The Lessons School Forgot. Steve Sammartino

at year's end, determined our rate of advancement both at the plant and, eventually, to something bigger and better beyond it. The performance reviews noted the areas of improvement required by each individual. Doing well in one area and neglecting another wasn't good enough; management demanded that workers both followed procedures effectively and were well rounded.

      Obedience mattered too. Suggesting a better way to do something, or questioning why we did certain things, was totally frowned on. I found it annoying that sometimes the most rewarded workers weren't the best, but rather the best behaved. Sometimes it felt like following rules and wearing the right uniform were considered more important than the work itself, and the managers always had their favourites.

      To be honest, I didn't like this job very much, but while I sensed the lack of freedom and humanity from day one, I somehow stuck it out for the next 13 years. If you're wondering why, it's because I didn't have much choice. I started this job when I was five years old, and my employer was the public schooling system.

      While all the tasks and expectations were made exceptionally clear at this factory, there was one important thing I didn't realise until much later – the product I was making was myself. I was a raw material being processed into something that could be sold in the marketplace. The factory of school was teaching me to be a successful participant in the industrial economy. I was being prepared to be marketed to the industrialists who owned and controlled the factors of production. They would eventually take on a form of quasi-ownership of this ‘human resource', otherwise known as Steve Sammartino. Perhaps they owned you too – maybe they still do?

      Together in this book, we'll be undertaking a journey towards independence. Because I believe something was stolen from many of us through subterfuge. In the course of the book we'll explore this system that shaped you, and I'll help you unlearn its mode of thinking and relearn the lost art of self-reliance. Along the way I'll introduce you to some cool tools, new rules and general life hacks that will enable you to design your own system for living. One designed by you, for you. And you're going to love it.

      Part I

      Revolution

      There's a lot of material in the market these days on the technology revolution. Disruptive technology is very much the management focus du jour. The impact it has on the economy, industry and established industrialised companies has been well documented. And it makes sense to seek insights into how companies facing it might be able to respond. What's less clear is how the heck an individual with a skill set that is about to expire might cope with the impending changes. If companies, industries and economies are worried about what might come next, and their potential displacement, then the people who make up these organisations have reason for their own concerns. I hope that this book will become a timeless future-proofing manifesto for your own economic survival. The techniques and ideas in here mash up economic ideas that have survived millennia with a new set of technological tools with which to implement them. To make this work, I've split the book into three discrete sections that give context, structure and strategy under the headings Revolution, Revenue and Reinvention.

      Part I, ‘Revolution', outlines how we got here, why most of us believe what we do and act the way we do, and why as a result so many of us struggle financially and in our careers. This background helps makes sense of how we have been shaped to think in certain ways, even when this runs counter to our own interests. It describes the obsolete mindset we need to escape from and sets out a new philosophy to help us reframe our thinking and to reinvent ourselves. It points towards the aha moment when we can finally say, screw the system, I can change – and now I know what's possible. I believe the links between the traditional institutions of the school and industrial economic model are really important and can't be overstated. Understanding why systems and thinking developed in the way they did very often reveals the fork in the road we need. It's cathartic, lifting a weight off our shoulders and encouraging us to take a new direction without confusion or fear. It's an essential precondition for cutting new ground.

      The revolution we are living through is redesigning how money moves around and what is valued in our world. You'll learn about the exponential growth of the technologies behind the changes, but also that, surprisingly, the power skills of the emerging era are not purely technological, but human and creative too; they are skills anyone can learn if they make the effort. This revolution is for everyone who chooses to participate. I hope you'll be inspired to unlearn some of the upside-down thinking you were taught at school and relearn that you were born an entrepreneur brimming with creativity. The first chapters will expose the myth that we are all headed for economic hardship. Some surely are, but it is really a choice they make; you need not do so. Economic hardship today is a result of personal stagnation, because we have never known such opportunity, and it is at the same time so affordable (free is a pretty compelling price point). This revolution we've all been gifted to participate in is made possible by a level of prosperity unmatched in human history, a time of great abundance for those who recognise the shift and decide to take advantage of it. You'll soon know that this revolution was actually designed with you in mind, but it requires you to be active and shape it for yourself.

      Chapter 1

      A lesson about school

      Ready or not … Go.

      We are in the midst of a technological revolution. There is no doubt that our world is changing at a pace never before witnessed in human history. This is no longer controversial, or even debatable; it's a mere fact. We've seen it in our own lives. Innovations that would have seemed unimaginable even 10 years ago are now widely available, affordable and so much a part of our daily life that we imagine we couldn't live without them. But it's still early days. We're only 20 years into this, and let's not forget that the automobile didn't arrive until 150 years after the start of the industrial revolution.

      This technological shift is impacting us all at a societal and economic level, changing the very nature of the lives we live, including of course how we earn a living. No one is immune. Incredible changes are being introduced in every industry, every business model, every job. This is because everyone is sharing the same core digital technologies.

      This revolution is open to everyone who chooses to participate. But we need to reboot the entrepreneurial spirit every one of us was born with, because school, with all its good intentions, has not prepared us for this.

      STEM is not enough

      As the birth child of the industrial revolution, school taught us survival skills for a bygone era. Educators and governments have deftly moved to ensure the graduates of tomorrow arrive prepared for the technological era by focusing on what they call STEM subjects – Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths. The problem is that STEM is not enough. In fact, this re-emphasis, on its own, really won't help much at all, because it is just more of what we've been taught historically, with a different angle of approach. What we need to do is add the two missing E's of Economics and Entrepreneurship, so STEM becomes ESTEEM.

      By adding the missing E's, we have a chance to build people's esteem. We give people an opportunity to become more human and to live an adventure as modern-day economic explorers carving out a new path for themselves. When we share the lost arts of entrepreneurship and self-reliance, a spark we all had as kids is reignited so brightly that it becomes a beacon to guide others.

      ESTEEM recognises that we need each other, that some non-technical skills, as you'll see, create value that makes previously invisible STEM visible. They create more value than is offered by anything else we attempt, because without the spirit of exploration, even in an economic sense, we'd all still be living in caves. Building an economy around the idea of ESTEEM means appreciating the wide variety of viewpoints and natural faculties we have to offer. Tech Hackers, Design Hipsters and Sales Hustlers meet in the middle and make something great together. When we add the missing E's we give everyone who believes they have a chance a tilt at an independent future. If we want future-proof kids, and grown-ups, we all need ESTEEM.

      For too long science and maths have been largely ignored in wider society. We glorify celebrity and sporting achievement, but technologists are rarely recognised. I've lost count of how many sports people have been named Australian of the Year; it really is ‘fall