Image this. A family business decides to close its doors. Not because they’re bankrupt. It’s just that the owners, who have come of age, feel that they’ve done their fair share of work and want to finish in style. They are not selling the business, nor the brand, all they want is closure, both literally and figuratively speaking. The decision is announced to the employees and that’s that. A few weeks later, the company is no more.

Four former members of staff and one of their relatives genuinely feel that it would be a shame not to give that same line of business a go themselves. They have no relevant management experience, no budget, no references and nothing else to go on but the idea that they’d rather try and fail then not try at all.

So they come together and during a BBQ - and probably over a little to much white wine - they decide to start their own business. As to be expected under the given circumstances, the first reactions from relatives and friends are the obvious encouragements: Are you insane? You’ll never make it work. You won’t last a month. etc. etc. You know, the usual stuff you hear whenever you take a chance. 

But then something totally unexpected happens. Their plan, that wasn’t mush of plan to begin with, actually seems to work. Potential employees and customers actually start to like and believe in the business. And at the end of year three the company has over 120 employees and more than 1.000 customers, most of whom are die hard fans. They love the business and look forward to the next opportunity to work together. 

How would you think of such a success story?

Would it inspire you? Would you applaud the people involved?

Then imagine the following.

The company doesn’t have the ambition to be better, faster, smarter, cheaper than anyone out there. All it cares for is the well-being of it’s employees, the dreams they cherish and how to be the kind of organisation that allows others to reach their full potential. Not because of the bottom line, but because of a firm belief that passion and intrinsic motivation are the only things that will ever make any of us truly grow.

Now what if that company wasn’t a company at all?

What if it was a non-profit organisation that exists only because of the effort, time and energy its members are willing to invest in it, solely for its own reward. 

In terms of money, no one gets any richer. In terms of careers, no one is upwardly mobile. 

Are you still as willing to stop the presses?

Or does the “there’s no financial gain” element put you off?

You needn’t feel bad about that. It puts most people off.

Yet some of those 100 members and over 20 volunteers are willing to put their real careers on hold, just so they could be a part of that story. That’s just crazy, right? Or is it?

This is the “company”: RollerSchool Brasschaat vzw, a local non-profit sports club specialised in artistic roller skating. It was founded in 2007 by 4 ex-memebers and one of their relatives after its predecessor decided to call it a day.

That’s it?

Wait, it gets worse.

They don’t do competition. In fact they refuse to. 

Why? They don’t believe that only the best performances or their best skaters should be rewarded. They believe that any effort, regardless of technical level or skating talent, should get the same amount of attention and applause. 

On top of that, they don’t care for prizes, rankings, titles or anything like that. Why? Because they actually believe that ambition is only sustainable when it is not at the expense of someone else. They think that if you have a winner because someone else lost, everyone loses. 

Yet somehow, their members - boys and girls aged between 5 and 65, with or without a disability, good or great at skating, who all of them look like actual people - feel right at home there. Some of them don’t really know why, yet. Some of them are only starting to realise what is going on and a growing number of kids and adults know very well what it is that makes them count down to every single training or rehearsal. It’s the exhilarating search for the answer to a simple question: Who can I be so that the person next to me can perform at his or her best? 

And you know what? It works!

Wait, it gets better.

At their yearly skating event, the public brings down the house, every single time. And for a brief moment, for one split second, in a world where only the best and the brightest would seem to have their rightful place, all their members experience what it’s like to be the most cheered and applauded person on the face of the planet. Not because you are better than anyone else, but because you are you, unapologetically. 

Call it naive, call it fabulous. Be cynical about it or feel inspired by it. Either way, I am tremendously proud to be one of the founders of RSB and even more of the reality Ingrid, Inge, Rudy, An and I are allowed to create. Because if anything, this is as real as creating your own reality gets.

(a few images to give you a taste of the atmosphere during a performance)

Just felt like sharing.

Take care,

Karl

PS: If you're anywhere near Antwerp, the next event called "Somniyum" will be performed three times on May 20th, 21st & 22nd 2011.
Tickets are on sale from December 1st, 2010 onward via www.somniyum.com

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