A THREE STEP PROCESS FOR CONSTRUCTIVE APPROPRIATE GROWTH
Perhaps the most debilitating trend in modern business, if not modern life, is the ever increasing lack of meaning, partially due to the effects of technological unemployment and technological intervention, but also the discovery of new ways of economising the use of labour which is outrunning the pace at which we can find new uses for it. If we were to shift our worldview to an Earth-centered worldview, an eco-centric worldview, the new industries this would create, such as the planet repair industry, would blossom and new uses for meaningful labour would emerge. This would be constructive appropriate growth.
In an earlier article, (2006). Leadership and spirituality. Foresight, 8(6),14-25, I redefined growth as:
Greed Reduction, therefore Opportunities are Widened, which is Triumphing Humanity
It is the destructive growth that needs to be stopped, not growth that is constructive such as the growth of equality of gender, of equity, of opportunity for all including those at the base of the pyramid.
One of the reasons for our inability to avoid inappropriate growth is that our education system does not see it as a problem. As much of our education platform is problem based learning many managers and others in roles of authority believe that their task is simply problem solving. So as growth is not seen as inappropriate it is not seen as a problem. However management is more than that as it is also related to creation. Whilst the problem solver tries to make something go away, the creator tries to bring something new into being. James Dator (2009 ‘Four Generic Alternative Futures’, Journal of Futures Studies, Vol 14, No.2, November 2009 p. 1-18) reported “Continued growth” is the “official” view of the future of all modern governments, educational systems, and organisations. The purpose of government, education, and all aspects of life in the present and recent past, is to build a vibrant economy, and to develop the people, institutions, and technologies to keep the economy growing and changing, forever.”
Taking on a new theme of creation of an optimistic hypothesis for the future we could start with the following three-step process, integrative, not linear.
1. Education. Without a change in the way we educate ourselves and our children to believe in and worship the promise of the continuing growth scenario, any change would appear difficult, if not impossible.
2. Advertising. Whilst ever advertising is convincing us to establish our identities to be associated with the material things we have (Human Havings) or want to do (Human Doings) rather than to who we are being (Human Beings), they will continue the ‘brainwashing’ scenario ‘brand’ marketing wants and what is espoused through ‘good’ business management education. Martin Heidegger (1889-1976), a philosopher who also can be thought of as an early futurist particularly through his advocating of ‘deep ecology’, (the ecological movement that emphasises raising humankind’s consciousness for saving the planet), uses being (with a small ‘b’) as a reference to entity to events or things that have an existence of some sort, and Being (with a capital ‘B’) is the ‘existing’ ‘isness’ or essence of beings (entities) – the primordial source of everything that exists in the universe.
3. Worldview. Our automatic thoughts, the way we see the world, the way we see any situation we encounter. The need to shift from a self-centered, materialist worldview to an eco-centric Earth centered worldview.
Examples of non-destructive business perspectives, post-growth, that would benefit humanity and the planet are the earth repair business, artificial meat production, and raising the bottom of the pyramid.
Much has been written about raising the base of the pyramid and the positive effects this would have. Mohammed Yunis and the Grameen Bank have proved how entrepreneurial people can be when given a chance. C. K. Prahalad and Stuart Hart, in their article ‘The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid’, Strategy + Business, Issue 26, 2002, have also demonstrated this.
Imagine if rather than burning coal we could turn it into valuable topsoil and help repair the earth. Doing this would mean that the coal industry does not have to vanish when inevitably new cleaner energy sources become viable and readily available.
Imagine that rather than destroying the Amazon rain forests to grow soya or to create pastures for more and more cattle destined for the table that we could learn to eat artificially created meat. NASA and others have shown that creating artificial meat on a grand scale is viable. The Amazon farmers could then be rewarded for restoring the forest for the benefit of humankind and the planet.
“Cultured meat could also reduce the pollution that results from raising livestock, and you wouldn't need the drugs that are used on animals raised for meat. With a single cell, you could theoretically produce the world's annual meat supply. And you could do it in a way that's better for the environment and human health. In the long term, this is a very feasible idea." Universe Today, July 6, 2005.
These are just three examples of what is possible – now.