Credit: freefoto.com
It’s the start of the last month of year filled with flux. In 2011, tall trees of our society and economy continued to fall in the forest, while others swayed weakly in the wind. Change is in the hands of the people. In late June, I wrote about “unfortressing,” the concept that defines the change we are seeing in our country’s systems, industries, ways and expectations. We had just witnessed the Arab spring, were on the cusp of the Minnesota state government shutdown and Wisconsin was reeling from its own political turmoil.
Was this year’s change usual, perhaps fueled by the new powers of social media? It’s clear that people are in the midst of change and are the faces and voices of the new economic, generational, resource-limited realities. Political leaders like to talk about reform, but these realities call for tough decisions – the kinds that foil smooth re-elections. So, despite the work of Super Committees and Simpson-Bowles: The National Committee on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, gridlock persists at the federal and state levels about how to balance budgets while serving the public good. Once the gridlock breaks, there will be change in the way government delivers its services.
One can trace this “chaos” stage back to 2007 with the burst of the housing bubble, or in 2008, when finance houses “Too Big to Fail” did, or were bailed out. Duct tape fixes of a few years ago aren’t strong enough to hold the bricks in place, as industry and banking adopt new ways of generating revenue, cutting expenses and serving customers. It’s a new day on both sides of the transaction, while overall industries like manufacturing struggle in a fully exposed shell of the old fortress.
Culturally, we’re quicker than ever to jump on institutions that have failed to uphold ethical, moral or legal rules that govern the rest of society. As financial empires verged on collapse, we viewed the devastatingly toxic sides of Bernie Madoff, Denny Hecker and Tom Petters to name a few. Three years later, as we focus on the high costs of higher ed and major gaps in workforce readiness, we learn college coaches turned blind eyes to sexual predators on their staffs. Via Occupy Wall Street, fortresses clearly in the queue: college loans and higher education.
My year-end conclusion on “unfortressing” remains this: If leaders or communities have tended their houses through process or product improvement, ethical leadership and fiscal management focused on long term performance, they are by this very behavior removing a few old bricks and re-assessing the shape and durability of the structure.
During this time of change and chaos, we can be certain the diverse and proud American people are helping sort out the new criteria for success in our next economy.
