Easter 2022: How we multiply opportunities
and what we learned from it
We're constantly experimenting: How can the community multiply opportunities better?
So, from April 01 to April 15, 2022, we tried something new. Here's how it turned out:
So, from April 01 to April 15, 2022, we tried something new. Here's how it turned out:
We set up a list for special wishes for the entire community, from schoolkid to granny.
Very personal wishes, some that may have been harboured for years, and others that occurred at the spur of the moment. They didn't have to meet any criteria, and they didn't need a deeper meaning or an impact on others - no need to justify or explain. They merely needed to make someone really happy.
Very personal wishes, some that may have been harboured for years, and others that occurred at the spur of the moment. They didn't have to meet any criteria, and they didn't need a deeper meaning or an impact on others - no need to justify or explain. They merely needed to make someone really happy.
Everyone in the community was invited to express a wish.
Everyone was invited to browse through the wishes on the list.
Everyone was welcome to react.
Everyone was invited to browse through the wishes on the list.
Everyone was welcome to react.
If you react, what can happen? One of two things:
1.) "Our wishes match or complement each other. Maybe we should talk."
2.) "I can help". or: "I know someone who can help."
The idea was to multiply the community's options by the individual members' networks.
The timeframe was tight, just a fortnight. The results were mind-blowing.
The timeframe was tight, just a fortnight. The results were mind-blowing.
Thousands of wishes, thousands of new contacts, thousands of solutions!
Here are just a few:
One of the most immediate needs was this: A small regional hospital in Greenland had run out of blood type O- for an urgently needed transfusion. So the patient's daughter tried her luck. Within 90 minutes (!) a donor was found, because a grandma in Copenhagen, who browsed the list just as it came in, knew that her neighbour had this particular blood type and was currently on a visit there. Since she always minds his cats, she knew where he was!
Francois, a construction worker in the Pyrenees, had been searching for a spare part for his beloved vintage Mercedes from the late 50ies for the last two years. Reading about the wish list, he placed his search there. Aysun, a hairdresser in Istanbul, noticed the wish and passed it on to her uncle in Stuttgart. He had the part.
Giovanni, an Italian producer of Mozzarella cheese, was heartbroken: His second son, Antonio, had emigrated to Australia. Giovanni was told by a friend that Antonio lived somewhere in Queensland, but he had not heard from him in fifteen years. So he placed his grief as a wish on the list, and by chance Tim, Antonio's physiotherapist, noticed it.
Antonio decided to call his dad and found out that a terrible misunderstanding had left him in the belief that Giovanni had disowned him. That's what can happen when someone tells someone what she's heard from the next door neighbour's milkman's cousin ...
Now he's truly grateful to Tim for his help to reconnect.
Antonio decided to call his dad and found out that a terrible misunderstanding had left him in the belief that Giovanni had disowned him. That's what can happen when someone tells someone what she's heard from the next door neighbour's milkman's cousin ...
Now he's truly grateful to Tim for his help to reconnect.
Sharon had left her abusive husband many years ago, she raised her four kids on her own.
A trained and talented chef, she always found work, but life never gave her the chance to do what had been her secret ambition all her life. Now that her youngest had left home, she spontaneously decided to place her wish on the list.
Even as a little girl, she wanted to be a car mechanic. Her parents wouldn't hear of it.
But the dream stayed with her all these years. Now Sven, an engineer with one of the world's leading Formula 3 teams, has persuaded his boss to offer Sharon a job. She'll be in the cafeteria - already famous for its excellent food! - for three days a week, and can try her hand as an assistant in the mechanics' team on the other two. They'll take it from there.
A trained and talented chef, she always found work, but life never gave her the chance to do what had been her secret ambition all her life. Now that her youngest had left home, she spontaneously decided to place her wish on the list.
Even as a little girl, she wanted to be a car mechanic. Her parents wouldn't hear of it.
But the dream stayed with her all these years. Now Sven, an engineer with one of the world's leading Formula 3 teams, has persuaded his boss to offer Sharon a job. She'll be in the cafeteria - already famous for its excellent food! - for three days a week, and can try her hand as an assistant in the mechanics' team on the other two. They'll take it from there.
The Wish List Experiment was a genuine eye-opener for everyone.
It will certainly be repeated. The potential of extended networks is unbelievable!
It will certainly be repeated. The potential of extended networks is unbelievable!
Care to know what people wish for most? Soulmates.
The most ardent wish of all is for human connection. We all need soulmates.
Regardless of age, gender, faith, profession etc. - human connection is needed.
Without it, we stand little chance to be happy.
It is secondary - the pandemic has trained our perception and given us opportunities galore to put this to the test - whether the connection is on- or offline. What goes for kids and teenagers is just as valid as it is for adults: We want to understand and to be understood.
As it stands, we have had this on our agenda since 2018. Given the wealth of new insights we gained during the pandemic, this will be our guiding theme for the next years - how to balance these two ...
