Perspectives on Leadership for the 21st Century

https://leadershipdesign.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/ld-blogtransiton-recession2.mp3When you are over fifty you begin speculating about what life could have been when you were young. When you are young you speculate about what life will be like when you turn 35 and become old. Neither are spared their delusions as they journey onward. This is the second part of “Our Transition Recession.” We begin with a comment on an interesting article by Reihan Salam (Time Magazine, March 22, 2010, pg.46, 47). Its title foretells the life stories for many in future generations: “The Dropout Economy, The future of work looks a lot like unemployment.” Whether or not present spectators of our times believe we are witnessing a tectonic shift in how the economic, social and political landscape is being reconfigured, we are definitely feeling the ground move beneath our feet. Incidentally, that big wall of water is not a mirage, it is a tsunami racing towards us to wash-away the doubters about change. Salam’s view of the future is not grim, nor sci-fi in its conclusions. He simply writes a picture board of images depicting what many of America’s tomorrow’s will look like. If those tomorrow’s are for the better or for the worse, they will depend upon how we prepare ourselves for unknowns, countless challenges and in how we energize ourselves to live–with reduced governmental and institutional support. Unlike the Boomers, who represent the last economic vestiges of World War II, Salam’s America post 2020 or so, will move quickly, where the slow to change will feel left behind in a digital dust storm. If and when the dust settles, the digital refugees will live like orphans in a place where there are no parents to care for them. In fact, no one will care about them! If you have grown up sheltered from life and unwilling to engage it, you are screwed! We are not talking about Darwinism at play with lives, but about something more powerful, exacting and unforgiving. From my observations Americans want to both regress and progress at the same time. We want to go fast and yet not move from one spot, right now. You can hear sounds of our capacities being shredded, torn skill by skill, brain cell by brain cell until the very qualities of life, as we prefer, are threatened for those who cannot move–mentally–into another place. It is an understandable consequence to find that their heads and hands have shrunken ten sizes too small to meet the challenges beyond today. As Salam projects, there are 20 somethings who are expanding their minds and hands to create tomorrow for their generations and not for those of the past. That conclusion is as it should be. Although his story does represent a somewhat extreme view of our world, it is more than plausible. And, it is the plausible, san wishful thinking and cosmic dreams, which will embed a different America, unlike any other, deep in to this century. In reading his short article I am reminded of a book published in 1981, titled, The Nine Nations of North America, by Joel Garreau. Garreau, who is also the author of Edge City, a must read and older volume on what we are living today in urban and suburban environs; describes what is another plausible view of America’s places and spaces. Obviously, when we think of nations we think of lands inhabited by a diversity of people. Perhaps that is the case of America, but our evolving Internet is leading us away from far flung diversity. Instead, we are cascading towards a long beach front, which is falling away at our feet. We are, America in 2010, the tsunami. In Transition Two I am asking one simple question: Do we have the capacities to live in a vastly different world from what the Boomers adopted post World War Two? Of course, capacities is the term we must focus upon to further explore our world’s beyond today. Capacities include: skills, knowledge, ambitions, attitudes, capabilities (emotional, physical, thoughtfulness, spirituality, etc.) Understandably, they do not support unlimited status quo. They ultimately recycle ideas and weave new materials of possibilities into plausibilities, and thus into realities. The secret of our Transition Recession is that it will not end for several generations to come. We are experiencing our Great Depression, World War II and post war years all at one time. When we try to step back to see what is happening we are already within the mix of the Transition. It will not let us retire like the Boomers. Retirement, as a capacity, will be interspersed throughout the lives of future generations. Work will not be work, but will resemble more of what we call lifestyles today. Learning will be constant and continuous throughout life and not based on class seat time, nor on diplomas and degrees. Learning will be about what you are able to do in life, what you contribute to an array of communities, and in what positive aspects of living you teach others. Your status, for what is left of the concept, will be determined by who needs you as a human being and not just for your skills and knowledge. At the end of the Transition Recession will come another Transition. In the end, there is always another transition for future generations to ponder. At that point they will have the responsibility to bury ours, along with all before in a tomb labelled history. One last caveat to the Transition: The Great Disaster The hurricane called Katrina was predictable and long awaited by residents along the Louisiana coastline. Radar reported its coming, but only the thoughtful where those who did not like to stare folly face-to-face, and where able to move, chose to remove themselves beyond harms way. Katrina was a whispering wind compared to the The Master Earthquake, which hit simultaneously in several locations around the world. Collectively, all had epicenters close to the surface and all exceeded 9.8 on the Richter Scale–all were connected by time. Cities were not destroyed, as they and their inhabitants simply vanished from the face of the earth. Imagine, plates of mass were reconfigured creating new structures of the earth’s surface. This will always be known as the transition of transitions. We must also remember that earthquakes do not respect borders assigned on maps, as earthquakes have the power to draw new maps at will. Yes, this is a prediction and I am not an alarmist. It is just we have recently witnessed several large earthquakes around the world, many but not all in the Pacific Rim. I just feel that the earth is moving from within and no movie can change this scenario for the better. It is true, earth and time hold all the cards. And the cards for America include: New York City, Chicago, St. Louis, San Francisco, L.A. and The Valley, all of the rest of the California coast and inland, Portland, OR, Seattle and western Washington, to name just a few hot spots.

https://leadershipdesign.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/ld-norman-rockwell-tired-painting.mp3I am focusing on an imagined image, where the iconic American artist, the late Norman Rockwell is standing before a blank canvass pondering painting a scene, a collage of sorts of America. Known for his realistic depictions of American life, Rockwell is constructing a self-portrait of his country, “from sea to shining sea.” But, for a few minutes he stands quietly, reflecting on what needs to be placed in the images he captures on his stretched material. I can see him thinking about what he must include, but more importantly, it must be honest, true and not fitting the emotional needs of those who want to see something other than truth. Fortunately for us his era preceded ours. Where today stark truth is eclipsed by empty opinions, as they are validated by commercial appeal and high entertainment values. It is an era where opinions weigh more than facts. In his hand Rockwell holds his favorite brush. He twists it a few times and then closes his eyes to envision what he wants to say to America. No models are present to guide his thoughts, just memories about the past he has witnessed and ideas about the future. One thing is for sure, he sees an America which has retired from the world. Too many people have fallen prey to living in the past. No longer do they have to think about tomorrow, even for many too young to withdrawal, they seem content by simply being content. Is this their entitlement as Americans? Ever present in expanding screens TV angels wing their way into the hearts and minds of those in blissful repose. The content is mentally non-caloric, deprived of all nutritional substance. Not surprising Rockwell decides to depict an intellectually anemic audience, stationed center stage, with eyes bowed, but not in prayer. Instead, they are just tired! Most have worked all their lives, but not on farms or factories, like generations before. They have worked with their minds, not with their backs, nor letting their hands suffer wear and tear from manual labor. Stress claimed many of them, stranding their colleagues, friends and neighbors with only pictures of smiles on good days now gone. I look up and see Norman Rockwell staring at me. He is lighting his pipe, but not for a second does he look away from my eyes. For a moment I feel cold. Asking myself, “Why is he looking at me?” Thoughts streamed into a damp sweat, my mouth went dry with flashes of fear. A heavy internal dialogue pursued me while I watched the picture unfold. “Perhaps he needs me in the picture? Oh no! I am not tired, I am enjoying life. Do I look like I have retired? Please don’t think I look like those poor souls, whose lives were spent to reach the end, only to find they did not live, they merely existed 24/7 . He is still staring at me. Uh oh, he is turning to resume painting.” Suddenly, I recognize that I am his model. It is in that instant I see why he was looking at me. I am thinking about the same things I have thought about for the past thirty years. Even worse, I am doing the same things at work and in the rest of my life. Why did I not try new things, why did I let my life drift along expecting things to just take care of me? I look up to see what he has done with this naive model? He has done nothing, except, I can see he has left a space, which looks perfect for my profile. Mr. Rockwell, you clever guy. The message is clear and it is my choice whether or not I want to place myself among the other tired specimen of past organizational life. Then, the painter points to another canvass where he has already started a different painting. On it I can see it shows a different America, with a background more futuristic than historic. Unlike the dull scenery of the first painting, it is a bright scene with people clearly living with imagination, purpose, driving themselves into a diverse and demanding world. It is obvious that it is a world were retiring does not happen. Gone are the days of the Protestant work ethic. I can see you live to live and work is only part of the picture. It is now the American Work Ethic, formed from an introduction of new realities about work, intellectual challenges and an ever present, inescapable drama of change. It is a new, new, world. Welcome America! So, I can live in the past or I can help create an ever evolving America, with new traditions and new roots. Why? For these new beginnings will keep the society alive, energetic, creative and inspired to surpass all eras set before. On this canvass each new generation paints its own tomorrow, by creating their own lives, which they build for the betterment of the future. Their reward will not be found in being worshiped in the future by the achievements of their day. They know that their ideas, wisdom, and values, simply form blocks in a continuing restructuring of a society. Embedded in their instructions to the future is a warning. Look around and be not tempted by the fallacy of staying the same for eternity. The future was formed by a willingness to change the future and not let the past tire them into submission and total loyalty to an unrecognizable era. Forgotten by many today, wise people understand that when you change the world, as America has, it has changed America in turn. The changing cannot be reset to a default. Our option is to progress for future generations or regress into building monuments for them to worship us as we worship ourselves today. Youth and young at heart and mind, want to create their own tomorrows and it is their right to do so. It is not our right to obstruct them, through: retired legislation, obese debt, emperial-like greed, unceasing entitlements, abuse of power, nor through aborting democracy with applause. Copyright 2010 Michael Mason Norman, ED.D.

https://leadershipdesign.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/noncommonsense1.mp3Life In A Non-Common Sense World What’s in it for me? This is a worrisome question we either hear or observe everyday in businesses, shops, schools, on street corners and so on. When women, men, and children are asked to do something in their lives, the immediate response is a question in return. For instance, what will they receive for their allegiance, for their money, for their time, or simply for their attention? It seems nothing is free these days. Consequently, even change in a person’s status comes with a price. I wish to offer a currency used in America for purchasing how people should see things, and how they should think in common. It is tagged as Common Sense. A side note: it did not originate with Thomas Paine, let alone with Glenn Beck. In this brief essay I will challenge this frame of thought, which many individuals apply as a basis for understanding human behavior. I contend that outside of religious beliefs shared by groups of people, we do not have anything resembling a common sense, which appears immune to context, change or points of view. Although people, collectively, may WILL to believe in the presence of common sense, they are actually applying personal filters to a scene called reality. Let me clarify one important point among many. We do need features in our social political, and economic landscape, which serve as beacons of understanding. We find them in our laws and other social contracts. Yet, even these are always open to interpretation by different people and in different times with evolving histories. We should not forget, we Americans are creatures of our particular places in time; plus, we are captives of myths, technologies and the medias that “own” them. Yet………. Times change! When we are confronted with a major event, such as a recession, an earthquake, a hurricane, bank failures or other human catastrophes, we must face a fact, we do not own nor can we negotiate away. The fact is apparent that something has happened to our world. Ignoring the situation doesn’t change it for it is either happening or it is in the process of enveloping our sense of reality. In a space full of motion, we are expected to come to grips with our feelings, the images unfolding around us and discipline our senses to absorb and structure everything. It is usually an overwhelming experience. Such is the combined power of facts. Again, it is a power no one owns, not even the media, a President, a CEO, a Congress or political party. Yet, all do not respond with the same sensitivities to such events. In those moments, some of us experience the situations differently. Either from our cultural upbringings, training, education, or temperaments nurtured by direct experiences, we respond with different thoughts to what we see. All that we share with the majority around us is the setting. We see what they see, plus we smell and hear what they sense as well. Yet, our feelings prescribe a different response. Buried in our intellectual, emotional and social experiences is a menu in how some people respond to radical changes in their environments. Unlike other people, they will not be shaken by the onslaught of change. Their makeup is uncommon as are their viewpoints of the world. When the multitudes are captives of two-dimensional displays of the world, a few see life in three dimensions, free from constraints of nose-length depths of field. Thus, it should not be a surprise to find a self-selected minority expressing disbelief in unsubstantiated opinions—fashionably called common sense. Especially when they are expected to share an extensive commonalty in thinking and acting like others. That collective judgment is shaped by imposing, common fears of being different from the crowd. Consequently, disobedience to the crowd warrants exile into the Unknown. Of course, no one returns to the crowd from the Unknown. Consider society’s members, who live and think away from the cohort called the crowd, cannot be herded by the barking of sheep dogs, intent on corralling all into narrow chutes of intellectual impotence. For it is inside the chutes, where sheers of regressive uniformity cut away self-respect, insatiable appetites for knowledge, questions, curiosity, unique skills and debate. Funneling out the other end are “fleeced,” simple people, who only know how to follow others. The dogs are waiting there for them. With others already spinning around and around in a common circle, the dogs bark gleefully! Eventually, the old are trampled away by the new in this circle of commonality, where personal growth is forbidden. The non-common sense men and women of America and the world are pragmatic students of irrefutable facts. These individuals set a collective WILL to directly and unselfishly confront reality, without filters or blinders. They do not fear the truth and its consequences, no matter what price it charges. In contrast, irrefutable facts and non-restrained intelligence are threatening to people who need the protection of what they call Common Sense. They may say their need is for freedom, but in essence they are seeking to be free of the responsibility to think and decide for their selves. It is here that a declaration of the need to accept and follow Common Sense, unfolds its power of persuasion. It demands that people should fear their own abilities to think, or judge what they see with their own eyes. Thus, when the rule of Common Sense tethers itself to the minds of individuals, who are unwilling to think for themselves, then ignorance controls everything it can reach. That which ignorance cannot subdue on its own accord, it gains through partnerships with: mediocrity, passive-aggressiveness, unimpeded greed, docility, hubris, and The Fears. When you hear the dogs barking, they sound full of common fears. Their sounds crescendo as if someone or something were whipping them beyond the constraints of inhumanity. It is here that denial, the cruelest master of self-respect, bites and suffocates the thinking of its prey. Only independent, critical and well-reflected thought can keep one from becoming the prey of denial and its dogs of common fears. Please remember that Common Sense takes no sides in political discourse. Yet, it will continually shadow marketers of: denial, fear mongering, half-truths, greed, ignorance, fascistic control and hubris. It hungers for the minds of people unwilling to think for their selves. Where you find the marketers you find their prey. Look around to see what is watching you. Michael Mason Norman, ED.D. February 2, 2010 Copyright 2010 Michael Mason Norman, ED.D.

https://leadershipdesign.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/sethgodinbkrev.mp3Our mythical Common Sense has a habit of telling us that everyone would or at least should agree on certain ideas, practices, etc. As often as proclaimed, the notion is wrong. For instance, it is suggested that we are all indispensable in our work lives. Otherwise, we can naïvely ask, why were we hired in the first place? Of course, in our eyes who can live without us? But we are not indispensable. It seems people are incurably and exceptionally skilled at making themselves dispensable. (For full disclosure: I have been very adept in my life at making myself dispensable, in more ways than I would dare share with you today.) With that admission, I am now ready to declare that Seth Godin’s book, Linchpin, captured me for a sleepless night reading experience. Ok, I am a fan of Seth Godin. No, he is not a rock star, nor a member of the mindless’ Celebrity Hall of Fame. He is simply a very insightful person, who expresses his thoughts freely—nothing more and nothing less. But insights don’t grow freely on trees. Insights develop from life experiences taking time to see life, which cannot be bought nor inherited. In Linchpin a careful and methodical reader can find thoughts worth rereading over the course of years. As a text it will not become a classic for the easy-living types. But it will become a guide for those who know they must continually learn and relearn how to see the world, especially within and outside their respective worlds. Going beyond readers are enticed to create perspectives on how to think very clearly about the future. Consequently, it is a book, which dares self-futurists to engage friends, bosses, partners and others, to consult their feelings on what they want out of life’s choices? How? It simply asks if people want to become, remain and die as dispensable “cogs of machines?” Is that really important to know? Finally, I do not care to spoil your exploration of the book. You must read it to form your own opinions. Yet, for the curious among you, who live in a challenging rut-filled fog, while navigating your lives and careers, please start the book at page 101. Pick it up and read a few pages and then do one of the toughest human tasks in our 21st Century way of living: THINK! Think as a human being and not as a machine-child. Michael Mason Norman, ED.D., January 15, 2010

https://leadershipdesign.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/tr-part-1-1-4-103.mp3The American Transition Recession began at the beginning of the 21st Century. Two very important questions must be asked: Are our next generation of leaders prepared to not only confront the economic and social traumas evolving as they grow up? And, are they studying to know how to think wisely, critically, and unselfishly? As a former adjunct professor of management in MBA programs, and as a professional management sensei, I am truly concerned by what I see are systemic human deficits in organizations. I would add that this includes my observations of young and mid-age professionals in small to large corporations. In addition, have you noticed how many of the immigrants coming to America want to start their own businesses, while most young Americans seem content to work for someone else? In fact, America is looking at offering “start-up Visas” to potential immigrants, so they can come to America to start businesses. That point is obviously a topic unto itself. A related issue is in how too few young Americans want to work as hard as their Baby Boomer parents. Understandably, life as a latch-key child isn’t traditional, but not too dissimilar to earlier periods in history. Nonetheless, employment demographics, tax revenue, and future support for social security/pension vested retirees, are totally dependent upon how well multi-skilled and diligently people work. Simply working harder won’t be enough and not necessarily the right stuff to successfully close-out 2020. It has been cited by writers of articles, books, and blogs, that our organizations are at war, internally and externally. Over what? They want and need to gain access to top-notch staff members, called “talent.” Yet, I have also read and witnessed the quiet dismissal of very talented individuals due to forced budgetary restructuring. So, enough of the niceties and let’s dive into some of the real concerns being swept under the rug or out the door. Despite the claims we are short on talent in organizations, I personally do not believe that is true. We are short on people with preferred degrees, from preferred schools, but who are not void of effective talent. Yet, organizations, for-profits thru educational institutions damage themselves with nauseating biases and parochial standards. We must remember that the best do not always rise to the top. Sometimes its the best “politicians,” and not the best tacticians, strategists, creatives nor just plain hard workers, who ascend beyond their abilities. Education, or where you went to school can matter. But, education is only one, traditional path upwards in organizations. Aspirations, showing up at the right place and time, aka luck, plus ambitions can play a role for the undaunted, regardless of their backgrounds. Let’s look at Education’s Role During the Transition Recession First, it takes substantial money to gain an extraordinary education, and unless you come from wealth, your only means to a socially and productive future, requires a formal training experience and/or a long and expensive college education. It is the expensive part that will determine how this Transition Recession or TR evolves to the benefit of aspirants of successful lives. Where will the money come from and how will educational institutions reshape themselves to make an education affordable and relevant for our future leaders? Personally, I would like for all colleges and universities to become far more rigorous in creating learning environments, especially for leaders in all fields. In my opinion colleges, especially business programs, are teaching to the past. Second, Our age 1 thru 12th grade schools should ponder several major options for helping people who are serving parental roles and the direct educational experiences of children in public education, including Charter Schools. I suggest the following changes be secured by 2020: A. Quit trying to reform schools systems, etc. every five or so years, and simply remake them from the ground up. Schools should become 7-to-7 learning institutions; B. The curriculum in presently designed high schools adds courses normally deferred to community colleges and high schools and compress their current programming downward throughout the middle school grade levels; C. Public education fully abdicates its role as the keeper of the agricultural era flame and advances into educating youth-thru-young adults to live and work in global/urban life settings. This will include learning two world languages beyond already expected English and Spanish; D. Reading instruction will be improved and increased; E. All students will receive a beginner computer, closed to the internet until age 7; F. All students will receive an electronic reading device (today it could be a Kindle), for reading books, articles, maps, etc. about topics and stories from around the world; G. All students will have world intercultural experiences with a minimum of twenty cultures by age 12, extending to thirty-five or 40 by age 18. These experiences will include submersion into diverse cultural topics, histories, politics, geographies, life-systems, etc. H. Parents, teachers and communities continually encourage students to Aspire, Learn, Contribute, Develop and Compete. We need to remember that it is their future and their goals and not ours to fulfill through them. https://leadershipdesign.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/tr-part-1-1-4-10.mp3https://leadershipdesign.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/tr-part-1-1-4-101.mp3This ends the first part of our outlook for The American Transition Recession–2000–2020 Please share your comments, ideas, and thoughts by emailing: [email protected] We truly appreciate your visiting our blog. For the team: Thank you, Michael M. Norman, ED.D. To be continued.