I have been fortunate in my life to be on the beginning side of significant trends in America and the world. In the early 70s I foresaw the need for more humane living settings for the handicapped and worked in that industry. In the 80s I was a pioneer in selling HMO services to seniors. In the late 80s our company was the leader in packaging and selling desktop video - the marriage of computers and video. In 1996, my partner and I formed one of the first Internet companies in Minnesota and today it has 300 employees.
And I have had a knowing for a number of years that another major trend
is taking hold. I've seen it in the lack of loyalty that companies have
to their workers. It is not possible to be loyal to a worker when their
services can be purchased elsewhere for 10-20% of the cost. Computers
are taking over more and more of the work that humans used to do. We
are squeezing more and more of the inefficiencies out of work. These
are both things that need to happen. This is all well documented in
the book The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century
by Thomas L. Friedman.
I see it in the way America continues to work towards being more
unconscious. Cells phones, email, computer games, and cable TV are all
examples of what we are doing to become more unconscious. I mean we
even have DVD players for our cars.
We seem to think that if we just fill up every moment we wont realize how shallow and meaningless our lives are.
We live in a world with an insatiable appetite for things. And that is not bringing us happiness. Time magazine dedicated its January 17Th issue to The Science of Happiness. One of the issues major conclusions is that there is no correlation, after reaching subsistence levels of income, between money and happiness. More money and more things do not bring happiness.
So what is the future of sustainable work, of higher consciousness
and of finding happiness. It is answered in a question from Daniel
Pink's new book A Whole New Mind: Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age. The question is "Am I offering something that satisfies the non-material transcendent desires of an abundant age?"
This is the new better way to work. People
answering yes to this question will find fulfillment, sustainability
and success. There will be a backlash against activities that keep us
unconscious. People are waking up to the fact that more money and more
things do not bring us happiness.
And the people who want to offer something that
satisfies the non-material, transcendent desires of an abundant age are
the ones I am called to work with. They are the ones who , without
knowing it, my partner and I have designed the "Better Way to Work "
program for. They are doing important work in the world. And given that
this is a new industry we are in a period of chaos, of not knowing
whether we can make a living doing this work they are called to do.
WHO are these people. They are coaches struggling to grow a coaching practice. They are financial planners who want to do more than report on the quarterly earning reports of their clients. They are small business people who want to provide a service that improves the lives of their customers. They are entrepreeurs who have a new pordut or service idea. These are my people and together we will change the world.
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