A Brave New World

Time’s Arrow Part II – S6E1

The Framework

Part I and II of this episode gives us a biographical glimpse into the character Samuel Clemens (yes, Mark Twain, the writer). He is brought aboard the enterprise and escorted to his quarters by Counsellor Troi. As they amble along a corridor and enter the turbo-lift, an interesting conversation ensues:

There are many ways of looking at the future. The way of looking determines the way of being. Clemens shares his cynical vision of what he sees on the Enterprise with Troi and Troi fills in the gaps:

Clemens: Well. I’m not so impressed with this future. Huge star ships and weapons that can no doubt destroy entire cities and military conquest as a way of life?

Troi: Is that what you see here?

Clemens: Well, I know what you say. That this is a vessel of exploration and your mission is to discover new worlds. That’s what the Spanish said. And the Dutch. And the Portuguese. That’s what all conquerors say. I’m sure that’s what you told that blue-skinned fellow I just saw before you brought him here to serve you. 

Troi: He’s one of the thousand species that we’ve encountered. We live in a peaceful Federation with most of them. The people you see are here by choice.

Clemens: So, there are a privileged few who serve on these ships, living in luxury and wanting for nothing, but what about everybody else? What about the poor? You ignore them.

Troi: Poverty was eliminated on earth a long time ago. And a lot of other things disappeared with it. Hopelessness. Despair. Cruelty.

Clemens: Young lady, I come from a time when men achieve power and wealth by standing on the backs of the poor, where prejudice and intolerance are common-place, and power is an end unto itself. And you’re telling me that isn’t how it is anymore?

Troi: That’s right.

Clemens: Mmm. Maybe, it’s worth giving up cigars for after all. 

The Vision

Perhaps, when we read the above dialogue, we see our current world in much the same way as Clemens -- with oppression, prejudice, intolerance and abuse of power. However, as much as that may still be true, we can also create a vision and, from there, a reality where the extremes of wealth and poverty are abolished, where power no longer creates injustice and oppression, and where prejudice is eliminated. And, if we look closer at our world today, we see many people creating these changes based on this new vision.

It can start with a positive framework that can be used by individuals, organizations, governments and communities. For example, Dr. David Cooperrider, a Professor in Social Entrepreneurship, and the founder of Appreciative Inquiry (AI) enlightens us with research that shows what happens when we focus on what is already going right. To appreciate, to see those things worth valuing and to inquire, to search, question and discover is at the heart of AI. Cooperrider (2012) applies strategies arising from this research in thousands of organizations around the world with a framework from Peter Drucker that says, “The task of leadership is to create an alignment of strengths in ways that make a system’s weaknesses irrelevant.”

Strengths-based approaches (including positive psychology) have a much higher success rate than focusing on weaknesses. For example, the common deficit-bias in organizations creates measurements of what goes wrong including deficiencies in people. “People excel only by amplifying strengths, not by fixing weakness” Leaders who “elevate strengths, see what works, and evoke what’s next” create results such as engagement in companies from 2:1 to 10:1, and high engagement organizations have 3.9 times the earnings-per-share growth rate. This is the culture that created positivity and possibility at Southwest and Amazon. Two transformational examples of positive inquiry in organizations.

The Action

And lest geeks reading this post think there is nothing to be done for our pathetic world, think about our own power. As Richard Darell of Bit Rebels points out, geeks rule the world. He has a good point, especially when we look at the founders of multinational computer companies such as Google, Microsoft and of course Apple. They have had tremendous influence on our culture. We are full of good ideas and work in creating the IT of now and the future. We govern how people navigate their lives. And so we can get geeky with the positive psychology frameworks that are being researched and developed today and use them.

AI (no, not artificial intelligence - appreciative inquiry) could be used as we create our own visions of how we would like the world to be and then initiate practices using our own strengths to ‘make it so’. The concept portrayed in this episode where Clemens sees a world where we have eliminated poverty, power issues, prejudice, and intolerance begins with a positive foundation and a world-embracing vision. As we adopt AI and similar principles on which to base the practice of our lives at the micro and macro level, we see sustainable change in the world. There is still hope and still time. And, the time is now. Geeks of the world unite! 'Make it so!'

It is within the grasp of policy makers, governments, corporations, communities and individuals to work toward this vision. But it begins with having it. Star Trek gives us that. Repeatedly.

Cooperrider, D. (2012). Three circles of the strengths revolution. Leadership Excellence. March 2012. p 3-4.

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For good geeky gawking go to Richard Darell's site: www.bitrebels.com