JourneyPersonal

Evolution of Personal Responsibility?

Is our culture evolving into one where each person will have more choice and take more (appropriate) responsibility? Where are we on the curve, if so - and what can we do to further it?

I obviously assume it's happening, and I think it's a good thing.

I started pondering this question after beginning research on my novel - it's historical, covers such topics as democracy and slavery (and their interesting intersection in history). Reading books like Joseph Ellis' Founding Brothers, and biographies of Benjamin Franklin, Beaumarchais, the Marquis de Lafayette, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, have made me believe that they must have perceived, and tried actively to foster - this growing sense of responsibility.

What do you think?

Passion, Growth and Pain

I have noticed that people's passions or areas of focus seem to coincide with areas where they personally need growth.

Example: John Lennon said he beat his ex-wife and had a tendency toward violence, and that the peace movement  was full of people like him.

Example: I am very interested in becoming an enlightened leader, and/but I personally have much trouble accepting authority - and I really need work on self-governance.

Example: A person I know well sometimes drives others away when they don't meet her expectations - and/but she's very drawn to developing community.

Example: I know several people who have created and dissolved business partnerships who now study personal and group responsibility.

Is this type of alignment a known phenom with a name? Do we seek balance in this way?

Sticks versus Carrots

Sticks versus carrots. I would love to hear your thoughts on creating a sustainable, healthy corporate culture. I see lots of pressure on groups to perform. Fear is a good motivator short-term - but eventually it loses its effectiveness (the donkey becomes numb to the stick). Carrots are similar - money, recognition are powerful motivators, but what's the trick of keeping them appropriately sized, keeping the donkey hungry?

Ideally I want people to self-motivate. As executive, is that my job, to identify and align people's passions and drives with corporate goals, provide the opportunity and step out of the way?

Fear and Company Culture

The more experienced and self-confident I become, the more I realize how much FEAR drives people. Considering the effect fear has has helped me understand problems that used to baffle me (in myself and others). I wonder whether, as people gain responsibility within an organization - does the fear morph into other related behaviors? I suspect it still operates.

Are the stakes higher for those at the top, lending more pressure to the fears that are there?

Creating Company Culture

For the past 2 years, I've been engaged in actively trying to grow a small company into a thriving larger one. It's not easy, and I've sought advice from several trusted others.

I'm establishing a new category called "Company Culture" to ask, and invite them to answer, our questions on this fascinating subject.