Redefining The Edge
On June 30th, we launch our boldest mission yet. We aim to inspire and engage a nation to become the first country in the world to surpass 100-years life expectancy for our residents - within 10 years. We continually seed bold missions in our community.
Although we believe that whatever we set out to achieve is within the boundaries of plausibility, we also aim to redefine the ‘edge’.
Human beings are quite fearful creatures, by and large; biologically wired not to stray too far from the pack, so as not to be attacked by predators. Fundamentally, we don’t feel safe treading where no-one else has gone before.
Moving towards an edge can be a slow and tentative process. But changing our perception of our distance from the edge creates a shift in momentum. For some reason, if the edge is far away, people feel safer to roam.
Three years ago, we set out to make Guernsey the best place to live on earth by 2020. Last year, our President was elected on a platform of wanting to make Guernsey the happiest and healthiest country in the world by 2026. This was later diluted by the nuances of our government process to an aim to be ‘one of the happiest and healthy countries in the world within 20 years’.
Compared with our initial bold objective, our government mission seems conservative and prudent within our community. Yet, in another jurisdiction, it would seem a little wild, without a crazier mission beside it.
This is a classic strategy from direct marketing called ‘price anchoring’. A ￡2k item for sale by itself might seem expensive and unappealing. Price anchoring suggests that the best way to sell a ￡2k item is to place a ￡10k item next to it. Then, that ￡2k item that was hard to sell on its own seems like an attractive bargain.
The same thinking and mechanism can be applied in many different contexts and circumstances.
- In your own life, what edge will enable you to have greater freedom to roam?
- How can you redefine the edge to help you deliver on your dreams?
- What is your bold mission?
What bold step can you now take?
Without creating a bold edge a long way off, it is hard to take a bold step.
opinions are my own
7 年An interesting target but I think any metric around life expectancy also needs to have indicators around quality of life. Also as we face an ageing population crisis in terms of future fiscal funding of services the more the population ages, the more difficult it is to fund the care of those who are elderly and frail as issues around social care in the UK have already proven. Personally, I would not want to live to 100 if I could not afford the basics and my mobility or cognitivie function was significantly impaired.
One of 7.95+Billion People...
7 年You know... I just realized that your articles are criminally under-engaged. :c/ It is more than a little strange - you have over 200 articles!