Thanks Laura - on the grow vs. shrink and die piece, I don't disagree with you at all. What I mean is that within the system we have of publicly traded companies (speaking of our organization specifically), that's the paradigm that is established. I think we could have a very interesting (and long!) discussion on this topic
-Sam On Fri, Mar 24, 2017 at 9:40 AM, Laura Hilliger <[email protected]> wrote: > Interesting discussion. I think this: > > "The driving truth is that if we don't grow, we will shrink and die.” > > and this > > "The average rate of GDP growth in countries with shrinking working-age > populations is *only* 1.5%.” (Emphasis mine) > > are misnomers. This idea “growth is good" is aggressively promoted because > the economic systems that support it (e.g. systems based on consumerism), > depend on growth as a metric for success. What it doesn’t take into account > is the happiness and well-being of the people inside the system. It’s been > generally established that countries with lower GDP have equal or higher > levels of happiness compared with countries with high GDP. If we had > data(!) we could start looking at this at an organizational level. > > Greenpeace is doing a research and strategy around mindsets that are > prevalent in our society. The “infinite growth is possible and good” mind > set is one that the ecological movement is desperately trying to change as > the growth-driven consumerism is the root cause of almost all environmental > issues. Maybe it’s better to say “If we don’t change, we will shrink and > die.” Even that might depend – if you think about tribal cultures that > stayed the same way for hundreds and hundreds of years, only to die out > when change was introduced. > > None of this is a dichotomy, of course. We’re a group of people who are > hyper aware of the nuance (this pleases me :) > > Rands wrote an article in 2014 that I’ve shared a thousand times. It’s > specifically about cultural identity, the shifting of culture when new > people are introduced, and the fear that can elicit – He called it “Old > Guard, New Guard”. > > http://randsinrepose.com/archives/the-old-guard/ > > —laura > > Laura Hilliger > Zythepsary (part of the We Are Open Co-op <http://weareopen.coop>) > @epilepticrabbit <http://twitter.com/epilepticrabbit> > > > > On Mar 24, 2017, at 12:44 PM, Sam Knuth <[email protected]> wrote: > > Thank you, Brook for keeping us engaged with deep topics! > > I like the comparison/contrast of our work on "open" culture with what's > happening in the global political climate right now. I'm surprised I hadn't > made this connection myself now that I think about it. I see a lot of > parallels. Working in an organization that has been "open" since its > founding, it does become part of the identity of the people working in the > organization. But, as the organization grows, and welcomes more and more > new people ("immigrants" - never made that analogy before), we see a lot of > fears among some that our culture will change or will become "like them" > instead of "them" becoming "like us". Other people welcome the newcomers > and embrace what we can learn from them, accepting that how we've always > done things might not be the best way. The driving truth is that if we > don't grow, we will shrink and die. In a company, it's easier to convince > people of this truth, and people can more easily leave if they really don't > like the direction we're heading (whereas as much as liberal American's > joke about moving to Canada, doing so is actually quite difficult). > > As I'm writing this and thinking about the comparison, I'm seeing a lot of > similar challenges but not easy answers or ways to apply our learnings to > broader society or public policy at a national level. My personal feeling > here is that looking at this kind of data doesn't sway people. Companies, I > think, are much more receptive to convincing data than citizens. It's more > about how people feel in relation to deeply ingrained cultural identity. > Those feelings are so strong that they result in the election of leaders > who take an extreme stance on one end of the spectrum or the other. > > Great food for thought! > > Sam > > On Thu, Mar 23, 2017 at 10:01 AM, Brook Manville <[email protected] > > wrote: > >> Dear Open enthusiasts....recent opinion piece in WSJ by columnist Bret >> Stephens caught my eye (below)--talking about immigration, open borders, >> greater diversity and innovation; and imply such things should be more part >> of today's policy debates (but aren't). There are some "meta" themes about >> "open" at the national level that might deserve more attention among us. At >> a minimum, it makes for some interesting compare and contrast discussion, >> e.g. how much of the culture-building implied by best open organizations >> should be/could be applied to a nation's public policy? What is the data >> about innovation and other measures of "good" between companies that are >> more open versus those that are less? etc...Regards >> >> Other People’s Babies’If the U.S. slipped into demographic decline like >> Japan, it would tear itself apart. >> [image: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe with President Trump in West >> Palm Beach, Fla., Feb. 10.] >> Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe with President Trump in West Palm >> Beach, Fla., Feb. 10. PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS >> <https://www.wsj.com/articles/other-peoples-babies-1490050955> >> By >> BRET STEPHENS >> March 20, 2017 7:02 p.m. ET >> 786 COMMENTS >> <https://www.wsj.com/articles/other-peoples-babies-1490050955#livefyre-toggle-SB10780801779306074119304583034393448048174> >> >> *Tokyo* >> >> Japan is an excellent place to test the proposition that countries do >> better with low levels of immigration. In a land of 127 million people, >> there are just over two million foreign residents, and only a third of them >> are here for the long term. The number of illegal immigrants, which peaked >> at a modest 300,000 in the early 1990s, is down by 80%. >> >> As for refugees, in 2016, Tokyo entertained 10,000 requests >> <http://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20170211/p2g/00m/0dm/008000c> for >> asylum. It accepted a grand total of 28. Steve Bannon would smile. >> >> >> The result, say immigration restrictionists, is plain to see. Japan’s >> crime and drug-use rates are famously low. Life expectancy is famously >> high. Japanese students put their American peers to shame on international >> tests. The unemployment rate clocks in at 3.1%. All this is supposed to be >> a function of a homogenous society with a high degree of cultural >> cohesion—the antithesis of cacophonous, multiethnic America. >> >> Just one problem: The Japanese have lost their appetite for reproduction. >> To steal a line from Steve King, the GOP congressman from Iowa, the only >> way they can save their civilization is with “somebody else’s babies.” >> >> Japan’s population shrank by nearly a million between 2010 and 2015, the >> first absolute decline since census-taking began in the 1920s. On current >> trend <http://www.ipss.go.jp/site-ad/index_english/esuikei/gh2401e.asp> the >> population will fall to 97 million by the middle of the century. Barely 10% >> of Japanese will be children. The rest of the population will divide almost >> evenly between working-age adults and the elderly. >> >> Imagine yourself as a 35-year-old Japanese salary man. You can expect >> that an ever-larger share of your paycheck will go to the government to >> fund the pensions and health care of your parents—who, at 70, can >> reasonably expect to live another 10 or 15 years, and who aren’t likely to >> vote for politicians promising to strip their entitlements. >> >> Being Japanese, you were raised to make financial sacrifices for your >> elders, even if it means not having children of your own. Besides, it’s >> hard to want children with the economy in such bad shape. As Morgan >> Stanley <http://quotes.wsj.com/MS>’s Ruchir Sharma has noted >> <https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/world/2016-02-15/demographics-stagnation>, >> lousy demographics mean a lousy economy: The average rate of GDP growth in >> countries with shrinking working-age populations is only 1.5%. In 2016, >> Japan’s growth rate was 1%—and that was a relatively good year by recent >> standards. >> >> What if the government paid you to have babies? Alas, along with millions >> of your countrymen, you suffer from what the Japanese call >> <https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/20/young-people-japan-stopped-having-sex> >> “celibacy >> syndrome” and aren’t interested in sex, never mind procreation. You’re also >> unhappy: In 2016, Japan ranked 53rd on the U.N.’s World Happiness Report, a >> notch above Kazakhstan but below El Salvador and Uzbekistan. >> >> So Japan is in trouble, and the government knows it. Prime >> Minister Shinzo Abe has tinkered with formulas to bring in lower-skilled >> temporary workers for housecleaning and farm jobs, and he has promoted >> various tax breaks and subsidies to ease the burden of raising children and >> caring for aging parents. >> >> But whatever their other benefits, “pro-family” policies won’t reverse >> the demographic trend. Only large-scale immigration can do that, and the >> Japanese won’t countenance it. The flip side of cohesion is exclusion. The >> consequence of exclusion is decline. >> >> Which brings us back to Mr. King and the U.S. immigration debates. A >> decade ago, America’s fertility rate, at 2.12 children for every woman, was >> just above the replacement rate. That meant there could be modest >> population growth without immigration. But the fertility rate has since >> fallen: It’s now below replacement and at an all-time low >> <http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2016/06/07/behind-the-ongoing-u-s-baby-bust-in-5-charts/> >> . >> >> Without immigration, our demographic destiny would become Japanese. But >> our culture wouldn’t, leaving us with the worst of both worlds: economic >> stagnation without social stability. Multiethnic America would tear itself >> to pieces fighting over redistribution rights to the shrinking national pie. >> >> This doesn’t have to be our fate. Though it may be news to Mr. King, >> immigrants aren’t a threat to American civilization. They are our >> civilization—bearers of a forward-looking notion of identity based on what >> people wish to become, not who they once were. Among those immigrants are >> 30% of all American Nobel Prize winners and the founders of 90 of our >> Fortune 500 companies—a figure that more than doubles when you include >> companies founded by the children of immigrants. If immigration means >> change, it forces dynamism. America is literally unimaginable without it. >> >> Every virtue has its defect and vice versa. The Japanese are in the >> process of discovering that the social values that once helped launch their >> development—loyalty, self-sacrifice, harmony—now inhibit it. Americans may >> need reminding that the culture of openness about which conservatives so >> often complain is our abiding strength. Openness to different ideas, >> foreign goods and new people. And their babies—who, whatever else Mr. King >> might think, are also made in God’s image. >> >> *Write [email protected] <[email protected]>.* >> >> On Thu, Mar 23, 2017 at 8:10 AM, Bryan Behrenshausen <[email protected] >> > wrote: >> >>> ### Editor's Note ### >>> >>> Hi, friends! It's been another exciting, whirlwind week here in OpenOrg >>> Land. Yesterday, we announced the next book in the Open Organization >>> book series—this one devoted to open principles in the IT organization. >>> We're building it the open source way, and (if you missed the >>> announcement) you can see the links below for more details about getting >>> involved. >>> >>> Today we're publishing the second half of Ajinkya Pawar's two-part >>> series on open agencies. In this article, Ajinkya lays out a concrete >>> and specific plan for creating the agency of the future. >>> >>> –B >>> >>> ### New Today ### >>> >>> Ajinkya Pawar: What does an ad agency's source code look like? >>> >>> https://opensource.com/open-organization/17/3/how-build-open-ad-agency >>> >>> red.ht/2o855Xy >>> >>> Sample social media: >>> >>> If an ad agency is to go open source, then what's its source code? >>> @thejinxedone red.ht/2o855Xy #TheOpenOrg >>> >>> .@thejinxedone explains exactly how to build an open ad agency. What are >>> you waiting for? red.ht/2o855Xy #TheOpenOrg >>> >>> .@thejinxedone with five benefits to turning your ad agency into >>> #TheOpenOrg: red.ht/2o855Xy >>> >>> >>> ### Previously Published ### >>> >>> Bryan Behrenshausen: "Help us write the next IT culture book" >>> >>> https://opensource.com/open-organization/17/3/announcing-it-culture-book >>> >>> red.ht/2nmnfYB >>> >>> First day page views: 157 >>> >>> Sample social media: >>> >>> Help us write the next great book on IT culture—in the open: >>> red.ht/2nmnfYB #TheOpenOrg >>> >>> We're writing a book at the intersection of #TheOpenOrg and #IT culture. >>> You can help: red.ht/2nmnfYB >>> >>> The next book in #TheOpenOrg book series is under active development. >>> Pull requests welcome: red.ht/2nmnfYB >>> >>> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= >>> >>> Simon Phipps: "7 ways to discuss legal matters with an open community" >>> >>> https://opensource.com/open-organization/17/3/legal-matters-community >>> >>> First day page views: 131 >>> >>> ### Site Stats ### >>> >>> Page views yesterday: 753 >>> Total page views for the month: 12,213 >>> Page views from newsletter: 106 >>> >>> Leaders Manual downloads: 5 >>> Leaders Manual downloads for the month: 71 >>> >>> Catalyst-In-Chief downloads: 4 >>> Total Catalyst-In-Chief downloads for the month: 30 >>> >>> Field Guide downloads: 2 >>> Total Field Guide downloads for the month: 37 >>> >>> ### Social Media Stats ### >>> >>> @TheOpenOrg Twitter followers: 3,918 (+1) >>> @JWhitehurst Twitter followers: 15,204 (+2) >>> Facebook likes: 526 (+0) >>> >>> ### Full Daily Stats ### >>> >>> https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/196RzNrhAiHRBcZHtrDYY >>> Ky0I9m8Bqa67K9OOPbDxuME/edit?pli=1#gid=46325027 >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Openorg-list mailing list >>> [email protected] >>> https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/openorg-list >>> >> >> >> >> -- >> *Brook Manville* >> *Principal, Brook Manville LLC* >> >> *http://www.brookmanville.com/ <http://www.brookmanville.com/>* >> *Twitter* <https://twitter.com/> >> *@brookmanville* >> *blogging at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/brookmanville/ >> <http://www.forbes.com/sites/brookmanville/>* >> >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Openorg-list mailing list >> [email protected] >> https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/openorg-list >> >> > > > -- > Sam Knuth > Director, Customer Content Services > Red Hat, Inc > Mobile: +1 612-840-1785 <(612)%20840-1785> > _______________________________________________ > Openorg-list mailing list > [email protected] > https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/openorg-list > > > -- Sam Knuth Director, Customer Content Services Red Hat, Inc Mobile: +1 612-840-1785
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