STRATEGY THIS

Instant gratification has stolen the long term gains of strategy and has squandered our ability to finally reach our morale objectives. Leadership courses are void of conversations about morality and ethics, and have degraded “ethics” discussions down to a simple discussion about conflict of interest for personal financial gain.  No longer shocked when tycoons carry with them a string of failed familial relationships, if not abuse, we ultimately vote our approval with our dollar, and we have voted for quick fixes over strategic gain for such a long period of time that it makes one wonder if there was ever a time we didn’t.  Even in our most prestigious academic and industrial institutions, power and money are the goals — whether it be the well-refined art of blaming others to gain reformative power, or rising to the top of industry or government where graduates can shape public narrative and shape perception of the truth in a way that best serves monetary ambitions, if not ambitions more sinister in nature such as the unspoken disgusts of the black market and underground trafficking. Obsessed with data-driven identity, we have failed to embrace the reality that the best things in life are impossible to replicate. Goodness takes work—and, generally speaking, it’s impossible to chart goodness on a graph.

What a calamity we’ve found ourselves in. More than once in my professional career, I’ve been told I think too much and focus too much on strategy by mediocre professionals.  Of course, many of these mediocre professionals have been put into supervisory or managerial roles.  And these mediocre professionals set the tone for the day-to-day experiences of so many professionals.  No doubt, this mediocrity extends to other parts of their lives: family, faith community, social life, engaging in traffic on the highway, homeowners board participation, etc.) The irony is, in a society that is experiencing unparalleled levels of anxiety and stress, we truly believe that our actions likely have no impact on someone highly stressed. It is something these weak individuals need to work through with professional help. Except for a limited exception, rarely do we imagine our frenetic lifestyles and lack of thoughtfulness of second and third order effects on other people’s lives. I am not exception, until I experienced the a certain level of injustice in this regard, and committed to myself I would not let cultural neglect that happened to me happen to others in my circle. I could probably complain for years about the negligent, if not intentionally malicious, behavior humans can push on one another, but we have plenty of outlets for that already. It sells. But, more hopefully, I encourage you to find the courage to ask yourself ‘why’ you do or do not do anything in your life. And, then question what impact that may have on others. And then consider how that impacts the most hard-working employee at your local retail establishment, or the sex trafficked fourteen year old in India, or even the girl down the street. If you start to think through life choices in this way, we may find some meaningful cultural reform, not a flashy slogan we can advertise claiming social responsibility, but actually be responsible.