By all accounts, Newcastle Startup Week was a great success. Praise for the week long festival that focuses on helping new businesses to get off the ground has been effusive. It is a must attend in the ever increasing calendar of events that are highlighting the great things that are going on across the region. Indeed it was part of the first ever North East Digital Festival.
Ticket sales were excellent and it all bodes well for next year’s event. I have already bought mine for 2020. There is nothing wrong in planning ahead.
I didn’t get to see many events however. Paid work needs to take precedent and, thankfully, I have a fair bit on. The event also clashed with Thinking Digital, for which I had also bought a ticket. Next year I gather that they will not overlap which is going to be much better as I can attend both and it will save my legs from all that walking.
I did get the chance to speak on the Thursday however. Thanks to Paul and his team I got to stand on stage at the Urban Sciences Building and talk about a real passion of mine, how ‘The way we think about work is wrong.’
Thursday was scaleup day and I wanted to get the audience to think about how they and their businesses will get in a mess if they are not careful. I have been involved in and seen many other businesses that spend their time trying to control their people rather than to help them to do what they do best.
Nobody comes into work to be controlled but our obsession with it stifles creativity and individuality, leading to stagnation and dissatisfaction. Only by releasing people, setting them free from the shackles of bureaucracy and dogma, can they ever truly realise what they are capable of.
These are the messages that I have covered in my books and it was great to get to talk about them in front of a receptive audience. Standing on stage it felt as if it went down well.
Thanks Paul, until next year!
Thoughts from a Guerrilla Worker 