Why is there so much short-term hustle? Because that’s what we buy.
Why is there so much negative campaigning? Because that’s what changes our actions.
Why is social media filled with manipulation and vanity? Because that’s what we click on.
We buy foods that are engineered to make us fat and we watch shows that are designed to numb us instead of inspire.
Not all of us, not all the time.
It’s not our fault alone. The gears in the system are too often turned by short-term profiteers and people who seek to manipulate us for their own ends. They need to own the responsibility for their selfishness and not blame us for it. Leadership requires a commitment to make things better. Don’t blame the market.
But the system is extraordinarily sensitive to what we click, what we buy and what we talk about. If we can do the difficult and heroic work of acting differently, the system can tell. As soon as we shift to long-term thinking, the market will too.
The same thing can happen to our culture if we can shift our timeframe and our focus.