The world has changed dramatically since 2020, and the rate of change is continuing at an astonishing pace. Governments are falling, inflation is rising rapidly, confidence is falling, wars are spreading, and communalism is rising along with the rise of hate groups and violence. There is a general air of helplessness that has gripped people, a sense of things moving too fast to control, and that perhaps it is too late.
This situation is particularly true if you have an America-centric view of the world. If you have only seen “America” in the past 20 or so years, things are beginning to change and unravel, and your image of what economic stability means is about to be shaken. The world order is transforming, the rise of Asia and the Middle East along with the rise of Africa and LATAM, pointing to a rapid end of the old world order.
There are plenty of problems around the world, and one hardly needs to list them here. And there are plenty of issues inside each country, inside America, inside India, inside the UK, name any country, and each has its unique problems.
So what?
Having problems and constraints is always the case, and the only way out is to work our way out of the mess we have created for ourselves. None of the problems we’re seeing today were surprises, most were foretold by so many voices over the past few decades, from climate change to political disenfranchisement and polarization, to the capture of governments by private corporations, to social injustice, to hunger, to extreme capitalism, to just all that is going on right now.
What difference does it make, ultimately, whatever the reasons we give ourselves for where we are, and for why we did not take the right steps in the past? Ultimately, it will take action, it will take doing something different, and first stopping what we’re doing right now. We all know it, the unsustainable ways of living, the excessive greed, and consumption, the constant emphasis of the individual over society and civilization and planet, and the economic distress that springs out of decades of under-education and under-empowerment of our peoples.
It needs to change, it needs to reverse, and it needs to actively be transformed into an ethos of rolling-up-one's-sleeve-to-just-do-things-better. Not just for oneself, but to take on the responsibility and leadership to drive change, impact people and society, and make things better for everyone.
It will take those that just want to do things, the real doers that lead, the ones who are ready to build together, and those that can see a more compassionate and inclusive economy and community for the world.
The problems we face today can not be solved by any one individual, or by any one company, or even any one country. The problems we face are of such an immense magnitude that only planetary-level intervention and innovation can arrest and reverse our precipitous decline. The problems we face today can only be solved if we work together, across countries and cultures, across currencies and companies, and across all aspects of humanity.
It is time we all came together, to acknowledge each other, and to discover commonalities that blend with our uniqueness, so we can create new solutions for all the biggest problems facing humanity. It is time for the business community to unite, to understand the incredible power of cooperation and collaboration, to work together, and to co-create together those solutions that will serve all of humanity.
It is time to come together, and it is time to build together.
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