United We Stand, Divided We Fall (A Call for Action)

(note: there is a Challenge at the end of this article, one I hope you take up!)

How you holding up after the election? Are you elated and feel you finally have a voice and a champion? Are you catatonic and protesting who got into office and what was said in the campaign? Are you indifferent? Are you one of those who crashed the Canadian immigration server? If none of these apply I'm wondering where you've been for the past two years?

It is human nature, expected and understandable to be concerned about what comes next, regardless of how you voted. We all have a reaction, and we are all affected (to different degrees) by the election. But to me the most important word in that sentence is not "we", it’s "all.”

A WORLD OF BOXES

I have a theory about why we have moved apart. For many years we were a country of the center – focused on a common foe and common purpose – be that our enemy in war, or the Soviet Union, or growing the middle class. But at some stage we stopped being about the center and the whole and we started retreating into comfort zones, or boxes. This isn't new. Religion, ethnicity, social and/or fiscal issues, shared history, common struggle or discrimination – all are areas where being with like-minded people feels important. 

But when these boxes grow into litmus tests that define, they stop being about comfort and become isolating. You stop coming to the center. You stop discussing opinion and looking for commonality. Social media and the very diversified and specified digital world has only exacerbated the world of boxes because as soon as your box gets too full of people who make you uncomfortable, the box splits apart into smaller and more tightly defined boxes – ones that don’t even have windows to look out to see other points of view.

OUT OF MANY, ONE

Those of us willing to think about common ground have to do what we can to look for the elements that unite us as the United States. We have to be willing to focus on E PLURIBUS UNUM: Out of Many, One. 

We've strayed too far from the center, the place where people can come together. When everyone is out in the fringes with defined views that won't let them see others, we all lose out. It is not enough that we are losing our stature as a leader in the world. It is not enough that we are losing a diversity of thought that has created innovation and pride and growth. What has suffered most is democracy itself.

And it's not enough to sit in our box and espouse these ideals. Hubris from both sides (and a need to be right vs. be heard) is exactly why our election has been so contentious. Those who feel they have been left behind don't want to be told they are “deplorable” or less than by celebrities for not seeing their candidate is better. Likewise, those who are gay or Muslim or 1st generation with parents that came here illegally don't want to be told that they deserve to "go back to where they came from." What we need is a place where all can hear each other and heal as a nation until “us” means “all of us”.

THE 'E PLURIBUS UNUM' CHALLENGE:

I believe that this election has given us a great opportunity: start focusing on that which unites us as a great nation. We must move past the rhetoric and hubris of being “right” that is splintering this nation. Of course there are always going to areas in which people don’t agree. That is part of the democratic ideal. But to see people being beaten up, or ripped apart on Twitter, or looking more like a Revolutionary militia or an angry mob cannot simply be seen as the status quo Bottom line: we cannot (and I cannot) heal while focusing on that which divides. What we need is a place where all can hear each other and find ways that “us” means “all of us.”

So I am presenting each and every one of you reading this with a challenge. Let’s start a movement to focus attention and energy on that which unites us – and make the “U.S.” truly mean “all of us.” Can you imagine if every Fortune 500 company, every media outlet, every church and synagogue, every scouting troop and every small town YMCA developed content that focuses on that which unites us? Ideas that feed the good among people to counter the polarization that continues to consume us? Can you imagine the power of the collective voice that re-opens a dialogue and starts to break down the boxes that have supplanted the space the town square or Sunday pot luck used to occupy? Can you imagine the next election being one in which we are talking about real issues and real solutions vs. negativity, fear and divisiveness? I can.

Create a video, make a commercial, design a poster, make an art display, write a story, host a potluck, be united. Use the hashtags #feedthegood and #epluribusunum to focus energy on two great concepts that need to be taken up as rallying cries. Remind those around you each and every day that united is what makes us America. Do not let an election, a point of view, even the negativity that has been all around us for the last two years control your future. Do not succumb to the pessimism that divides. Do not crawl into a windowless box. Feed the good that is America. Focus on that which unites.

So I go back to the question:

How are you holding up after the election? I for one am motivated. Motivated to turn the anxiety and the fear and the anger and the challenges that surrounds us into the kind of change that tears down the walls that divide. And in the process focus bringing unity back into the United States of America. #epluribusunum #feedthegood

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Patrick Jager is CEO of strategic advisory firm CORE Innovation Group and a thought leader in media, communications and business development.