“We can be better” is a new tagline of mine, for the Teal Unicorn mission of making work better, that sets it in a more social context – that third part of our slogan “better work, better lives, better society“.
Sean McClean wrote a lovely post on LinkedIn about his “UnJob”, his other work he does to contribute to society. He made me realise they’re one and the same for me. My job is to advance social change, to make people’s working lives better. I’m in the unusual situation of being able to make a significant social contribution at work, mostly through the marvelous Dr. Cherry Vu, so it has expanded to fill my days. I’m on a mission to make work better. It’s not just a living, it’s my life. My days are full of only two things: loving Dr Vu, and helping others love their job. And I’m so happy that way.
(Cherry doesn’t much like this picture, but I think it beautifully shows our dynamic, and depicts her in full cry.)
As an example, I reflected on this quote:
“Efficiency is a second-order priority for government.
… capitalism has taught us that fast and cheap are inherently superior traits. That makes sense in the private sector, who aim to capture private value in the form of profit. Wasted time is wasted money that could be in the pockets of shareholders. In the public sector, who aim to create long-term public value, the same is not always true. More time spent engaging with stakeholders, reducing risk or considering options might be a net gain.”
– Alicia McKay
Yes, it’s only when self-entitlement and greed overcome community and wellbeing that efficiency becomes the top priority of government rather than its successful function. The 20th Century elevated greed and efficiency to fever pitch, both in the private sector (maximise shareholder wealth) and the public (minimise tax at all costs).
There are immense surpluses flowing to the ultra-wealthy right now, corporate and private, as well as huge latent productivity* in both sectors, which can be redirected to make private organisations more adaptable and public ones more benevolent, so that we can all survive and thrive in the 21st Century. We can be better.
*Latent productivity is not the same thing as inefficiency. Unleashing productivity requires increasing performance not decreasing overheads.
(Impressionist image by DALL-E)