VENICE HAD NEITHER HEROES NOR NATURAL RESOURCES. IT WAS ERECTED IN A SWAMP BY REFUGEES WHO WERE FLEEING FROM ATTILA. BUT OVER THE COURSE OF ONE THOUSAND YEARS THEY CONSTRUCTED A CAPITAL FEW OTHERS COULD RIVAL: CITIZENSHIP AND UNITY.

The city became Europe’s foremost centre of commerce, the meeting place for all trade routes. When you have no resources, the resources must come to you. The city was teeming with individual enterprises, wealth and beauty. But no citizen was more important than the city itself. No trade agreement stronger than what was best for the city. And no foreign power was to conquer the magical city that floated on water. What organization doesn’t want such a competitive advantage? Forget about motivational theories and incentive systems! The strongest motivator is connected to social identity and citizenship. Organizational literature is overflowing with articles on this subject. In our volatile, liberated times, all organizations aspire to this. And people yearn for it as well. We long for a community.