CitizenFour

So finally, I dragged some friends of mine and we watched this Oscar-winning documentary.

Snowden. How does he remain so calm? What drives him?

Principles. He stuck to his principles, even if it meant going against powerful forces. That's how it worked.

Here are his values and principles as I see it.

• Honesty. Transparency. From his actions, we can see that Snowden believes very much in transparency at every level. The public deserves to know. Whistleblowers need to actually come out, do or go wherever they have to be safe, take a public stand, and not hide behind fragile anonymity. If you are in the right, be in the light.
• Counter-intuitively, if he had attempted to leak and not come out publicly, he may well have ended up secretly arrested or worse. 

• Courage. Do whatever it takes. Many people have principles. Few ever act on them, let alone when the risks and stakes are high. Snowden did not let a daring yet elegant plan deter him from doing what was necessary. At the same time, it takes high self-esteem and self-confidence to work with such vast systems. 

• Commitment. Dedication. Nuff said. He did what he really believed in, 100%. If he had any more doubt, it would show.

• Facts & Evidence, not opinions and conjecture. Everybody has their opinions. Conspiracy theorists have been talking, theorizing about NSA watching this, CIA watching that.. for years and years, but never had such hard evidence to back it up. Snowden understands the value of truth and evidence. Facts always trump opinion.

• Intelligence. Collecting intelligence was clearly a high priority. But more important is clear thinking. Comprehensive, functional understanding of massive inter-related systems. Figuring out the endgame. Staying ahead of the opposition.

• Will to Power. Big thinking. This guy thinks thoroughly, plans big. And none of the above qualities would really matter if it wasn't for this. His job was on massive scalable systems. From the beginning, his target audience was the entire American public, and to a certain extent, all internet users. His escape plan is thousands of miles away, international. Now, he insists that "it's not about me...it's about the cause...", but regardless, he demonstrates great personal power and responsibilities.

• Game face. Have a confident game face that projects. But also be genuine when telling the facts. 

I think he is a great example for geeks everywhere. There's more to life than jobs, money, consumerism. This guy could have continued to collect his six figure salary. And he chose not to.