music

End or Beginning?

A few days ago, I received a message from Peter Senge (the author of the Fifth Discipline and the founder of the Society for Organizational Learning) inviting me to reflect on a few question at a time that was marked by the end of a few-thousand-year-old calendar and the start of a new one. In particular, I was invited to think about the following questions:

  1. What am I committed to transforming in myself?
  2. What seeds do I, and we, want to plant and cultivate for the well being of people and all life on earth?
  3. What is the story that will be told in 100 years about what was transformed in this new beginning?

I took all these three questions very seriously and thought about the following answers:

1. What am I committed to transforming in myself?

  • To be less conservative and more courageous when it comes to expressing the truth and implementing justice
  • To be more proactive in connecting with people
  • To have no fear of failure, being judged and criticized by others

2. What seeds do I, and we, want to plant and cultivate for the well being of people and all life on earth?

  • Thinkocrats, especially as it relates to politics, leadership, education and healthcare

3. What is the story that will be told in 100 years about what was transformed in this new beginning?

  • That a group of people in 2012-13 decided to think differently about how they wanted to lead their lives and suspended some of their assumptions about how the world runs. In business, the “growth model” was challenged and people started to realize that “sustainability” and “growth” contradict by nature and the growth MUST stop at certain point of any kind of life cycle (including businesses and nations). In politics, the notion of “policy following the voters” was also challenged as people started to realize that if policy would only follow the voters’ wishes, a regression to the mean would be inevitable and no visionary leadership can exist. In medicine, a movement for “open system” started, which resembles the open-source movement in computer software. This movement changed the patient-doctor dynamics forever and had a huge impact on global movement of medical talent, cost of healthcare and patient choice. Hundred years ago, people started to fundamentally reassess the direction of human civilization and conducted some critical course corrections along the way.

I would like to share a musical sketch that I composed a couple of days ago that expresses the hopes I have for the future and the uncertainties that are the integral parts of this exciting journey.