CONNECT THE DOTS

Too many leaders are living in a bubble. They're totally disconnected from the grassroots and totally enveloped in a mindset that only allows them to see the world a certain way. It's happening across all of our sectors, and it's leading to an extraordinary breakdown of social institutions. We can stop this, but it requires a change in our leadership practices. Give me a few minutes.

There's a difference between implying conspiracy and inferring conspiracy. When we infer conspiracy, we subconsciously reject the speaker's point and even potentially distrust the person based on their word choice. Most people don't have mastery over the English language let alone mastery over how to talk about complex systems. That's okay, but it does impact how we interpret people's concerns and perspectives. A follow-up to "Complexity or Conspiracy". Give me a few minutes.

The world is pretty complex, and so are the problems that it has. So why do so many people make snap judgments and stay there without thinking through issues further? What does this look like in practice and why is it important? Give me a few minutes.

As automation continues to decrease the number of jobs, a simple question comes to light: How do we organize society if we don't have enough jobs? How would a concept like the Guaranteed Basic Income actually work? How would we balance valuing and rewarding "hard work" with fighting inequality and ensuring goods and services could move in a nearly completely-automated economy? Give me a few minutes.

Too many leaders take a top-down approach to engaging their people, and it's tearing society and our institutions apart. Too many leaders are caught up in the bureaucratic, operational, logistics of existing systems, organizations, programs, etc. and they are forgetting to actually lead their people, let alone engage them in open, meaningful, and interactive ways. We must commit to advocating for, experimenting with, and supporting a broader engagement spectrum that creates space for bottom-up interaction and participation. Give me a few minutes.

If we truly want to be innovative, we need to stop thinking that the people at the top of our current broken system are the only ones qualified to fix it. We need to be more open to the ideas that come from the grassroots, from outside the current system and views of the world that lead to the perpetuation of problems we have today. This is a problem for organizations, businesses, and government. And it requires purposeful awareness to change it. Give me a few minutes.

Pursuing a dream is a psychological struggle. Dealing with the daily whiplash of the ups and downs of life can be challenging, but it's exactly this rollercoaster that makes life worth living. We just have to remember that we're on it.

We are born into a world that is not of our own design. Yet, we learn and adopt paradigms, assumptions, values, and views from the people who came here before us. So, how do we build a better future? At some point, we have to step back and reflect on long-held assumptions. With everything in our reach today, how do we build a better tomorrow?

Sometimes we wake up and say "How did I get here?" Where am I going? Is that where I really want to be going? Is this what I really want to be doing with my life? Getting off auto-pilot is simply a matter of asking yourself a few basic questions, which can help you take control of your life.

Leaders need to take more purposeful and specific action to rebuild trust in America. We know trust is decreasing and we see evidence of it all around us, but we don't take action to rectify it. That needs to change.