Role models are dead...

We've been thinking about Pacers and Role Models at The Fawnbrake Collective.

Let's start with what we think about Role Models.

We hate them: A spurious concept, inherently flawed. The idea that we should all be looking for people that you want to be like, in a kind of “Single White Female” way (excuse the early 90s movie reference) is scary. No-one has got it all figured out, No-one’s lives are perfect. Role Models just leave both parties disappointed. It doesn't work as a concept.

We are however extremely interested in the concept of Pacers, or to be more precise “Professional Pacers.” We've been thinking about the marathon runner Eluid Kipchoge and his attempt with Nike to break the 2 hour marathon, #Breaking2.

To run faster than anyone had ever done before, Kipchoge needed to run smarter than ever before and he did that with Pacers. A squad of elite athlete companions, stars in their own rights, who could help him speed up, or for that matter slow down, to break a new world record. The Pacers ran in small groups of 3 alongside Kipchogue and each mini-team focused on a different section of the marathon distance.

We don’t need role models that look like us to attempt to emulate, we need pacers to run alongside. It doesn’t matter how old that person is, or what level of seniority, the only thing that matters is impact. Professional Pacers help you to run further, faster.

The thinking around Professional Pacers fed into our organisational structure. We'd like Fawnbrake to be a collective of professional pacers helping other work smarter faster.

The Role Model is dead, long live the Professional Pacer.