Rising Tide and Rowboats
Friends!
Wow. I am beyond grateful for the overwhelming reactions by so many from last week's blog on approaching travel from a pilgrim’s perspective. So many of you reposted and retweeted which made it clear that the idea (albeit a difficult one) resonated. If we could help each other to better embrace the unknown, to be less defensive, and to approach life with more of an open mind, I think we'd be all better off.
This week, I wanted to approach my own mission from an angle I have touched on, but not explored fully in past newsletters. It has been central to much of my own work for decades. Here it goes:
It is apparent to almost anyone that we are living through an era of unprecedented change fueled mainly by technology. Everything is faster and distances are shorter. It is equally clear that this is unmooring, unsettling, and confusing. Paradoxically, the more connected we are the more disconnected we feel.
There are two quotes that capture the feeling of this "interregnum" period of humanity that we find ourselves in. We are bidding farewell to a time we used to know while at the same time trying to adjust to the demands and capitalize on the promise of an entirely new era.
“We yearn for meaning and deal with trivia. We are swept in currents over which we have no control. Government has become too big for the small problems of life and too small in spirit for the large problems.”
We are clearly witnessing a type of disconnection in the soul of society. People are searching for a new footing. Some by clinging to the past and some by projecting a future perhaps too far away.
There is a central argument that I find us all consumed by in this period of transition. As we process this change, a burning question sadly risks tearing us apart: has all this change been good? And for whom?
has the tide lifted all rowboats or has it only lifted the yachts?
I personally believe that most of the fruits of this transformation have been good, by and large. By nearly all measures, humanity is better off today than any time in history. If you don't believe me, please read and explore a few of the links in the last bullet below.
so what do you believe? have we made real progress in the world in the last 50-100 years?
There are at least two main critiques and challenges (out of many) in contrast to the more positive positioning. One is that the "price" of this progress is still unpaid, and we have accumulated so much debt (financial, ecological, emotional, psychological) due to "fake accounting," and therefore any characterization is inherently "present biased." The future, therefore, is disproportionately disadvantaged. The second is that the fruits have not been evenly distributed, and most of the gains have been enjoyed by a small fraction of humanity.
Keeping with the commitment and purpose of these newsletters, I will NOT spend my energy on arguing for either version of this reality, but simply conclude that they both are true. To me. As countercultural as it may seem, two opposing narratives can actually be true at the same time. We are just not very good at dealing with contradicting statements. Resist the urge to oversimplify out of convenience. Things can be sweet and bitter at the same time – it’s why the word “bittersweet” has a place in our world to describe both emotions and taste. This complexity is rich, beautiful, and agonizing, much like the human condition.
Again, this is very much at the heart of why I am writing these newsletters. By "elevating" ourselves, and thereby considering problems and opportunities from a higher altitude, we might see the problems AND opportunities at the same time. We can see the forest, not just the trees.
Our binary bias and tendency to always posit any problem as a choice between two sides is limiting, incomplete, and ultimately counterproductive. Let's stop that. Let's find what is good with something AND identify what is bad – and work on both simultaneously. In sports, we need offense AND defense. For things to grow, we need sunshine and rain. And there is never any really spark without friction. The idea that we can paint reality in single colors or explain complexity with simple labels will forever keep us from reaching our full potential.
I was introduced this week to the Italian Magazine Maize, part of H-Farm, which is doing interesting work at the intersection of education, innovation, and investment. In this recent issue, my friend Rabbi Irwin Kula, who I have mentioned before in prior newsletters, primarily in Disagreement vs Distrust, was interviewed by Matteo Scanni. It's an interview well worth reading (linked below).
This quote from Irwin pretty much sums up the tension between innovation and the public good.
“Just like there is no necessary connection between spiritual and moral development – though we would like to believe otherwise – there is no necessary connection between innovation and the public good. Greater intelligence is not the same as greater goodness, and a financially successful innovation that scales may make us no better than we are. As we develop cognitive enhancements and physical augmentations that make people better at everything we also need to make better people.”
— IRWIN KULA IN MAIZE
As a business builder, most of my own work has revolved around trying to figure out how businesses can be part of solving problems and creating lasting value for all of its constituents. The work has never been easy or simple. The main challenge, for me, has mainly been around finding the right balance between today and tomorrow. I will return to our incredible appetite for instant gratification in subsequent newsletters. It's a beast we all need to tame!
We have many reasons to reflect and consider in what ways our own choices contribute to solutions vs problems. I think it is fair to say that every human being is doing both. It's impossible not to. But it is equally true that some are more mindful than others and that we all can do better.
I will end with an old favorite quote that always captures this spirit well by the great Wendell Berry.
“We have lived by the assumption that what was good for us would be good for the world. We have been wrong. We must change our lives, so that it will be possible to live by the contrary assumption that what is good for the world will be good for us. And that requires that we make the effort to know the world and to learn what is good for it. We must learn to cooperate in its processes, and to yield to its limits. But even more important, we must learn to acknowledge that the creation is full of mystery; we will never clearly understand it. We must abandon arrogance and stand in awe. We must recover the sense of the majesty of the creation, and the ability to be worshipful in its presence. For it is only on the condition of humility and reverence before the world that our species will be able to remain in it.”
— WENDELL BERRY’S RECOLLECTED ESSAYS
Here is some further reading and listening relevant to the topic raised in this post.
The insightful interview with Rabbi Irwin Kula mentioned above in the beautiful Italian Magazine Maize.
A moving interview with Jacqueline Novogratz by Tim Ferriss on her journey as a pioneering impact investor. It's packed with honesty, vulnerability and inspiration.
David Brooks latest column The Great Unmasking provides motivation for how to think about returning to normalcy (hint...let's not return, let's reimagine)
And, as promised above, for those of you that doubt the progress we have made in the world in the last 50 years or so, please buy this book. Beautiful graphs on progress. It's a great coffee table book since it is both beautiful and incredibly optimistic. Or you can also read my late Swedish friend Hans Rosling's, Factfulness or Steven Pinker's Enlightenment Now.
It is always my hope that we can come together and find some semblance of common ground, even if it is simply that the world we live in today has presented us with novel, complicated, and unprecedented challenges. We don’t need to agree on the exact parameters of the challenges, nor the precise details of their solutions. However, by coming together, I believe that we will find nuanced, complex, and innovative solutions – as long as we all decide that there are indeed problems worth fixing.
Ok. that's a wrap. Sorry for being a bit dense today. But what could be more important than having a conversation about how we can make the world better and our own role in contributing to that work?
Have a great week!
