An Urge to Bear Down

  I get the sense that the world cannot sustain the amount of people we have at the standard of living that they expect.   I get the sense that all of the global challenges that are beginning to come to a head – climate change, mass migration, environmental degradation, are caused by third world nations moving towards first world standards of living.   Perhaps the world can sustain the consumer driven culture that the west enjoys with its massive consumption of resources and the incredible detritus of its waste.   But it can only do so if that culture is contained within the confines of the west.   As billions of people demand the same kind of standard of living that the west enjoys, concurrent resource consumption and the accompanying pollution and environmental waste, explode to unsustainable levels. The west will continue to demand its current standard of living even as the third world demands it also.   And if the third world cannot get it in the plac...

  Why exactly are we competing with China for global hegemony?   Why exactly are we engaged across the entire globe in wars and insurrections?   How much does this cost?   The traditional rationale of such things was to keep the world safe for trade, keep the oil flowing, and maintain the world order.   And that if the US did not do these things, then either Russia or China would.   We work very hard to keep nations dependent on us so that we can be the nation that essentially runs things. This has sort of worked.   We spend blood and treasure running around the world trying to get everyone to buy into this system through either pay-offs, threats of force or just straight bombs.   And in return, US corporations flourish as money flows easily to their coffers.   It is good for US consumers in that we get cheap flat screen TVs and we get to offshore our greenhouse gas emissions to the third world.   After all, the pollution and detritus ...

  Every day I remain silent in the face of increasingly discriminatory policies at my Fortune 50 company.   Quotas, or ‘targets’, are formulated.   Training programs are ‘offered’ that proclaim me a racist for the color of my skin.   Struggle sessions, or ‘difficult conversations’, are orchestrated where we are segregated by race or gender and encouraged to talk about how some people’s culture, by dint of their skin color, harm women, people of color, or the LBTQ community.   We talk about equity and how lack of equal outcomes are toxic; and how people of a certain skin color, stand in the way of racial progress. I take all of this in and say nothing.   For saying anything that contradicts the religion of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion will get me fired.   Even asking questions that may illuminate contradictions or the potential unintended consequences of such thinking is enough to limit your career at the very least.   You are quickly seen as ...

The west is dead.   I’ve been saying it for a long time.   A viewing of the Grammy’s the other night is all you need to see to conclude that we are a civilization in steep decline.   We normalize humanity’s deepest pathologies as if they were something to celebrate; even as we subsidize the destruction of the family, the community and our institutions of faith.   No civilization can long endure such an onslaught.   We are overextended trying to police the world, printing money as fast as we can, and abandoning the principles upon which we were founded.   Other nations are not engaging in such foolish activity.   They will overtake us, while we become a shell of what we once were.   A once great civilization destroyed by corruption and a deep lack of moral moderation.   In that respect, we are not unlike many civilizations that have gone before us.   The pendulum swings and the inability of humans and institutions to moderate their most s...

  Rational DEI As a Fortune 500 organizational development consultant, I have worked with lots of organizations who are now engaged in significant Diversity and Inclusion efforts.   These efforts are mostly laudable and driven by a desire to create more diverse and inclusive workplaces.   Of course, the positive outcome of creating diverse and inclusive workplaces is undeniable and well-documented.   There are lots of theories about why this is so, but it seems relatively easy to generalize that when people feel valued, when their perspectives are heard, and when we actively seek out different opinions and perspectives, that we get better outcomes. There is another angle to many D&I efforts that attempts to rectify imbalances in how many diverse people hold leadership positions in the organization, to fix any pay disparities, and to close gaps in hiring, retention and attrition of diverse employees.   These are also laudable.   It is easy to see why...

  The God-King Can Bleed I was eating dinner with my sons the other night discussing President Trump when my eldest son said, “Maybe his real purpose is to let us know that the god-king can bleed.”   I was interested.   “Go on,” I said.   He paused, “It’s like in the movie 300 when Leonidas told Xerxes that ‘we may all die but at least we will show the world that the god-king can bleed.’” Pretty cool metaphor.   For the most part, I am less interested in Trump’s personal flaws and his outrageous twitter behavior.   What does interest me is the corrupted system within which we live, and the fact that he seems to be the only person willing to talk about it. His rise is not surprising to me at all, and the handwringing about how he has garnered such support makes me laugh.   Of course many people want to vote for him.   I mean, who in the heck wants the alternative?   To vote for people who denigrate you and your beliefs, call you ...