James Surwillo
Aug 23, 2017 · 9 min read

This is my Book Metamodern Leadership in 110 Tweets!

*INTRO: Leadership seems to have been around awhile. Sometimes that same thing means different things to different people.

  1. Especially people who are different ages and have experienced different things at different stages of life
  2. Elders seem to always have a hard time accepting the ways of the young.
  3. A lot of stuff happens in just one generation now. Things seem to be moving fast.
  4. It seems like we need to keep up to stay relevant- but shouldn’t that also include knowing some important things learned in the past?
  5. CHAPT1: (Warning- some light philosophy) Aristotle said in “Nichomachean Ethics” there are a lot of “Shoulds” out there. I think we have come to the point in society to call them out.
  6. Culture- especially western culture- kept itself intact-through wars- and a Christian metaphysical and ancient way of being.
  7. The printing press, the steam engine, the automobile, and the iPhone have killed most of that.
  8. Oscar Wilde- be like- man, reality does not really make sense or provide much meaning
  9. 1890s Ezra Pound be like . . . yep I see all of this new stuff let’s get this culture rolling.
  10. William James be like . . . I’m a pragmatist- Philosophy bakes no bread so let’s get some shit done that needs to get done- we know what to do and culture will work itself out.
  11. Heidegger be like- dude- all of these people are perceiving completely different things in the same exact circumstance?
  12. Postmodernists be like yeah man- there is like so much stuff out there- and there is like no beginning or ending point- so what is the point?
  13. Meanwhile people were living trying to grapple with the same problems of human existence by less roadmaps of history.
  14. Hope and Faith should probably be a part of your religious or secular life. Maybe they can be the same if you can figure it out.
  15. Chapt 2: We have to determine what hill to climb. It seems that on a Genetic level we will select what hill is best for us “The Selfish Gene”.
  16. Eric Liu and Nick Hanauer be like yeah that is how we may be biologically but now we know way before our genes that we need to work together.
  17. Adam Smith be like- man- when we start monetizing shit some people seem to be making way more and that seems about right.
  18. Completely hypothetical here but could all the “fast pace” be affecting who gets jobs which are the “financial and meaningful” basis that people need
  19. if so do we have any role to play in it?
  20. Sociologist Charles Murray be like The bell curve- the pareto principle- seems to be valid. Some people seem to be doing better
  21. Great. There is inequality — and it may be that those at the bottom of the bell statistically produce behaviors that may be considered less sustainable.
  22. This should offend conservatives but it offends liberals for some reason.
  23. The science of sociology is difficult but there does seem to be some correlation between well-being and strong character.
  24. Chapt 3: We are biologically the same people for the most part as humans for a long time but we think much differently. We are modernized.
  25. A lot of smart people for a long time thought there were some vague patterns to the culture we had been carrying on
  26. A lot of these patterns intersect with the human life span- about 80 years.
  27. Strauss and Howe be like cultural traditions are reborn every 4th Generations last about 20 years.
  28. There are some social scientific findings embedded in this work but it is better understood mythologically or metaphorically.
  29. There is history on top of cultural eras on top of generations on top of culture on top of individuals. What do we make of this complexity?
  30. Chapt 4: History is long and it keeps going. There is really nothing we know that someone else did not already figure out and if there is that is good.
  31. There does seem to be an evolutionary component to everything from human consciousness to biology
  32. While recording history we found out how fast we go and we seem to always have a need for competition (the selfish gene) and our capacity for empathy
  33. Freedom, capitalism, democracy and their capability to spread the news led to first neoliberal ideas of globalization
  34. Technology and Globalization might have a small impact on our decisions as to where to devote our life’s work!
  35. These things seem to have really helped the world-especially very recently and in parts of the world that need it most.
  36. Chapt 5: Around 1900 Upton Sinclair be like- working conditions for our food are gross.
  37. Fredrick Winslow Taylor be like- we did everything else in science let’s do some scientific management
  38. John Maynard keynes be like- uh- dudes- what we just did led to like- the Great Depression- let’s do something else
  39. Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman be like- we went way overboard on that Keynes idea- let’s get some economic freedom back- and everyone listened
  40. Things got better and the pie grew but it caused other issues
  41. We were caught in the Veblenian Nightmare or stuck on Hedonic Treadmill. This caused younger generations to perceive and act differently than we do and did.
  42. Chapt 6: Lots of great tradition and progress made America exceptional
  43. Edmund Burke be like- you better stick close to Leviathan or else people are going to come and kill you because they are all bad
  44. Rousseau be like- people are not like that- just be cool and have the government act cool and we won’t have any problems
  45. Louis Hartz in 1955 be like- Americans never adopted an ideology like the communists or fascists. We seem to be doing pretty good.
  46. The 1960’s cultural revolution polarized the country and brought us to the postmodern where perhaps for the first time ever our political perceptions are convincingly subjective.
  47. Chapt 7: Mary Shelley be like- Here’s Frankenstein- this is what happens when you reach too quickly for progress. It kills you.
  48. Alvin Toffler said in like 1970- Hey, people are just about to become paralyzed by too much information- it’s gonna be wacky.
  49. Nicholas Carr and Maryanne Wolfe be like- there seems to be something important about reading and contemplating.
  50. There is so much to learn to keep pace with technology- how do you know what to focus on?
  51. Julian Huxley be like-It seems that we are inextricably tied to technology- and it will just get more complicated to stay relevant
  52. Chapt 8: Plato be like- dudes- I just escaped this cave and there is more to reality. Why won’t you guys believe me?
  53. Kahneman and Tversky be like- because we take mental shortcuts based on our experiences and perceptions.
  54. The future is nothing but uncertainty. Shouldn’t we learn how to negotiate it with a little statistical intuition?
  55. Planck’s Quantum theories, Shannon’s Information theory, Lorenz Butterfly Effect led to Toffler’s Future Shock- and we are only up to 1970.
  56. To be successful in prediction we need the complete story. Not just what confirms our bias. This seems like a better way to navigate reality.
  57. Chapt 9: Krishna be like- Arjuna- dude- you’re an archer and everyone you know if getting killed- you better start shooting some arrows.
  58. Teddy Roosevelt be like- I read like a book every day and still go do a bunch of stuff. Stop whining and go do something.
  59. Max Weber be like- there seems to be a Work Ethic trapped in this culture which seems to be a pretty good thing
  60. We need to find out what we need to do and then do it. Since scientific management that “calling” seems to be harder to find decipher.
  61. William Whyte be like- dudes- It’s the 1950’s and everyone is the same. What about the rugged individual? We’re going to need some Bob Dylan stat!
  62. The way this whole thing is going you’re going to have to make your own path.
  63. Chapt 10: Hillary Clinton in 1990’s be like- Hey- maybe we should examine what we want out of society for positive role models. Everyone was like- booo!!!!!!
  64. Robert Putnam said by like the year 2000 we were bowling alone. No one joined anything anymore. We were alone together or something.
  65. David Hume be like- I’ve seen this one farmer dude with a different crop who helped another farmer dude and vice versa. Helping people helps you.
  66. In 1958 Leonard Read be like- This one simple stupid pencil has the labor of like 1000 people embedded in it. Imagine complex things!
  67. James Surowiecki be like- I’m pretty sure lots of people put together know way more than you do individually
  68. We should probably keep that in mind as the economy shifts to more technological efficiency and automation.
  69. Chapt 11: Henry Ford be like- shut up worker and keep putting together that same part and I will give you a nice living.
  70. Scientific management never tied meaning to an act- like a behavioral psychologist- it was reward and punishment
  71. 1940’s Abraham Maslow be like- wait- I think there is some higher level human need we just recently cut out of work
  72. 1958 John Kenneth Galbraith be like- we built an affluent society- like the world has never seen- now what?
  73. Through the stagflation of the 1970’s into the 80’s and 90’s we kept getting more efficient. Six Sigma saved GE like $2 billion.
  74. 1970’s Edward Deci be like- Hey, people are looking to be competent, work together, and have the power to make their own decisions.
  75. The same economic safeguards- pension, healthcare, job security, cheap education, etc were drying up from the affluent society
  76. Guess what? People are no longer sacrificing their higher level needs for economic safeguards.
  77. Jobs should probably be a little more personal because of that
  78. Chapt 12: In the stone age we were like- the same stuff keeps on happening
  79. In the bronze age we were like- you think if we wrote stuff down we could record stuff and then work on other stuff?
  80. In the Iron age we were like, man- we really have a lot of good stuff to write down that we have been learning
  81. In the middle ages we were like- we should start thinking about some form of curriculum!
  82. In 17th century Francis Bacon be like- let’s get smarter by using science. We can do it!
  83. By 20th century almost no one went to high school. Adolescence was not a thing.
  84. By the 1980’s everyone went to high school and many to college. Are we learning the right things?
  85. Chapt 13: Viktor Frankl be like- you should probably be responsible for something if you want something to be meaningful.
  86. Secular humanists will say meaning can be derived from nature, relationships, and knowledge informing social constructs.
  87. Past Rick Warren be like- what are you going to do with what you are given?
  88. Justin Martyr and Pierre Teilard de Chardin be like divinity of the human spirit seems to be a truth that we can all agree on.
  89. Have we lost the spiritual connection between sacrifice for a higher purpose for narcissism?
  90. What if that story precedes millennials and what about purpose itself will be injected back into our being?
  91. Could the Zen like phenomenon of applying meaning to our work lead to better leadership and more productivity?
  92. Chapt 14: 20th century- Joseph Campbell be like- dudes- hasn’t anyone noticed that we have been telling each other the same stories everywhere for like 5000 years?
  93. We, as a culture, determine a hero, then that hero goes and does something no one wants to do that makes it better for everyone.
  94. Odysseus, Gilgamesh, Osiris, Buddha, Jesus are the same hero. As history unfolds our heroes reoccur but evolve
  95. James Joyce be like- Leopold Bloom is the mundane 20th century middle class hero. He goes to work and eats gross food.
  96. Heroes are closely tied to leadership. Ideally they should both make up the characteristics that we value.
  97. As factors cause our institutions and organizations to change shouldn’t we update leadership?
  98. The iron fist of Gilgamesh will not likely help you lead your software project but the story itself might.
  99. Chapt 15: We evolved to notice what catches our eye- what fruits to eat and what predators to avoid
  100. When we organized into civilizations we needed tribes to keep us safe from invaders. There were not yet sophisticated moral codes
  101. By Organizing under myth we could build a framework that made sense of the ancient world.
  102. By organizing under religion we could build a framework that made sense of the world (middle ages)
  103. By organizing into nations and adopting the “Natural Law” of capitalism and democracy we could progress (Enlightenment)
  104. By accepting diversity as a historical necessity for progress do we advance productivity
  105. The world is not perfect but the Berlin Wall fell, racial barriers are less, and opportunities are abundant
  106. New people always update the values to which we organize- and that is important.
  107. Our largest, most educated generation has solidified their value systems (happens around the age of 25)
  108. Wouldn’t it be practical to apply that to the way that we prepare for the future?

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James Surwillo

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