Growth Rings: Human Beings: Handle With Care

Growth Rings: Humans Beings: Handle with Care
There is no doubt that we are living in a time of deep systemic change. Technology is accelerating change exponentially at a rate that current system thinking, and institutions, are struggling to keep up with.

Growth Rings: The Industrial Age and The Consumer Society
Since the 1920s, the United States has been psychologically conditioned to consume, to buy on credit and not to save. To keep manufacturing plants running and people employed, the strategy of planned obsolescence, advertising to manipulate consumer spending and making purchases on credit also accelerated. Mass media was leveraged by mass production to increase sales which in turn, create mass debt. The internet, Social Media and technology is being powerfully used today to keep this never-ending cycle running.

Hooked on Technology
“We are in the game. The object is for us to play and give our attention to the game. Once we give our attention to the game, the game makers will try to sell us something or influence us.”

                                                                                                      Joshua Abramson, Owner, Cypress Technology

Because of consumerism and marketing, we have become addicted to technology. This is becoming especially true for our children. Video games are designed to be very appealing, visually stimulating, engaging and draw the user in. So too is Virtual Reality. If not used correctly, participants get hooked, lose track of time, and are consumed by the experience.

Because of applications for your cell phone and computer, like Waze and Mapquest nobody uses a map anymore. Cell Phones have become powerful minicomputers allowing the user, if they can catch a signal and connect to the internet, to stay in constant contact and have access to the world.

Artificial Intelligence devices connected to the internet, like Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa, have the capacity to link and control all electronic devices in your home or car. Everyday technology is seamlessly being meshed into our lives. We are moving from relying on technology to do something with us to trusting technology to decide something for us.  This is a slippery slope.

Screen time for our children. 

Emerging research is suggesting that students’ computer use is impacting reading scores. It appears that heavy screen time is contributing to lower reading scores in 4th and 8th grade. The journal, JAMA Pediatrics recently reported that: “Excessive screen time can impinge on children’s ability to develop optimally; it is recommended that pediatricians and health care practitioners guide parents on appropriate amounts of screen exposure and discuss potential consequences of excessive screen use.”

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has recommended limiting screen time based on a child’s age. AAP believes it is important for healthy child development that parents model healthy tech use and monitor their child’s tech usage.

Growth Ring: Physically and Emotionally Well-being?

Today we fixate on quick solutions with not much thought on the long-term ramifications. It seems things we want; we want right now. This aligns with materialistic beliefs if you can’t pay for it now, buy it on credit. We have sought pharmaceutical answers and solutions to our daily challenges. If something is wrong, from weight loss to tension, to depression, take a pill. 

Our physical and mental health has been neglected. Business Insiders reports that “American millennials are seeing their physical and mental health decline at a faster rate than Gen X did as they age, a Blue Cross Blue Shield report found.”  Millennials are being labeled the loneliest, most financially broke generation. The stress of change is taking its toll.

The Breakdown of Empathy

Iowa Department of Education consultant Teresa Jurgensen lifts up that Empathy is key in reducing bullying, breaking down diversity, promoting positive behavior, building trust, supporting community and most importantly creating a civilized society.  Dr. Michele Borba has outlined that “Empathy is diminishing in our students: a 40 percent drop in the last 30 years." For students as well as adults to be truly “successful,” they also need to be able to put themselves in someone else’s shoes and think “WE” not “ME.” The absence of empathy in today’s society is contributing to negative thinking and behaviors. 

  

Growth Rings

As we move from the Industrial Age, with its consumer and materialistic focus, into the Digital, Information age, new core beliefs and practices are emerging. It is apparent that buying stuff, especially on credit, does not translate into long term happiness. Play now and pay later is not a good equation. The stress of chasing the American Dream is affecting our physical and emotional health and our dependence on technology continues to rapidly grow.   

Authors Rick Smyre and Neil Richardson’s suggest in their book, Preparing For a World That Does Not Exist - Yet, that humanity is heading into a new era, a Second Enlightenment.

 

It is exciting to be alive at this point in history and have an opportunity to shape what the new age will be.  As we go forward it is important to remember: Humans Beings: Handle with Care. 

Growth Rings: TRUST in the Digital Age

TRUST in the Digital Age

When Googling the word, TRUST,  it’s evident that the word is both a noun and a verb. The noun, TRUST, means a reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something. The verb, TRUST, means to rely on the truthfulness or accuracy of, belief, to place confidence in, rely on, to hope or expect confidentiality. In both instances, TRUST is grounded in both truth and actions. 

TRUST is foundational for having healthy interpersonal relationships as well as contributing to one’s well being. Without TRUST there can be no hope or faith. For the purposes of this blog, it’s important to look at the evolution of this word, TRUST. What did TRUST use to look like and what does TRUST look like today? As we move from the Industrial Age to the Digital Age what will TRUST become?

Growth Rings: What did TRUST look like?
As a Christian, in matters concerning how to conduct one’s life, my default is the Bible. Throughout the Bible, TRUST is lifted up, defined and connected to one’s actions, both words and deeds. In the Old Testament, Moses gave his followers the 10 Commandments which included “Not bear false witness.” In the New Testament, Mathew 5:37 reads, “Let your yes mean yes, and your no mean no. Anything more than this comes from the evil one.” Trust is built not only in what a person says but more importantly, in what they do. A person not speaking truth cannot be Trusted.

Earning TRUST takes time and is demonstrated not only by one’s words but also by deeds. The biblical core belief was that one’s word (promise) was their bond. Actions support this. Over the years, the concept of TRUST was applied not only in everyday human interactions but also in commerce and in conducting business. A handshake and verbal promise were sufficient to seal any business deal.

Growth Rings: TRUST in Business and Industry 

When business and industry evolved during the Industrial Age from locally-owned, sole proprietorships to publicly traded stock owned companies, TRUST was reframed. Locally owned businesses were trusted by their customers. There was a transparent relationship, an unwritten understanding, if you will, that the proprietor would stand by their goods and services. If something went wrong or needed to be fixed, the proprietor could be trusted to fix or correct problems, should they arise.

During the Industrial Age, however, this changed. With the growth of big business and publicly traded companies, there was no longer a transparent relationship. Decisions were no longer made locally but at the “home office” somewhere by a board of directors. The company’s focus was on profit for its investors with decisions being, “bottom line-driven”.

Investment in publicly traded companies during the Industrial Age was open to anyone. For the company selling shares of stock, this expanded the risk of doing business and provided financial capital. For the stock purchaser, TRUST was grounded in there would be a return on their investment. The consumer economy emerged! This new economy was grounded in: Buy it, Use it, and Throw it away! The cycle then continued with consumers buying a newer, better and “shinier” model, even if this purchase meant going in by using credit. 

Getting a return on investments meant creating conditions to buy more stuff. Marketing, branding, slogans, celebrity spokespersons, and linking products/services to sex, health, and well-being, bombarded consumers. Psychologically, society was conditioned to buy. TRUST was hijacked and diluted. 

Growth Rings: TRUST and Employment
Employees once went to work for companies and trusted them. The corporate promise, “If you work hard, we will take care of you, provide employee benefits to include health insurance, paid time off (PTO) and a pension plan.” Depressions, recessions, housing crises, energy crises, and overhead costs, all affecting the “bottom line,” changed all this. Baby Boomers had pensions, generation X has self-regulated 401K retirement plans, and Millennials, with student loan debt, who knows what they will have. 

Growth Rings: Interpersonal TRUST.
Today there seems to be a lack of TRUST in interpersonal relationships. Commitment to raising children, fidelity to a life partner, relationship scandals with clergy, elected officials, and sports figures all seem to appear daily. Sadly, in many cases, the word, “Yes,” does not necessarily mean “Yes,” nor does, “No” mean, “No.” In contemplating this stark reality, an important question arises, “What lessons are being taught to today’s children - those children that are sometimes known as Generation Z?”

Growth Rings: Trust in the Digital Age
All the aforementioned, are signs that we are transitioning from the Industrial Age into a New Age. We are at the beginning of the journey that may be frustrating because we are only getting a glimpse of what TRUST will look like moving ahead.

Social Media and technology are drivers in redefining TRUST. Rachel Botsman’s book, “Who Can you Trust?” raises many interesting conditions on how technology brought us together and why it might drive us apart. The premise is that humans are putting more TRUST in machines and Artificial Intelligence (AI) than into each other:

• 10 years ago, no one would ever think about getting into a car with a complete stranger. Today, rideshare apps like, UBER and LYFT, make this acceptable and the norm.
• People are so desperate for companionship that there is a growing dependence on apps like Tinder, eHarmony and It's just lunch.
• Food delivery apps, GRUBHUB and DOORDASH, have the potential to transform restaurant fine dining. Why go out to eat when it can be delivered to your doorstep
• AIRBNB has become the number one site globally for folks looking for a place to stay. Ten years ago, who would have thought it OK to TRUST your house to strangers? 

It is important to note that with these apps, comes a new level of transparency. Not only is the customer rating the service, the provider is rating the customer. These emerging conditions are redefining TRUST and relationships. Nobody thinks twice about leaving the towels on the floor when staying at a Marriott hotel, but one would never think to do that at an AIRBND.

These are all 1st generation applications of Blockchain, systemic thinking. Leveraging technology, Blockchain moves TRUST from third party institutions to individuals. Logarithms are constructed based on user information, gathered either actively or passively. With feedback from both the “seller” and “buyer”, the technology creates TRUST between participants. The TRUST between the participants is based on the technology itself, not the third-party.

Growth Rings: TRUST in the Digital Age
The application of Blockchain systemic thinking and Artificial Intelligence is game-changing. Author Rachel Botsman suggests presently we rely on technology to do something. In the future, we will trust technology to decide something. From business and commerce to education and health care, technology is redefining the concept of TRUST.

Growth Rings: Where did the cheese go?

Growth Rings:  Where did the cheese go?

It takes a significant emotional experience to cause people to change. This experience has to be emotional so as to generate enough energy to break out of established patterns and routines. The experience can be something really good, like falling in love or the birth of a child, or something very hard like being fired from a job or the death of a loved one. The experience can happen with the speed of a thunderbolt or be something that has built up over time. But for change to happen, emotions must be engaged. 

Spencer Johnson’s book Who Moved My Cheese? tells the story of dealing with change. It is an insightful quick read that in many ways illustrates emotions and beliefs people today have regarding change. 

The story’s four characters, two mice, "Sniff" and "Scurry," and two little people named “Hem” and “Haw”, live in a maze. Their search for security and happiness in the maze leads them to “Cheese Station C”. Hem and Haw believed the cheese would be there forever, become comfortable, establish routines, and settled. 

The two mice, Sniff and Scurry, pay attention over time and noticed the cheese at Cheese Station C is dwindling. They mentally prepared for the day when the cheese would run out and they would have to search for new cheese.

One day Sniff and Scurry arrive at Cheese Station C to find no cheese left, but they were not surprised. They had prepared for this and took off to find new cheese.

When Hem and Haw arrive at Cheese Station C later that day, they found the same thing, no cheese. Hem and Haw had not seen this coming, were unprepared, became angry and cried out, “Who moved the cheese?” When Hem and Haw realized the cheese was not coming back, Haw suggested going into the maze to look for new cheese. Hem, frustrated and disappointed, rejected the idea.

Searching for new cheese, Sniff and Scurry found it at “Cheese Station N”. Back at Cheese Station C, Hem and Haw paralyzed by fear, could not let go of their old thinking, and blame each other for their condition. Haw finally realizes Hem was not going give up his old thinking, decided to move on, enter the maze to seek new cheese. Before leaving, Haw left Hem a message written on the wall of Cheese Station C "If You Do Not Change, You Can Become Extinct". 

As Haw overcame his fears in the maze, he comes to ask himself “What Would You Do If You Weren’t Afraid?” Haw smiles and with his new mindset, begins to enjoy life again. He finds some bits of cheese which sustains him and keeps moving him forward. He still worries about the unknown but brushes his fears aside realizing that "When you move beyond your fear, you feel free." Haw decides to go back and share with Hem what he has learned.

Returning to Hem, Haw shares what he has learned. Hem rejects Haw’s discoveries. Sadly, Haw leaves his friend and returns to the maze to seek new cheese. Haw decides to leave writings on the wall to help Hem should he decides to follow, realizing that Hem needs to decide his fate for himself. 

Growth Rings

For Sniff and Scurry, they realized a change was coming and mentally prepared for the day. For Hem and Haw, when changed happened, they became angered, frustrated and grieved. Haw finally excepted change and moved on. For Hem, he could not get past grieving. 

Haw’s Handwriting on the Wall

• Change Happens. They Keep Moving the Cheese
• Anticipate Change. Get Ready for The Cheese to Move
• Monitor Change. Smell the Cheese Often So You Know When It Is Getting Old.
• Adapt to Change Quickly. The Quicker You Let Go of Old Cheese, The Sooner You Can Enjoy New Cheese
• Change. Move with the Cheese
• Enjoy Change! Savor the Adventure and Enjoy the Taste of New Cheese!
• Be Ready to Change Quickly and Enjoy It Again. They Keep Moving the Cheese.

This story speaks on many levels. As we move from the Industrial Age to the Post-Industrial Information Age, the cheese is indeed being moved. Our mindset and how we choose to react to this will determine our mental health and “if we become extinct.” As you think of yourself which character do you identify with, Sniff, Scurry, Hem or Haw? As you think of your co-workers and friends, which character would they be? 

Growth Rings

Change is happening. Enjoy today’s cheese, but be aware, and be prepared to seek new cheese.  Begin now to reflect and develop flexibility, creativity, and courage in your thinking. Learn to become comfortable with uncomfortable. Two big takeaways: "If You Do Not Change, You Can Become Extinct" and "When you move beyond your fear, you feel free."

Growth Rings: Public Education shoot, ready, aim?

Growth Rings: Public Education shoot, ready, aim?

My Growth Rings
I always wanted to be a teacher and make a difference in a child’s life. After nearly four decades in K-12 public education, having served in growing suburban to high poverty to rural school districts, I have seen and experienced much. Madelyn Hunter lesson design, SRA reading, Boys Town Model, Classroom instruct that works, block schedule, period schedule, flipped classrooms, open space classrooms, 1 to 1, I have lived initiatives that have come and gone.

From writing lesson plans to evaluating teachers and principals, from serving local school Boards to having a voice in state and national education reform conversations, I have had a “front-row seat” in the ongoing discussions to transform teaching and learning. As of yet, a direction forward on what school should be has not emerged. After 40 years of professional experience, I am starting to believe we shoot before we get ready and take aim.

I have the greatest respect for educator Lee Araoz (Twitter @LEEAROZ). He is a visionary leader and though his poster speaks to “the age of a teacher”, “embracing tech”, and “teacher mindset”, the true concern is our 20th-century organizational structure of "school". Schools are not a people problem; they are a system problem.

In a recent Growth Rings post, I shared there are four different generations of teachers, Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Generation X and Millennials, all currently teaching Generation Z. This means adults, who only know the traditional school, are building relationships and preparing children, pre-teens and teenagers to enter, compete and contribute in the 21st-century Information age. Dedicated and committed educators are doing the best they know to do in a system designed at the turn of the last century. 

The financial and emotional cost.
The present reality is the rate of change happening inside classrooms is not keeping up with the accelerating rate of change happening outside the schoolhouse door. For teachers, the challenge is to break out of their isolated silo classrooms, overcome Future Shock, and prepare kids for jobs that have not yet been invented. All this at a time when the definition of family is transforming, kids are dealing with extreme stress and mental health issues are not being addressed.

Educators are dealing with fear and a sense of lost identity. Teachers and our schools, once thought to be the bedrock of our democracy, have come under extreme criticism. A Nation at Risk, No Child Left Behind, vouchers, and charter schools coupled with state achievement test results is causing educators extreme anxiety and stress. This is not healthy.

Technology is not the silver bullet.

There are those who believe that embedding technology into instruction is the answer. The problem is that the speed of the Third Wave is not allowing educators time to know how to do this nor discern what the pros, cons, and trade-offs are. Misuse of technology in the classroom has the potential for far-reaching effects.

Good stewards of tax dollars.
For Districts, some of which are already underfunded, covering the cost of ever-changing technology and providing meaningful professional development to retrain teachers is a challenge. Textbooks or tablets, hardware or salaries, retrofitting classrooms or building new buildings all are in flux.

Underneath this lies an unspoken realization that the current 20th-century structure of education is no longer viable, and the fear is no one knows what is next. Schools comfortable with 20th-century expectations like things just as they are. Underperforming schools are desperate. Patron perspectives range from schools are bad, but not my schools, to parents seeking choice with Charter Schools or vouchers. We are approaching a flashpoint.

Growth Rings: Educational Transformation 1900’s
Over 100 years ago, the country was experiencing the Industrial Revolution. System thinking of the day included: assembly lines, division of labor, interchangeable parts, and mass production, all transforming society.

As a result of those Growth Rings, debates across the country centered on what public education should become. In 1892, the National Education Association appointed a committee of ten educators to address the issue. The Committee of Ten’s recommendations included:

• Eight years of elementary education and four years of secondary education.
• High school courses to include languages, mathematics, science, English and history.
• Subject taught in secondary (high) schools should be taught in the same way and to all students.
• Unifying courses of study and school instruction would enhance the training of new teachers.
• The Committee identified the need for more highly qualified educators. They proposed that universities could enhance training by offering subject-education courses.

Learning moved from the small, personalized one-room country schools to consolidated town schools. Children were sorted according to their chronological age and not necessarily on their academic ability. Teachers moved from being facilitators of learning to become grade or content-specific. 100 years later, this is the structure and system still in use today.

Growth Ring 2020
Today calls for another conversation envisioning the mission of the public schools. The dialogue must include all stakeholders designing with flexibility in mind. This discussion should include parents, educators, patrons, business and industry voices, and NOT be done in isolation.

What do schools need to be to prepare and empower kids in the 21st century? What is the definition of family in the Third Wave Digital Age? How will social and emotional needs be addressed? Reading, writing, and arithmetic are crucial but are not enough. How do we move from one-size-fits-all teaching to personalized, differentiated instruction based on a child’s learning style? What is the appropriate use of classroom technology?

Many, many questions with many possible answers. Transparent discussion and reflection is the way forward. Let’s ready and aim so as to take a good shot.