The U.S. Just Got Hit by a (Values-Based) Tsunami

Fair warning: today I'm going to share a research-backed perspective on the values at work that may have impacted last week's U.S. presidential election. These values have impacts far beyond politics, as they could impact how we work and live for decades to come.

There's a lot to unpack here, so I apologize for the longer than usual post. Here goes...

Last week, I used Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs to make the case that we need more empathy to help us better understand the perspectives of others. Some readers commented that the flaw with Maslow is that people cite him without supporting their conclusions with actual research. This led me to the UK, where Pat Dade's firm has spent many years connecting Maslow's work with research.

His firm, Cultural Dynamics, bases its work on quantitative research that has been conducted since 1973, measuring the values, beliefs, and motivations of (primarily) the UK population. They have used this research to split the population into three different values-based groups (image courtesy of Chris Rose/Campaign Strategy):

In both the United States and UK, the long-term trend in recent decades has been a decline in the number of Settlers in favor of the other two groups. Here are some of Pat's fascinating observations. The subheads are mine, but all observations in quotes are his:

The need for change: "When Settlers are no longer the dominant group a political system will need to evolve, or break, if it is to satisfy the group replacing the Settlers - the Prospectors."

Our institutions must change: "As needs are met and new needs emerge... the institutional structures that satisfied the Settlers become less relevant as the Prospector needs increase and the systems fail to change at the same rate."

The role of young male Prospectors: Pat uses the term "Golden Dreamers" to describe young, primarily male Prospectors who are both vocal and so outspoken as to often be labeled as "trolls" online. He says, "Golden Dreamer voices become amplified when political institutions become unfit for purpose. The amplification occurs when the voices of those representing the Prospectors with 'shattered dreams' leads the ‘confirming voices’ of Settlers who believe their dreams have turned to nightmares and there is nothing to do about it."

How the media magnifies fear-based voices: "The Settlers and Prospectors who hold these values (smoldering resentment fuelled by fear)... exhibit behaviors (that) make great copy and drama for the media - and a feedback loop creates even more extreme views and behaviors."

The great divide emerges: "The emergence of the Pioneers with a vastly different set of needs has added drama to the scenario. This conflict between the ethical liberal values and the moralistic and pragmatic values of ill-liberal values lies at the heart of the battle for the soul of democracy... liberal institutions and organizations (are failing) to satisfy the needs of the Settlers and Golden Dreamers."

We need a new vision that satisfies all: "The fact that (Golden Dreamer/Settler values) are winning very close elections is a wake-up call for liberal values to stop compromising with inhumane values and behaviors. A new version of a liberal democracy is yet to be created. Now is the time... the US contains almost 50% Pioneers and the UK almost 40% - but (these groups) have to be attracted to people and policies who are less political and more ethical as representatives in social and electoral processes."

The majority will always want change: "Most people are Prospector or Pioneer and will be looking for change, not battling against it."

Warning - danger ahead: "Prospector and Pioneer values are driving (entrepreneurial activities and innovation) within organizations, and initially these groups will see the bright side of the technology – but they will also be the first to see the dark side. This hasn't happened yet – the narrative is still about the bright future – but we expect a backlash before 2020 and the next elections in the UK and the US."

Summing it up...

One could easily make the case that both major political parties and our largest companies have been far too slow to react to these shifts in our population. If Pat is right, nearly every group is unhappy now:

• Pat says that the mood of Settlers and the Golden Dreamers portion of Prospectors may be best captured by Bob Dylan's line, “If you ain’t got nothing, you got nothing to lose”.
• The rest of Prospectors and all Pioneers are watching as seemingly everything shifts away from their values. To make matters worse, "their" institutions aren't successfully formulating or communicating a positive formula for change.

Why did I share this?

In the U.S., confronted with very different choices, voters were split virtually 50/50. The only thing that united the population was that almost no one liked the choices.

Elections are a highly visible way to judge the sentiment of the population, and this election - like Brexit in the UK - revealed a tremendous clash in values. These values don't just separate us politically; they separate us in terms of how people perceive nearly everything.

This is an issue for all: companies, employees, leaders, non-profits, student, freelancers, retired folks... everyone. If we dismiss it as "our politics are broken" then we are doomed to suffer endlessly.

I'm an optimist, so suffering endlessly is not an acceptable solution. Instead, we need to be realistic. The same old answers are long past their breaking points. We need fresh faces and fresh ideas.

In fact, optimism may be the right way to test any potential solution. The right answer should spark optimism in all three groups: Settlers, Prospectors, and Pioneers. That has been the magic of the American Dream: it sparked optimism in all. We need to rekindle that sense of optimism, not just in the U.S., but all around the world.

Bruce Kasanoff writes and edits content for a wide range of entrepreneurs and executives.