Global Citizens | End Game
Yes, the world is very big and scary and evolving quite rapidly. But this is the very reason why more people should be diversifying their global footprint. Especially those based in Western countries.
I was born in New York City, but I actually grew in Michigan, in and outside of Detroit. There are still so many memories from that time that will stay with me for the rest of my life.
The excessively long winters, followed by the sweetest of springs, which were made even sweeter because of how long the winter was. Spring is still my favorite season till this day.
The truth is, I haven't been back to Michigan since I was about sixteen. It will always be a part of my story, but I don't see it as a part of my future. Nor the entire United States for that matter.
And I know I’m not alone in feeling this way. Many people I meet and have spoken with in recent years, especially from legacy brand countries in the West like the United States, Canada, and Europe, feel quietly disconnected from the very places where they were born and raised.
And while there’s this growing tension between where we’re from and where we’re going, or at least where we feel called to, the broader world is unexplainably stuck in this controlling narrative that the world is big, scary, and to be avoided except for the occasional holiday to Europe or a semester abroad somewhere in Asia if you’re really adventurous. The unspoken rule of the past has been: pick a geographic lane and stick to it. Anything beyond that is suspect.
The Truth
But this narrative is only half right. Yes, the world is very big and scary and evolving quite rapidly.
But this is the very reason why more people should be diversifying their global footprint. Especially those based in Western countries.
For decades we’ve heard whispers about the rise of the Global South. Backroom conversations about ancient civilizations in Africa and Asia rightfully reclaiming their place on the global stage.
These whispers are now roars. Countries like China and India have arrived as global economic, military, and cultural superpowers. As leaders of the global south they have paved the way for a new brand of countries that offer viable alternatives for the modern man and woman.
The habit of living and dying having only lived in one country is not only outdated, but especially harmful for today’s youth. They are not entering into the same world we grew up in. Things have changed, work has changed, life has changed.
Nationalism is giving way to broader collective understandings of what it means to be a global citizen.
Global Citizenship
Are there still strong nationalistic identities? Yes, of course. But those identities are quickly being merged with an even greater sense of being from geographic regions. People aren’t just Nigerian anymore, they are African. They aren’t just Swedish, they are European.
The future of life, and therefore the future of work, is massively distributed, fractional, and yet paradoxically more connected. In the near future, people will not work and live in a single place. Their lives will be made up of an interconnected web of homes, communities, and opportunities spread across the globe and built up over time. Each place and opportunity distinct. Each place and opportunity home and familiar.
What we today call "digital nomadism" is merely an early version of global citizenship. And it’s not just working from a laptop on a beach in Bali either. It’s freeing yourself from all limitations that defined past generations.
This is part of the reason why I quit my job and bought a one way flight to Casablanca, Morocco in 2019. I wanted to better understand the world and what I really wanted in life.
I could have stayed in California working and climbing the proverbial corporate ladder with no problem. But deep down I knew that’s not what I believed the future looked like, and so I chose a different path. I’m writing this in the hopes that you might also consider that path for yourself if you feel called to it. And maybe even if you don’t feel called to it.
I believe that in the near future almost everyone will be global citizens whether they like it or not.
The world is flattening, economies and political blocks are integrating, and the people who will win in the coming years will be those with:
multiple passports
assets in multiple currencies
the ability to adapt, build, and thrive around the world
cultural fluency across multiple geographies and borders
This isn’t speculation, it’s happening right now. It’s the reason why I’m here in Africa. I’m not just observing this change, I’m trying to do my part to push it forward.