There Is No We
From GPWiki
 NEW - 2010 - TAKE A GOOD LOOK AROUND: HELLO - THE ARENA FOR CHANGE - CHANGING THE WAY THE 21ST CENTURY ORGANIZATION THINKS AND WORKS - ALL THINGS CAN BE SOLVED BY 24 CONVERSATIONS - AND THEN VISIT THE 'PIXAR' OF CONSULTING - The 21st CENTURY ORGANIZATION - WICKED PROBLEMS - THE AWESOME POWER OF MEANING - SIGNS - STRUCTURED VISUAL THINKING™' - 4D™ - THE MEANING MAKING MACHINE - 4D™' - WINNING THE BIG BIDS - 'KEVIN HOFFBERG'S 'BLOG' AND JOHN CASWELL'S 'JUST THINK' BLOG - MAIN PAGE - THE TRAINING SECTION - THE TECHNOLOGY VISION- INSIGHTS AND CREATIVITY AT WORK - EXPLAINING HOW TO CREATE A VISION MODEL - LATEST THINKING |
Friday 10 of September, 2010
Living Systems & Anarchy
Try thinking about the following three things. Politics, Business and The Media. Then think of them as self fulfilling ‘systems’. An unholy trinity even.
 
Articles written around the Critical Context we find ourselves in in the 21st Century. New thinking about how to create sustainable changeA series of short articles that describe the context within which we need to work if we are to make a difference to the way we operate and survive in the 21st Century - 
Articles On 21st Century ToolsThe 21st Century demands different thinking and ideas to cope with the complex context we have now created. These short articles begin to describe how we are thinking about these areas and starting the debate about what we might do to resolve them.
Articles On ThinkingOne of the main agenda items for success and survival in the 21st Century. These articles explain a lot of the technical and strategic ideas that inform our work - 
Articles On MeaningAt the heart of the inertia we observe in transformation and change is the way in which humans attach words and stories to their experiences while this is a natural human condition it needs to be understood if we are to create the tools that overcome conflict and lack of improvement in complex systems.  Articles About EthicsIncreasingly organizations are determined to really make a difference and not just debate how and what. These articles debate the importance or really getting to grips with the issues that are affecting the entire planet. Articles About Being On The RoadIt's a great privilege working and being able to travel. Ever so slightly tongue in cheek and yet ever so slightly true. The following are notes made to humor myself. Observations that inspire or annoy.
 |
Speaking personally - and as a westerner - I intensely dislike the political ‘system’. It seems corrupt, foolish, inept, untrustworthy, unhelpfully argumentative and not intelligent. It has a bad side too.
See Also Adjudicating Over A Fools Death
Sadly we seem to lack a credible alternative. Next I don’t hear the triumphant throngs or massive hordes of fans for the fat cat salaries of the ‘system’ of Business or the 'Business of things' - Finance, Education, Health or whatever. I meet countless people who are very unhappy working for these businesses so the internal ‘systems’ seem to be pretty messed up too. Finally the media is the well known enemy for many of us.
Dumb and getting dumber, trash and train smash mentality with ethics and morality sinking deeper into the swamp with every edition and each new sad idea to suck the blood from the audiences along with their cash. Whilst also a bug bear to both the political and business ‘systems’ it’s no secret - the very clear business model that exists - as to why that is.
This isn't meant as a deep social or political point. Merely that we have no one ‘system’ of our own making. We lack a unified ‘system’ outside of those we seem incapable of trusting or loving. I will not go into the other major ‘system’ here to avoid getting stuck with the point I want to make but the other major set of principles, laws and characteristics going on in all the above is the religious ‘system(s)’ that themselves cause such global angst and fodder for the other three.
All of these systems were borne out of command and control thinking.
Understanding the western systems means to get at the heart of our stuckness.
It will be argued I'm sure but I think at the most significant level the following is true. Most of the problems and frustration in societal or human transformation can be leveled at our inability to truly influence these three institutional ‘systems’.
I believe that they are so well entrenched and so self serving as systems that - however unintended initially - they are the cause not the solution of the problem. They are deeply woven into the subconscious. We are not really challenging them as if we thought of them as ‘systems’. We are simply anaesthetized.
Worse still they are defending themselves by purporting to be at our service and disposal. These three systems are connected and self serving - Political, Business and Media. Each is in cahoots. Each has a wink and a nod to the other when we are not looking. Sadly they wink and nod even when we are.
WE vote in the governments, we buy from the businesses and we are influenced (or we say are not) by the media. But we are the recipients of all these three interlocking systems. The media swings between each color of political party in order to keep the melting pot going, business goes where the money is and governments know that this keeps all the systems oiled if it can keep it in balance.
WE are immensely critical of all three and we can and do complain all we like but the dirty little secret is there is no WE.
There is no We. We are not WE.
Apart from the internet there isn't a ‘system’ that I can see that is representative of WE. I don’t see a ‘system’ capable of being a valid alternative in a way that balances the unholy trinity. The internet though presents a compelling opportunity. However it is merely the platform. WE have to use it as WE.
I remain optimistic but impatient. Slowly we see the unholy trinity being challenged in some critical ways.
- Media is struggling with sales, caught in the headlights of blogs, self publishing and citizen news reporting. It’s still very free and open source has had dramatic effects to enable a fluid world of opportunity for newer and greener shoots.
- Political change is apparent via the 'voice' that is increasingly created on-line. Political blogs, surveys, manifestos, tribes and communities rising up and thankfully it is still democratized and free of too many controls.
- Business has had to get its act together to understand the phenomenon of online channels but its early days and proves that business simply follows the mantra of shareholder return above all else. When it comes to them being sustainable or more ethical, well they will go there but only if its profitable. Organic foods is profitable so yes they do that and if alternative energy investment by the big oil companies isn’t they will pull out. They did.
Well it's not surprising. It’s the system.
I am suggesting that we need to be WE if we are alter the thinking and if WE wish to avoid the catastrophic pursuit of growth at the expense of all else.
We humans aren’t really stupid and a vast majority of us see that if WE continue this way then there is a highly predictable outcome. Destruction of the raw materials - end of the 'system'. It is finite. Our ‘system’ relies on constantly squeezing the contributors to the supply chain. The result frustrates all the mini-systems and suppliers implicated - constantly marginalizing them in the name of profit or efficiency and ignoring the natural systems that it raids to create the goods in the process.
Triggers of Evolution - Evolution
Nothing stays the same. Such a simple statement. Positions on this idea rage on every second of the day. It's such a natural and obvious truth and we seem utterly fascinated by the why, what and how of it all. At the same time we are so blinded by some significant opportunities presented by it.
Instead of leveraging the natural systems, evidence of which we see all around us, we fight or ignore them. Each time the natural cycles come back at us with interest. We fuss and interfere with the 'way' of things and wonder why they bite us so badly. Whether it's depleted natural resources or the differences of cultural systems leading to wars we just fail to understand what we are dealing with.
Removing the critical mess by creating the critical mass.
We are noticing some very specific/important scenarios. Take the following two examples:
- The Global Economic Recession: In so many ways a missed opportunity. We missed the opportunity to alter a system we all hated and despised and we did nothing about because we are not WE. We had no power at a critical time. No power to act as a voice against the ignominy of a system we don't like and don't support.
- The Oyster Card: London's travel smart card, prepaid fly-through-the-gates-and-avoid-any-queue top-up system. We see that when a system becomes difficult for us - lengthy queues at ticket desks - we will quickly join the no cash/book online/pay wherever and 'whenever you see this sign' systems that are a fast and efficient alternative.
We have in Example One the lack of critical mass and/or machinery for the system to change and in Example Two a very individual and personally felt pain in the neck (the long queues) but a given route/alternative available through multiple access points. The other major condition was political and business system motivation to enable the transaction.
In the way of any critical mass was the reality that no device or mechanism provided any viable option. Had there been a referendum would our government supported the banks? I doubt the result would have gone that way. The politicians would say, and to some extent they would be right, that that is why we vote a government in - to make these complex choices. I just feel that the public - WE - must become far more conscious and engaged in the dialog or accept the consequences of our inaction.
The by-product of deeper dialog by more of us is that we will become more enlightened, more interested and, if we had an alternative political system, more likely to live a better life with greater balance and greater equality for humanity.
But we need to become WE
"The major problems in the world are the result of the difference between the way nature works and the way man thinks." - Gregory Bateson
