So to what end do I write and share? What does the wild woman crave?
I write, I share
To nudge and awaken those who are just opening their eyes.
To encourage and inspire those who are walking their own path.
To step into the arena.
To be courageous enough to show people that most of what you think you have to fear is, quite simply, not real.
I’m here to help reveal what is possible.
I’m here to serve the efforts of change, to enable greater human and planetary prosperity; not for some but for all.
I am here to reduce and minimise suffering.
My vision, my hope, my dream, is that we gather enough momentum as a people to change the current system in ways that create a world that is just and fair whenever possible. Where our default is to pause, without judgment, to assist one another, to add value to each other’s lives.
Where we have workplaces free of management, free of control and coercion and all managers are taught instead how to nurture culture and create a safe space for collaboration and emergent value creation; no more managers, every one replaced by cultural facilitators, enablers who help people grow and thrive. Regardless of the industry, the sector, the size or the type of business or organisation, it is time for a new paradigm in the way we generate value in our societies.
And here lies the stumbling block. First people must be willing to learn to recognise and acknowledge the problem, its root cause and the complexity of its current state. This is not a few leadership development programs and a couple of coaching sessions. This is about installing a new operating system. A transition to a completely new way of being with and relating to each other; and meeting each other’s needs.
Paradigms provide maps of what the world is believed to be like. They constitute guidelines for getting about and for identifying and solving problems. Above all, paradigms provide the framework of meaning within which ‘facts’ and experiences acquire significance and can be interpreted.
Paradigms are not only beliefs about what the world is like and guides to action, they also serve the purpose of legitimating or justifying courses of action. That is to say, they function as ideologies. Hence, conflicts over what constitutes the paradigm by which action should be guided and judged to be reasonable is itself a part of the political process. The struggle to universalise a paradigm is part of a struggle for power.
A paradigm is dominant not in the statistical sense of being held by most people, but in the sense that it is the paradigm held by dominant groups in industrial societies and in the sense that it serves to legitimate and justify the institutions and practices of a market economy. It is the taken-for-granted commonsensical view which usually determines the outcome of debates on [issues such as…] environmental issues.
(Milbrath, 1986, pp. 100-101)
Generally speaking, people don’t go to work with the intention to cause others suffering. They think they are doing what it takes to get stuff done and moving in the ‘right direction’; others turn up and do their best despite challenging or even oppressive conditions. But why have we collectively accepted the notion that work must encompass a form of suffering or it’s not work?
Why don’t more of us play for a living?
Why do we scoff at the artists, the musicians, the poets, the writers, the dreamers, the tinkerers?
Because they haven’t made a million dollars from their idea yet?
What if they never intended to? What if they just wanted to create a thing of beauty? And that somehow, through this, they were able to sustain a lifestyle of their own making and to their own satisfaction.
What if we talked about ways we could all contribute value to our communities and societies? What strengths and passions we bring and offer one another in service of what needs to be done to meet our collective needs?
What if we weren’t so busy buying solutions to problems we never had that we noticed how many of those problems aren’t really ours? What if they never were?
My vision is to live in a world where people in meetings talk about ways to serve people in their ‘community of value’; not attract more market-share from consumers.
My vision is to live in a world where social categories are fuzzy and we have opened our minds and our hearts to what is the same in us all, embracing difference with compassion and curiosity, and a desire to share and learn.
The current world operates on categories and gatekeeping and digital transformation in its current form is only set to make this worse.
Emerging leaders must be expected to make decisions in the interest of the many and be held accountable to employees, customers and other external stakeholders alike. Neither society nor the environment can sustain continued abuse of power and freedom that has accompanied corporate leadership since the industrial revolution. Widespread human-focused, ethical and value-based change is absolutely necessary if we, as a society, are ever to address the wicked problems we currently face. In this sense, we must disrupt leadership.
Imagine a global strike of everyone who thinks it’s time for a major system update at the very least? There are more of us than there are of them.
It is a matter of re-imagining what is possible. Of starting new conversations about new ways. Not just doing doing different things, but doing things differently. With a new mindset, a renewed sense of purpose and mission.
My mission is to share this message.
My purpose is to nudge those nearest to me.
My vision is one of love and kindness.
And to this end I write and I share.
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