In an essay in The Atlantic, titled “After Babel: How Social Media Dissolved the Mortar of Society and Made American Stupid,” Jonathan Haidt argues that social media are at the root of the corrosive decline over the past decade in trust and a sense of unity. It has decimated our country and indeed the entire world by the fragmentation of just about everything: our Parties, debates within Parties, life on college campuses and the concern about speaking up, etc. Haidt has now turned this essay into a full-fledged book which is on the NYT best seller list.
While I believe Haidt overrates the unique importance of social media, it, and the associated fragmentation of media, have certainly played an enormous role.
I turn here to a particular aspect of the issue which pertains to our nation and every organization: the importance of having a unifying Vision.
Haidt observes that “social scientists have identified at least three major forces that collectively bind together successful democracies: social capital (extensive social networks with high levels of trust), strong institutions and shared stories.” He argues that social media has weakened all three. He is right. Other elements have weakened it, too; the decline of religion being one of them in my opinion.
I go on to identify two things:
1. A result of this and a cause of the issue is the lack of a unifying vision of what our nation should be. We have had that vision expressed in words but we have not seen it lived in our politics. By that I mean, Joe Biden expressed an inspiring unity of purpose for the nation as he advocated recovering “the soul of America.” But he did not appoint a non-partisan cabinet nor implement an administrative agenda (excepting the infrastructure bill) truly geared to achieve that. I’ve argued for years we need such a vision and we need to see it responsibly executed. We don’t have it now. We need a leader who can do it. I’m not sure that Biden can recover to do it now with mid-term elections looming, 2024 not far behind and Republicans out for blood. Cooperation is not high on their mind. But Biden must lead the way if he can.
2. I want to underscore the strength of the role an organization or company like Procter & Gamble can play. What do I mean by this? Procter & Gamble has a unifying vision and purpose that just about every employee signs on to. It is service oriented. It’s not partisan. It is committed to excellence, It recognizes the need for diversity of views and inclusion to carry it out. It invites debate.
It also benefits from “extensive social networks with high levels of trust.” I can’t overemphasize this. The Year-End Meetings, the physical (not just virtual) development courses, the structure of the organization into discrete units providing dispersed responsibility and accountability, the adherence to a merit-based system--all of these are vital to the continued nurturing of the culture and the business success of the institution.
And there is also the important element of “shared stories". We must never forget to tell stories about what has worked and what hasn’t, about values being lived and, in some cases, not. We transmit our values by actions and by telling stories about those actions.
I pose the question: How can we take what we’re doing reasonably well in P&G, something we must never take for granted, and extend it to larger forms of organization? More precisely, can we apply the success factors employed at the corporate level, as I believe P&G and some other companies have, to other organizations including the government.
I have seen it being done today in some non-profits, universities, hospitals (Memorial Sloan Kettering for example) and in some smaller governmental entities. However, we are far from achieving this at the Federal level. Our polarized state is preventing it. The task to change that is prodigious. I don't know if it can be done short of contending with a threat like WWII. But I hope we won't fail to pursue this as a goal. One thing for sure. It will. depend on a uniquely wise and inspiring leader and that will require a good dose of luck.
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