I was just watching some kind of You Tube feed about the mayhem that's happening in Madison, and watched as two people with opposing ideas yelled at one another. As I'm watching, I find myself riveted to the entire scene, not because I know them or I was moved or inspired by either of them, but because of the energy around their exchange.
One thing we can say for certain, all of these riots and protests are containers of messy, reckelss, beautiful energy and passion. What ever your opinion is about the politics of these events, it's clear when we're watching them that the people involved are awake, they're vital and worked up. All of those are good things, great things, even if the circumstances for these events feels troubling. What is at the core of all of this, it seems to me, is that people are deeply engaged, for right or for wrong, in the marketplace of ideas. Ideas matter, and when we feel that an idea we value is being attacked or demeaned, we are inspired to get involved, to stand up and say something.
Our places of work don't usually exhibit the kinds of energy we find at a rally or, certainly, a riot. But it doesn't take a rally or a riot, or a change in policy for us to feel that pull to become involved. What is operating at the core of this is participation in a lively conversation with others we are connected to, where we find agreement and disagreement, inclusing and exclusing. It's when we feel this connection to others who are engaged in a common purpose, that great energy can build great things. Just as quickly, however, this energy can turn ugly and violent, if we decide that our idea is the right one and the rest be damned. Sure, revolutions start this way, but very little will ever rise to the level of revolution. Our energy can build powerful movements, it can change the way business is done, improve conditions, work out a problem, or even build and operate a company.
When we are dealing with energy, engagement and ideas, the best path to managing the associated anxieties is through conversation. Whether we are working for someone, managing others or any other place where we are in communion with other people, our energies are best managed through personal discourse, shared understanding, and mutual respect. Change isn't sustainable with force, and telling others what to do without input will simply lead to an open loop of disconnect and disharmony
As you watch the events unfold in Madison, or at other places around the world, notice how the conversation changes when people actually start treating each other with respect, when there is a dialogue rather than a monologue.
I don't think agreement is always a good thing, and disharmony isn't always better than acrimony. But if we are to find solutions that count, that include and improve, whether that is in our work or politics, we're going to have roll up our sleeves and do the hard, heavy lifting, dirty work of listening, talking and building a solution together. At the end of the road, even if we didn't get what we wanted, we have demonstrated some degree of civility, some attempt to understand one another, and those are attributes, I believe, that put the human into being.
