Have you ever had the feeling like you’re itching for a fight? I have – for several months now…
I hadn’t been able to put my finger on why, but I’ve had a general edginess about how I viewed and responded to the world around me. And in the course of my discovery, I asked several colleagues and clients about their observations as well.
There was general agreement that many of us are feeling edgy due to sensory overload.
Here’s the scenario:
Everything is getting bigger, louder, and busier. At the gym, people are literally yelling across the room to each other: “HEY HOW ‘BOUT THAT GAME ON SUNDAY?” or at a restaurant recently, there was a table of guests who were so loud that I swear their mothers never told them to use their “indoor voices”… “ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? HE SAID THAT???”
I found myself saying “I’LL HAVE A CHARDONNAY AND THE MUSSELLS!”
It’s not just about the noise – we’re bombarded with visual images too. I have an image of Americans sitting down to a bacon-wrapped, triple cheese burger with jumbo fries, and a Big Gulp, in front of the 52” screen TV, with the Ipod blaring, cell phone in hand, alternating between text messaging, taking pictures, talking and watching yet another rerun of Law and Order – on their phone.
When is enough enough?
NOTE: I will tell you now that this article/blog, what you have just read, and what you will read… though somewhat modified, was written and published in December 2005. For me it was true then and even truer today. Read on…
2000 – 2005
I have a theory: My theory is that catastrophic world events and institutional scandals are escalating at a rate faster than we can comprehend – all in an effort to make us aware of our own insanity…
Just in the past 5 years, we’ve experienced September 11th, the dot-com crash, countless corporate scandals leaving retirement funds bankrupt; major scandals in the Catholic church, the FBI, the federal branch of the government; the tsunami in Indonesia, Hurricane Katrina; fears of a pandemic diseases. And we hear about it non-stop thanks to our 24 hour news coverage. Just when we think we’ve seen more suffering than we can handle, there’s another event off the Richter Scale to get our attention.
And many of us retreat to our solitary worlds of isolation on the computer, Ipod or video games to escape the reality of having to deal with the tragedy people and issues we’re facing.
So what does this have to do with work and the business environment? Nothing and everything.
The bottom line is we’re living in a society that supports the pursuit excess – of everything. All of our advanced technology, as great as it is, is also disconnecting people from each other. We can hardly hear each other anymore. No wonder people come to work and find it hard to serve the customer or each other. We are looking in the wrong direction about what is important in our lives…
Fast forward to 2015
While this article highlighted the changes between 2000 – 2005, think about the changes since 2008: industries collapsing, social media and technology changes, environmental changes, government regulations and a whole new generation entering the workforce with totally different expectations .
Please – consider that we are entering a whole new world. The new world order requires us to be “Type T” leaders – people who are good stewards of our resources, looking out for the good of the whole, and collaborating to make a better world.
We cannot continue to be single focused or in pursuit of our own self interests. The Type T leader works in collaboration with others to serve the client or customer and does what is in the best interest of the company, the employees, the community and the environment … and to be a world-server.
Marty Stanley, CSP, is a national speaker, consultant and executive coach on personal and organizational change. If you’re fed up with all the “noise” that is preventing your own or your organization’s effectiveness, give me a call or email me. Enough is enough!
martystanley@alteringoutcomes.com 816-695-5453
To order From Type A to Type T: How to Be a Transformational Leader in a Bottom-Line World:
