Being an American - 2023
Geoffrey Moore
Author, speaker, advisor, best known for Crossing the Chasm, Zone to Win and The Infinite Staircase. Board Member of nLight, WorkFusion, and Phaidra. Chairman Emeritus Chasm Group & Chasm Institute.
I ran across a great quote the other day from Andrian Kreye, cited in John Brockman’s This Explains Everything :
"In Europe, the present is perceived as the endpoint of history. ?In America, the present is perceived as the beginning of the future."
It made me realize how American I am, and how that is both an asset and a liability when it comes to participating in current affairs.?
I love the optimism of the American mindset, but I am chagrined by its lack of respect for all that has gone before.? Our collective impulse is to erase past mistakes without ever understanding how they came to be, to rewrite history before we have learned from it, indeed, before we have even read it.? Our current present represents a challenging time for global peace, social justice, legal justice, indeed, for ethics in general.? The actions we take now will be the beginning of a new future and also be the culmination of our past.? If we do not engage thoughtfully with our heritage, it will shape our future in ways that we fail to grasp.
When I was growing up, there were two political parties, the Democrats and the Republicans.? The Democrats were the party of empathy, the Republicans the party of accountability, so their platforms and campaign themes were quite distinct.? Nonetheless, there was enough collaboration between the two that a middle way, a mix of empathy and accountability, was possible.
Fast forward to today.? We still have two parties, but they are far more polarized.? The Democrats are very much the party of empathy, but they do not have a viable theory of accountability.? Thus, whether it be homelessness, drug addiction, illegal immigration, or property crimes, their proposed solutions put all the accountability on the state, none on the individuals involved.? The underlying assumption is that to hold disadvantaged individuals accountable, given their desperate circumstances, is simply too much to ask.? The problem is, if someone is not accountable, then they have no power to change their fate.? Not holding someone accountable, in other words, effectively disempowers them.? Worse, well-advantaged people promoting such acts of kindness may not actually be being kind at all.? They may just be being conflict-avoidant, seeking absolution from whatever guilt they feel for being the ones who are better off.
On the other side of the aisle, things are no better.? The far right of the Republican Party has abandoned both empathy and accountability, substituting humiliation and blaming instead.? This has led to a politics of performance in which public service is ignored and governing responsibly plays no part.? Even more discouraging is that the remainder of the party, while still loyal to its traditional values, has capitulated to the far right, not wishing to expose itself to the vitriol that has become the inevitable consequence of speaking up.? I would like to say that the real RINO s are the ones accusing everyone else of being a RINO, but it’s confusing and I am not sure it matters any more.
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What both poles share in common is a fentanyl-like addiction to righteousness, one that is fed and fueled through social and established media alike.? It proliferates as a truly nasty tone of voice that is seeping into everyday encounters, converting dialogs into diatribes and turning annoying encounters into violent ones.? To counter its impact, the virtue that we are most in need of now is decency.?
Decency is not a particularly cool virtue.? It is not viral.? It does not make a splash on social media.? Indeed, at its best it often goes unnoticed.? Operating away from the spotlights and microphones, it supplies the glue that holds society together.? Most importantly, however, it is not a high bar.? It is something we can all aspire to exemplify and contribute.? It just entails us acting the way our mothers and fathers always hoped we would.?
Standing up for decency, however, is another matter.? That does require courage.? Joseph Welch famously demonstrated such courage when he called out Joe McCarthy for his total lack of decency back in the 1950’s.? If you want a history lesson, go back and watch the documentary Point of Order .? McCarthy’s accusations are indistinguishable from today’s political attacks.? They did not represent free speech.? They represented hateful speech, and the nation held him accountable for it.? It’s time for us to do the same.
That’s what I think.? What do you think?
President at Wild Oak Enterprises, LLC
1 年We’ll done you ????
Founder of Willow VC Advisors (formerly Boggy Creek Advisors)
1 年“Decency is not viral” sums it up, tragically for us all.
Strategic Advisor | For Profit & For Impact | WW
1 年Love this.
Geoff, brilliant (as always).??Three thoughts: 1.?????A new lens: Establishment Vs. Anti-establishment.??This may be replacing our old left / right paradigm.??Remember in 2016 Bernie + Trump = 2/3rds?of voters.??And the underlying issues (generating deep distrust in institutions by many) have only compounded since then.?? 2.?????People and money go where they are welcome.??As a Clevelander I’ve endured decades of coastal friends / colleagues enjoying a giggle about “the mistake by the lake.”??Well, we now have our “dismay by the bay,” which may soon fall into terminal decay.??Cleveland and Detroit are now 40% the population and 20% their economic output of 1960.??Those in power in SF should take a field trip to my hometown and then change their policies?fast.??They have months, not years.?? ?? 3.?????A point of optimism.??You are the OG in understanding (and voicing) how markets change and companies need to adapt.??Well, the US itself has navigated three such changes before (all initiated by failed presidents in Grant, Hoover and Carter).??But then the bottoms-up US system recombined and emerged stronger.??Will it occur a fourth time???To your point it will, if we can maintain our decency and optimism through the process.?
Incredibly thoughtful piece, Geoff. I would add another idea, that of hope, is also bastardized in today's political conversation. The far right has made it an aspiration only insofar as they are in power. Failing that, there is no point in it since the deck has been stacked against you, and you have no agency. The far left has made it a substitute for actual accomplishment, valuing a well-intended process over the difficulty of achieving an outcome that can only be, well, hoped for. Once again lack of agency. Both sides ascribe the concept as something that can only be realized if it is actioned by some state-based third-party. Both are terribly wrong.