Understanding The Problem
I'm sharing two forward-thinking articles identifying the need for genuine change. They are interesting for anyone in business today, I'd just like to add one point.
Now there are more and more people who understand that there is a problem, and that we cannot continue on the current path.
What is the problem?
That at a global level, we still don't know or understand what the problem is.
We talk about all the right things, climate change and natural disasters, inclusion and diversity, empathy and kindness, and how we treat people; everything except identifying that the only problematic thing in our life is the human ego.
We talk about all the right things, climate change and natural disasters, inclusion and diversity, empathy and kindness, and how we treat people; everything except identifying that the only problematic thing in our life is the human ego.
Until we understand that the problem is between us, in the poor quality of our human connection, we will continue to offer all the standard solutions. We continue to try to solve these challenges with all the things familiar to us.
The big breakthrough will only come from understanding the real problem.
Once we identify the real problem, we will be able to provide the correct solution.
You can't ask a doctor to cure you, without telling them where it hurts.
The Problem is Real
Here are the two articles, one by David Sable in his Linkedin Newsletter, and the other by Alvin Chang of the Guardian:
Employers are trying desperately to ignore that we’ve become fundamentally different humans - The Guardian
"Many of us have drastically changed. It’s not just our attitudes toward work and life, but also that our bodies are reacting differently to trauma, stress and even love. Just one month into the pandemic, the rates of people reporting depression symptoms soared. Among those earning less than $20,000 a year, nearly half reported depression symptoms – up 30 percentage points from pre-pandemic levels. We ought to recognize that it was normality itself – pre-pandemic normality – that got us into the pandemic,” he said. “A meteorologist can tell you if you live in the Caribbean, a hurricane is in your future. If you don’t prepare, you’re very unwise. Similarly, virologists can tell you we’re going to have more pandemic and epidemic challenges.” This is the part of the story where I say what companies should do; I found this advice from Harvard Business School faculty helpful – things like showing compassion, being honest about the company’s need and leading with empathy. But no matter how good a back-to-office plan is, they’re all a reminder that we’re insistent on building a post-pandemic world that mirrors the pre-pandemic one. In reality, more pandemics could be coming, and workers now know that this current economy is not built for this new world. They know that this current system wiped out their savings within a few months of the country shutting down, and it will do it again. Perhaps it’s too much to ask companies to prepare for that future, much less imagine it. It’s coming nevertheless." Alvin Chang, The Guardian
"And, just as importantly, Covid wasn’t the issue. The severe fault lines were in our office culture; structure; politics; behaviors; the lack of true diversity and inclusion. The absence of respect became way too apparent as we stepped away from it. The distance gave us perspective, and that perspective is simple…free cereal doesn’t cut it anymore. Hot desking doesn’t do anything for my agility or productivity…it simply drives down cost…I might as well meet my friends at Starbucks. And power mongers masquerading as leaders, poorly at that, are getting called out. .... Three big storms intersecting, and they do…they are all intertwined through hubris, DIGIBABBLE, greed, and entitlement.?But this perfect storm could create a tsunami. Not Web3.0—this is real, not virtual…a huge reset that could help right the world and set us off on new directions that actually fulfill the true power of our digital potential instead of empowering more shopping and deeper hate."?David Sable