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This Land of Strangers - Robert E Hall

This Land of Strangers

"..the most important book of the decade." — Richard Boyatzis, co-author of best seller Primal Leadership

Relationships, in all their varied forms, have been the lifetime study of Robert Hall. He brings a rare combination of experience as a researcher, consultant, writer, teacher and CEO in dealing with the real-world relationship challenges of modern organizations. When coupled with a decade of hands-on experience in the gritty world of inner-city homeless families it translates into a tapestry of vivid stories, well-researched and oft startling facts, and strategic insights that weave together the yet untold narrative of society's gravest risk and most stellar opportunity.

The Bad News About Efficiency

Chasing GDP growth results in lower living standards … GDP may be a poor measure of well-being, or even of market activity. – Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Laureate in Economics, Sept. 13, 2009

• • •

I zipped down the toll road that I have traveled so often. Where the old toll booths used to stand in the southbound lanes, six across, there was only an overhead camera and scanning device. At 70 miles per hour there was no need to even tap the brake. Technology triumphs again – no stop, no toll booth attendants, no cost of labor.

Again and again we marvel at the unquestioned virtue of replacing humans with technology – eliminating elevator operators, travel agents, sales clerks, service representatives, secretaries, ditch diggers, car wash workers, cotton pickers, and so on. We have been on a 100 year march to eliminate human workers, human error, and human cost. Work for those at the bottom of the socio-economic scale has been automated or exported while two-income households and influx of immigrant workers have expanded the labor pool creating the un-perfect storm.

Now we find ourselves in an economy that seems unable to create sufficient jobs for the workforce. Unemployment floats above 10 percent, workers and whole households lose hope – while and the costs of unemployment, welfare and related government costs balloon. This feeds an ugly cycle of dependence and anger among the disenfranchised.

A rebounding stock market and an uptick in productivity (GDP) are meaningless metrics for people who have lost or fear losing their jobs. Stable average income levels held-up by exorbitant Wall Street bonuses mean little to those at the bottom of the heap still losing ground and their standard of living. Tax burdens shift to smaller groups with big incomes while well over 40 percent of the population now pay no federal taxes. Resentment abounds on all sides from the unemployed, under-employed, those fearful of being unemployed and the over-taxed.

As everyone points the finger at someone else, a very simple question comes to mind: “In our zeal to become more efficient, have we become ineffective?” It reminds me of a piece by Henri Nouwen in his book, Journey to Daybreak about his work at L’Arche Communities for disabled adults:

Nick, who works with four handicapped men in the wood shop, spoke about his joys and frustrations. He explained how hard it is to do a job well and at the same time keep the needs of the handicapped men uppermost in mind … it asks for deep inner conviction that a slow job done together is better than a fast job done alone.

I found this out myself this afternoon when I went apple picking with Janice, Carol, Adam, Rose and their assistants. My attitude was to get the apples picked, put them in bags, and go home. But I soon learned that all of that was much less important than to help Rose pick one or two apples, to walk with Janice looking for apples that hang low enough so that she herself can reach them, to compliment Caron on her ability to find good apples, and just to sit beside Adam in his wheelchair under an apple tree and give him some sense of belonging to the group. We finally collected four bags of apples, but eight people took more than an hour to do it. I could have done the work in half an hour. But efficiency is not L’Arche’s most important word. Care is.

Care. Well-being. Effectiveness. Can we be a viable society with the wealth and the tax burdens so heavily concentrated in a shrinking base of citizens? Will our country remain a stable, functioning democracy if we grow “have-nots” who feel disenfranchised and shrink “haves” who feel oppressively taxed and punished for their success? Can our economy grow and markets flourish with a clear-and-present danger of job shortages, scarce capital and family instability that squeeze out hope, risk-taking, skill development and confidence?

Efficiency in production of goods and services that feeds a cycle of job loss, tax growth, class divide and even warfare, hopelessness and dependency will not be effective. It will create a permanently toxic marketplace. An automatic assumption that business effectiveness requires decreasing human resources must now be questioned. Certainly, inefficiency will not grow the hearts, minds and wallets of our society but neither will estrangement and disengagement of the working class from the creative and wealthy class.

Yesterday’s worship at the altar of efficiency must now be examined. We must face the reality that some of our efficiency has been ineffective. A new Harvard medical school study of over 4,000 hospitals found no savings from computerization of hospital records. These findings are part of a troubling trend where very costly high-tech investments have disappointed or yielded unintended adverse consequences. Clearly, there are many examples where their results have been positive. The point is that we can no longer automatically assume increased productivity that eliminates workers will yield positive results if it de-stabilizes our organizations, marketplace, economy or society.

(Column appeared originally in ABA Bank Marketing magazine – January-February 2010)

By ROBERT E. HALL

Not to be reproduced without written permission. All rights reserved. © Copyright Robert E. Hall 2010

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