Early this morning I read an insightful piece by Sonja Blignaut in Medium, which the wise Brigid Russell had commented on.
‘Flowing through time: the need for a certain slowness’ is a thoughtful reflection on what’s going on in corporate and organisational life and the consequences.
It spoke to me of the death throes of the industrial age where the pursuit of speed and efficiency is driving us to absurdity.
As we think of this incessant drive towards faster and quicker, we forget that there can only be one winner in the race for speed.
And perhaps that’s not a race we really want to win. Especially as soon as we’ve won it, the next race begins. Relentlessly.
So what do we get in the striving for efficiency and valuing speed at scale?
Arguably we don’t get the genuinely new – we’re too close to see that. Instead, it’s more of the same with something squeezed out…
And often that ‘something’ is actually the best bit. The flavour and nutrition in food. The texture and story of clothes. The connections and relationships in our workplaces. Our thinking, talking and creating space.
All of which generate the good, the wholesome and the genuine innovation.
This isn’t some Luddite pull of the past. It the call of a future we would want to inhabit.
Now more than ever we need to disrupt our thinking.
Join me?