Time for a Paradigm Shift by Linda Hatcher
PARADIGM SHIFT: a dramatic change in methodology or practice. It often refers to a major change in thinking and planning, which ultimately changes the way projects are implemented. For example, accessing applications and data from the Web instead of from local servers is a paradigm shift.–from www.answers.com
The long and painful economic crisis of the nation has settled into a grim collective realization: business as usual will not solve the problems in which we will remain without a paradigm shift necessitated by our continued entry into the digital age.
“Paradigm shifts” and all the implications thereof have been the preoccupation of author Patricia Auburdene since the 1980’s publication by she and her coauthor John Naisbitt of Re-inventing the Corporation. In that book, followed by Megatrends 2000, they proposed an idea that has been magnified and proven ever-more-true during our prolonged economic crisis.
“My co-author John Naisbitt and I proposed a simple formula that is especially useful today. Social change, we said, intensifies when there is a confluence of new values and economic necessity,” she said in an interview recently when discussing her 2005 book Megatrends 2010 (1). Four long, challenging years after the publication of the book, it seems fitting that the difficult intervening years give pause now to reexamine its ideas. Even four years ago, some of these ideas would have seemed even more startling, but are now emerging as a new consciousness.
That consciousness as relative to business in America is specified by Aburdene as “conscious capitalism.” In the October issue of Leadership Guide Magazine , we review Megatrends 2010 and the ideas of Auburdene about “conscious capitalisim” (CLICK HERE). In a related story, we identify five exemplary corporations that are profitably integrating specific ideas stated by Auburdene and other business visionaries (CLICK HERE). An example is a profile of “change agent” Barbara Waugh of HP. Her motto? “Do well by doing good.”
Another old saying that is proving its eternal truth: “If you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you have always gotten.” This is a mantra we should embrace as we not only emerge from crisis, but create entirely different paradigms as we do so.
INSPIRING LEADERSHIP QUOTES–by Max De Pree, former chairman of the board of Herman Miller and author of several business books.
Innovation is the lifeblood of an organization. Knowing how to lead and work with creative people requires knowledge and action that often goes against the typical organizational structure.
P.S. As a reminder, be sure to visit our free Leader Library (CLICK HERE) which now features all of the leadership and ethics articles that we’ve published over the past ten years. The hundreds of articles provide a wealth of practical knowledge that will help you in your efforts to be an effective, ethical leader.
