“During the downswing of a We…we are also weary and worn. It is a time of duty, obligation and sacrifice. Regimentation has replaced inspiration, process smothers innovation and policy precludes personal judgment.”
Pendulum ain’t an easy read, but it will open our eyes and make us ask better questions about our strategies, beliefs, and plans.
From 2023 to 2043, we’re in the “downswing of a we cycle.”
“The Downswing of a ‘We’ is when we exhale from the emotional exhaustion that comes from trying to very hard to be ‘good’,” Williams writes.
In business, and probably in life, we like absolutes. We seek out absolutes. They’re hard to find, which is only part of why they’re dangerous. They rarely exist. Williams calls out two cautions when applying the principles of The Pendulum in absolute terms. One, “there is always a counterculture within a prevailing culture,” and two, “individuals are not predictable.” That said…
Two years ago, we entered the “Downswing of The We.” Roy and his experts make the following predictions (not all-inclusive and not sworn under oath).
- …a continuing erosion of public education
- …a greater distinction in the class system
- …a backlash on organized religion whose primary message is about money
- …a significant (“huge” is the word Roy uses) resurgence of labor unions
- …a reduction in the ability to live like our parents did (one income, one parent at home)
Does anyone feel emotionally exhausted, whether from trying hard to be “good” in these times or whatever other cause? Any of your towns embroiled in a debate, fight, pissin’ match over the quality of public education, or the separation between the haves and have-nots? Is your church growing? Starbucks, Trader Joe’s, Amazon, and StarLink are all trying to form unions, due in part to their CEO’s earning sixty-seventy-three-kajillion times more than their employees. Day care options, increasing taxes, and costs of groceries – is it more challenging for mom or dad to stay home and run the kids to the $5,000 per season club sports?
NONE of this is political commentary.
The point is this: Is your strategy market-based or past-experience-based? Have you built-in off-ramps? How many off-ramps begin with “What if” questions? How many “if / then” gates are built in? Does your strategy presume it will all be ok, the same, or about what we learned in the last twenty years? Forty?
Does it leave room for inspiration, innovation and personal judgment? Will it make a difference if it does?
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