Making a difference in the world

Hi, Jack.

America has been built on entrepreneurship, so I'd say you're in good company and somewhat strange times. It looks to me that the field of business is driving the creation of a truly global culture (for better and for worse). In the last few decades, it seems like cultural relativism and "tolerance" have been really important, but we're moving into the idea that we all want to not just tolerate one another--but actually enjoy ourselves and others. That includes our work.

Business is unavoidably pushing change in the world, and based on the advancements earlier generations have made, we are coming to a point where we are seeing and communicating the importance not only of what we do in business but HOW we do our business as well. (Mary Parker Follett spoke about this a lot in the early 20th century.) We'll always need a critical perspective and the willingness to question greed and aggression, but we'll all benefit from pushing towards how we can appreciate and enjoy how we work and who we work with.

I'm all for democracy, for example, but that doesn't mean I am an enthusiastic follower of every American administration. You're pro-business. Rather than that perspective making your criticism less important, it makes your critique more important. More than ever perhaps, we need reasonable, optimistic, skeptical critique-and-appreciation.

As much as there are positive and negatives from business in the past, here we are now, and we shape the future. The current pervasive custom of discussing almost everything in the mass media cynically and ironically or sensationally is having a profound effect on our public spaces and dialogue. When us pro-business types turn a blind eye to economic evils, we feed the cynicism. When we don't address the cynicism or speak about what we appreciate, we also feed the cynicism.

I think you're right. Currently, business is driving cultural change faster than traditional social institutions (like government and education) have kept up with. We can't withdraw our attention from those institutions, but we can recognize and further the possibilities the field of business offers. Being cynical about any of our necessary institutions will not benefit any of us. Blind optimism, though, seems like the flipside of the cynical coin.

--T

Just adding this comment to check the "receive an email" box.

Jack - can you expand a little on your view - I'm not sure I get it, without reading Todd's - so I'll wait to give my 2 cents. Was Daniel Pink meaning that government doesn't move fast enough to make change, and business does?

Jack, it was nice to meet you yesterday. I wish I'd had more time to talk to you. I've had this exact conversation with one of the Yakima County Commissioners, Tom Leita, and his position is that you can make profound changes to society in office. However, my opinion is that you can accomplish more in a shorter amount of time in business. I have noticed that there is generally less fanfare, though. Many shifts in culture and the betterment of the world occur through business processes and we take them for granted. Just contemplate all the changes that technology continues to make in our lives and that we really just take as a matter of course.