Digital Explorers

Digital explorers are the Marco Polo’s of a new age.

In 1287 a man named Marco Polo changed the face of the western world making one of the first significant connections to the eastern world. His established connection was more than an anthropological one. The connection eventually opened up a trade route named the Silk Road. Its connection yielded a huge benefit to the western world.

What happened to people like Marco Polo?

Do people like Marco Polo still live today? Or are the days of exploration of new parts of the world over? Is there still room for exploration of new and lucrative venues of business? Are there still people like Marco Polo connecting parts of the world in a new way?

The Silk Road.

The Silk Road was a series of ancient trade routes stretching across Central Asia to Europe, its name still evokes imagery of caravans drawn by camels packed full of Chinese silk, ivory, jade and gold. These caravans traversed across snow topped mountains through deserts and every imaginable geographic and cultural obstacle. The great explorers that piloted these caravans spent years making journeys, but only a few completed the task and the ones who did reaped tremendous profits.

Why we need more Marco Polo’s.

Men like Marco Polo were so successful because they were willing to fail. They were willing to challenge the unknown. Influential people find solutions to problems where it would otherwise be detrimental to the welfare of the team and the kingdoms that relied on them. There are still people like Marco Polo in the world today. But they don’t ride camels or pull carts; they sit in front of glowing monitors, pioneering the digital universe.

A digital Silk Road.

The biggest difference between explorers during the times of the Silk Road and now is how long it took to fail. You can fail much faster on the internet. When I talk about failure I don’t mean forgetting the planning stages of your journey or forgetting to make an accurate risk management assessment. I also don’t mean that you should intentionally fail. What I do mean is that by having the ability to fail faster it allows room to make changes in a more agile way. The internet allows you to track and improve your steps much more quickly. Failing faster in this way allows explorers to meet and exceed expectations and reach success faster.

I believe explorers of the digital age will see much faster incremental changes in product development. I also believe that this process of faster incremental change is in essence the new Silk Road. Where just as curiosity of the unknown drove these explorers to see and do new things, so will explorers of the digital age. And just as the explorers of the Silk Road learned to face failure, so will explorers of the digital age. Except in the digital age explorers will fail much faster, make faster incremental improvements and pave a new Silk Road for all others to follow.

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