Y2k, Oh
By Peter Block
--At
12:01 a.m. on January 1, 2000 we both breathed a sigh of relief and
simultaneously attended a coronation. Our relief was that the TV worked,
ATM machines kept delivering cash, and the streetlights stayed on. The
coronation was that the technology and economics maintained their ruling
supremacy over modern culture. The coronation may have been more
significant than the relief.
--New Year’s Eve was a triumphant
moment for the computer chip and information technology. It proved the
computer is immortal. Human beings have been looking for the fountain of
youth for centuries, and where we have failed, the computer has been
victorious. Dot Com was able to compensate for her own shortsightedness,
reprogram herself, and more importantly, demonstrate she was worth $1.5
trillion to stay healthy. If only we had been so loved.
--The Y2K drama, then, was not just a
technical event, it was a watershed cultural event. It affirmed
technology’s final, game ending victory as the archetype and symbol of
our times.
The
New Story
For some time, many have said our culture was in search of a new story.
A transcendent myth that will tie us together, articulate a common
purpose, give meaning to our daily lives. The old cultural story has
been about freedom of religion and opportunity. A melting pot story
which brought us the tired and the homeless. The idea of unlimited
growth and that every child can grow up to be President of the United
States. These are powerful stories that gave us purpose and identity.
--In our search for a new story we
have had at least two contenders. One is often called The Universe
Story. It is a creation myth that has us spiritually evolving towards
greater consciousness. It is about the Spaceship Earth, the human
interconnectedness of all people, the presence of God in all things, the
limitless possibilities of the human spirit. It views the millenium as a
transformation into an Aquarian Age.
--Along side the Universe Story has
been the story of technology and economic growth. It is the story of the
Information Age, the New Economy, the Global Economy, the Information
Superhighway. The belief that technology is the key to our future. The
marriage of physical science and computer technology can solve the
problems of scarce resources, poverty, illness and eventually death.
Some even believe that technology will bring us greater peace and
democracy.
--Up until December 31, 1999 at 11:59
p.m., these two stories have been in contention. When the clock struck
midnight and the TV stayed on, the contest was over and technology was
declared victor.
--The implications for the workplace
of this victory are clear. There has been a growing swing in
organizations away from customers, employees and participation and
towards consolidation, technology and economics. The Y2K coronation made
it conclusive.
--Coronations are expensive. The $1.5
trillion price tag of the Y2K conversion is one of the minor costs. The
larger cost is to the narrative about the importance of the human being.
This cost is particularly high to those of us in the people business;
participation, quality, organization development. It is time to publicly
acknowledge that we are in a recession when it comes to people. This
recession gets little news coverage, it will not appear on the nightly
news, it doesn’t even seem to interest national public radio. It has no
numbered index like the NASDAQ or Dow Jones Industrial Average.
--But it is a recession and for the
sake of our own sanity, we need to acknowledge this. The ideas that
lifted us in the 1980s and early 1990s no longer have popular currency.
This recession is particularly difficult because it is one we blame
ourselves for. We feel it locally and privately and we think it is
unique to our own particular workplace. It is not. The recession is
really about the declining value of the human being.
--This means that services based on
values of participation, empowerment, the nobility of labor and the
democratization of the workplace, are selling into a shrinking market.
No one argues against these values, it is just that they are off the
collective radar. The only people questions remaining are how to find
the right people, get rid of the wrong ones, what to pay the new ones
and how to shrink the cost of the old ones.
--Now you may think this line of
thinking is cynical, or pessimistic or lacks hope. Not so. We find
strength in naming events for what they are. Here are thoughts on what a
reasoned response might entail.
Don’t Buy the Program
--- First, don’t jump in the hole
others have dug for you. Don’t blame yourself because the marketplace is
indifferent to your beliefs. Trying harder to reinvent yourself is a
form of self contempt. Organizations do not currently value what we do,
and that is just the way it is right now.
--- Second, don’t abandon the work or
its purpose. Becoming more business literate, speaking Dot Com’s
language, engaging in your own Y2K conversion won’t help. A web site is
not a magic elixir. Even if we have one, only our friends can find it.
An electronic college degree misses most of what we learn in college,
which was about our social development and our love for the teacher and
the learner. Long distance learning is an oxymoron. Change is social, a
relationship based occurrence.
--- Third, don’t buy the story that
technology will bring us together. Internet intimacy is not a path to
love. Globalization is fundamentally a strategy of economic domination,
it is not a strategy for human understanding. Granted, communicating
across time zones is made easy and everyone has more data and access to
the marketplace than before, but as stated beautifully by Neil Postman
in his book, “Building a Bridge to the Eighteenth Century,” what we have
is information, not knowledge or wisdom. The idea that the Internet
equalizes power between the large and the small is a myth to make the
new technology based oligarchies more palatable.
What to Do
--- On the positive side, the
recession forces small players, which is what we are, to cooperate more
fully. People providing human-based services are not in competition with
each other. We will have to yield territory and support others who we
find in small disagreement. We will have to live more simply, travel on
buses, vacation off-season, answer our own phones and learn once again
to darn socks and live with a 5 year-old computer.
--- Instead of softening our message
to make it more digestible—strengthen it. Don’t let the media or top
management define reality for us. Be a stronger voice for the primacy of
the person, for the human cost of technology and the tragic dimensions
of the new economy. We will not get rich or famous, but we will be a
magnet for the people whose voice for human welfare is now quiet, but
has in no way disappeared.
--- In the selling of our services, we
need to reduce our claims. Recapture our credibility. We are not going
to transform cultures, turn businesses around, plant new paradigms and
instill the behaviors that will prepare the world for a chaotic and
entrepreneurial future. Promise more depth, not more speed. Tell the
truth about how difficult change is, how long it takes and that there is
a cost to it that is greater than we can now know.
--Remember that recessions and
expansions are cyclical. In a recession you lay the groundwork for the
next expansion. The Universe Story is as true as the New Economy Story,
it is just in remission in the marketplace. It is strong in our personal
lives and in our conversations with each other. We have attended the
coronation, we can admire the new Gatesian ruler, but don’t call it
progress. Call it a useful tool, but just a tool, not an answer. Speed
and economics are not worthy statements of purpose. Legitimate purpose
always centers on the well-being of the human being. It is just a
purpose that is operationally unpopular now and so we have a right to be
a little cranky.
This
article appeared in
News for a Change published by AQP in February 2000
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