DO YU HAVE AN INTERESTING QUESTION?
Good.
Because this newsletter that I just started, The Neverending Question, starts with one. And will always end with one too. The real questions. The kind that create progress.
Science fiction writer Theodore Sturgeon (yes, one of the minds behind some of the original Star Trek thinking) once said: “Ask the Next Question.” He even created a symbol for it: a giant Q pierced by an arrow.
Because Theodore knew progress only happens when somebody dares to ask the next question. And I have the impression that’s happening less and less. Why? Probably because we are simply running out of courage to question obvious nonsense.
( Andros Sturgeon, I hope YU don’t mind me mentioning your father here.)
So, what is the question I’m talking about? Well, have you ever experienced something as an entrepreneur, lawyer, architect, doctor, engineer, manufacturer or policymaker that made you think: “This makes absolutely no sense.”
I recently sat together with the director of a pharmacy chain supplying retirement homes with medication. Every patient receives a highly personalized combination of pills, carefully prepared by robotic systems. But to load those machines, workers manually open 130,000 medicine boxes. Every day.
130,000. Every day… Tons of cardboard. Plastic blisters. Whyyyyy can’t this be bought in bulk, without all the packaging???
The answer was this: “Because European legislation doesn’t allow it.”
What?? Because of one stupid rule, we create mountains of waste that benefit absolutely no one? Everywhere we look, systems are leaking energy, time and common sense. Or hurting the environment. And not only in architecture, my field, but everywhere.
There are a lot of smart people out there. (Although occasionally I do have questions.) But systems have become so normalized that nobody dares to question them anymore.
And I’m done with it. I’m constantly surrounded by entrepreneursand innovators who see the exact same thing: systems that make absolutely no sense anymore. And like I said in previous interviews : We cannot keep our mouths shut when we see things that make no sense at all. Because these ‘fixed’ rules are hurting the planet our children will inherit.
And I’m a mom, just like so many of you. I’m not counting on ’they’ to solve it, because there is no ’they’. There is only us.
So I decided to create a canvas for The NeverEnding Question, as part of The Story of YU (which is still very much a work in progress). A place where curious minds can expose absurdities and search together for intelligent low-hanging fruit that could genuinely improve the world.
And honestly? There may be no more difficult audience than LinkedIn. Sorry, but it’s true. Especially in the real estate world (my world), wher corporate blueness is often mistaken for professionalism. As if sounding human suddenly became unprofessional. But the very near future probably will be built by people courageous enough to stay curious, rather than playing safe.
Will every idea work? Of course not.
Will some ideas sound impossible? Probably.
Am I scared as hell of failing and looking ridiculous? Absolutely.
But if I can be brutally honest: AI is already coming for our jobs, mine and yours. (I don’t see many plumbers or electricians on LinkedIn… just saying.)
So maybe the real question is not: “How do we protect our jobs?” But rather: “Who are we when the performance disappears? Do we really need to wait until we lose our jobs… burn out… before we finally start asking what truly matters?
So here’s our invitation: Send us your questions, your frustrations. The absurd systems nobody dares to challenge. I will answer every question, because you can never be too curious. Never.
And the minute you are courageous enough to be curious.…
You have become a YU.
Welcome to our YUNIVERSE.
*****
My name is Veronica.
I am one of Véronique Orens’ alter egos. Or as she prefers to call them: Architypes. These Architypes (with an “i”, because the ArchEtypes already belong to Carl Jung. But don’t ask me how the pronunciation is any different), were created from Architecture. Hence the ‘i’ in Architype.
There are 9 Architypes in total. YU will get to know them one by one. And yes, we know. It’s a lot to take in. An architect with 26 years of experience, once considered a highly respected professional, suddenly showing up with 9 alter egos after two years of isolation…
It does sound slightly insane.
That’s why we call it ; The Crazy Circus. Yes, we have gone bonkers and we love it. Maybe the world could use a little more beautiful madness right now.
I myself represent the Architype of Curiosity. I have always loved curious people. The nerds. The passionate misfits. Hence the red dress and the ‘sexy’ name ‘Veronica’, referring to Veronica Lake. Because she had a high IQ but didn’t look like the stereotypical “nerd.” And that’s exactly the point. There are countless brilliant women out there constantly being underestimated because of the way they look. Too beautiful to possibly be intelligent.
But the same thing happens to men who managed to keep a soft heart in a world that often rewards emotional distance. Somewhere along the way, vulnerability and empathy became mistaken for weakness. And seriousness for intelligence.
That story is getting old. It’s time for a new story.