Asymmetries as the trump card of the old model of business
I was speaking to Dr Don Beck this morning for the podcast. Don was a student of Clare Graves and the person credited with bringing Spiral Dynamics to the world. Don has been my teacher since the early 2000s.
In the conversation, we talked about asymmetries. Cultural, knowledge, wealth, development, resources…we were speaking specifically about the Palestine/Israel situation, but the truth is, asymmetries are everywhere…and used in all ‘business as usual’ models.
An asymmetry in a sales process allows seduction and manipulation. One person holds more cards than another. Matters not if the sale is corn from the field, or the ‘rights’ to dig out a nation’s Gold from Bougainville, Papua New Guinea.
To make a profit in business by keeping the buyer in the dark is a shady business. Nasty…nasty…..I think your toenails might curl if you knew just how many of our celebrated businesses do exactly this.
However, this is not the only place the asymmetrical relationship is evident…the ratio of muscle and perceived ‘power’ has kept women in an asymmetrical relationship with men for over 2000 years.
We are increasingly experiencing the growing asymmetry between the rich and the poor. Access to networks, money, the ‘boys club’, the Ivy League schools, all of these are built around asymmetries. Lucky if you have it, sucks if you don’t. (Although statistics say that more resilience is built into the system that doesn’t have it…as these people are forced to live in the field of creativity daily, just to make it.)
I am not proposing a flat world of egalitarianism. An all-vanilla world would be incredibly boring and uncreative.
But if we look at our current world, the overarching issues exist because of the increasing gap in the “us and them” asymmetry, be that health care, education, access to clean water and electricity, or human rights.
To invite someone to the table to do a deal…and put all the cards on the table…to treat the other with dignity and respect…to not consciously exploit, or hold the power cards over another..this..this is the future most of us long for in our 2.23AM moments.
As I am certain the sun will rise tomorrow, every human I have ever met knows the experience of being trumped by someone who held more cards.
Photo credit: @Cristianhold via Compfight
