You win, I win: January 27, 1997 issue of New Thinking

January 27, 1997 New Thinking:
You win, I win

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January 27, 1997

You win, I win

By Gerry McGovern

I’m tribal. I’m Irish. I feel in my bones what I am, where I’ve come from, what my culture means to me. Without it I know I am nothing, in a small world in a large space in an endless time.

You are out there, in all those countries I have never visited. You live and you love in your local place. Some of you are tribal. Some of you just use whatever it is you need to get by.

We are connected in a small, fleeting way, by the Internet.

Where are you reading this? What time is it? What is the weather like? (It’s mild for January here in Swords, Dublin.) What is the view from your window? (Mine is of the roofs of what seems like endless houses.)

The Industrial Age bred a thing called Imperialism. A rough beast with fine clothes that was too greedy to live in its own space. Had to conquer other people’s homes. Had to teach them ‘civilization,’ so that it could milk them of their worldly goods.

But out here, on this expanding horizon, there is enough room for any eye to feed on. We don’t need to colonize the Internet. If we need an acre we can make an acre.

Money will always be scarce and there is no doubt that money buys space and all that goes with it. But here, right now, for perhaps a brief few years, imagination is also the acre-maker. Imagination and the determination to make that imagination work can help us create the space we need to live and flourish in.

I have been privileged to learn so much from the Internet. I think that I have a wider view now. I am no less tribal, but there is also the global in me now. I have communicated with Norway, Finland, South Africa, Australia, America, Russia, Japan and Argentina, and these places are not so distant now. They are more than a headline to me now.

The Internet and its wonderful email can be like standing at a global cross-roads after work as twilight reaches out its grainy hand. There we meet others walking home. We pass a few words, not so much for their particular meaning, but rather to reach out and become part of the cosmos of communication.

I am a fool sometimes. I am a dreamer sometimes. But when I wake up I am a realist. Bringing home the bacon is never far from my mind. My ego is strong and I want success.

On this Internet there is so much room to breathe. I have found that being generous with my time and ideas has brought me far more rewards than being selfish and hoarding ideas would have brought. Delivering ‘free information’ has paid off for me in contacts, publicity and contracts.

Oh, the Industrial Age had rules like: ‘You win, I lose;’ ‘I win, you lose.’ The digital age is an age of expansion and expansive thinking. For a period at least, you winning big can help me win big or bigger.

Gerry McGovern

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"Gerry's presentation was very well received by the more than 400 higher education delegates. I've chaired this meeting since 1994 and very few speakers have generated the same level of enthusiasm. Wit and wisdom is always an unbeatable combination."
Bob Johnson, American Marketing Association

“Excellent presenter ... thought-provoking and relevant. I hope we can persuade him to visit us again one day.”
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The British Association of Communicators in Business

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European Association of Directory Publishers

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On this Internet there is so much room to breathe.