Will This Shift Enrich You .. Or Destroy You?

Does it feel to you like things have changed in the last year or two? Many people are mistakenly thinking that the economic downturn is the cause of the shift .. but the truth is, the financial turbulence is only a SYMPTOM of the shift that’s occuring right now. And the important thing for you to get here is that if you can understand the shift and recognize it, and know what it leads to .. you can harness its power and capitalize on it. However, if you fail to understand what’s really going on, then you’re standing in it’s path, and you’re going to get blindsided. So, what is the shift that’s occuring? Going back in history several hundred years, there have been clear and repeating cycles that have occurred over and over.  In the book Generations by Strauss and Howe, the theory was put forth that there are clear trends that occur in our culture and society, driven primarily by the generational shifts that occur. Approximately every 80 years (the average length of a human life), this super-cycle repeats itself.  You  can break it down into 2 specific and clear cycles, each lasting about 40 years in duration. By the way, many of the thoughts and insights I’ve developed on this subject have also come from the work of Michael Drew, and his mentor, Roy H. Williams, who present a very powerful presentation called “The Pendulum Presentation” that summarizes this perspective very well. Briefly, here are the 2 cycles, each 40 years in length, that repeat every 80 years or so: 1) The Individual Cycle In this 40 year period, the movement is towards taking care of yourself, “looking out for #1”, and what matters most is looking good and feeling good.  Traits such as greed and ambition are seen as neutral or positive, and people yearn to acquire, succeed and be recognized for their accomplishments.  What matters most and is valued is achievement, accomplishment, material wealth, courage, independence, breaking away from conformity, and looking out for yourself first. 2) The Community Cycle In this second 40 year period, individuals begin to recognize and honour the importance of the community and of others, and there is a clear shift away from individual success towards community support and success.  Spikes occur in volunteerism and philanthropy, and people focus on ‘the greater good’ as opposed to trying to get ahead themselves.  In this cycle, what people value most is connection, transparency, authenticity, honesty, integrity, conforming for the greater good, and fairness. By the way, these terms, Individual and Community, are the names I use to describe these 40 year cycles, even though in Generations, Strauss and Howe use terms such as ‘Idealist’ and ‘Civic’, and go into further discussion and detail on sub-categories as well. When we shift from one cycle into the other, there are dramatic results that have profound impact on everyone — so knowing where we are, and when the shifts are occurring, it’s critically important if you want to try and work with the shifts, rather than against them. Now, to be clear, I don’t think you can predict everything from looking at history.  For example, I don’t agree with many of Harry Dent’s projections, since I think he relies way too much on demographics, and fails to take into account a lot of other significant variables (which explains why he’s been wrong on more of his predictions than he’s been right, and why David Foote’s book, “Boom, Bust and Echo” ended up largely fiction and didn’t provide very accurate views into what would happen in the future based on the baby boomers).  However, as Mark Twain said, “history may not repeat itself, but it usually rhymes.” So .. Where Are We? Based on the studies, the last super-cycle (starting with the last Community Cycle), began in approximately 1923-1925.  It lasted for approximately 40 years, when in about 1963, the next Individual Cycle commenced. And, if your math is good, you would then see that if the Individual Cycle started in 1963 or thereabouts, that would mean .. it ended in 2003, and we have just moved into the beginning of the next Community Cycle. Look back and see what was happening in these periods of time, and let’s determine if there’s anything to these cycles.  First, ask yourself, what was going on in the mid to late 1920’s .. was there anything happening economically that might be compared to what’s happening today? Obviously, the parallels between then and now are interesting to consider, since that was the period leading into the Great Depression.  It took us 80 years to get back to the financial devastation and risk not seen since that period, and here we are. Fast forward to the 1960’s, and it’s obvious there was a fundamental shift in society and culture, as the “groovy 60’s” took shape and conformity was thrown aside.  The 60’s kicked off the next Individual Cycle, leading to the push for individual freedom, non-conformity, and doing what you wanted because it felt good. This led into the 70’s, and the cycle was half-way complete in the mid-80’s — which arguably was the height of the “me” generation, all about looking good and feeling good.  The hottest songs were titles such as “Material Girl” by Madonna, and one of the iconic movies of the 80’s was Wall Street, in which Gordon Gecko declared, “Greed Is Good“.  That was perhaps the slogan of the 80’s, and by extension, the Individual Cycle. As this cycle continued, it moved through the 90’s and then past the year 2000, where it ended approximately 5-6 years ago.  Since then, we’ve been moving into the front of the next Community Cycle. Now, I’m reducing down an incredible amount of information into a single blog post, but my purpose here is to help you recognize that we’re going through a significant and systemic change in social and cultural psychology, and you MUST understand this going forward. And here’s the most important point I’m trying to make: What this shift means is that going forward, people will demand honesty, integrity, authenticity and transparency.  People will crave to connect with others, and will choose quality of life over quantity of material goods or wealth. People will rather listen to someone they know who isn’t perfect but is honest, rather than “gurus” who talk a big game but never show enough of themselves for anyone to really know or trust. And people will demand to know more about the people they deal with — connecting with people on an individual basis will become a significant factor in your ability to be successful. One simple example is the explosion of social media in the last 3 years — why is it that social media has become one of the single most powerful influences on the internet and in media today?  Because technology has largely disconnected us, and social media serves that craving we all have to be connected and to resonate with others. This means that regardless of what business you happen to be in, you need to determine how you can integrate these traits and values into your organization and into your relationships. I’ll do more posts on this subject in the future, particularly if you post comments and show that you’re engaged by this topic. Suffice to say, we’re on the crest of a MASSIVE change, it it will be your choice whether you step on and ride it to success, or try to keep doing things the way you used to, and get swept away by this powerful and predictable wave.  ]]>