Space Art, Cultural Wisdom & the Future of Work

Cultural Dynamics

The postmistress of Puncheon Creek in the rural mountains of Southeastern Kentucky's Breathitt County was nervous the morning of November 3, 1969. Her first grandchild, the 9th generation born to this place, was soon to arrive. That night, at 9:30 pm, while I was still wet and crying, U.S. President Richard Nixon addressed the nation on television and radio to announce his plans to end American involvement in the Vietnam War. Three weeks later, he signed into law the first "draft lottery" to determine which young men would be picked first for military service in Vietnam.

During those few short weeks,? Sesame Street aired its first episode introducing the world to Kermit the Frog and Big Bird. In New York, Grammy-winning hip-hop artist Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs was born. Future cannabis enthusiast, Oscar winner, and pitchman Matthew McConaughey entered his first act in Texas. The National Organization for Women (NOW) drew more than 500 feminists to New York City to establish common ground between the radical and moderate wings of the women's rights movement. Native American activists organized a gathering in San Francisco and began reading a proclamation reclaiming the former site of a federal prison "by right of discovery." The Black Student Movement at the University of North Carolina printed the first issue of its newspaper, Black Ink. The paper consisted of news, opinions, and poetry related to African American issues: "black ink expressing black ideas."?The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (C.I.A.) tested the first supersonic drone aircraft on a secret reconnaissance mission over China.

And, someone in Cape Canaveral, Florida sent Forrest "Frosty" Myers a telegram: "YOUR ON A.O.K. ALL SYSTEMS GO." [1]

While we don't know for sure who sent the telegram, we know that the telegram confirmed that the Moon Museum would travel aboard Apollo 12. If true, and there is speculation, Apollo 12 contained the first SPACE ART object: a small ceramic wafer less than one inch in size called the "Moon Museum." The brainchild of Myers, the Moon Museum contained miniature drawings by six prominent artists of the day. Unsuccessful at getting NASA to, sanction the project, Myers did what artists often do and found a way to sneak it through.

While this is the story of what was shaking during my first few weeks on this pale blue dot, it's not a unique experience. From the very moment any of us are born, we all begin swimming in the sea of CULTURE. In 2022, culture, identity, media, and technology are colliding to accelerate change at a pace unknown in human history. Culture is dynamic this way. It is always in transition and always changing. In the process, it reshapes how we see ourselves.

One of the artists who contributed to the Moon Museum was Andy Warhol. A provocateur and capitalist, Warhol said once that "Making money is art. Working is art. Good business is the best art." Long before we were all talking about social networks, a skilled social networker, Warhol parlayed his love for photography, celebrity, and fame into a globally-recognized brand. He understood how to profit from human desire and its interaction with capitalism. "In the future," said Warhol, "everyone will be famous for 15 minutes."?

There are many reasons that we may not find Warhol's motivations and popularity palatable. However, it's undeniable that his specific creative process and practice gave him some insight into the future. Just think about the number of selfies being posted to Facebook, Instagram, and all the other social media platforms around the world at this very moment. So many are vying for their 15 minutes. Also, think about what this means, both good and bad, for the wellbeing of the American workforce now and in the future.

Wellbeing In America

America leads the world in medical research and medical care. For all we spend on health care, we should be the healthiest people on Earth. Yet for some of the most important indicators, like how long we live, we're not even in the top 50. The way we work is largely to blame. Broken promises of the old industrial economy, the rise of the gig economy, and numerous other factors created situations that, despite working two, many Americans can't afford to see a doctor when they're sick. The way many BIPOC and LGBTQ+Americans are treated by the healthcare system, make preventive care like screening for cancer an exercise that requires one to often endure an assault on personal dignity. But, wellbeing is not just something that happens, or doesn't happen, based on a trip to the doctor's office. Wellbeing is rooted in the cultures of our neighborhoods, schools, and workplaces.

The more wellbeing is seen this way, the more opportunities we have available to improve it. Still, our solutions will only be as good as our ability to listen to each other, to understand each other, to work together, to value the insights that different people can bring to the table, and to see our future as connected.

Our politics are polarized and the political process is gridlocked. We can't even agree upon which well-being metrics are important. Let me emphasize this… our political leaders can't even agree on how to count something!!! Therefore, it increasingly falls upon many American companies and communities to collectively develop their own solutions. This requires sustained engagement and cooperation. But, on this front, the signals we see in the data suggest a challenging road ahead.

Led by Gen Z (20% of the workforce by 2025), and to a lesser degree, Millenials, there is a call growing louder each year for a different type of leadership. But, in unsteady times of deepening inequality and dramatically declining workforce wellbeing, more hierarchy and command and control-style leadership models probably don't have the cultural capital required to deliver the breakthroughs we need to "right the ship." So where might we look?

Innovation in Unexpected Places

Innovation and growth will most likely come from unexpected places. I believe that it is our immense human capacity for creativity, curiosity and compassion that will be the differentiator which moves us forward. For example, let's continue with our discussion of artists. Throughout human history, artists have shaped culture in profound ways. In the future world of work, creatives and culture workers may well prove to be shapers of innovation that change the trajectory of the American economy as they work to build new models in business, health, and education.

MacArthur Fellow, actress, and playwright Anna Deavere Smith describe the unique relationship between artists and innovation this way:?

“Artists in some societies are given a ‘grace note’—a kind of compass—that inspires them to suggest, imagine, and suppose. The successful ones conjure up a desired or fictional reality before that reality exists. People like to believe in possibility. That must be one of our primal drives. If the artist’s narrative is intoxicating enough, it will cause audiences to engage in actions that change the world.

Metaphor, the artist’s fundamental tool, is forgiving and generous. It is not held captive by fact or tribe or convention or politics. It suggests what might be possible and says, “You! in the audience, you can do this. You can look at things differently and do things differently. Blue can be orange!”

Many artists are motivated by the opportunity to go deep into understanding the human lived experience. They spend lifetimes acquiring skills to help them in this effort. Over the past 30 years of my professional life, I have experienced first-hand how artists who lead through culture offer deep insights for what drives wellbeing in the places where Americans live, work, learn, play, and pray. Leading through culture requires one to embark on an audacious journey toward hope, trust, and belonging—one where culture change and innovation are not separate. They are the same. This make sense. Even back in the 1960s, Bell Labs thought so. Innovation can't happen without culture change. Culture change can't happen without innovation.

Organizations intuitively understand the importance of culture. For example, when two corporations consider a merger, they spend a great deal of money to ensure that the "culture fit" is right. Even the World Health Organization highlights the systematic neglect of culture in health and healthcare as the single greatest barrier to health worldwide. By using culture frameworks for population health improvement, public health agencies and healthcare entities alike, are discovering new ways to connect the clinical aspects of health with the social aspects of wellbeing. We are also seeing culturally-responsive frameworks beginning to be used too in the small business community.

People, Policy & Imagination

Leaders make policies to shape a set of human behaviors they believe will be in service to organizational goals. But, no one leader's experience is comprehensive enough not to be naive in some critical areas. Because people are multidimensional, what works for one set of employees, may not work for another. One size does not fit all. This is why inclusive innovation is important.

Whether in governments or in companies, policymaking is an imagining of a future that doesn't yet exist. This is collective imagination at work -- a fundamentally cultural activity. For example, the U.S. Constitution is an aspirational policy, soaring in its language. But there is a disconnect between its language and the experience of many Americans. Whether it is in business, health, or education, policies are limited by how meaningful they are to the people who experience them. As we have seen in the thousands of racial and environmental justice statements by large and small companies over the past few years, writing statements is rather easy. But, as artist Raghava K.K. reminded us in a 2020 talk in Paris for Boma Global, the real question for business, health, education and government is simple. Can we live the best story we can tell?

When policy is solely guided by historical outputs, like Gross Domestic Product (GDP), we miss important things. We often miss the most important point of policymaking. People. That's why groups of neuroscientists and economists are now working to develop a global Brain Capital Index. A contextualizing set of metrics to better understand the "why" (people) behind the "what" (GDP).

Culture, Data & Money

The academies of medicine may have science. Governments may have the ability to scale. The private sector may have market clout. They all have their own data sets. But, the lived experiences of their stakeholders perhaps offer the greatest insights into what will work and, more importantly, why. Understanding this is fundamental for those who lead through culture.

Leading through culture, or failure to do so, impacts our economy in profound ways. For example, racial health disparities account for nearly a quarter of a trillion dollars annually in lost human potential for the American economy. People of color have the best insights into how to improve this. Yet, I have noticed that many venture capitalists still mostly invest in others who look, act and think like them when seeking to solve pressing social and health challenges. The elitism of whiteness combined with the power of money leads to a false view of reality. Why is a young Black or Hispanic person not seen by some as an investable opportunity for solving the health and economic development challenges of their own community? In a word, racism.

All Americans deserve a fair shake in society. But, at 52 years old, having lived a lot of professional lives, it is my belief that resources are not the challenge we face. Instead, it is overcoming the "isms"—racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia, ageism, classism, and others. The "isms" are literally making us get sicker and die sooner as a country. The "isms" are holding us back from solving entrenched challenges, generations in the making, that now even threaten our national security.

Time Travel & Creativity

In today's market, efficiency and productivity aren't enough. Creativity is required. Few business leaders say their company or city is good at creativity. In his book Linchpin, Seth Godin notes:

“Our society is struggling because during times of change, the very last people you need on your team are well-paid bureaucrats. The compliant masses don’t help so much when you don’t know what to do next. We need original thinkers, provocateurs, and people who care — we need artists, people with a genius for finding a new answer, a new connection, or a new way of getting things done.”

I hear a common refrain from leaders across many sectors that culture feels too big, too overwhelming, for business to address in a practical, data-informed way that doesn't sacrifice the sacred cow of American business, productivity. As a cultural analytics researcher, I know this is not true. But, for the sake of argument, let's acknowledge that we can't boil the ocean. So, where do we start? Time travel may hold the answer.

Several years ago, I had the experience of engaging with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation through their Culture of Health Prize program. Through the program, I met members of a tribal nation who were saving their culture and language as one of their primary health improvement strategies. When asked about the process they used to develop their strategies and policies, I remember stories being shared that referenced the notion of seven generations. The current generation is shaped by the experiences and decisions of people three generations before. Therefore, it is the task of any existing group of innovators to set a course for outcomes three generations in the future.

A Story Can Change the World.

Thinking about this culturally-framed innovation outlook, a conversation between our aspirations and traditions, I see the potential for a "larger us" to surface. An "us" built upon the foundations of hope, trust, and belonging. But, the outcome will depend on the story we choose to tell. An essay from the Stanford Social Innovation Review explained it this way:?

“On a cultural level, the stories we live in justify the status quo, make institutions feel inevitable, legitimize certain kinds of solutions, and make our world feel preordained. These cultural narratives are foundational to our opinions on issues like immigration, security, and taxation; they affect our norms, who we think of as insiders and outsiders, who is deserving and undeserving, and why our world looks the way it does.”

So, as leaders of all kinds consider how to navigate American culture in the coming year, there are a couple of things to remember.

Data makes things investable and believable, but it is the stories we tell that matter most. What stories are told about your workplace? Who is telling the story? Who benefits from the story being told a certain way? What possibilities exist beyond the current narrative? How would strategies be differently designed if we supported employees in living the best story they can tell?

Policy. Business. Education. Health. Arts. All are tied together in culture. When we value the diversity of each other and act upon this belief accordingly, we achieve great things as a nation. But first, we must earn each other's trust. Today, we often find it hard to do so.

We must create an economy of belonging. Belonging is to feel safe, connected and sense a shared future with others. There are signs all around us that it is possible. Investing in those signals is a great place to start.

We must create our future through a lens of hope. Hope is not optimism. Optimism is a belief someone holds that things will work out in the future without any action required by them. Hope is an action. Hope is a sense of personal agency where, because an individual takes action, they can envision a future that is uncertain and begin compiling resources to create multiple pathways to reaching the future goal. Hope is an act of radical imagination.

As we remember in gratitude the life and work of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. this week, I ask you to consider, too, the cultural wisdom found in poet Nikky Finney's National Book Awards Acceptance Speech for Poetry November 16, 2011, she said:

“One: We begin with history.

‘The Slave Codes of SC, 1739: a fine of one hundred dollars and six months in prison will be imposed for anyone found teaching a slave to read, or write, and death is the penalty for circulating any incendiary literature.’

The ones who longed to read and write, but were forbidden, who lost hands and feet, were killed, by laws written by men who believed they owned other men. Their words devoted to quelling freedom and insurgency, imagination, all hope; what about the possibility of one day making a poem? The king’s mouth and the queen’s tongue arranged, perfectly, on the most beautiful paper, sealed with wax and palmetto tree sap, determined to control what can never be controlled: the will of the human heart to speak its own mind.”

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