Good things come to those who believe in serendipity. Tom Rieke, president of Ann Arbor creative consultancy Q LTD, writes this week on a fortuitous international alignment of Qs and why being "blur" is good for business.
The Next 30 Years
Posted By: Tom Rieke
Posted: 12/8/2011
In recent months, since Q announced our 30th anniversary, we've received many congratulations. We've also received some good wishes for the future. One former client said: "I hope the next 30 years are equally rewarding!"
Time is deceptive. In its relentless reality, it moves ponderously onward, in a straight, undeviating line to the future. In retrospect, it moves very fast. From my perspective as an individual human being, 1981 seems like yesterday. In the long stretch of recorded human history, 30 years is barely significant. In the eons since the universe emerged from the most magnificent explosion imaginable, 30 years is meaningless.
Q's mission for the next 30 years, a little less than the time required for light from Gliese 208 in Orion to appear in our night sky, is simple: Total World Domination.
Of course, this is a classified mission, so we can't say much about it. The name alone is enough to set off waves of paranoia in "intelligence" agencies worldwide. If you're worried about your name and coordinates appearing in their databases, you should stop reading now and turn off your computer. But if you agree that those "intelligence" systems are incompetent relics of the 20th century, please proceed.
In observance of Q's 30th year, I have been authorized to reveal a few hints about our future:
Q's mission is collaborative. We share it with our colleagues at Q GmbH in Wiesbaden and some other Qs around the world. We want to work with good people and good organizations on challenging projects that promote useful products, services, or causes. We are serious about our work and devoted to producing the highest quality, most effective communications in all media. But we prefer to collaborate with clients who enjoy their work and have a sense of humor. We do our best work when it includes a sense of fun and adventure.
Our mission is not imposing or oppressive. We do not want to control the world. We want the world to be controlled by good people. People who care about other human beings. Thoughtful people who care about doing the right thing in business, political organizations, and international relations. Generous, fair people. People who live in peace.
We do not claim to fulfill all those criteria ourselves, but we're doing our best. And we know good people when we meet them. We have established a worldwide conspiracy of good clients, former colleagues, suppliers, partners, and friends who support our mission. The identities of these operatives can not be revealed, but their locations are strategic: Australia, China, Japan, Singapore, Thailand; Berlin, Paris, Sterzing, Wiesbaden, Zaragoza, Zürich; Argentina, Barbados, Brazil, México; Ann Arbor, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, Nashville, Ottawa, Palo Alto, Portland, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Toronto, Washington, Vancouver.
Our mission also excludes collaboration with bad people. Mean people. People who want other people to live by their arbitrary rules. Vengeful, angry people. Selfish people. And people who practice and support violence to gain personal, political, or financial power.
Unfortunately, that's a much longer list. Our uncompromising, inexorable goal is to reduce it to a tiny minority by 2041. People of good will everywhere are welcome to join us.