Nice read as always, I think one of the most observable voids of leadership you didn't touch on in this article is mentorship at work. People in my cohort (let's call it 90's babies) were/are told by their parents that you go to school, get a job, you show up and listen to your superiors, and in turn they pass their wisdom down on you to help you navigate the great uncertainty that is a career. In speaking to friends/colleagues, I can't think of a system that works less like those people envision. My colleagues are demanded to return to full time office work only to show up to an office where the executives only come in a few days a week and hardly have time to interact with you, instead asking you to simply sit around and be available to them when necessary. "Mentoring" to them seemingly means "sit on this call I am on and just listen" and I guess in turn you suddenly understand exactly what your supposed to be doing? This has, in my observation, helped create a generation of workers who are so detached from their job/company/colleagues and in turn void of any meaning from work, which perpetuates a nihilistic cycle where they feel powerless to create anything in the world around them. I think this is a huge problem in the "leadership" of our society who have zero interest in planting trees but instead tell us to be grateful for the shade their trees provide, not realizing the lack of sunlight isn't letting us plant any of our own.
Great observations, agree with everything here. Young people should be as selective as they can with where they chose to work (if they are able). Find companies who actually do invest in growing talent. They do exist, my experience here is it's probably at a smaller, quirky firm more so than large corporate America here.
There's something about the 20th c / early 21st c. high economic growth creating a "comfort culture" — where in too many fields, one could find success without taking much risk. In every of these domains, just hanging on to the inertia of successes past paid dividends. Certainly true for entertainment (just ship sequels and reboots), politics (just milk the existing structure), family (selfishness over family-building), and more.
We need a return to risk-taking and creativity, and to stop rewarding the stagnant rehashing of everything.
We have not adapted our structures to a fully connected species. We still behave as little tribal apes when everything is mostly done to scale civilization globally. So while I agree leadership is lacking, until one of the two sides scores a definite win (tribal v unified) we’ll be on the same loop.
Nice read as always, I think one of the most observable voids of leadership you didn't touch on in this article is mentorship at work. People in my cohort (let's call it 90's babies) were/are told by their parents that you go to school, get a job, you show up and listen to your superiors, and in turn they pass their wisdom down on you to help you navigate the great uncertainty that is a career. In speaking to friends/colleagues, I can't think of a system that works less like those people envision. My colleagues are demanded to return to full time office work only to show up to an office where the executives only come in a few days a week and hardly have time to interact with you, instead asking you to simply sit around and be available to them when necessary. "Mentoring" to them seemingly means "sit on this call I am on and just listen" and I guess in turn you suddenly understand exactly what your supposed to be doing? This has, in my observation, helped create a generation of workers who are so detached from their job/company/colleagues and in turn void of any meaning from work, which perpetuates a nihilistic cycle where they feel powerless to create anything in the world around them. I think this is a huge problem in the "leadership" of our society who have zero interest in planting trees but instead tell us to be grateful for the shade their trees provide, not realizing the lack of sunlight isn't letting us plant any of our own.
Great observations, agree with everything here. Young people should be as selective as they can with where they chose to work (if they are able). Find companies who actually do invest in growing talent. They do exist, my experience here is it's probably at a smaller, quirky firm more so than large corporate America here.
“risk-averse nostalgia machine”. I’ve been wanting to write about that and you nailed it in one phrase!
I can see the big board!
A few voices the wilderness howl at the moon and lament the state of the world. You are one of those and I am thankful for your wisdom.
There's something about the 20th c / early 21st c. high economic growth creating a "comfort culture" — where in too many fields, one could find success without taking much risk. In every of these domains, just hanging on to the inertia of successes past paid dividends. Certainly true for entertainment (just ship sequels and reboots), politics (just milk the existing structure), family (selfishness over family-building), and more.
We need a return to risk-taking and creativity, and to stop rewarding the stagnant rehashing of everything.
We have not adapted our structures to a fully connected species. We still behave as little tribal apes when everything is mostly done to scale civilization globally. So while I agree leadership is lacking, until one of the two sides scores a definite win (tribal v unified) we’ll be on the same loop.
The problem is even wealthy Arab states, with their gratuitous benefits and pro-family propaganda, are dying off.
Yes I don't know what the specific solution is here although the first step for sure is for us to talk about it more.