Syzygeist

These Authorities Have to Go

Libya's Gadhafi struggles to hold on to power the only way that dictators of force can hold on, which is with more force. Just how brutal he will continue to be, and how effective, is still to be determined.
How far will this go, and to what effect? 

The debate over the economy is still fully on between the recovery and double-dip camps, but the spreading uncertainty from Libya to Saudi Arabia may favor the latter. Chinese economist Andy Xie points to Mideast (37% of the world's oil production) instability and potential gas price increases to infer that stagflation may be just around the corner. He notes that the oil shock of 1973  triggered a market crash and laid the foundation for stagflation thereafter. OECD countries now have leverage levels that are 50% too high, and must come down, he observes. That is deflationary on its own. Meanwhile, the US continues to flood the world with dollars, which is inflationary.
What is important here is the degree of uncertainty in the system. The Libyan crisis will have its own effects in that country, and has roiled Saudi Arabia, whose leadership has just announced new levels of largesse to keep the population in line.
But what is really going on here globally?
Authority the world over is being questioned and challenged in new ways - faster, more broadly and deeply - in a new era of communication. In the mid-1990's, we postulated that the Internet would act as a universal solvent to erode authority structures of all kinds, from the top down, bottom up, inside out, and so forth. Power would shift to the "end-user." This was long before Google made answers available to most questions or Twitter allowed differing versions of the truth - as well as lies and distortions - to spread at the speed of light, 140 characters per Tweet.
We now know quickly - as can anyone anywhere who wants to ask - that the Greek government has to meet a major hospital deficit in a hospital that has 42 gardeners but no garden. We know American public safety officers bulk up their hours in their final years so they can retire on pensions of 100 percent or more. We know that Democratic state senators fled Wisconsin in order to dodge their responsibilities to address budget deficits, apparently believing in the power and efficacy of denial. Technology guru Mary Meeker has just published a report to suggest that America Inc. is functionally bankrupt on the costs of Medicare and Medicaid. These two entitlements were approved largely by and for Baby Boomers with apparent disregard for intergenerational fairness, let along practicality.
It's all coming home to roost, all over the world. It has to.
The point here is that "the authorities" have made a mess in many places, not limited to Libya. Gadhafi & Co. did not bother to build infrastructure with its oil billions, leaving a poor and uneducated populace now with a void to fill, when/if Gadhafi falls. (See here the first CNN footage in Benghazi, where Gadhafi has already been pushed out.) His is not the only regime to abuse power and abrogate the responsibilities of leadership. So his is not the only regime to sow the seeds of crisis, which cannot and will not be avoided.
The question now is, what will we do? Violence in the streets is the only choice for those who have no other choice. The US mess hopefully will be addressed by those who stay in the room and try to fix the problems with real solutions. But Wisconsin is not the only state where protesters have picked up the vibe from Middle East and staged long and persistent demonstrations against failed leaders. And material support - in the form of pizza for Wisconsin protesters - is pouring in from Egypt, Turkey, and around the world.
Authority that underestmates this unprecedented connectivity, both in how it connects and educates people, is learning fast that a new model is forcing its way forward, outward and down. It is not contained or slowing, only expanding literally at the speed of light. How does your "official future" fair against the potential for stagflation and continuing global unrest?

Out of Your Own Way

A reader last week responded to my blog "Be Your Own Coach" with a reference to Cognitive Therapy - an approach to addressing negative ways of thinking that are often implicated in certain forms of depression. This prompted me to look up the term and I followed a number of threads that I found quite useful.
The reader had also reminded me of lessons I learned some years ago while sailing alone in the ocean, when the only therapist aboard is oneself.
I did not know at the time of that journey that I was suffering anything clinically called depression, which I would discover later in life. Depression can have many root causes, both genetic and experiential, and often reflects a dilemma that one cannot solve. One such dilemma might have contributed to mine, about which I then knew very little. No one had ever told me that melancholy, or deeper, darker states of feeling are not man's natural way of being.
What I did know was that a strange and uncomfortable sense of emotional distress could creep into the cabin with me. Call it a dull whine, a high or low frequency background noise, a trembling in the system that might be associated with nails on a blackboard, or strange footsteps. Something creepy, but more deeply rooted. A slipping downhill with an uncertain endpoint, not good.
Part of sailing alone is knowing that there is no one around to help, so the experience teaches you to be your own best friend, even if that has not been your habit. (I had learned by then that mechanical self-steering devices for single-handed sailors, on which they rely heavily, are often named after their mothers. Need we wonder why?)
I discovered quickly in the ocean alone that the background noise or whatever it was could deepen to a point where I would not feel like doing much of anything, even those things required to keep the boat balanced and steady under existing sea conditions. And it did not take long to learn that this was a bad situation to develop, and I could not afford to let it happen.

I found I could intervene in that sense of slipping downhill. It was actually as simple as taking action - early - to do something to make me feel better. Make a cup of hot chocolate and drink it slowly. Concentrate on the pleasure and comfort it brings. Read a chapter in Patrick O'Brien's sea novels. Revel in that world. Play a favored aria from La Boheme loudly on my little boom box. Sing along. Possibly take a nap - but be careful not to take the system down when something needs attention, or was about to.
All this came back with the reader's note last week and served as a healthy reminder:
If that bad feeling is coming on, take care of yourself in simple ways that you know will work. You are the first one to get the warning, and the one who will benefit the most.

Be Your Own Coach

An old friend who is struggling through a dark period in life (recent death of a cherished parent) is trying to climb back into the light, so to speak, and called to talk things over. I found myself suggesting something that I realized I would do well to listen to myself.
In Little League coaching, the suggesting rule of thumb is 5-1, positive to negative. Say 5 positive things to a player for each correcting or critical observation you make. 
It works. They learn faster, play better, have more fun. 
I learned this a few years ago when I coached my son's team and found it is not my natural way. I am quite good at spotting what is "wrong" and suggesting what should be done to "improve." 
I was raised by two parents who watched quite carefully and commented on any shortcoming, error or misstep they saw in their children. There might be a bonus for exceptional performance in the form of praise or rewards  (or sometimes just an absence of criticism).  It often seemed that love itself was conditional on good behavior (and to some degree on good manners and general appearance.) It certainly wasn't enough in my family to simply be. 
I sometimes have to fight this now in myself and in the way I treat my own children (and others). Being truly positive is a challenge. The negative is often trying to find its way in, as if it were just as "good" to see what is wrong as to see what is good. 

It isn't.

So in this spirit, I encouraged my friend, be on guard against negative thoughts and feelings about life around you, and yourself. Try to outnumber them 5-1 with positive ideas. It's a way to become a better coach to yourself.

You may find you play better, learn more and have more fun. 

And tomorrow is another day.

 

What Now Do You Dare?

Current events in Egypt and spreading effects in the Middle East underscore that the world is changing rapidly. It is not obvious where some things are headed. The have-nots are increasingly empowered and inclined to express their desire for fairness and a bigger slice of the pie. What form this will take is not clear. Many of our past presumptions do not hold, and will not.
In the United States, the leadership, such as it is, is spread between executive and legislative branches and a troubled populace. We are all grappling with what seem to be intractable problems: a stalled economy, high unemployment, unbalanced budgets, need for deep cuts (and rebalancing of inter-generational claims).
In financial markets, analysts are seeing a breakdown in historical correlations, as the prices of equities have risen with gold prices, for example. The emerging role/power of China is one critical uncertainty; the unsettled Mideast another; the developed world's debt and economies another; and the potential impacts of new technologies, for better and for worse, still another.
The rear view mirror does not appear to be the place to look for a sense of direction.
My thesis for individual and organizations is this: we all have to be willing to take a new set of risks. That means being open to ideas that might have seemed unacceptable, even inconceivable, not so long ago.
We have to give up our notion of the "Official Future" - what we imagined would be true, or wanted to be true (everything will be fine).
It will not be. Scenario thinking will help, but an initial required step is personal, in terms of our own risk appetites in both thought and action. What do we need to reconsider - and consider doing differently - that can really make a difference? What should we stop doing, in order to start doing what?
Does it make more sense to finish college or go out in the world to work to address social and technical problems?
Should we be curtailing immigration or actually increasing it to bring new energy into the country?
Should we get out of the wars we're in, but adopt universal conscription and national service, dedicated to national and global challenges?
If everyone at this point clings to the notion that all the same sacred cows are sacred, we will not be able to feed the herd.
So I would ask: what now do you dare?

Superbowl lesson for teams everywhere

A very senior executive at a global multinational this week was discussing the importance of "high performance teams" in his management ranks. We have been working together for several years, during which his strategic vision and energy have been rewarded, but he remains unsatisfied by the tenor of interpersonal dynamics at the top.
A recent engagement within his own team had provoked a few interpersonal truths - some of which were hard to hear from colleagues and more challenging still to act upon. Would it make them operate better as a team?
Teamwork is a common corporate value and highly touted as a means to, or synonym for, collaboration. How do "high performing teams" really behave, anyway? 
An image came to mind of NBA basketball players. The best ones pass often and accurately to others. The skill of shooting baskets is certainly valuable but it takes a lot of passing to get anyone to the hoop. Whether that operates at the highest level has a lot to do with how the players feel about themselves and those close to them. This is as or more important than individual strengths and weaknesses.
The sports metaphor brought me to this weekend's upcoming Super Bowl and the Pittsburgh Steelers. On television of late they have stopped talking about themselves as a "team" and have been talking instead about their fellow Steelers as "family." 
Now what about "family," I wondered aloud, makes a "team" better? 
Unconditional love? 
Faith that others care about you and are covering your back? 
Trust that if you make a mistake, you will be forgiven? 
Confidence that others assume that you are doing your best?
A sense of safety if you tell the truth as you see it?
Putting "the family" first?
These may sound like idealizations and different from what you experienced as a member of your family. It may also sound foreign to business relationships in a company or corporation - though not the best ones. Research suggests that "visionary" companies, some of them family owned at the outset, are roughly six times more profitable than others and more fun/satisfying to be in because they have core values and they live them.
The Steelers are talking about a feeling. And it is a feeling that is largely lacking (if not entirely missing) from many corporate and business environments. And often missing, it would seem, from teams of all kinds.
A sense or feeling of "family" denotes a set of behaviors and values to pursue in corporate behavior, whether as part of "high performance teams" or more broadly.  
How do you encourage these? And how do you know that they are helping the workplace and the people in it?
Answering these questions is part of the work to be done if we are to raise workplace satisfaction and the increased productivity that goes with it. If you have thoughts here, please pass them on...