Why content is the emperor with no clothes?

As equity muses, we ask Big Hairy Audacious Questions (#BHAQs) to challenge our mindsets, beliefs, paradigms, assumptions and values. BHAQs expose the ignorance of our closed-mindedness and open the doors of wisdom.

• How might we, as equity muses, ask BHAQs that empower people to become open-minded, truth-seeking and virtuous free-thinkers?

This learning process evokes new insights, understandings and perspectives on how we can collaborate together in communion with kindred spirits to co-create a free-fair-flourishing-future to benefit all.

• Which of the following BHAQs evoke your curiosity to think slowly, contemplate and muse?

Why content has no clothes?

Content is the emperor with no clothes: knowledge without wisdom, superficiality without profundity and emotional manipulation of fasting-thinking without the discernment of slow-thinking for truth-seeking. Decontextualized reductionist content emotionally locks our mindsets into naive, closed-minded short-termism and the self-imposed constraints of impossibilities.

In our artificial ADD world of mass media and social media woo-wow marketing, advertising hype and brand messaging, content is king for selling ideas, products and services. These emotional hooks for attention becomes more important than the substance of open-minded long-termism and possibilities without constraints.

Why causes matter more than brands?

Causes are higher callings that surpass the limitations of ego-centric brands. They have #visionsthatinspire and #missionsthatmatter that focus more on context than content. The long-termism of causes calls for relationship and community-building processes to engage and sustain ongoing collaborative learning and transformation.

Imagine what it will take to launch #EquityMoonshot: co-design and cultivate an equitable, regenerative and sustainable future for the benefit of all.

• How might we liberate our mindsets that constrain our co-creativity and imagination to solve our complex web of mostly self-inflected wicked problems in the last 150 years?

This is far less than one second on our 24-hour clock of human evolution. Our nano-second of self-destruction will reap havoc on the health of planet and disrup tthe biodiversity genius of evolution.

This dire state of disrepair call on #EquityMuses to ask leaders Big Hairy Audacious Questions (#BHAQs) about how to mobilize people in building bridges to make amends.

The Ace, King, Queen and Jack represent different categories of BHAQs: governance, distributive leadership, nurturing relationships and discernment. This wealth of BHAQ sets the stage for exploring the #EquityMoonshot quest. Pick one question that resonates with you to begin a lifelong learning journey in community with others.

Each card and question is like a title for book chapter. These BHAQ provide meta and macro-levels perspective about the challenges of exponentiating mindset transformation and systemically re-designing systems for #EquityMoonshot.

• How might we play our cards to co-design a #EquityMoonshot launch coordinated at all levels (local communities, regional, national and global initiatives)?

Enjoy musing if you can find the time for slow thinking, self-reflection and generative dialogues about any of the BHAQ below. Share your musings if so inspired below in the comment section.

Aces of governance

How might we, as equity leaders, muses and citizens:

Ace of spades

• Cultivate equity governance, coarchy and virtues to shed light on our ego-centric shadows and the dark sides of human nature?

Ace of hearts

• Develop ethical systems to co-elevate virtuous cultures and democracies that redress the wicked problems of power abuse: tyranny, dictatorships, colonialism, patriarchy, autocracies, kleptocracy, oligarchies and corrupt political system?

Ace of diamonds

• Ask the right questions about how to take wicked challenges that pre-empt wicked problems?

Ace of clubs

• Scale up how we all need to develop complexity, systems, design and holistic thinking skills to solve our wicked problems, such as human rights abuses, climate change and the demise of planetary health?

Kings of discernment

How might we:

King of spades

• Develop personal self-awareness to redress isms, prejudices, discrimination and the injustices of inequities?

King of hearts

• Seek, substantiate and validate psychological, philosophical, scientific, religious and spiritual truths with impartiality, equanimity and an awareness of biases?

King of diamonds

• Collaborate within a group of diverse participants to co-design social innovations and develop social entrepreneurial enterprises to act for the greater good?

King of clubs

• Transform lofty aspirations into coordinated virtuous actions for long term impact?

Queens of relationship-community building

How might we:

Queen of spades

• Secure sacred middle ground for holding our religious and political diversities together and use our differences to make a difference (Gregory Bateson)?

Queen of hearts

• Deconstruct propaganda machines that perpetrate dysfunctional polarizations and perpetuate the disinformation pandemic?

Queen of diamonds

• End the warring factions between self-righteous fundamentalists?

Queen of clubs

• Move beyond the era of cult personalities, influencers and sages-on-the stage and guides-on-the-side along with their loyal follower-ship to networks of free-thinkers, guides-on-the-stage and sages-on-the-side to scale up mycelia peer coaching and mentoring systems?

Jacks of distributive leadership

How might we:

Jack of spades

• Co-create and scale up civil relationships to innovate how to co-create distributive leadership networks of networks based on bold humility, courageous vulnerability and the virtuous cycles of reciprocal altruism?

Jack of hearts

• Co-create learning systems that enable people to become truth-seeking, open-minded free-thinkers?

Jack of diamonds

• Exponentiate collaborative network power to mass mobilize people in doing good for the commons and the common good?

Jack of clubs

• Transform leadership mindsets to redress the perils of non-sustainability and restore regeneration?

Let's blast off?#EquityMoonshot?to last. One small step to #UniteEquityMuses, but a giant leap for humankind and the planet.

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Learn more about what equity muses do and why we need equity governance to co-create a fair and flourishing future to benefit all