What Would Ackoff Do?

"For What It's Worth: There's Something Happening Here" - Stephen Stills

We find ourselves in quite a mess right now -- similar to Russell Ackoff's famous Bell Labs case study. Instead of the phone system "being destroyed overnight" we face a far more serious situation: Our society has been destroyed -- and most don't even realize it yet.

Let us stipulate a few items here.

1. If society has not actually been destroyed yet, then we're on our way, and it might come to pass. So for our purposes, let's believe it has.
2. I am not nearly as smart as Ackoff, so I'm going to need insights from people like John Pourdehnod, Jean-Marc Choukroun, Megan Sage, Det Ansinn, Laurel Cavalluzzo, Mike Lahiff, Craig Brown, Stu Segal, Larry Starr, Sharlene Sones, Jon Deutsch, Rick Ladd, Megan Schmidgal, Rick Toone, Chuck Russell, Jen April, Mike Krupit, Robin Zander, Alan Barstow, Jason Magidson, Marian Mass, Steve Freeman, Dennis Wilson, Gary Hammell, David Masucci, Karilen Mays, Mark Yolton. Dan Keldsen, Blake Morgan, Jacob Morgan, Chip Rodgers, Rick Smolan, Stephen Bouikidis, Tom Brunt, Jamie Haddon, Ron Wagner, Lee Nunery, Jordan Hyman, Christopher Springfield, Megan Hennigan, Larry Rice, Ellen Faulkner, Craig Forman, Barbara Stack, Andrew Novobilski,Willie Jackson, Jennie Sze, Jeff Smith, Nadya Dhadiala, Juhee Desai - and more. (All are welcome to weigh in!)
3. Ackoff is no longer present on the stage, so let's work with the wisdom he has left to us.

Working alone in my home office, I turned to my bookshelf for assistance in the thinking process. I quickly found my eyes resting on "Redesigning Society," by Russell L Ackoff and Sheldon Rovin. This seems a fine place to start, because we should be redesigning society.

(If you have not read this book, it is recommended. The excerpts below are intended to promote discussion and raise issues that are more fully explored in the book.)

Let's follow the layout of the chapters, with a brief excerpt from each, then a description of the purpose of each area of society, followed by the current state and my initial thoughts on what an idealized state would be.

Society and Its Design

Redesigning Society: "The thinking we use to redesign society stems from three essential concepts: doing the right thing, focusing on what we want, and thinking systemically." (Page 1)

Purpose: The purpose of redesigning society in this case is create something better than we have now. Redesigning society is a massive task, and is unlikely to happen. But what might be accomplished if we pull together our collective ideas forward and try.

Current state: In the States (I have trouble using the term "United" here) ideas on what society is now and should become are widely divergent. (Understatement!) It is the perfect mess -- waiting to be formulated.

Idealized perspective: Really smart people with diverse knowledge, experience and perspectives will come together to collaborate on the best path forward to redesign our society.

Governance

Redesigning Society: "Few would deny that the governance of our society and that of most others can be improved. A vision of how they could be improved would stimulate both the desire and the will to improve them." (Page 14)

Purpose: The US Constitution provides a basic outline for government in our nation: "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." As always, the devil is in the details. In this case "promote the general Welfare" is likely where most of the tension lies. To what extent does government promote the general Welfare "for the people?"

Current state: Our government is a complex mesh of interwoven levels, with agencies, regulations, responsibilities and funding. Today, government is polarized, politicized, embattled, and dysfunctional at many levels. And yet many good things are accomplished: Highways, unified currency, national defense, international treaties and alliances. However, for every accomplishment in government one can easily point to a failure.

Idealized perspective: Government works for the actual best interests of citizens as a whole, rather than special interests, and without harming those who are least powerful in society.

The City, Housing and Transport

Redesigning Society: "The Industrial Revolution accelerated urbanization and provided a higher standard of living and longer life to some, but by no means all. To the affluent, cities made available more comforts, conveniences, companionship, culture, goods, and services than did rural communities. But urbanization also brought with it a new and more abject type of poverty." (Page 39)

Purpose: Cities have traditionally served as centers for human connection -- be that for work, safety, commerce, entertainment, education or socialization. Housing and transportation have been essential to those purposes.

Current state: While many American cities have been making a comeback, the current crisis certainly threatens the viability of cities on many levels. Urban centers have been hard-hit by the pandemic because of the proximity and high interaction of people in mass transit, apartment living, and high density workplaces. With health officials advising physical distancing at work, restaurants, public places, transportation and the like, can cities serve as safe physical connection points as they they have for centuries? Or, is the very concept of the city now in peril because of health concerns?

Idealized perspective: How can we best use cities, housing and public transportation to fit in with our current societal needs? Do they fit? What purpose do cities play in our desired end state for life, work, education, commerce and so much more?

Health Care

Redesigning Society: ". . . it seems obvious that before deciding how health care should be paid for, a systems worth paying for should be created. In this case, the obvious is overlooked because it is widely believed that the United States provides the best health care in the world. It may to some, but not to all . . . The United States is now the only developed country in the world without health care coverage for all of its residents." (Page 62)

Purpose: To facilitate health and wellness for people in our society.

Current state: Health care is not universally available to those who need it. It is more expensive than many can afford, and disproportionately serves wealthy and connected individuals over poor and disadvantaged. The US ranks behind other Western nations in most health care categories. Profitability in the American healthcare system appears to be a significant driver, and as Ackoff has pointed out in speeches and writing, it seems more like a sick care system because that's where most profit comes from in the US.

Idealized perspective: Everyone who needs health care gets health care in a preventative, curative or palliative fashion as needed.

Education

Redesigning Society: "It is widely acknowledged that the public educational system of the United States has been deteriorating for several decades. Despite sporadic, local experiments that offer promise, the system as a whole continues to go downhill." (Page 82)

Purpose: To help people to develop a greater level of knowledge and to apply that knowledge for their own benefit and that of society.

Current state: Both the K-12 and Higher Ed systems have been under duress for years, K-12 seems to largely be preparing kids for a work-world that no longer exists. Higher Ed has become amazingly expensive and in many cases hard to justify. The economics of Higher Ed have been strained. Apprenticeships and education in trades have lagged as young folks have sought "better" paths. Throw into this mix the disruption of the global pandemic, and its not sure how the education systems will survive -- or if it should.

Idealized perspective: The education system will become forward-focused and prepare children and young adults for the world that is to come. Learning will help students understand their strengths and help them translate these strengths and interest. They will be counseled to pursue realistic educational paths.

Welfare

Redesigning Society: "The complex mess that welfare attempts to address includes poverty, the dissolution of families, the degradation of public education including the decline in literacy, under- and unemployment, segregation and discrimination. The need for welfare in society in a society is proportional to its malfunctioning in important ways, the most important being that a significant portion of its population lives in poverty." (Page 110)

Purpose: The welfare system was created as a social safety net. It was intended to help people people until they are able to help themselves. And if they can't help themselves then to provide some form of ongoing sustenance.

Current state: The welfare system is failing. It was stressed prior to the pandemic, with a vocal portion of society regularly complaining that is a drain on taxpayers. With the pandemic, the economics and the administration of the welfare system are deeply imperiled.

Idealized perspective: The root causes within our society that necessitate the utilization of the welfare system are identified and mitigated. The welfare system returns to its central purpose of serving primarily as a stopgap measure until people can get back on their feet.

Crime and Punishment

Redesigning Society: "few things affect our quality of like as much as crime and the sense insecurity of person and property that it produces. The United States has the second-largest percentage of its population in prison of any country in the west . . . Yet is has one of the highest rime rates among nations." (Page 124 )

Purpose: The criminal justice system is intended to serve multiple purposes: correction/ rehabilitation, punishment as a deterrent, and safeguarding the public.

Current state: The criminal justice system has failed. Justice seems uneven, with penalties often viewed as not in line with the crime. Wealthy and connected people are seen as getting less punishment than poorer and less connected people. Those who have been to prison are likely to be arrested in the future for more and worse crimes. Some criminals suffer from addiction and/or mental illness. Some criminals feel their situation is so hopeless that nothing acts as a deterrent. With the frequency of crime in our society, it is hard to argue that the public has achieved a desirable level of safety. It's important to note that for-profit prisons have become more widely used, which now provides a financial incentive to fill-beds, much as one would have see with hoteliers.

Idealized perspective: Root causes of criminal activity are understood and managed. Incarceration rates become the lowest in the world. Citizens feel safe and unconcerned about crime.

Leading Development

Redesigning Society: "A rubbish heap grows; it does not develop. On the other hand, many individuals (for example, Einstein) and less developed societies develop without growing. The opposite of growth is contraction, and the limit of contraction is death. Some cities and many individuals have developed while contracting. The opposite of development is not contraction, it is decline." (Page 150)

Purpose: Someone(s) need(s) to lead. Ackoff and Rovin saw the need for leadership, and the need has not decreased.

Current state: Political leadership in the United States has become highly polarized into a two-party systems with extremes of both parties driving the conversation. The focus is often on how much can I force the other guy to lose, rather than how can we all win. The political process in our nation no longer focuses on serving the common good; rather it aims to serve special interests, or the patrons of politicians. Business leadership often focuses on driving the greatest profits in the shortest period of time, rather than aiming for long-term value for all stakeholders in the economic system. Leadership for redesigning society is lacking.

Idealized perspective: Leaders from various backgrounds will share smart ideas for the good of our society. Leaders will collaborate and build upon each others' ideas to produce an architecture for the redesign of our society. The movement will lead to the creation of a redesigned society that will serve the higher purposes as outlined in this framework.

How to Get Started

Redesigning Society: "Transforming society requires fundamental change of both the structure and functioning of society; it requires a revolution. Fortunately, not all revolutions need to be violent, for example, the Industrial Revolution and now the Postindustrial Revolution." (Epilogue)

So how do we get started? I've tagged smart people I know who I feel have something to add to this conversation. I've created a collaborative site at RedesigningSociety.org. I would be honored if you would join that site and contribute your idea(s) to help move forward with redesigning our society. If you know others who would like to join this effort, please share.

I must note that Ackoff's and Rovin's framework may turn out to be neither perfect nor complete. One area that sticks out to me as obviously missing is one that should be labeled something akin to The Economy or Commerce. There may well be other areas that need to be added.

I appreciate any contribution you may wish to make to this effort.