An Urge to Bear Down

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...