IWC Schaffhausen

Josh Spear is a nomad in the Internet era. Restlessly travelling the globe, unceasing in his search for everything new and announcing it to the enormous community that follows him in cyberspace. He works anywhere and everywhere: at conferences, in hotel rooms, at the poolside (as recently in Capri), at airports or even on the street, seeking out the trends that will soon be imitated by the rest of the world. Or he’s out on the Web, tracking down new ideas and business models that might be attractive for his clients.

He is, as “Time magazine” once called him, a “coolhunting blogger”. American and just 26 years old, he has been running his Internet-based business big time for the past six years. He started out doing a course in journalism but soon got bored because the university refused to accept the blog as a credible and reliable medium.

Aged just 20, he set up his own website, joshspear.com, where he started reporting on the everyday things that interested him: restaurants, design, fashion, art, music and a whole lot more besides. Initially, the only people interested in his tips were his family and friends but the thing began to snowball and soon developed a dynamic all of its own.

In the meantime his countless practical tips have developed into strategic expertise about the Web, and today he advises big companies worldwide who do not wish to miss the entry into a new world. It comes as no surprise that his talent has not gone unrecognized by the World Economic Forum. He started out as a speaker – one of the youngest ever to appear in Davos – but has already joined that select and influential group known as Young Global Leaders.

His digital worldview leaves virtually no area open that is not being profoundly changed by the Internet, and those who ignore it run the very real risk of suddenly finding themselves out on a limb in the real world. Spear goes even further. “The relationship between people and the digital world is transforming culture in ways we can’t even begin to imagine yet.” The website www.undercurrent.com was designed to ensure no one has any excuse for missing the bus to the future. Undercurrent, the company Spear in his role as digital strategic consultant founded with this purpose in mind, was deliberately given a name that describes precisely what is taking place below the surface worldwide. He is challenging the world’s business leaders to listen to the young people who surround them because, “They really know what’s going on.”

Digital genius Josh Spear gets his biggest kick out of using the Internet for collective campaigns which, wherever possible, transcend national borders. Compared with this, the Web’s ability to do other things such as attracting attention, exerting influence, sharing stuff, encouraging cooperation, is almost secondary. His prime goal is to “make the world a better place”. The Internet is an opportunity for just that. “Our job is to use it by making more things happen together.”