Making Waves
If you consider the animated gif at the top of this post as a representation of the state of things, chances are you will identify with the glowing ball that is being tossed about by the waves. The waves can represent many things to you— the volatility of our society, the unpredictability of our decisions, the uncertainty of the future, the anxiety and frustration of the workforce, the tumultuous politicized responses to the pandemic.
But.. what if you switch perspectives and identify instead with the sea— and imagine that the waves are of your own making?
What kind of waves do you want to make?
We often speak of social and cultural change in terms of “waves.” We mark technology as the fifth of the great waves of history following from trade, civilization, agriculture, and migration. We used to talk about the advant garde as the leading cultural edge of a new wave of experimental ideas in the arts and philosophy.
“A sea of change rides only on the waves we make”
When I switch my perspective, I see that the purpose of the waves is to keep the ball rolling, to inhibit the adoption of obsolete solutions to unprecedented kinds of problems. The waves keep the politicians and the pundits, the gurus and the media celebrities, swashing about, trying to make sense of things with their old institutional rules, trying to swim against the new with old ways of role-playing.
As leaders of organizations, teams, or communities, making waves is our responsibility! Somehow we’ve dropped that role and replaced it with the idea of “merely staying afloat.” We have, as a society, regressed into the idea of adaptation and resilience to an unfriendly environment. Maybe it’s time to makes waves again.
Out in the streets there have been waves of protest against government policies. This is one kind of movement, but it is not adequate to usher in a future we want to see. We need waves of change that express new ways of being together, new forms of democracies and self-governance. This requires bold and exceptional leadership. It requires us to adopt a post-formal relationship to the existing roles, rules, regulations, policies, and norms that have been obsoleted by technological innovation and social demand for change.
An adequate learning community can amplify ripples of concerted action to waves of change. We need to shift from the posture of adaptation and resilience to one of creative, actionable choice, and collaborative leadership at scale. Today we are presented with unprecedented opportunities, for in times when everything is in flux, movement toward preferred futures is more possible that otherwise.