The negative side of Momentum.
The lament from a friend of mine went something like this:
"I feel that I have been sold the wrong bill of goods for years now. From buying into the materialistic version of happiness, to being a participant in self-aggrandizing conversations as if I was here for no reason but to make other people’s egos bigger, to isolating myself and my family in the suburbs as if that is the center of the universe, to spending lavishly on my house and my lawn for what? I don't know. To spending more, ever more, to having to drive everywhere…it all is starting to feel hollow..."
This got me thinking about the power of momentum and how hard is to stop and start a shift to a new way of seeing and being. The existing momentum has been going on for half a century now? The power of momentum can be so strong that it can eliminate ideas before they take root. Further, its power can be so strong that it can make natural, common sense ideas seem revolutionary.
Case in point is the effort by Michelle Obama to start "Let's Move"the call for action to stop childhood obesity. Few would argue that our existing momentum-driven ethos is NOT the cause of obesity. Of course it is, we don't walk anymore- anywhere! Kids are ever more isolated in the suburbs in bigger homes and live behind screens, be them game consoles or mobile phones. They eat poorly because we have lost our culture of food and healthy eating. Social interactions have been minimized and have fallen pray to our over-scheduled lives and the pursuit of more wealth and status. It is about schedules and achieving more so as to guarantee a future for our kids that seems somewhat skewed but we do not know quite how skewed.
"Let's Move" is basically a reaching out to the past (al least here in America because in Europe people do live much healthier lifestyles) to an idea that existed before the existing momentum took us all in a wild ride. It is an "idea" - as common sense as they come - that was suppressed in the pursuit.
Momentum then can be a huge enemy of innovative thinking and it applies to all social structures and organizations. I propose then that the most important challenge is not for leaders to create change but figure out first how to shift minds to accept change. This is truly the underlying challenge and the only way that we can stop what we are doing wrong and start anew.
"I feel that I have been sold the wrong bill of goods for years now. From buying into the materialistic version of happiness, to being a participant in self-aggrandizing conversations as if I was here for no reason but to make other people’s egos bigger, to isolating myself and my family in the suburbs as if that is the center of the universe, to spending lavishly on my house and my lawn for what? I don't know. To spending more, ever more, to having to drive everywhere…it all is starting to feel hollow..."
This got me thinking about the power of momentum and how hard is to stop and start a shift to a new way of seeing and being. The existing momentum has been going on for half a century now? The power of momentum can be so strong that it can eliminate ideas before they take root. Further, its power can be so strong that it can make natural, common sense ideas seem revolutionary.
Case in point is the effort by Michelle Obama to start "Let's Move"the call for action to stop childhood obesity. Few would argue that our existing momentum-driven ethos is NOT the cause of obesity. Of course it is, we don't walk anymore- anywhere! Kids are ever more isolated in the suburbs in bigger homes and live behind screens, be them game consoles or mobile phones. They eat poorly because we have lost our culture of food and healthy eating. Social interactions have been minimized and have fallen pray to our over-scheduled lives and the pursuit of more wealth and status. It is about schedules and achieving more so as to guarantee a future for our kids that seems somewhat skewed but we do not know quite how skewed.
"Let's Move" is basically a reaching out to the past (al least here in America because in Europe people do live much healthier lifestyles) to an idea that existed before the existing momentum took us all in a wild ride. It is an "idea" - as common sense as they come - that was suppressed in the pursuit.
Momentum then can be a huge enemy of innovative thinking and it applies to all social structures and organizations. I propose then that the most important challenge is not for leaders to create change but figure out first how to shift minds to accept change. This is truly the underlying challenge and the only way that we can stop what we are doing wrong and start anew.
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