The gale-force winds came in from the northeast, curling back in a spiral of power, while the warm currents from the south collided with a cold-front from the west. Giant waves rose seven-stories high above the fishing vessel and then they were gone.
If anyone remembers the movie the Perfect Storm you will, no doubt, shiver in your bones visualizing this final scene (sorry for the spoiler if you haven’t seen the movie). A perfect storm is one where multiple-forces come into play to amplify conditions into an extreme weather event.
Our country has experienced a perfect storm of four major forces that have led to untenable conditions; conditions that have made us highly vulnerable to collapse. This essay is not intended to be a long-winded examination of our current reality, rather is it designed to help us think about how to work with these four forces in the future to mitigate their impact and co-create a vibrant, life-giving future. Let us look quickly at the four forces within this perfect storm before we explore opportunities for change.
The four forces are: (1) an unsustainable economic model, (2) rapidly deteriorating environmental decline, (3) a political culture driven by scarcity, and (4) the great isolation of the American citizen/public.
(1) AN UNSUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC MODEL
Our current world economy is focused on the flow of money and resources through the system and the notion that growth (which requires consumption) is essential for sustaining this flow of money. What is missing is people and the environment in this story. The economy ideally should be designed to improve the well-being of its citizens. Not just a small number of people, but a majority of a country’s population.
Automating jobs for efficiencies and profit-making, essentially is putting more and more Americans out of work. Profit-making is not a bad thing and absolutely essential, but when it comes at the expense of human beings who no longer can feed their families, then the economic engine is no longer serving the people it was designed to support. When profit matters more than a renewable environment that sustains all life, we will soon find ourselves in serious decline as a human race.
Note: this is not about creating a system of handouts, it about developing an economic story that sustains people, environment, and profit where our gifts (talents) are made visible and useful in service of sustaining our individual quality of lives, organizations, communities, and natural world.
(2) RAPIDLY DETERIORATING ENVIRONMENT DECLINE
I could create a long list of environmental problems of which there are many. This largely only leads to compassion fatigue, where we become paralyzed by the scope and scale of our challenges. We keep trying to scare people into action, which leads a number of people towards denial and others, who simply are too busy surviving, to higher rates of anxiety. Yet, without a shift in how we consume and behave as individuals, organizations, and communities, we are moving towards an overshoot and collapse scenario. That is a fancy way of saying we will crash our life-sustaining systems in the not-too distant future.
(3) A POLITICAL CULTURE DRIVEN BY SCARCITY
If you believe there is a limited amount of resources, opportunity, power and wealth and in order to win, others must lose, then you will operate in a perceived win-lose game that ultimately leads to everyone losing. Our political culture has always struggled for power to some degree with this story in mind, but in the past, we have found ways to find win-win solutions (compromise) in service of the higher aim of the country. However lately, extremists on either end of the political spectrum have been driving the bus and we have developed a language of war with one another versus a language that fosters shared vision and common ground. This is all done in favor of short-term gains (that feel like winning initially for some) versus long-term investments.
(4) THE GREAT ISOLATION OF THE AMERICAN CITIZEN/PUBLIC
Our culture in many respects has retreated into their homes (at least those of us who are lucky enough to have homes) where we spend large chunks of our time defining our reality from tv and computer screens. We have fenced-in backyards now versus front-porches. Families feel largely dependent on themselves for survival versus being part of a neighborhood or community. We are working harder and longer hours, much of it lost in our computers. Our social time with diverse people is limited, leading us to demonizing others who are different than us. Our life values and ways of being are becoming a rotating set of memes on social media. We do not have enough experience in real life to know what is true anymore because media/politicians largely interpret the truth for us. The ability to see the big picture is lost in our micro-worlds.
This isolation is leading us to live in a strange kind of reality tv show, where we can’t change the channel. The pandemic has only made it seem more surreal than ever. While this all sounds somewhat depressing, keep in mind, that this is one of the key drivers in our system that we can influence immediately.
BEYOND THE NAMING OF CURRENT REALITY
In my time as a facilitator of groups, I have learned that naming current reality over and over, rarely leads people to become engaged with the future. Do not get me wrong, having people name their truth is important, so that we can honor their grief, their oppression, their anger, their successes, and their wisdom, yet what happens when we have named our reality and all those truths are just hanging there? Most people strive to get relief from their reality, which is a natural thing to do however this approach rarely leads us to our desired future. We cannot problem-solve our way out of our problems right now, because they are largely systemic in nature and need systemic solutions towards clear compelling results that matter to people.
The hard part is that most people struggle to imagine their desired future. They know what they do not want. Yet to create a vision of a future they have never lived before is challenging work. Let us plant some seeds for our future vision, we might aspire to live into. Keep in mind these suggestions are not part of full comprehensive reform vision, but seeds to be planted for a richer dialogue around these forces at play.
A DIFFERENT KIND OF ECONOMICS
An economist Kate Raworth has published an interesting book entitled “Doughnut Economics[1]. Like all models, it is imperfect, but it is an invitation to put people and the environment front and center in our economic story. This approach does not dismiss profit, it just puts profit in context with the quality of lives of workers and a sustainable environment based on our ability to renew our resources versus deplete them. We cannot simply use the measure of GDP (gross domestic product) as our key measure of a successful economy. To live in this new economic world will take creativity and innovation as well as a willingness for all the actors in the system to reevaluate what is important in their lives.
For example, mass consumption of material goods rarely leads to real happiness. We must learn in community how to focus on core behaviors and practices that consume less and bring more joy. Practices such as shared meals, adventures together in beautiful places, stewardship of gardens and our natural world, service to others, and creative community art projects. Notice an emphasis on connecting in community and the world around us in life-giving ways.
In addition, our organizations will want to honor not only productivity and profit, but how to foster improved quality of life for its workers and how to become good stewards of the resources they need to thrive and flourish. It should be noted that detractors will immediately cry out that this reeks of socialism. This is a great way to sabotage any focus on caring for people and the environment. This labeling of compassion for others, has been highly effective in getting people to vote against their own self-interests. However, there are companies who have been quite successful at focusing on the triple bottom-line like Patagonia who have increased profitability based on their triple-bottom line focus. A link to a list of ten triple bottom line companies can be found in the footnotes[2].
It should be noted, that we are likely moving towards a networked economy, which means that as consumers distrust governments and big corporations more, they will learn to trade within their trusted networks of small businesses, local producers, and conscious capitalist organizations.
Lastly, in our global economy, much of the profits from our goods and services generated locally leave those communities to support people living far-away from the community. What if, we developed a measure for tracking how much communities are keeping profits locally. It would invite people to look for creative ways to keep more dollars located right in their own backyards and encourage small businesses to step up their game.
BECOMING PART OF THE NATURAL WORLD AGAIN
For many people, the natural world is a threat to their survival. Storms, droughts, invading insects, and many other natural phenomenon create a human against nature mentality. Yet, we are not separate from the natural world, we are deeply interdependent of it and our very survival depends on our relationships with it. It is time to fall back in love with the land and our deep connection to it as a source of our wellbeing.
Climate change is very much a reality and we are already seeing evidence of it throughout our planet. It is hard to imagine, that the average human being can make systemic impacts on our global climate yet we all have a roll to play. As my friend Peter Block says “the answer to how is yes”.[3] Until we say yes to wanting to make a difference, how doesn’t really matter to us.
The first step is to become aware of how you live your life and how it impacts our natural world. For example, the natural world does not create unusable waste as one creature’s waste becomes the ecosystem’s gift. Reducing our own footprint on the planet is a great start. This can range from how and what you consume to investing in renewable energy resources for your home and business. These wins often show up as cost savings.
Once we gain some wins from our reduction efforts, we can begin to invest time and resources in shifting from reacting to creating our future. Interface Carpet Company[4] has been an example of this for the last 30 years by leasing all the carpet they create and eliminating waste from old carpet. They recycle 100 percent of their used carpet to create new carpet. They also have found ways to power their plants using alternative energy sources and have eliminated 70 percent of their emissions into the atmosphere. These creative efforts started out small and blossomed throughout their whole company.
It is also important to learn how nature works its magic so that you can apply its lessons and insights from billions of years of innovation to your own life. The Biomimicry Institute[5] would be a great place to learn more about this kind of work.
I could write a whole paper just about environmental best practices, but the key thing for you to know is that much innovation already is working on these problems and research is the best way to learn more and then get involved. Saying “yes” to living in harmony with the planet is the first step and will inevitably lead you to some form of discomfort as you realize that the way you are living your life, may not be in alignment with life-giving practices. Then, we are confronted with what we do with that discovery. We can retreat or choose denial, but that won’t change our current reality, so the other options is to begin small and experiment. Small successes can lead to bolder and braver steps towards co-creating a sustainable world.
A NEW FORM OF POLITICS INFORMED BY CITIZEN ENGAGEMENT
First, let us translate the word politics into what we really mean. Politics is another word for power. In the United States, when we vote, we are hoping certain people will represent the majority of citizen’s best interests. We all know that this ideal is often far from reality. What it has come to really mean is “who do we want to have the power to have the power over us?”.
Let us come to realize the nature of power. There is power where others have power over us. There are relationships where we have shared power to co-create our lives and then there is laissez-faire leadership, which is basically just let everyone do their thing in hopes that it all sorts itself out. Of course, there are more than three categories of power, but this largely sums up the broad-brush strokes.
Ideally, I want to live in a world with shared power. In the political arena, this is rarely convenient for those who have power, because they perceive they will have less control to manipulate the system in favor of their agenda. Power for many, equates to resources and opportunities, determining who the winners and losers are in the game of life. Shared power requires you to believe that the world is an abundant place that invites all of us to exercise our own power to grow, learn, and adapt to constantly changing conditions. Shared power implies that no one empowers another human being; our power is ours alone to use or not use, but that together we can co-create the conditions for greater numbers of us to thrive and flourish.
Shared power suggests there are checks and balances in the system that keeps power from becoming corrupt. The challenge is that some of the actors in the system are often playing by a different rules. To change the game, we must recommit to a Covenant of sorts. A covenant is an agreement for how we are willing to behave with one another in community. Essentially, our Constitution is a covenant of sorts that needs some updating for modern times. The Founders, probably never anticipated the kind of global world we live in now. The key to creating a covenant isn’t trying to script the future, but to acknowledge some core human ways of being, when we are operating from our highest aims in service of our community.
Once we create a Covenant, we must also create a system of accountability that encourages intrinsic and extrinsic rewards. For example, what if congress had to live under the same conditions that their constituency did in terms of health care and benefits? They would be more inclined to develop health-care policies grounded in empathy and compassion.
Inviting your constituency and colleagues to evaluate your work based on your agreements is one way we might approach accountability. We as citizens also have to elect people who truly have our best interests in mind as well as reform some antiquated systems that do not serve our modern politics such as the Electoral College.
Lastly, our language is a very important way of shaping reality. Many people have become consumers of the political reality show versus citizens who believe they have the power to co-create their world. Kurt Hahn, a renown German born educator stated, “we cannot be passengers on this planet, we must become the crew”. To shift from being consumers to citizens, we have to say “yes” to playing an active role. An active role, doesn’t mean you have to run for office or join a political campaign. It means that we need to put our values in action in our communities. It means we need to advocate for justice and fairness where we live. It means we need to better understand how our systems work, and then individually begin playing our small parts in making our systems work better.
REDISCOVERING WHAT IT MEANS TO BE IN COMMUNITY
Human beings are social animals. We love to mingle and mix in small groups of like-minded people who have our backs. If we are thoughtful, we expand our circles of friends and acquaintances to connect with the diverse gifts that people outside our comfort zones can offer. This may be more the exception however, than the norm of late.
The word community is evolving for us in our culture. Many think of their community as friends on their social media sites. This is a very different definition of community than I am using however. My definition of community is “people who share an investment in mutual thriving and flourishing that are bounded together through geographical location, cultural norms, ethnicity, or shared interests. The key words are shared vision and a common link to a shared reality. A bunch of random strangers with no investment in their collective wellbeing grounded in shared reality rarely has any compelling reason to connect. While you can argue our whole planet fits my definition, we still function and cooperate most closely with certain affinity groups we call community.
The most dynamic communities are ones who have common agreements for how they strive to behave together. All communities are imperfect in this way, however. The key is that the gap between the community’s espoused beliefs and current actions is discussable.
When we become isolated, the bonds that hold us together with our shared agreements weaken and our ability to close the gap between where we are and where we want to be is diminished. Therefore, it is essential that we find new ways to create community connections so that we can be more willing to engage in activities that enable us to thrive and flourish. Not all community experiences are life-giving. We must be thoughtful in our modern times, especially during a pandemic about how we can connect. Below is a list of ten potential life-giving types of experiences that can reconnect people to their sense of community.
1. Sacred rituals with family that honor the achievements and gifts we bring to our family.
2. Shared adventure in a challenging environment where adversity must be overcome.
3. Authentic conversations that seek our deeper truths and wrestle with our most challenging life questions.
4. Athletic competitions
5. Service projects that directly benefit their local community
6. Roadtrips to fullfill a mission
7. Creating a movie of the future together as if that future already happened
8. Community gardens or potluck meals
9. Neighborhood bartering and service exchanges
10. Walks with friends
All of these things are within our power to initiate and make happen. You may say, these are just part of life and you would be correct. But the difference is how we show up with these kinds of activities. If we are present and aware, willing to be authentic and vulnerable, and curious, we start developing new skills for strengthening our social networks. Skills that deepen our connection and allow us to access new information, opportunity, and experiences.
Creating strong social ties offers us several benefits. The first is that we are more likely to see people with diverse views, not as the other or the enemy, but as real people. This will allow us to seek out common ground that enables things to get done in our society. Secondly, So many people feel their wellbeing is solely their own doing, yet as we strengthen our social connections, we realize there are real people that can bring gifts to our lives and vice-versa. Our work in community is to make our gifts visible and useful so that we may all better thrive and flourish.
Our connections to each other are vital in order to be citizens that hold our government and big business accountable to their promises and behavior. Technology is a powerful way to communicate and connect, but it also has its shadow-sides, which can actually lead to more disconnection than connection. These shadow-sides are becoming well documented, so it is not my intention to repeat that research here.
Look for social media in the future becoming more intentional about the kinds of community they wish to encourage and create. Members who join, will no doubt, be required to live up to more rigorous norms of behavior, wherein companies will hold their members accountable more diligently.
We must also begin to look for ways that we can increased connection in life-giving ways. This pandemic will not last forever. Creating good design that allows diverse people to interact with each other is critical for our country’s wellbeing. This can range from how we design school curriculum to city planning for parks and other inviting spots to shop, recreate, and do business. Technology will continue to play a role in these structures, but we must be thoughtful about how we use technology and the rules of engagement for its use.
SUMMARY
Shifting our paradigms about what we value as human beings is never an easy thing to do. Yet, our very survival depends on the degree to which we cooperate in the future to co-create a more sustainable world. We have found ourselves in a perfect storm of economic, social, environmental and political forces that are creating a vicious cycle of social decline. No one thing is responsible for this as we live in a complex system driven by many elements of change. While this may seem overwhelming to try and confront, our ability to imagine the world we most want to live into is critical. The challenge with this notion is that it is hard to imagine a world we have never experienced before. This will involve small systemic experiments that are sustainable and scalable.
In organizations, these kinds of experiments may look like triple bottom-line companies who see people, planet, and profit as equally important goals within their vision. In communities, this will involve creating good design driven, by life-giving rules of engagement. Individuals have a role to play too by testing assumptions about lifestyle priorities and how we choose to consume. The environment is the thread that sustains us all and we must garner the wisdom of nature for how we can operate our social systems.
Before we ask the question, “how do we do these things?”, we must first get to a compelling vision of the world we want to live into. My friend Peter Block has written a beautiful book entitled, The Answer to How is Yes. Until we say “yes” to a vibrant, life-giving, sustainable world, “how” essentially doesn’t matter. Once we do say “yes” however, our tactics must shift from problem-solving to co-creating our shared future. This will take tapping into the collective wisdom of many people versus being driven by a single leader. Conflict will be a natural part of this effort and how we engage with each other will truly matter in terms of resolving conflict towards our highest aims.
There has never been a better or more poignant time to do this work. Let us begin together.
