Meaning, markets and taxes …. as we head into 2018

As the New Year approaches, and the third decade of the 21st century comes into view, we find ourselves in a period of profound disequilibrium.

In the first two decades of the 21st century, 25% of the world’s productive capacity (measured by global GDP) has moved from the developed economies to the growth economies – touching billions of lives in the process. During the same period, cell phones have placed gigabytes of connectivity and information in the hands of 75% of the world’s population - a population that is on the move. Large swaths are being displaced through forced migration, environmental change and economic opportunity. And the change is far from over – some experts are talking about a world where we might pay some people to not work because AI-controlled robots and driverless cars will take care of us better than humans can. 

The net result is that people in every socio-economic class are experiencing anxiety and confusion about the future. No matter where you sit socio-economically or spiritually, many of the traditional paths for finding community and meaning have disappeared, as industries, professions and communities have disintegrated. 

Universal search for meaning

So perhaps it’s no surprise that experts write about how important purpose is to millennials. But I would argue that it’s important to everyone right now. It may be that the only internal compass that anyone now has is the search for a personal life narrative that speaks to purpose and impact. 

Perhaps that’s why TED talks – our own mini secular “sermons on demand” – are so popular, and why the all-time most popular talks are about creativity, purpose and vulnerability. Even the wealthy and powerful are searching - flocking to Davos, the Aspen Ideas Festival and Singularity University.

 Lower taxes aren’t the answer

And as much as Ayn Rand tempted me when I read The Fountainhead and joined the campus libertarian group at 18, I know that freeing up markets and playing with tax rates in an effort to “make America great again” won’t relieve the anxiety. While free markets are the most efficient allocation system in human history -- they are after all the vehicle that has catalyzed the many transformations we’re experiencing – jobs, taxes and money, by themselves, don’t create meaning. In fact, for many the pursuit of money (and lower taxes) can distract from what really matters.

While creating more jobs and catalyzing more investment in America is a worthy goal, that, too, will fail -- if those jobs devolve into contract labor that can be taken away in a weekend or plants that can move overseas in a few weeks’ time when another country lowers its tax rates, following the US lead. This type of investment does not increase human dignity, stability or well-being. Instead, it increases distrust, cynicism and despair – and the growing social and political fracturing that we’re seeing around the world.

It’s all about human progress . . .

It seems ironic that for all the advances we have clocked over the last 20 years, not to mention in a mere 175 years since the Industrial Revolution, we’re still grappling with the same basic question of why, what’s the point?

 And yet the answer is not that complicated if we begin with the assumption that human progress matters. Human progress, by definition, requires that we work together to overcome substantive problems and challenges that matter to people. To make progress, therefore, we need to build organizations that solve meaningful problems for people. 

At its heart, it’s simple.

• The purpose of all organizations – be they businesses, governments, families, or churches -- is to meet a set of human needs that wouldn’t be met, or met as effectively, if that organization didn’t exist -- whether those people are customers, clients, citizens, taxpayers or friends.
• That means we’re all here to help others – whether as individuals or organizations. In the process of learning how to do that, we help ourselves. Because we learn about who we are and how we each can make our own unique difference.

So my advice to leaders, in business and beyond, as we approach 2018: build organizations whose output matters to people and, in the process, create jobs that give meaning to our toil. This type of leadership is what human progress requires. This type of leadership is what gives work purpose and life meaning. . . and yes, drives sustainable profits.

Sally Blount is Dean of the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.