Think of some of the greatest provocateurs in history: Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Beyoncé, Nelson Mandela, Malala Yousafzai, Marie Curie, Elon Musk to name a few.
They all share something in common: they challenged the status quo by sparking conversations and debates. They poked and prodded and cut into the herd mentality. They ignited a fire within people to question the status quo while looking for alternatives. Whether by accident or not, they pushed people to start conversations, then allowed them to push the movement forward. Like passing a batton. After all, that’s how meaningful change begins to emerge.
The thing is we can all be provocateurs: writers, astronauts, developers, physiotherapists. Whatever your world may be, however insignificant you may think it is, you can stir shit up too.
We can make people believe in a different world. In a different version of the truth. We can push the boundaries of public imagination and thought. But for that to happen, we must first have the bravery and the audacity to imagine a different world ourselves.
The Spirit of Provocation
Disclaimer: I work at Netcoins. I spend my days writing and talking about bitcoin in podcasts, interviews and events. In fact, I started my bitcoin schpeal back in 2019 when bitcoin wasn’t as sexy at is today. Pre-Covid days too.
Now fast forward to today and bitcoin is what everybody is talking about. I went to the dentist the other week and the receptionists were talking about bitcoin! Talk about it becoming mainstream. It is the talk of town.
But that’s not the backdrop I had when I begin to talk about bitcoin. At first, my friends would look at me as if I’d lost my mind. Worse, as if I’d joined a cult. To them bitcoin was a scam, a thing of hackers, here to fail. But I still kept at it.
I asked them what they new about the current monetary system. I asked them if they were ok working hard to earn money that keeps losing purchasing power. I asked if they’d consider putting all the bitcoin baggage they carried to one side and start afresh. No, no, nope. It was like talking to a wall but I still carried on talking about bitcoin.
In hindsight, I see that I was challenging the ways that people thought about money, our economic structures, wealth inequality and a lack of a fair system. I was poking and prodding and provoking only to be met with resistance.
Of course, there were times I felt insane for believing something so utterly absurd to the rest of the world. I quietly thought to myself “I must be the smartest person or the craziest person I know. Only time will tell.”
The thing is, it didn’t matter to me whether I was wrong or right. What mattered was that I was thinking, and reminding people to think about these social, political and economic issues. Not just about the Kardashians.
In my own little way I was building a spirit of provocateur within me. Eventually I would see that I’d helped to start a dialogue about bitcoin within my network and allowed them to debate about it and eventually, move the conversation forward. That’s progress in my eyes.
Know When to Provoke
Let’s take Elon Musk as example of knowing the right time to provoke.
He doesn’t think people should be bound by planet Earth. He believes people should be multi-planetary. Travelling and living in different planets the way we travel around different countries.
He was pro-bitcoin. So much so he was accepting bitcoin as payment for Tesla cars. He even agreed that bitcoin encouraged the use of renewable energy. Except that he’s now retracted his stance about bitcoin… 20 days after saying he agreed bitcoin mining was good for the environment, a few days after appearing on SNL, and after amassing a huge Dogecoin following.
If that’s not the greatest marketing stint to date (for whatever agenda he has) then I don’t know what is. He is also the greatest provocateur of our time. Whether or not what he says or does is a good idea is almost besides the point. He’s stretching the edges of our imagination.
Provocateurs, like Elon Musk, are not afraid to challenge authority or fixed minds. Even when the odds are highly stacked against them. They are like tricksters throwing a ball up to the universe. And it’s up to the rest of us to catch it and decide our next move.
Now, I’ll let you in on a little secret: Elon Musk isn’t the only provocateur. You and I can also be provocateurs. We can channel the spirit of provocation by calling our biased claims, doing our due diligence, using our voice, sharing our opinions and standing up for what we believe in. If you do that, I believe you’ll start to see that the power to change your world, or THE entire world, was always available to you.
If you're up to the task of being a provocateur, remember that the art in creating change, in other words, the art of being a successful provocateur, lies in acting tactfully, gracefully and knowing the right moments to ignite such powerful conversations.
Now, go provoke.