Digital Rules
Rich Karlgaard, 04.26.04, 12:00 AM ET
http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2004/0426/035_print.html
Something big is happening in American culture at the moment. We are on the cusp of what sociologists might call a Great Awakening.
Rich Karlgaard, 04.26.04, 12:00 AM ET
http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2004/0426/035_print.html
Something big is happening in American culture at the moment. We are on the cusp of what sociologists might call a Great Awakening.
The quality revolution was won in
the 1990s--it's a safe bet that the worst television sets or automobiles made
today will last longer than the best television sets or cars made in the 1970s.
The cheap revolution is being won as we live and breathe.
So what's left? Meaning. Purpose.
Deep life experience. Use whatever word or phrase you like, but know that
consumer desire for these qualities is on the rise.
The other day my college alumni
magazine arrived. In it are two items that seemed a trifle bizarre yet are part
of a whole. A woman from the class of 1991 writes that she had experienced a
"spiritual awakening, stopped practicing law and become a shamanic
healer." She founded the San Diego Circle Shamanic Healing Arts Center,
which hosts classes and workshops on many Native American traditions and
shamanic practices. She adds: "I love it. I see people in my home office,
which my kids call the ‘goddess room.'" She says she finds it "an
amazing experience to be a conduit for healing miracles, especially since I am
healing myself in the bargain."
Elsewhere in the magazine I learned of a communal house in Palo Alto, Calif. called Magic. "As a group," the article says, "the ‘Magicians' value cooperation, healthy living, protecting the environment and, ultimately, the betterment of mankind."The group's six adults and two children eschew cars and television, wear secondhand clothes and eat too-old-to-sell organic food provided by local markets.
"Some of Magic's rules may seem rigid (a note taped to the house's sole toilet reads: ‘Gentlemen, please sit to pee or ask someone where to pee outside'), but after more than two decades of trial and error, the Magicians believe they know what it takes to maintain an effective community."
I know what you're thinking. You would choose the stand-up-and-pee-outside (-and-never-return) option. Me, too. But let's holster our sarcasm and open our eyes and ears. Something big is happening in American culture at the moment. We are on the cusp of what sociologists might call a Great Awakening. If we sell or market products or manage people, we'd better pay heed to this trend.
Closer to the American mainstream are the box office film hit (which no one had predicted) The Passion of the Christ and the bestseller book by Rick Warren, The Purpose-Driven Life, which has sold more than 15 million copies. Warren, founder of the 15,000-member Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., urges a 40-day program of Bible reading and prayer in order to discern God's purpose for your life. Warren's message is gentle yet uncompromising: God, not you, is in charge.
Bible-centered churches, especially those with a leavening therapeutic touch, such as Saddleback and Willow Creek in suburban Chicago, are the country's fastest growing. They focus on nurturing people, families in particular, who are ill at ease with modern American life.
In his 2003 book The Progress Paradox: How Life Gets Better While People Feel Worse, Gregg Easterbrook writes: "Ever larger numbers of people enjoy reasonable standards of living, but may feel an inner pang on the question of whether their lives have purpose. Predicting transition from ‘material want' is not to say that people will cease caring about material things; it is a prediction that millions will expect both pleasant living standards and a broad sense that their lives have purpose[emphasis added]. This is a conundrum, as the sense of meaning is much more difficult to acquire than possessions."
A big conundrum, yes.
Beyond Great Products
I have a hunch that business has entered a cycle wherein success will depend on whether managers are able to solve this conundrum. The quality revolution was won in the 1990s--it's a safe bet that the worst television sets or automobiles made today will last longer than the best television sets or cars made in the 1970s. The cheap revolution is being won as we live and breathe. Three hundred million Chinese will have cell phones and Internet access by 2006.
So what's left? Meaning. Purpose. Deep life experience. Use whatever word or phrase you like, but know that consumer desire for these qualities is on the rise. Remember your Abraham Maslow and your Viktor Frankl. Bet your business on it.
A company I am fond of, Cirrus Design, makes a futuristic-looking single-engine airplane that has become the top seller in its field. Another company, Lancair, makes an airplane of similar good looks, speed and quality. Purists would argue the Lancair has slight advantages. Yet Lancair has had a tougher go of it. What separates Cirrus from Lancair? Part of it is marketing. Lancair invites pilots to fly the hottest plane in piston aviation. The company uses sexy images and words in its ads. But Cirrus asks pilots to participate in something greater than themselves--an aviation revolution! Fly a Cirrus and you'll be a part of history. Cirrus sells meaning.
What is driving this new quest for meaning, this possible Great Awakening? Several forces are hitting American culture at once. (I'll mention only the secular ones and not attempt to interpret the hand of the Divine.) Sept. 11 is one force. Another is the fallibility of our leaders in government and business, afact you can't dodge if you consume media. A third force iscertainly the large-scale changes in the global economy. Afourth--and never to be underestimated--is the age of the77 million baby boomers. The median age of that culture-dominant group is around 50. Almost everyone I meet near that age has wondered if their earthly existence matters and, if not,what they can do to change course.
That's a good question for companies to ask, too.
Visit Rich Karlgaard's home page at www.forbes.com/karlgaard or email him at publisher@forbes.com.
Elsewhere in the magazine I learned of a communal house in Palo Alto, Calif. called Magic. "As a group," the article says, "the ‘Magicians' value cooperation, healthy living, protecting the environment and, ultimately, the betterment of mankind."The group's six adults and two children eschew cars and television, wear secondhand clothes and eat too-old-to-sell organic food provided by local markets.
"Some of Magic's rules may seem rigid (a note taped to the house's sole toilet reads: ‘Gentlemen, please sit to pee or ask someone where to pee outside'), but after more than two decades of trial and error, the Magicians believe they know what it takes to maintain an effective community."
I know what you're thinking. You would choose the stand-up-and-pee-outside (-and-never-return) option. Me, too. But let's holster our sarcasm and open our eyes and ears. Something big is happening in American culture at the moment. We are on the cusp of what sociologists might call a Great Awakening. If we sell or market products or manage people, we'd better pay heed to this trend.
Closer to the American mainstream are the box office film hit (which no one had predicted) The Passion of the Christ and the bestseller book by Rick Warren, The Purpose-Driven Life, which has sold more than 15 million copies. Warren, founder of the 15,000-member Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., urges a 40-day program of Bible reading and prayer in order to discern God's purpose for your life. Warren's message is gentle yet uncompromising: God, not you, is in charge.
Bible-centered churches, especially those with a leavening therapeutic touch, such as Saddleback and Willow Creek in suburban Chicago, are the country's fastest growing. They focus on nurturing people, families in particular, who are ill at ease with modern American life.
In his 2003 book The Progress Paradox: How Life Gets Better While People Feel Worse, Gregg Easterbrook writes: "Ever larger numbers of people enjoy reasonable standards of living, but may feel an inner pang on the question of whether their lives have purpose. Predicting transition from ‘material want' is not to say that people will cease caring about material things; it is a prediction that millions will expect both pleasant living standards and a broad sense that their lives have purpose[emphasis added]. This is a conundrum, as the sense of meaning is much more difficult to acquire than possessions."
A big conundrum, yes.
Beyond Great Products
I have a hunch that business has entered a cycle wherein success will depend on whether managers are able to solve this conundrum. The quality revolution was won in the 1990s--it's a safe bet that the worst television sets or automobiles made today will last longer than the best television sets or cars made in the 1970s. The cheap revolution is being won as we live and breathe. Three hundred million Chinese will have cell phones and Internet access by 2006.
So what's left? Meaning. Purpose. Deep life experience. Use whatever word or phrase you like, but know that consumer desire for these qualities is on the rise. Remember your Abraham Maslow and your Viktor Frankl. Bet your business on it.
A company I am fond of, Cirrus Design, makes a futuristic-looking single-engine airplane that has become the top seller in its field. Another company, Lancair, makes an airplane of similar good looks, speed and quality. Purists would argue the Lancair has slight advantages. Yet Lancair has had a tougher go of it. What separates Cirrus from Lancair? Part of it is marketing. Lancair invites pilots to fly the hottest plane in piston aviation. The company uses sexy images and words in its ads. But Cirrus asks pilots to participate in something greater than themselves--an aviation revolution! Fly a Cirrus and you'll be a part of history. Cirrus sells meaning.
What is driving this new quest for meaning, this possible Great Awakening? Several forces are hitting American culture at once. (I'll mention only the secular ones and not attempt to interpret the hand of the Divine.) Sept. 11 is one force. Another is the fallibility of our leaders in government and business, afact you can't dodge if you consume media. A third force iscertainly the large-scale changes in the global economy. Afourth--and never to be underestimated--is the age of the77 million baby boomers. The median age of that culture-dominant group is around 50. Almost everyone I meet near that age has wondered if their earthly existence matters and, if not,what they can do to change course.
That's a good question for companies to ask, too.
Visit Rich Karlgaard's home page at www.forbes.com/karlgaard or email him at publisher@forbes.com.
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