The strength to go faster and further to be #1

There’s a say that goes something like “if you want to go faster, go alone, but if you want to go further, go together”. Companies that want to be #1 however, usually show that you can combine both and today the world saw two examples of humanity deciding to go faster and further, together in a pioneering spirit that unites fun and future.

The first was @Enel and #MotoGP announcement to launch the world’s first electric motorbike racing series from 2019. Motos, especially racing motorbikes, make noise and produce smell which we have learned to associate speed and which to many of us still generates a kind of adrenaline that we can't actually explain rationally. But now Dorna, FIM and Enel, together with manufacturer Energica Motorbike are set to demonstrate that the same adrenaline can be generated by a different speed which doesn’t need noise or smell to be fun.

FIM Enel MotoE launch video

So #MotoE is definitely about speed, but it also shows we can go further. It is a way of pioneering a revolution in our cities. It occurred to me recently while traveling in an African country where people are allowed to smoke on restaurants : I thought “how is it possible that one day we tolerated this?”. Likewise I think as the #Emobilityrevolution continues, we will shortly be asking ourselves “how was it ever possible that we lived in cities with such poor air quality”? I’m taking a big leap here, but one which is needed because today only one out of 10 people in the world lives in cities complainant with WHO guidelines for air quality. This revolution to stop air pollution is a matter of urgency because it kills around 3 million people each year, according to the WHO. So cities need to be equipped soon with emobility infrastructure and that’s what Enel is doing with its mobility plans in Italy and elsewhere.

The second example was SpaceX Falcon Heavy launching the world’s most powerful rocket, capable of lifting a mass comparable to more than 700 jetliners, comprising fuel passengers and cargo. This is more than a PR stunt to create a new advertising industry and cool campaigns, as might be suggested by the presence of Elon Musk’s roadster with a spacesuit dummy on the driving seat and the photos from the car in outer space on its way to orbit around the sun.

SpaceX is also, and fundamentally, a more economic and sustainable alternative to space flight as it became the first company to successfully reuse rocket boosters, which traditionally have been destroyed. By managing to guide the rockets back to Earth and have them land safely after sending their payloads toward orbit, #SpaceX #FalconHeavy is going further by bringing down the cost of spaceflight and adding its sustainability.

So there is something in common about these two projects showing that visionary companies are making progress by going faster but also by going further than the rest. I guess we can see in this projects a pioneering spirit that in the past has always led to progress. So let’s not talk about the future, because both realities are here, today. Let’s talk about making progress, while having a bit of fun too. This is the true meaning of todays #1 players.