What a year. Wow. The best and worst of everything. The birth of the new and the collapse of the old. Yin and Yang.
On one hand, we had Obama, our wedding and the Brady Bunchiness of a new family, my book, Costa Rica, yoga, guitar lessons at Flea’s Silver Lake Conservatory, some fantastic clients and new conversations, and the ever-flowing love between us and the wonderful people in our lives.
On the flip side of the coin we minted in 2008 there was Bush and Cheney and their decrepit Industrial Age ‘war economy’ and the general malaise that came over and corrupted so much American business during their reign. At the end of the year, with Bush madly justifying his abhorrent stewardship of the country since 9/11, and Israel and Hamas burning through their munitions inventory like it’s a holiday sale at WarMart, we are gasping for air like we’ve been standing too long in a garage with a smoking Peterbuilt. One of 2009’s themes is going to be about getting out of that garage and breathing the fresh air of new narratives, new ideas for generating wealth in a networked economy. The engine has to run on something other than oil.
The good news coming out of 2008 is that the toxic cloud has a sustainable lining. Because we learn a lot from failure, most of us are a lot smarter than we were when this year began.
Necessity being the mother of invention and all, 2009 is going to be a great year for creativity. We have no choice. We cannot continue down the path we’re on, consuming everything in sight and not even coming close to putting back what we take. We cannot let the destructive narratives continue. They will bleed us dry.
The crooked and unproductive games have to change. Enough with the pyramid and ponzi schemes and insider games that benefit those at the top and shaft everyone else. Enough with the opaque communication. Hierarchical thinking. Politics over process. Class hegemony. Beholdness to the old boy networks. For the economy to rebound, the new networks must be allowed to breathe, and along with them, the ideas, players and connections they are capable of bringing to life.
From conspicuous consumers, we must become prodigious producers. From sappers of the earth’s resources, we have to become replenishers. From seeking to dominate the narrative, we must become supporters of it, contributors to it, because in the networked world, a narrative does not ‘belong’ to anyone. The new narratives are not ‘ownable’. They are not ‘controllable’. They cannot be scripted. They are the co-creations of communities, groups, brands, networks. They are collaborations between performers and audiences.
The good ideas, the innovation, the inspiration it will take to clean up the mess Bush and Co. created–all of it is out there for us, waiting to be discovered. As Obama has so ably demonstrated, the way we discover these possibilities is by continually improvising.
Happy New Year, everyone! Initiate strongly. Know your themes. Play with conviction. And have a productive and healthy 2009!
Tags: , 2008, 2009, Bush, Cheney, Costa Rica, guitar lessons, Innovation, Israel, New Year, Obama, Silver Lake Conservatory, Yoga