The “new normal’ everyone talks about. What is it supposed to look like?
As with many things: being clear about what you do NOT want is easy to describe.
Explain and outline what it is that you really (really!) want, is considerably harder.
This paradoxical fact applies to many aspects of our lives and society: rather than knowing what kind of partner we are looking for, we are fairly clear what we do NOT want. Rather than being clear about our most favourite holiday destination ever, we are quite adamant what experience we want at all cost avoid.
There are pros and cons when describing the world in this way.
Listing the No Gos is typically built upon experiences – first or second hand. The value of these experience is important. They teach us a good, valuable, but also unfortunately smallest common denominator.
A red line not to be crossed.
That is important – but it is not all there is. There is more. There must be more.
Outlining the vision of the ideal in concrete terms is really hard. But really important.
No Gos are usually accepted exactly as is: the red line not to bed crossed – ever.
Often, that red line has always been there … we just finally dare to put it into words, into requests and into demands.
Yet, even that red line is shifting as we speak. Till now, as a global society, we were more often than not negligent and not bold enough to infringe on where it ran. Because it had been there for so long that we got used to the thought of it being ‘forever after’ permanent.
Because
‘If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.’
Jessie Potter (probably)
That is the state we’re in in our busy every day lives.
To make matters worse: Ideals and big picture visions are more often than not frowned upon: a child’s play, unrealistic, simplistic, or just simply denominated a ‘castle in the air’.
This is probably why it is so much harder for everyone of us to outline that big daring idealistic vision of ours: we may look foolish to those that surround us.
It is hard to paint a clear, sharp picture of our vision for ourselves, our societies, our economies and our planet.
To not stop at a fizzy and abstract idea, but to fill that idea with colour, with smell, with touch, with texture … and with action. To make the idea happen.
What we imagine and wish to be, is hard to put in good words that speak and inspire.
Much more so than the negativism of reject of what must not be any more.
As we go forward, we have to learn a new way of coexistence with a virus. One whose mechanisms we do not sufficiently understand (yet); one who has fundamentally changed our ways of being, dreaming and interacting. Suddenly we are forced to learn and colour in that mental image of ours: what could and might be? No doubt, that’ll take some time to crispify.
But every change starts small, and being very clear about the No Gos, the Undesirable Characteristics (yes! in capital letters) is a start. It is a landmark that indicates: there is no turning back beyond this point.
At the same time, it is time to complement the No Gos with the few To Gos we envision.
Can we get a 2-for-1? Can we turn the clarity of No Gos into equally clear Go Tos?
Hereafter a try – my try – at exactly that.
What are your Go Tos and No Gos?
| The New: Go To | The Old: No Go |
| Stakeholder supremacy. Because we’re all in the same boat. | Shareholder supremacy. Because the world is bigger than investment returns. |
| Genuine meritocracy. May those win that genuinely make the biggest positive difference to the world. | Separate-o’cracy. Power-based and/or money-driven cronyism comfortable with a multitude class, gender, and ethnic biases |
| Do the right thing. And perfection it over time. | ‘Doing things right’ and do it very well. Because perfectioning an imperfect thing, makes is merely perfectly imperfect. |
| Live and help to live better. | Live and let live. |
| Co-creation. A collaborative-competitive approach to build unique inventions, innovations and IP. Together we go far. | Competition Alone we go fast, but likely not very far. |
| Shut out the noise. Focus on the facts. Look at the impacts going forward. Will it make the world genuinely a better place to be – for all! | ‘The squeaking wheel gets the grease’. Just because it is the noisiest does not mean it is the correctest argument in town. |
| Accept that some things are pricelessly valuable. There is not enough money in the world to pay for them. Not now, not ever. Never. | No price, no value, no mercy. Natural assets treated as ‘income’ rather than as a finite resource. |
| Science is a self-improving and self-critising modus operandi. Cherish it. And let the true facts speak | ‘We believe in science” – or not: is not an option. Remember: Science is not a religion. It never was, and it will never be. There are just facts. |
