As the current geopolitical climate continues to roil across the globe, it is another demonstration that as far as we have advanced from a technology perspective, we have advanced so little when it comes to managing and training human emotion. Indeed, as we continue to struggle with the dramatic changes that have been brought about by technology to the current socio-economic system, it is increasingly apparent that the current economic system merely hid long standing emotional human faults versus addressing them.
One could argue that today’s global upheaval is the realization that we’ve spent centuries trying to develop numerous systems whether political, economic or social to contain, harness and positively utilize the less positive traits of human emotions. Society over the past few decades has had great success with the liberal democratic economic order but, in many respects, that success was predicated on continued rapid economic growth across all levels of society. Unfortunately, thanks to technology and artificial intelligence, the benefits of economic growth is now increasingly unevenly distributed causing greater angst with the general population.
That uneven distribution combined with a greater number of individuals slipping further and further down has given rise to raw human emotions many of which are extremely unpleasant and aim to divide humanity versus uniting it. These raw human emotions include racism, hatred and xenophobia. Just as positive human emotions such as love and happiness are part and parcel of what it means to be human, these negative emotions are the unfortunate polar opposite. It means though that during these times of dramatic social, economic and political upheaval, we need to constantly guard and fight against these negative emotions if human civilization is to continue to progress forward and not stagnate.
Why bring up negative emotions into a conversation about diversity and inclusion and its effects on the startup ecosystem? The simple and most overwhelming factor is the fact that negative emotions are increasingly limiting not only the ability of the Silicon Valley startup ecosystem to advance but overall human civilization as well.
One of the greatest strengths of the Silicon Valley startup ecosystem is the large percentage of individuals who are willing to pivot. And not pivot in the traditional sense of the word. Pivot in the sense that individuals are not only wiling to adapt to their circumstances but who are willing to listen to a plurality of diverse thought and be willing to thoughtfully debate and integrate diverse thought into a new paradigm.
It is that willingness to have thought provoking debates based on mutual respect that has generated some of the greatest scientific and technological advancements of the past century. Whether we are talking about the development of the Internet or the rise of the concept of crowdsourcing, the reality is that today’s scientific and technological advancements were not developed in a monoculture vacuum but through the natural tension that occurs when diverse groups come together for the greater common good. Unfortunately, though, the free flow of diverse thought and information is increasingly coming to a stop due to a greater number of individuals willing to give into their negative human emotions.
Not only has their been an increasing thickening of national borders but there has been an increasing and unfortunate acceptance of the “my way or the highway” mentality throughout all sectors and levels of society. It doesn’t matter if one is talking about politics, economics or general society, this “my way or the highway” approach is increasingly taking hold.
What that means is an unfortunate decline and slowdown not only innovation but overall creativity as well. On one end of the spectrum, individuals may decide to increasingly spend their time and effort to conform to societal norms versus revelling in their individuality thus not only negatively impacting their personal health but overall societal benefit as well.
The willingness to challenge norms and to celebrate individual creativity is one the critical factors in innovation. One can spend limitless amounts of resources on processes and equipment but without encouraging individuals to take those important creative leaps beyond accepted norms, the innovation developed merely becomes incremental instead of dramatically life altering.
So what are individuals to do? The simple answer is to keep individuality alive. Of course, it is more difficult in an environment that increasingly seems to revel in going backward versus forward but it can be done. Indeed, it must be done if we are to continue to make the great leaps needed to ensure that humanity survives all the challenges in the coming years including climate change and political and economic upheaval. And it can be done.
Revel not only in your own individuality but revel in the individuality of others. Create environments that encourage and foster individuality and creativity. And, of utmost importance, continue to educate on the importance of individuality and how that individuality is critical to not only economic success but political and social success as well.
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