We’ve mentioned it before, but now it has it’s very own video.  We just arrived in Tokyo, and we’re looking for a new friend to join us.  Its simple: check out the video, and then apply here.

I spent the last six years in the Bay Area. The first four were consumed with philosophy, literature, social theory, and other things practical. The last two were spent at a nonprofit futures think tank/foresight group/ forecasting consultancy called Institute for the Future (IFTF). And yes, there is some minor confusion about how to
categorize ourselves.

Working with IFTF was a dream job – I could research issues such as the future of education, sustainability, and leadership, to name a few. I worked with some of the most creative, intelligent, and intellectual people I’ve ever met, who, btw you can check out here: http://www.iftf.org/people/iftf

Here’s a picture of me facilitating a discussion around how new social media might change the nature and form of work in the next decade.

Facilitating at TYF 2008

So why would I walk away from an amazing job to join Jet Set Zero?

I think it boils down to 3 factors (for some reason, justifications/inspirations always boil down to 3 factors).

Adventure

This is a time in my life of immense freedom. No family to support. No house payment. No career to construct immediately. Actually, I think many people in their young 20’s enjoy a similar freedom. I think it should be adventurously exercised – not just to go crazy or wild, but to engage in endeavors that are risky but approached as learning opportunities; slightly reckless by virtue of their uncertainty; and promise personal and intellectual development.

Friendship

It’s not just an opportunity to travel. This is traveling with people you trust, respect, and whose company you enjoy. This is traveling to meet new local people. This is an opportunity to celebrate existing and emergent friendships. It’s a cause worthy of any human being.

Compelling and Important Story

Travel can expand minds and perspectives, cultivate a cosmopolitan sense of things, and prepare one to participate in global affairs. Travel can do these things, if one travels in the right ways. For us, this is neither vacationing nor tourism nor backpacking. It’s an immersive learning journey through another culture – living, working, and socializing locally. The closest term we’ve encountered is vagabonding, but ours is with a twist. We’re leveraging the digital tools largely native to our generation – we’re not unplugging but using social media to share our experiences, connect with people across the world and next-door, and enabling others to participate in our journeys.

See, the real question is how I could walk away from an opportunity and look at myself in the mirror everyday thereafter?

Snowballs in July, Mt. Rainier