Michael, that's an amazingly good article. There's an almost Taoist vibe to your essay. Kudos on bringing together so many threads in a well-written and thoughtful way.
My only disagreement is that I don't think it's entirely fair to separate "the industrialist" from "us". My inner economist (briefly unchained from the dark cell I keep it in most of the time) suggests that at least in the aggregate,"they" who produce are doing what "we" who consume want. Businesses follow rewards, and in a market that's what people spend their money on. Hopefully your prediction about a leadership society emerging will be true on that level, too -- and help us get to a more sustainable place.
Thanks again for a thought-provoking look at things.
RonW, interesting that you brought up the Brass article. It's not hard to see strong parallels in a lot of other big organizations (certain big car companies, maybe?) in many fields.
An interesting takes on that is in the presentation deck from Netflix about their corporate culture (http://www.slideshare.net/Ned381/netflix-ppt-on-coculture-and-bestbiz). They discuss the natural tendency to curtail individual behavior as a way to avoid risk, outline why organizations develop process as they grow more complex, but then discuss the pitfalls of that approach, in terms of lost flexibility and driving out talent. (They also have a really interesting approach to retaining and letting talent go, but that could be a topic in itself.)
Michael, that's an amazingly good article. There's an almost Taoist vibe to your essay. Kudos on bringing together so many threads in a well-written and thoughtful way.
My only disagreement is that I don't think it's entirely fair to separate "the industrialist" from "us". My inner economist (briefly unchained from the dark cell I keep it in most of the time) suggests that at least in the aggregate,"they" who produce are doing what "we" who consume want. Businesses follow rewards, and in a market that's what people spend their money on. Hopefully your prediction about a leadership society emerging will be true on that level, too -- and help us get to a more sustainable place.
Thanks again for a thought-provoking look at things.