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May, 2023
So, we meet again. Another opportunity to decide how we want to use productivity gains on the road to After Capitalism. Last November I suggested the possibility of a great opt-out regarding work with the choices as: Six months later, we have AI/ChatGPT giving us a nice little productivity boost. Will we use it to […]
May, 2023
This semester in our Alternative Perspectives course at Houston Foresight, we ran into Otto Scharmer a couple of times, for his well-known concepts of Presencing and Theory U. Another of his perhaps lesser well-known works, Leading from the Emerging Future: From Ego-System to Eco-System, is very relevant to our After Capitalism research. It uses Theory […]
Apr, 2023
We all love lists. I posted a drivers list a year-ish ago. I thought it would be fun to revisit and see if anything changed and add a few observations. This is my personal view of the top ten drivers for roughly the 20-year global future. I do make some allowances for what’s being paid […]
Oct, 2022
This week I’m sharing a podcast I did with futurist Joanna Lepore on the future of values. It’s a favorite topic of mine ( 150 of posts). As a bonus , if you’re in the US, I’ll send you a copy of my values book Consumershift: How Changing Values Are Reshaping the Consumer Landscape — […]
Aug, 2022
The three guiding images for After Capitalism each have their own story and appeal. Today, let’s look at the values appeal. Regular readers know the scoop here but hopefully we’re bringing in some new folks to the After Capitalism world: Traditional: Focused on following the rules and fulfilling one’s predetermined role, with priorities such as […]
Jun, 2022
I have “picked” on the postmoderns a few times with posts about the “mean green meme.” Green, by the way, comes from the Spiral Dynamics folks, who named the various worldviews by different colors. Alas, traditional values are blue in the Spiral system – alas this color scheme clashes with the “red-blue” split, which would […]
May, 2022
For years I’d been relying on the World Values Survey data that showed that when one is poor more money increases happiness, but only up to a point — relatively low level of income ($10,000). After that more money got one very little in terms of happiness. In a recent talk, a question was raised […]
May, 2022
Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich recently wrote about “Facing America’s Second Civil War.” While he sees it more as a voluntary zip code split into blue (urban) and red areas (rural and exurban) rather than a shooting war, this hardly offers us much comfort. It reinforced an observation from teaching a recent Certificate in Strategic […]
Apr, 2022
I saw a slogan today to “demand data and think critically.” Demands for data too often serve as a lazy substitute for just plain thinking. We lack the data … so we stop. Or someone really doesn’t want to do something in the first place, so they demand the data. And thinking critically, while generally […]
Jan, 2022
I’ve talked about the mean green meme a few times in the last year as an unfortunate detour in the long-term development of values. First, a key assumption I am making about values is that there is a long-term developmental trajectory toward a more complex and comprehensive view. (If you don’t share this view, then […]
Jun, 2021
I think so! As I get closer to the end and conclusions are dancing around in head, more and more I’m in some sense coming back to where I started. Values shifts are the key. It’s been a while since I’ve shared on them, so let’s quickly review the four types: Traditional: Focused on following […]
May, 2020
Reading the Covid-19 coverage, in particular as presented by the New York Times, and looking at the state government responses, particularly California and New York, my Spiral Dynamics “mean green meme” detector went off. It had been a while since I’ve dived deeply into Integral in general and Ken Wilber in particular, so I figured […]
Sep, 2017
Shifting values are a key part of the “after capitalism” story. It’s not just about economics, it’s really about our way of life. I did a piece fairly recently for the wonder MISC magazine about “consumers.” [Disclosure: The Houston Foresight program is one of four co-publishers, but I would like the pub anyway!] Some long-time […]
Jul, 2017
I’ve got a few books to review for the blog for “After Capitalism” that come at what’s next from different perspectives. Abundance from Peter Diamandis of Singularity U believes in tapping into the competitive instinct as the key to moving forward. Indeed he says that “humans are wired to compete.” I’m sure we’ve all seen […]
Dec, 2015
If anyone has tried to get ConsumerShift in the last few months, you may have wondered why the price was routinely over $50? So did I! I think it had something to do with the original publisher going out of business and incommunicado. Anyhow, I have paperback copies that I’m selling on Amazon and I […]
Sep, 2015
My first reaction to a Sunday NY Times piece asked “Are Western Values Losing their Sway?” was to ask whether the concept of “western values” was still useful? I suspect that regular readers of this blog immediately wondered just what the author meant by Western Values. In fairness to the author, he is also questioning […]
Dec, 2014
A Sunday New York Times piece on “the new allure of sacred pilgrimages” suggested “one in three tourists worldwide is on a spiritual journey.” Even if you’re tempted to quibble with that estimate, anything even close to that is quite amazing. So what’s new in there, in particular related to our interest in values shifts? […]
Dec, 2014
Regular readers of this blog will be familiar with integral values at the leading edge of values change today, with roughly 2-3% of people in affluent countries holding them – those familiar with Spiral Dynamics will know them as “yellow.” The headline description of integrals for me is “making a difference.” And a key characteristic […]
Nov, 2014
I’ve done a few media interviews on the hot topic of shopping’s imminent encroachment into the Thanksgiving holiday. I’ve been sorting likely reactions into the traditional, modern, and postmodern values types [see a summary here]. I am making some huge generalizations here, noting there will be plenty of exceptions. As one might expect, the traditionals […]
Feb, 2014
Clients are most often curious about values shifts as they seek new understanding about their current or new customers or clients and more innovative ways to develop offerings for them, whether its new products, services, or experiences. In some recent project work, an issue came up that made me think that it may be helpful […]
Jan, 2014
Came across a nice post The Future of Happiness — Up or Down? by Deepak Chopra on the Huffington Post site. He starts by noting that “that so little is known about what it takes to be happy.” I would add, but “it ain’t for lack of trying.” There has been a veritable boom in […]
Dec, 2013
The Sunday New York Times had a piece on Millennial Searchers that sought to dispel the myth that they are lazy, selfish, narcissistic, etc. Remember when their predecessors, the Xers, were “slackers?” Seems like the generation “in power” has issues with those coming up behind them. The authors suggest tough economic times have forced them […]
Nov, 2013
I had the luxury of a free Sunday morning to soak in the New York Times (yes, it should be a necessity!) and came across an interesting story “Don’t Mess with My ‘Sacred Values.” Sacred values are defined as moral imperatives that we’re unwilling to compromise on, be they political, religious, or personal. In the […]
Aug, 2013
Thought I’d tie a couple of themes we’ve been talking about here together: consumption and weak signals. I’ve had a three or four posts over the last couple years on declining consumption in affluent World 1 nations (more on “3 worlds“). They could be called “indicator” posts of the basic driving force of “declining consumption.” […]
Aug, 2013
The talks and presentations on the sharing economy are proliferating and improving. New descriptors are emerging, from “couchsurfing” to “collaborative consumption.” The examples are moving beyond the early poster child – Zipcar –to Lyft and Sharedearth.com. Take a look at this excellent presentation by Lauren Moberz on Dashburst for more. One of the benefits of hanging […]
Jul, 2013
In a new paper, Shifting Values: Hope and Concern for “Waking Up,” I took up the challenge of exploring how changing values (as explored in ConsumerShift) might help – or hinder – the need for global society to wake up and respond to the significant global issues ahead aka global emergency – as laid out in Richard […]
Jun, 2013
Thought I’d share some observations from a wonderful book I just read: Fred Kofman, Conscious Business: How to Build Value through Values, Sounds True: Boulder, CO, 2006. [Thanks to Oliver Markley for the recommendation] The author is involved with the Integral movement and the book reflects Integral principles, although it is does not “impose” much […]
Jun, 2013
The full spectrum of values seemed to be in play in China in reading the Sunday New York Times. The eye-popping story was the announcement that the government is planning to move 250 million people into cities. The bulldozers are coming to clear the road for progress. For some time now, the Chinese government has […]
Apr, 2013
A great post by “The Consumerist” on a social-media driven issue on Future of Artificial Dyes in Kraft Macaroni & Cheese. Mary Beth Quirk tells the story of how two bloggers triggered an online petition with over 270,000 signatures that led to a meeting between the bloggers and Kraft. Here’s a telling quote from the […]
Mar, 2013
Another post on the trend to consuming less — I sense a trend here. I came across an excellent piece on the topic by Emily Badger: Share Everything: Why the Way We Consume Has Changed Forever. It illustrates many of the themes highlighted in ConsumerShift. Perhaps foremost is that it indicates a changing relationship between […]