Business trends
How many trends have you participated in since you started your career?
Here’s an example: In the olden days, companies strove for good customer service.
When I was young, J.D. Power pushed statistically driven customer satisfaction efforts.
Social media brought customer engagement to the fore … and now we talk about CX, customer experience.
There were things to learn along the way: using survey tools to listen to customers, for instance, and using online presence to do the same thing.
But: The best organizations had always been listening. It’s what the Golden Rule would have you do. In fact, it’s a requirement for growth.
We could follow a similar thread talking about management principles. I know a number of companies that tried to copy Japanese lean manufacturing techniques. Often they would leave out arguably the most important part: listening to the frontline employees.
I think listening must be so key because, without it, we don’t grow. We only change. You can try technique after technique, model after model, book after book–but until you’re willing to acknowledge your ignorance or that somebody might have something to teach you, you won’t grow.
“Composted”
The late Eugene Peterson wrote a biography of sorts about King David. It’s entitled “Leap Over a Wall: Earthy Spirituality for Everyday Christians,” and I can’t recommend it enough.
I’d recommend it even if you’re not a believer, because Peterson’s insights are indeed “Earthy” and “Everyday.” (He was the scholar behind the Message paraphrase of the Bible, attracting the attention of celebrities like U2.) Here’s his take on growth vs. change:
When we grow, in contrast to merely change, we venture into new territory and include more people in our lives–serve more and love more. Our culture is filled with change; it’s poor in growth. New things, models, developments, opportunities are announced, breathlessly, every hour. But instead of becoming ingredients in a long and wise growth, they simply replace. The previous is discarded and the immediate stuck in–until, bored by the novelty, we run after the next fad.
(Look on your bookshelf: How many Next Big Things are gathering dust?) Peterson continues:
Men and women drawn always to the new never grow up. God’s way is growth, not change. Organic is a key image. Nothing from our past is thrown out with the garbage; it’s all composted and assimilated into a growing life. And nothing–no “moral,” no “principle,”–is tacked on from the outside. David at thirty-seven was more than he was at seventeen–more praise, saner counsel, deeper love. More himself. More his God-given and God-glorifying humanity. A longer stride, a larger embrace.
“More pure the stream”
Hip Socket exists to help people wrestle with the West’s ancient wisdom–and grow. New is good. But stopping to listen to the old is a huge opportunity. It gets “composted” within you.
A scary thought: What if all that you’re composting are the fads?
Are you wrestling with wisdom–or just something novel?
Damon Albarn (Blur, Gorillaz) has a new album coming out that quotes the 19th-century poet John Clare: “The nearer the fountain / More pure the stream flows.” Albarn said about his album, “I have been on my own dark journey while making this record and it led me to believe that a pure source might still exist.”
I couldn’t agree more. A motto of the Renaissance was ad fontes, “back to the fountains” or “sources.”
Take a moment to appreciate how many things the Renaissance scholars re-learned and unlocked. Our civilization would not exist if they had not been willing to study the Ancient Greek and Roman texts that ignited so much growth for the West.
What do you need to wrestle with? Where could you be listening?
Are you changing, or really growing?