Leadership from 1984 to 2018: A Big Fat MESS! The way out?

Ignorance + Time = Extinction

The paradigm is the problem—a one-dimensional economic approach to human organization. Or put another way, the way we see the world, the beliefs we have about how it should operate, and the everyday things we do based on those beliefs doesn’t/don’t work to the benefit of a life affirming society.

Students of history—as opposed to herstory—can tell you that every couple thousand years or so of recorded history, along comes a new way of seeing things. A new set of beliefs that challenge the old. Well, it’s about that time.

Today we live in a world ruled by reptilian emotions, governed by medieval institutions, and driven by worship of the Technology God—supposed solver of all problems. Maybe, just maybe, we need a new Mohammed, a new Buddha, or even a new Jesus—and certainly a new, better definition and forward modeling of leadership.

Today we live in a world ruled by reptilian emotions, governed by medieval institutions, and driven by worship of the Technology God—supposed solver of all problems. The future bus is approaching. It is not going to turn around and go back to ‘making something great again’. That’s magical thinking as psychologists like to point out. You have a choice: Either take control of your future, or let it control you.

Want to find out how to get out of the MESS?

Whitney Vosburgh + Charlie GranthamMarch 13, 2018future, planning, leadership, sustainability, threatsComment

The Future of Work Isn't Working

Work The Future! (WTF!) vs. The Future of Work (FOW):

Are you going to design the future or is it going to design you? Your choice.

This is a long, important story made short and succinct. The way we have looked towards the future the past 150 years is woefully inadequate in the emerging post-industrial global political economy—what is happening to us all, right here and now. It has been a reactive mode of behavior.

That old story is gone. A new story is being born, which will require a proactive stance toward the future for individuals, businesses, and governments. We see it as a shift from the old “Future of (fill in the blank)” to a “Work The Future! Today” (WTF!) standpoint.

Backstory

What do Charles Handy, Charlie Grantham, Tom Malone, and Jacob Morgan have in common. They all wrote a book titled “The Future of Work”. Seems like every ten years or so someone feels the need to re-hash this topic.

Each had its unique focus. Handy on the evolution of large organizational forms. Grantham on the integration of IT/HR/Real Estate processes. Malone on the maturity of information systems. And most recently, Morgan on the need for organizations to adapt themselves to their employees. Each had a kernel of truth and was highly relevant at the time of publication. However, they all were reflections of what we call the OLD Story.

Whitney Vosburgh + Charlie GranthamSeptember 18, 2017future of work, planning, purpose quest, meaningComment

Change, for the better.

— WTF! —