ThoughtRocket.com shows that for the last three decades, we’ve promoted policies that have put the American Dream on a sacrificial altar combusting in the bonfire of consumption. And no matter what the established Right or Left, Republicans or Democrats have to say, America will be reborn in ways neither established political machine can imagine. It’s a new center for a greater America where people collaborate instead of compete.
Encinitas, CA October 30, 2008 — America needs a new high center that does not try to placate the shrill voices of the lower Right or the lower Left. The status quo cannot continue. For the last three decades, we’ve promoted policies that have put the American Dream on a sacrificial altar combusting in the bonfire of consumption. But there is a growing counter movement. Grass roots with very tall grass. I walk in this grass daily. I see it whenever I talk to audiences. I read it whenever people post comments on my blog. ( http://www.thoughtrocket.com/blog ) It’s a new way of thinking about our future. If you doubt it, talk to someone thoughtful under 40. The force of our new reality is overwhelming. We do, after all, live in a democracy: “for the people, by the people”. And no matter what the established Right or Left, Republicans or Democrats have to say, America will be reborn in ways neither established political machine can imagine. There is a new high center emerging—a flood of new ideas based on our original ideals. This new center that is above compromising with either the far Right or the far Left.
Neither swaggering Republicans who seem to promise anything for money and impotent Democrats whose best ideas are 40 years old can seem to see the new high-center. This is where citizen collaboration produces the 21st century American Dream. It’s a vision taken from Nobel Prize winner John Nash, ( http://snipurl.com/4sxbp ) whose life was portrayed in the movie, “A Beautiful Mind”.
He mathematically proved that there is an equilibrium point where the best life for all of us will produce the best life for each of us. The high center is a future in which each of us will have more of what we individually value because all of us are contributing to society what is best about us. It’s a future in which the best ideas compete, but where people collaborate.
John Nash’s ideas are based on game theory. The first question we need to ask is “What game are we playing?” For thousands of years we played a competitive game. We saw life as a wrestling match. A competitive world-view dictates that I get more by you having less. Attack, thrash, and dominate. The results have been a human history of war, famine, and fear.
But imagine that the real game of life is basketball instead of wrestling. The most successful basketball teams have the highest level of teamwork. Everyone plays their position and expresses their best talent in a constantly moving dance of passing, scoring, and defending. Of course there are certain players who have extraordinary abilities. But unless these stars help their teammates play better and get everyone involved in making their best contribution, the team will fail to win championships. One-man teams always come up short. And even all-star teams who don’t play unselfishly will lose to inferior talent who turn into superior teams. Just look at team USA’s recent Olympic experiences. In the 2004 Olympics all the best players like LeBron James, Tim Duncan, and Dwyane Wade could do is win a bronze medal by beating Lithuania 104 to 96. The more cohesive but far less talented Argentina and Italy won gold and silver.
So imagine that we are playing one giant basketball game. A game where every person on earth is a player. Then imagine the championship we are playing for is our children’s future and ours. Would that change the way we played? Wouldn’t it make us change the way we viewed everyone else? Would we not search for everyone’s best talent? Would we not find ways to get everyone playing their best?
Of course there are many who don’t know what game we’re playing. They think it’s Worldwide Wrestling or Ultimate Fighting. While the rest of us are playing basketball, they are tackling random people, throwing them on the ground and claiming some kind of victory. These “wrestlers” ( http://www.hannity.com ) write books and have T.V. and radio shows enticing others to buy into their violent logic. It’s lunacy. It’s Neanderthal. It’s not the game we are playing. Real life is not wrestling — it’s basketball.
About Will Marre
Will Marre is an Emmy Award-winning writer, CSR speaker and coach. He is the co-founder and former president of the Covey Leadership Center (The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People). He is currently the CEO of the REALeadership Alliance, where he helps leaders implement new socially-strategic business and branding models, and Consulting Director of UC San Diego Extension’s Responsible Enterprise Forum. For more information on Will Marre and ThoughtRocket, please visit http://www.willmarre.com, or http://www.thoughtrocket.com to view his weekly blog. You can also email him at [email protected]; phone ThoughtRocket at 866-876-6596; mailing address: P.O. Box 235180, Encinitas, CA 92023.
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Will Marre
ThoughtRocket.com
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Encinitas, CA 92023
866-876-6596
[email protected]
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