is that the future of work is remote, distributed and hybrid. It is also empathetic, goal-oriented and people-oriented.

We would like to thank the Participants, Speakers and Partners for being with us!

We are happy with a huge portion of knowledge, active participation and support from Partners –  Microsoft, Accenture, Hibob, Leanpassion, Deloitte, as well as Media Patrons –  Personel Plus, Dream Employer, Brief, MJCC, Focus, Focus Coaching, My Company Polska.