January 21, 2021

Inheriting

(Opting In)

“Inheritance is never a given. It is always a task. It remains before us.” Jacques Derrida

How will the coming deflation impact my first significant career prospects? What’s really at stake for my life? What’s worth working for? Have we surpassed “peak oil”? Have we overshot that climate “tipping point”? Is the threat of a water war a weak signal or…? Having come of age at a time of instantaneous freedom of global connectivity, young designers and creatives are exposed to an overwhelming flow of information vying for their attention while stimulating hopes, dreams and fears. The designed world that we call civilization is a stunning demonstration of the power and potential of humanity. Yet with our increasing awareness of global interdependencies, we gain a vantage point from which meta-systemic breakdown and collapse are possible future scenarios. The daunting horizon of climate change, global inequity and needed transformations of the energy and agricultural sectors will be faced by current and future generations as they design a future radically different from that which they inherited. As facilitators of tomorrow’s design transformations, they will face and engage the outmoded in order to envision new possibilities.  As we saw with Occupy, they were born for these challenges. Yet, on the public square, in the academy and in the marketplace there is little infrastructure to guide such radically innovative change work.

Amidst this increasing complexity, emerging design professionals are looking for problems worth dedicating their lives to. This emerging generation of creative design professionals witnesses the widening gap between what is and what is possible, from positions of little seniority or influence. They aspire to make a difference via design. They want to develop a relevant, global ethos of practice. They long to bring their work, and that of their organizations, into tighter alignment with their values. They seek to resolve the apparent tension between doing good and doing well as a designer. Common misunderstandings include the assumption that a design degree will guarantee they possesses skills appropriate to the demands of their future work. Common fears include the possibility of failing to achieve personal satisfaction. Sensing the superficiality of much conventional design work, the “hipster” philosophy rejects status quo designer roles, viewing work merely as a means of survival on the margins. Perhaps a desire for right lifestyle supports a fantasy of existing outside of the system, -ironically estranging them and precluding their participation in the very systems they constitute.

These visionary yet vulnerable young creatives are representative of an emergent mode of Being that attends more to inner realities than to outer realities. According to Wikipedia, the demographic group known as the Satori generation in Japan, and the Sampo generation in Korea, refers to individuals born in the 80s who value self-awareness and simple living. As a global cultural meme emerging in the wake of the Asian financial crisis, their generation is the first in modern history facing the prospect of failing to meet or exceed the standard of living of their parents’ generation. They constitute a precariat social group with a preference for anti-consumptive lifestyle behaviors. In Japanese, Satori has the literal meaning of ‘enlightened’ or ‘enlightenment’ and, given the trillions of dollars of educational debt owed by Millennials, it’s easy to see why a global anti-consumption trend like this could be characterized as wise. Yet critics have disparagingly referred to this generation as apathetic slackers.

How to reconcile these divergent views? Two articles, one from Adbusters and the other from The Atlantic are illustrative of how values tend to correlate to world views. The Atlantic, representing the positive Modern ideals of achievement and success, as well as normative concepts of the market economy and the great benefits afforded by capitalism, takes a rather dismal yet curious view of this youth phenomenon. Adbusters on the other hand representing a postmodern form of mind, lays more emphasis on global inequity, and the shadow side of late capitalism. Both world views are poignant in their recognition of this widespread generational crisis and in so doing both world views contribute to a richer analysis in full context. James Terrell, vice president of Collaborative Growth, L.L.C., and co-author of The Emotionally Intelligent Team, and Emotional Intelligence in Action, commented on the article from The Atlantic. “This is a fascinating if eerie look at a society and culture that is in a real need of alternative education and alternative currency. If you were able to design a personal development curriculum that would capture the imagination of the Japanese youth and find a way to integrate the ideas and levels of instruction with an alternative currency they could use as a medium of exchange to reinforce their communications and expressions of the value they found in the developmental process it might be possible the first”post labor?” society in the world might generate itself.” (Terrell) Regardless of our individual perspective, these global macro trends illustrate how memes signal bundles of collectively held values. They can enrich our appreciation of the diversity of world views that share and shape our planetary conditions.

Crisis and incoherence can paradoxically, become fuel for transformation. As the first generation in the developed world whose standard of living may not surpass that of their parents, these youth have a most precarious relationship to social systems. The Millennial generation is the first to come of age amidst the stark threat of systems collapse on this scale, whether it be the environment, healthcare, education, or the financial system. When the collective energy invested in propping up failing systems meets the creative urgency of the need for systems change, cultural dissonance is the result. Precarious life conditions provide optimal circumstances for innovative, values-centric design thinking and action. Life conditions such as these will likely catalyze unprecedented innovations as designers collaborate with like-minded experts engaged in interdisciplinary efforts to help shift systems for the better — and challenging most of our widely held assumptions in the process.

In “Designers Should Take the Lead,” Hella Jongerius and Louise Schouwenberg of Design Academy Eindhoven ask, “Is the future generation naïve, or more in tune with the world around them? In any case: the gap between higher ideals and industry is too large.” Whether one looks at the Satori generation in Japan, or the Millennial generation in our own backyard, creative and progressive youth are in pursuit of authentic, functional fit with the multiple systems they belong to. They tend to eschew socialized identities and titles for the simple rewards of a self-authored life with all its freedoms, responsibilities and risks. They long to honor their unique gifts by expressing their abilities in service of something greater than themselves. Wired, social, and realistic, they participate in multiple communities of practice. Valuing simple living, they consciously choose quality over quantity and are motivated more by their own values rather than by media messages. Tending to be self-aware and more attuned to the root causes of their needs and desires, they are determined not to lead unconsciously wasteful consumerist lifestyles.

Kosmos: Journal for Global Transformation interviewed young opinion leader Joshua Gorman, founder of Generation Waking Up at the New Story Conference in Scotland in October 2014 where he storied emerging youth movements around the globe. “So the new story is playing out in every sector and we all have a role to play. Young people are finding their gifts, finding their passions, realizing that ‘hey, we’re all in this together and we’re going to make it happen’. That’s why we’re here, right? That’s why we’ve been born at this time to take the largest step that humanity has ever taken before, right? To step from an old world dying into this new world that’s being born.” (The Edge: A Newsletter for Evolutionary Leaders)

New essential capacities such awareness, deep listening, facilitation, conflict resolution and effective collaboration are increasingly necessary for thriving professional practice in design. Meeting the immense and disproportionate social challenge to design a future they did not inherit —without falling into despair or cynicism — requires self-knowledge and developed personal values. The Inner Game of Tennis, written in 1974 by sports coach Tim Galloway remains a classic because it reminds us of the relevance of self-knowledge to human potential and high performance. Likewise, changing the ‘inner game’ of designing demands the capacity for depth— the capacity to turn inward to access grounded conscious awareness and empathic imagination. Current and future designers can build sturdy inner resources and realistic perspectives through self knowledge and fostering of the conditions that contribute to ongoing personal development. A heart-centered, designing vocation offers a context for this lifelong journey of self-authoring. (Kegan)

Emerging youth in the developed world need our support and our openness to the new ways of living that will be created out of our contemporary crisis conditions —such as the sustained economic meltdown experienced in Japan over recent decades. Although they have inherited very real challenges, they comprise a potentiated system ready to reorganize at a higher level of coherence. They may not have been able to articulate frustrations and longings for something more — for integrating the self that designs with the self that loves, or the self that balances family demands with the self that seeks meaning. They may not understand how their dissatisfaction and frustration are the sweet voices calling for greater consciousness—nor where listening/following could lead. What can today’s leaders do? We can acknowledge the need for changes. We can get out of the way. We can let these children of the Information Age connect the dots. We can create bridges to help young people to contribute to the communities and organizations they are situated in. And we can look for ways to invest, cultivate and steward our incredible human capital. We can give definition, depth and focus to those inner urgings. We can validate their learning to listen and eventually to trust.

Previous post Informing (Forming) “Form is emptiness; emptiness form” Diamond Sutra Designing, functioning as a mirror, tangibly shows us what we take to be true Next post Agency (Communion) “I want to know if you know how to melt into that fierce heat of living falling toward the center of your longing.” David Whyte