Optimism For Pessimists: Surviving The 2020's

Welcome to The Height of Innovation. I'm Matt Hooper, a corporate intrapreneur (Barclays) turned innovation storyteller (Live! From Tomorrow), and I'm here to offer insights into the innovation economy from 6'6" off the ground.

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For the past week, in conversation after conversation with fellow founders and old colleagues, I’ve found myself reflecting on the nature of optimism in innovation--particularly how challenging it can be when one is not a natural optimist. So, in honor of Memorial Day, a holiday dedicated to sacrifices made in the past to ensure a better tomorrow, I ask that we carry forth a spirit of optimism into the future. In fact, I have shared a correspondence with my future self below:

The following are transcripts recorded via voice memos in the years 2020, 2023 and 2029. All materials in italics were meant to be deleted until, well...Matt forgot.

Voice Memo #1: May 25th, 2020

Hey Matt,

Happy Memorial Day! <wait, is this on? Okay, yes, it's recording, great!> Hope you’re having a good morning. It’s sunny out, isn’t it? I remember it being sunny that day. Enjoy it while it lasts, because that won’t be the case forever, pal, and--ah, sorry. I should’ve said ‘spoiler alert’. Okay, so from now on, I won’t spoil the future. I’ll simply try to guide you, and maybe offer a few hints about things to avoid, as I have more experience than you do. I hope that doesn’t read as condescending, it’s just a fact--I’ve lived four days more than you have.  

Anyway, remember when we were a kid, and this holiday was synonymous with three-day weekends and the start of summer movie season? Heck, remember when this holiday meant we could head to the beach? Yeah, well...<we’re still struggling with COVID here in the very near future--gah! What is wrong with me? delete, delete> Haha, I mean, 'spoiler alert': We’re, uhh, we're still struggling with COVID here, which means that social distancing is the name of the game and you should not, I repeat, should not do something reckless like go to the beach, or walk around without a mask, or <do what any of the radioactive people did; delete>

Ugh. Sorry. I’ve done it again. <delete, delete> 'Spoiler Alert': Because our collective knowledge of this pandemic is still so limited, and since the U.S. federal government isn’t taking any of this seriously, dozens of Americans will go swimming in the ocean this weekend, unaware that, after they’ve consumed a hydroxychloroquine-bleach cocktail from their margarita-to-go cups, their perspiration will mix with the salt water of the Atlantic in such a way that they become radioactive. I know--crazy, right? Who knew?

Well, now you will know this, just a few days early. And I hope this means you’ll also be less alarmed when #thenewnormal and #radioactivesummer start trending on Monday. Oh, and when you see your neighbor, Mrs. Katz, start to glow...yeah, you get it.

Lastly I’ve got good news for you: you are going to finally stop eating meat. Yup, this is it, buddy, your last weekend as a non-vegetarian. You’ve been doing so well, and you’re going to realize once and for all that the killing and eating of animals is cruel after <you are attacked by a radioactive cow on Sunday night; delete, delete> an unsettling experience, so, hey--that is a big achievement. 

No meat, and no beach. Sure, it’s going to be a non-traditional Memorial Day Weekend, but these are non-traditional times, Matt. And you will be okay.

My very best,

You, Four Days From Now

Voice Memo #2: May 29th, 2023

Hey Matt,

Happy Memorial Day! Can you believe it? 2023. Three whole years from when you receive this letter! I mean, sure, bunker life is hard, and I miss the 'Sun? powered by Amazon', but it’s better than living underwater, right?  

Whoops! Look at me, spoiling your future again. So, I won’t tell you about <the flood that drowns all of Manhattan in the summer of 2022; delete, delete> anything too specific, I’ll write in code, perhaps using rhymes. A terrible, world-destroying force known as ‘shmimate shmange’ renders New York City unlivable. It’s a good thing you moved out of town when you did! And yes, even though you didn’t <drown in the #epicflood; delete> suffer in a great calamity, you still have to live 'shmunderground', and of course that stinks, there’s no getting around it. I’m sorry. Above ground life is better.

But! On the (non-literal) bright side, you have a home. You’re in Bunker 452, the bunker for creative professionals--your suitemates include your wife, your children, and three very forward-thinking Mole-people, each of whom is writing a play about the <great war that started humanity’s migration underground; delete, delete> reasons for your present situation. Also, there’s 5G down here! Matt, I’ll just say it, it’s basically Brooklyn. You’ll be fine, it’s like you’ve never had to adjust!

Lastly I’ve got good news for you: you learn how to snap! Yes--really! I mean, at 35 years old, you transform from a guy who can whistle with the best of them but can’t snap to save his life, to a full-on whistler-snapper hybrid. And down here, where it’s hard to see anything, being able to snap is a very marketable skill. When a predator looms in the surrounding darkness, or when you’re trying to outrun a roving pack of radioactive warlords (remember the COVID era? Oh, we were so young!), you can create a noise with your fingers that gathers your allies together--you’re an audible beacon! Employers love this, and job stability means that it’s much easier to ignore the existential sadness, or the terrifying fact that <World War Three was begun by a Twitter battle between Donald Trump and Rosie O’Donnell; delete, delete> we didn’t elect the right leaders for our 21st century challenges. 

No 'Sun? powered by Amazon', and no above-ground living. Sure, it’s going to be a non-traditional Memorial Day Weekend, but these are non-traditional times, Matt. And you will be okay.

My very best,

You, Three Years From Now

Voice Memo #3: May 28th, 2029

Hey Matt,

Happy Memorial Day! This morning I had to pinch myself--it’s 2029. Nine whole years from when you’ll be reading this. And what a decade it has been! We survived <war, floods, famine; delete, delete> the resurgence of ragtime as America’s most popular music, and so much more. And I think you will be pretty proud of what you go on to do.

I don’t mean professionally-- though co-producing that play your roommate wrote six years ago, ‘Mountains From Molehills’, minted you millions of acorns, the most trusted currency of the 2020’s. I mean your personal evolution. 

If the 2010’s were about developing an entrepreneurial, innovative state of mind across technology, business and government, then the 2020’s were all about putting those ‘innovation best practices’ into play; and you have not only done your part to encourage those best practices in your work, you have also done it in your life, by staying optimistic. Which is really the name of the game, isn’t it? When you can’t see the sun, because of clouds, or because you live underground, or <because one day in 2028 it just explodes and it turns out we never needed it at all and oh my God, Matt, science is wrong and that is terrifying; delete, delete> simply because it’s nighttime, there is always a little part of all of us that wants to doubt, that becomes afraid--but that doesn’t mean that we should doubt, or that we should be afraid. Because if I’ve (we’ve?) learned anything this past decade, it’s that you can’t know what tomorrow might bring -- no, not even if you’re receiving letters from your future self :) -- but if you embrace what’s to come with an open mind, an open heart, and a glass half-full POV, I promise, things will turn out alright.

Also, really, you should become a vegetarian this weekend. Meat is murder, dude.

My very best,

You, At The End Of The Decade

Next time: We will return to the present. Have a great holiday weekend, folks!

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If you're enjoying this newsletter, please subscribe to our new podcast, 'Live! From Tomorrow', available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your podcasts. I'm Matt Hooper, a corporate intrapreneur (Barclays) turned innovation storyteller (Live! From Tomorrow), and I'm here to offer insights into the innovation economy from 6'6" off the ground.