Which One Are You?
“Where do you think I can make the most positive difference in my work?” It’s a common question these days, growing in urgency.
I have more questions than answers in response when I get asked this. I recently found a memo to myself that I sketched out last year trying to answer this question in a shareable way, ever on the lookout for shortcuts. Then I got busy with other stuff. But I realized I was avoiding the very advice I sketched in the memo, so I’m taking another pass at it here.
The sketched idea went something like this:
To transition to a regenerative economy, one where we (humans and billions of non-humans with which we are interdependent) can thrive, three things need to happen. We need to …
1. remove that which currently undermines our ability to thrive;
2. create that which encourages the conditions for thriving;
3. cope with the transition.
These things are easy to write down, and in a few testing discussions I got ready nods and a sort of, “Well, of course!” But (also/of course) the transition being suggested here is no small thing. Accepting the scope of what needs doing yields a lot of Why not’s interspersed with a good dose of, Because they’s… But that can’t stop us from moving forward.
