Conformity vs. Autonomy

March 3, 2012

Conformity is defined by Merriam Webster as “action in accordance with some specified standard or authority.”  Autonomy on the other hand is often defined as “moral independence” and “self-directed freedom.”  It’s like taking your dog to a dog park and removing his leash.  When he is no longer traveling along a path where he must conform to your specified standards or authority, he immediately begins to romp and roam in new directions along a self-directed path in pursuit of meaning and amusement.  Whether marking the trunk of a far away tree, smelling a distant blade of grass, or chasing a Lakeland Terrier on the other side of the park, conformity as a guiding force loses out every time to autonomy.  Today in 2012, as a society, our own movements as we pursue meaning and amusement are less and less guided by conformity and more and more guided by autonomy.

Comparatively, these two words, conformity and autonomy represent polar opposite guiding forces.  One is about behavior motivated by others and one is about behavior motivated by oneself.  Traditionally, conformity has always been a powerful guiding force in our society, motivating people at work, at play, and at home.  Why?  Because conformity is ultimately about gaining acceptance—and as a society built upon the pursuit of sameness--acceptance has largely been achieved by following a path already laid out by others. For example, from major religions to the military, historically speaking, in order to be accepted as part of these communities of sameness, people seeking to join their ranks had to conform to the values and beliefs of those already on the inside. 

In this sense, it can be argued that conformity as a behavioral motivation has long been based upon absolutes.  For example, in order to be accepted into most religions, it’s necessary to publicly profess agreement with their beliefs and values—beliefs and values that for the most part are set in stone.  In Christianity, the Ten Commandments are even physically depicted as being “set in stone,” embraced as fixed truths that will never change.    

However, conformity is losing its grip because sameness isn’t nearly as powerful of a guiding force in a society with omnipresent access to view all that exists in the world.  Why?  Because our perception is ultimately what shapes our beliefs and values and that omnipresent access to all that exists in the world obliterates absolutes because it obliterates our fear of the unknown.   Consider that each time we connect to the world our perception is instantly transformed as we see more and more.  And it’s this ever-expanding view that grants us both the “moral independence” and “self-directed freedom” to cast off our own cultural leashes to chase meaning and amusement in new directions.  It’s much like losing your car keys at night in a parking lot.  If they aren’t directly under the light, you can’t find them because you can’t see them in the darkness.  And its scarey to venture off into the darkness.   However, connection is flipping on the lights on for all of us, turning the unknown into the known in a way that human kind has never experienced.   And when the lights of  “knowingness” are turned on--brighter and brighter each day--we are no longer afraid to romp and roam beyond our traditional boundaries of sameness in pursuit of meaning and amusement because they are now bathed in light.  It’s part of society’s changing navigation system that is forever transforming the path to meaning in America.

"Culture Crack" on Huffington Post

January 13, 2012

Here's a link to my new article on Huffington Post titled, "Culture Crack: How Connection is Changing Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness in America."  I've already received several emails from people sharing the changes they have experienced in their lives as a result of connection.  There have been over 50 tweets sharing the article since it was published earlier in the week.  I hope you enjoy it! 

"Workshock Part III"

December 30, 2011

"Self-induced stagnation" is the term The Economist recently used to describe the world's faltering economies and warned that bad policy decisions in 2012 could prevent recovery.  Not that I disagree with the premise, but there is more to this story than simply decisions made by top political and business leaders.  I coined the term workshock to help me articulate and explore our transition from one incarnation of the world of work to another.   What I believe people are overlooking is the role that the concept of workshock plays in the potential recovery.   For example, when you consider that the American worker is the very backbone of the U.S. economy, ignoring this game-changing rewiring of the beliefs and values of today's workers is arguably reckless.  Radically different interpretations of the meaning of work due to our ever increasing "knowingness" across society as a direct result of being connected to all that exists in the world can indeed undermine any type of meaningful recovery.  As part of my new research on this subject, one Fortune 500 top executive I interviewed described to me his own workshock experience, saying, “It’s like going to work one day and suddenly all of the frameworks you’ve used to benchmark and guide you in your career have become muddled.  It’s confusing, frustrating, and frightening.”  Understanding the effects of workshock, the personal impact that workers experience when these two different interpretations of the meaning of work collide is gut level and therefore integral to economic recovery.

Workshock  is  intensely emotional and highly personal.  It is also unavoidable because on any evolutionary timeline there is a turbulent period--the transition storm—when old perceptions fight new perceptions as one era ends and another begins.  All of my research indicates that we are well into the initial winds of this storm in the world of work.  So while we look at policies, we need to also look at who today's employees have evolved into as workers as a result of personal connection.  Workplace values, indeed the very meaning of work, is being redefined.  As the force that will carry out the recovery mission, neglecting this systemic reconfiguration of today's workers can only contribute to even more "stagnation."   

"Workshock Part II"

December 22, 2011

For the world of work to move forward everyone from the CEO to hourly employees must share in-common systems for communication. It’s a fact of doing business that has always been true and always will be true.  There’s no amount of technology that can effectively replace human beings as primary organizational drivers.  But in the absence of shared behavioral languages, which is what workshock is fundamentally about, it’s impossible for human beings to effectively communicate or forge any type of meaningful collaboration or collegiality in the workplace.  Why?  Because the fundamental circuitry that establishes mutual understanding and links people together exist on two dichotomous value systems and as Kipling said, ‘never the twain shall meet.’” How do we bring these two planes together? By recognizing that the meaning of work is changing in our society and not everyone reaches the new plane at the same time.  

"Workshock"

December 9, 2011

As I conclude my latest research project, it is crystal clear that the American worker is undergoing a complete cultural rewiring led by an emerging new society of CEO’s, managers, and employees. The world of work is experiencing a seismic shift because a new breed of professional player—from the factory floor to the C-Suite—are in the process of reinventing the meaning of the work across America.  

More important to you and I is the fact that there is no turning back.  There is no pulling the plug on the cultural rewiring of the American worker because it is an evolutionary by-product of our transition from a society held together by the fear of the unknown to one where traditional fears are shattered every time we connect to the known through our preferred pipeline of personal connection--laptops, smartphones, tablets, etc.  In this sense, I believe that "knowingness" is changing how we live our lives.  In fact, as 2012 begins to dawn, our ability to possses knowingness is reaching almost omnipotent proportions. 

Every second, today's mainstream masses are turning the unknown into the known in exponential quantities because connection has granted us the power to find out answers to virtually any question we have about anything that exists in the world.  As a result, it is changing the criteria we use to seek and find professional meaning because all of that knowingness rearranges our worldview, and as a result, changes our beliefs and values.  Therefore, what once was important to employees is no longer as important or even relevant.  It’s why today, as we prepare for a brand new year, all across the nation, American workers are reporting the lowest levels of job satisfaction in the history of the world of work.  And it isn’t about the poor economy or the political climate or bad bosses or lazy employees. It’s about a systemic and gut level evolution of the American worker that is creating a scrambling of professional beliefs, ideals and behaviors that I call workshock.   Stay tuned for more…