In a global culture where an underlying mood of aggression and distrust is deeply and subtly embedded, it’s easy to respond to the multiple and increasing threats of ecosystem breakdown with the same aggression that we see played out on a daily basis.
However, this is a place where Einstein’s famous quote is absolutely relevant:
“Problems cannot be solved with the same mind set that created them.”
It’s as important to learn to shift out of aggression and operate from more constructive moods as it is to understand the systems shifts of the emerging regenerative economy.
In order to accelerate the shift to regenerative practice (circular supply chain design; localised renewable energy; and an endgame that looks beyond mitigation to ecosystem restoration) we need to harness the best of human capabilities.
We need to maximise collaboration, cooperation, creativity and invention. Aggression won’t do this – its most common result is resistance.
Be angry…
This doesn’t mean that we should be weak or soft. It doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t be angry. Anger is a healthy human emotion – it’s our warning that our legitimacy, dignity or safety is under threat. The challenge is to use it effectively in a specific situation.
Anger predisposes us to take vigorous action to protect ourselves. This was easy in an ancient hunter-gatherer society where responsibility was generally immediate and personal.
Today, in a modern globalised, industrialised society, where is our most powerful point of leverage? We’re dealing with multiple, complex human systems with a heritage of domination, mistrust, control, deceit and manipulation. We need tools like systems thinking and root cause analysis. Along with them, we need a deep understanding of human moods, emotions, needs and concerns.
Be constructive…
Use your anger as energy to fuel your Ambition to learn about how human communities successfully achieve sustainable change. How do they do the amazing things they do? What’s the process that had their community take on a new practice?
Get Curious about the skills you could develop to become a smarter change-maker. How would you go about making Regenerative Business an offer so seductive it was too good to refuse? What are the concerns of your community and its individual members that you need to listen for?
Above all, Accept that human social systems are inherently self-perpetuating, and that shifting them is a game of emotions and seduction, where “reason” is really about providing the justification for a decision already made. It’s the soft stuff of human motivation and communication that will make you a truly powerful change agent.
For more about the biology of social change, we recommend Volume 3 of “Coaching to the Human Soul. Ontological Coaching and Deep Change.” by Alan Sieler
