11/20/13 13:45
Just re-watched Alain de Botton's
2009 TED talk on success. A brilliant speaker.
Thoughts:
Our assessment and treatment of others is deeply tied to our perceptions of their career success. It would be far more human if we could unlink this and treat people as individuals, and based on their own behavior.
The problem is that in a low-context society, the career ladder is seen as a common standard. How much more interesting parties would be if we instead asked about other people's favorite hobbies or interests, rather than the usual "so, what do you do?"
A lot of "success" is luck, yet we have a bias in modern society to downplay that part.
This reminds me of Michael Maubossin's essay on the
Paradox of Skill. In highly competitive environments (such as modern industry), luck ironically can play a much larger part in a particular person's success or failure.
What we're missing is a modern custom for reminding ourselves of the role of luck in our lives. Something like the Wheel of Fortune (the Tarot card, not the game show). Joseph Campbell had a lovely quote about this, in the context of marriage:
"In the Middle Ages, a favorite image that occurs in many, many contexts is the wheel of fortune. There's the hub of the wheel, and there is the revolving rim of the wheel. For example, if you are attached to the rim of the wheel of fortune, you will be either above going down or at the bottom coming up. But if you are at the hub, you are in the same place all the time."
— Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth
This idea is relevant to other areas of our lives as well. There is so much variation and chance in the world, that it would seem foolish to evaluate our current circumstances too closely. Just as it would be even more foolish to evaluate the circumstances of others based on where they happen to be at the moment.
It's become fashionable to think that the
world is flat, even though that is patently not the case. When even top corporate moguls like to dress down and play the every man, it's seductive to think that everybody can be just like them, with just a little bit more work.
Equality and a level playing field are worthy goals, I'm sure everyone can agree with that. However, we tend to mistake the goal for the present reality. We aren't there yet, and we have a tremendous amount of work ahead of us if we ever want to get there.
In the meantime, we need to disabuse ourselves of this illusion. For example, a lot of people have fallen into the cargo-cult like trap of pursuing the “Silicon Valley” entrepreneurial model (for lack of a better term). What may have worked in Silicon Valley at a particular point in time, may be a terrible model in a different place and time. Economics and support ecosystems differ greatly, and other models could be more successful.
Perhaps the most important point is a reminder that we must take the time to define what “success" really means to us. Otherwise, it will be defined by other people, or (worse) commercial interests.
Advertising and marketing have become so sophisticated and prevalent that they play a major role in defining what “success" should feel like. Our lives literally imitate art, and one with an agenda. If we don't take a moment to stop and think about this every once in a while, we become oblivious to their powerful effects.
Related: TED, Society.