Global digital innovation masters

I’ve been thinking more about what really stimulates me at the same time that I’ve been considering the meaning of the word: “TropicalGringo.”  I think I’m coming up with an answer to both questions at the same time.  I’ll have to write more about each topic separately, but let me use this post as first pass to see what you think.

What really stimulates me is meeting talented, passionate people who are great at creating new things. In general, I like to meet impressive people in all industries, but, being such a nerd, I really am intrigued by those that accomplish this in the digital space.  I’m talking about a great business builder, coder, designer or whatever.  Someone who has achieved mastery in one of the crafts necessary to engender digital innovation and, who call it, “creating cool shit.”

Going a step further and to the point about the meaning of the word “TropicalGringo,” I really get jazzed when I meet someone who accomplishes this across boarders.  What I mean by this is that they could be living on the beach somewhere and working for a company on the other side of the world.  They could also be someone, who is open to traveling to an exotic destination such as Silicon Valley (kidding) or Thailand to work with/for a startup there.  I’ve been meeting more and more of these and, because of my obsession with the whole “company” deal, I’ve been missing out on writing about these people and want to rectify.

In a sense, when I start to write about companies, I do tend to delve into the person behind the company, but hadn’t been sufficiently self-aware to understand that this is where I really like to focus when writing.  I’ve got some amazing people that I’ve met in only the last two weeks that fit this profile and I need to write about them.  One of them is an amazing developer who spends a lot of time in Thailand, but also all around the world.  Another is an expert in UX (user experience) who lives in Silicon Valley, but travels all around.

What occurred to me is that, if I take away the whole need to write about the next “amazing startup” (although, obviously, I’m interested in these), I can uncover some pretty incredible stories of people who work from anywhere and for companies that are anywhere.  I think there is a lot to learn from people living that specific lifestyle.  I’ve met quite a few of these people and have enjoyed their company so much that I forgot to write about them. These are people who are passionate about a lot of things (e.g., poverty, child-rearing, etc.).   The closest moniker I’ve seen so far is living the “hacker” lifestyle.

I’m also really interested in people from Latin America who have achieved mastery in a certain area that is key to creating digital innovation (or disruption).  I have a few people that come to mind already, but if you have a cool story to tell about something (or multiple things) that  you’re particularly proud of, please share it with me.  I probably can’t write about every single one, but I’d sure like to have hear about it.