by I put the previous characteristic or virtualization as “near certainty” barring collapse. I’m a bit less certain on this one – but only a bit. I would be pretty surprised if GDP remains the key measure of organizational, local, national or even global success.
The obvious challenger is some version of the triple bottom, which includes economic success as a factor, but as an equal partner along with social and environmental issues; it is also referred to as people, profit, and planet for social, economic and environment. This seems like a no-brainer – a sensible place to start. There are many measurement systems indexes out there that go beyond economic – a whole discipline of environmental economics has put some serious thought into re-conceiving economics along the lines of the triple bottom line.
After that – or possibly alongside it? How about “happiness,” or perhaps subjective well-being is a more precise term. How well are stakeholders or citizens feeling about their state-of being? Are they happy, contented, enjoying a satisfying quality-of-life? You’ve all seen the Map of World Happiness, something of a novelty at present that may take on growing significance on the future. As postmodern numbers continue to grow, their “search for meaning” will dictate that ideas of researching, understanding, and seeking happiness for as many as possible is a worthy goal. I led a project a few years back on the future of youth happiness for MTV, and I was surprised at how much research there is out there on happiness. And there is Bhutan, which has actually adopted a Gross National Happiness system. Yes, Bhutan is a small country, but the UK and France talked about a similar system, but haven’t made the switch.
What’s your measure of success? Andy Hines
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