How Enterprising Organizations Explore the Adjacent Possible

Our Journey

The earth, our home, is approximately 4.5 billion years old. Only six million years ago humans emerged and evolved to walk upright, build tools, and develop ideas and technology to become the humans we are today.

Around 98 billion people have walked the earth in these six million years. Of these, 565 have travelled in space. 562 people reached Earth’s orbit, 3 completed a sub-orbital flight, 24 travelled beyond low Earth’s orbit and 12 walked on the Moon. The crew of Apollo 8 were the first to leave Earth's orbit and pass behind the far side of the Moon.

Earthrise Photo - Credit - astronaut William Anders on December 24, 1968, during the Apollo 8 mission

The Shift

On December 21, 1968, Apollo 8 was NASA’s first mission to bring humans to the moon. During this mission, Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill took the "Earthrise" picture, arguably the most iconic photograph ever taken of our planet.

On December 7, 1972, the “Blue Marble” image of Earth was taken by the crew of Apollo 17 on its way to the Moon and is one of the most reproduced images of earth.

Blue Marble Photo - Credit - Crew Apollo 17 - Dec 7, 1972

These two photographs had a profound effect on changing how we perceive ourselves, our world and the context of humanity. One astronaut commented, “we went to the Moon but ended up discovering the Earth”. This confluence of events shifted how we see ourselves and our enterprise as humans.

The Four Cornerstones of UPLIFT

The idea of reaching into the heavens and beyond and the exploration of what is possible has always captivated enterprising humans and it drives UPLIFT.

These are the cornerstones on which the idea of UPLIFT is built:

1. Perspective
The viewpoint from which you see your current situation. UPLIFT is a metaphor for rising above the complexity of routine, the complicated or the unimaginable. Shifting perspectives and rising above to create a new “Earthrise” or “Blue Marble” perspective for your organization.

2. Lift (up)
A positive momentum upward to the sky and forward, that lifts you beyond your current station. Uplifting your sense of possibility and shifting your engagement to creating positive and generative pathways forward. Imagining and creating a new story that you, your organization, and the world can organize around.

3. Story
Stories are important to humans because they comfort, educate, inform and shape us. From fairy tales to nursery rhymes, from motion pictures to literary sagas, great stories transport us and our fellow humans to the realm of the possible.

4. Exploration
Exploring the unknown has compelled humans forward throughout history. Discovering the “adjacent possible” is irresistible to the UPLIFT team. Explorers at heart, we believe that what can be conceived can be created. Conceiving requires deep imagination while creating requires, well, creativity. Where creativity meets imagination, magic is the result.

How it Works

We believe a great story that generates a new reality for your organization is a result of alchemy. The starter ingredients of this alchemy are leadership, strategy, marketing and culture which, when combined in the right quantities and sequence create a reaction. This reaction, when viewed through the lens of art, science and exploration become the secret sauce for your enterprise. This metaphorical elixir is the necessary spark required to compel a new direction to a preferred future powered by meaning and invigorated action.

Imagining Our New Future

Fast forward to 1990, the Voyager 1 spacecraft, this time at a distance of 3.7 billion miles captured yet another landmark photograph of earth which has become known as the “pale blue dot” surrounded by the vastness of deep space like a tiny mote of dust caught in a sunbeam.

Blue Dot Photo - Credit - Taken on February 14, 1990, by the Voyager 1
space probe from a record distance of about 6 billion kilometres

Carl Sagan captured the mood well when he said "Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us..."

In the spirit of Apollo 8, Apollo 17 and Voyager 1, UPLIFT catalyzes collective imagination, shifts perspectives, and catapults your organization to a new, compelling and much-preferred future. What story will your Voyager tell about your organization?

The UPLIFT flight team would like to connect with your team to explore the Adjacent Possible in re-inventing or re-invigorating your organization and its story. Let's chat!--->