When I list a must read story it is because when I view the details through the lens of social mood's changing influence upon how we collectively behave and I think there is an opportunity for profound insight.
In today's NYT story What is Free about Free Markets?
The implications in the article seem to suggest troubling long term issues embedded deep in our way of being American as we have come to know it in our lifetimes. Here's the payoff in seeing social mood (socionomics) for what it is and how it operates in our society and our economy. Seeing events through this lens does not promise easy answers but it does offer a better view of cause and effect in a time when blame is passed around like a party favor.
How We Value Things Changes with social mood. Not just strange and misunderstood financial derivatives. We are willing right now to forsake free markets to save us from unknown danger. Our shared perceived value of what free markets offers us (socially) has declined in the face of perceived danger. The future is uncertain always and yet now we fear terrible things will result. Practical people might scream back at me "You fool!, The financial system is about to collapse!" To that I ask the following: What was happening with regard to all of this just three years ago as many American flipped condos and measured their kitchens for granite counter tops? Plenty of very smart economists were writing about all of these excesses then but they were labeled perma-bears, Danny dooms, and pariahs, even. These days, anyone who tells "smart" people this was foreseeable, it is not only agreed with but, you are likely to be told 'why bother having the conversation'. Well, the value of free markets is a great reason among many!
Social mood, is part of our nature as it relates to social behavior when in large groups. We choose to focus on individual needs and wants <in our society> but how we behave, how we create, how (social) trends can best be seen, is through the lens of the developing social mood and the group dynamics that result from this perspective.
Check out this flow chart I posted a long while ago. It is a simplified visual interpretation of the foundation of socionomics called the wave principle. All of this is very relevant now. How we relate as individuals to this process is also very relevant to businesses and marketers because a changing social mood affects demand in the markets we serve. My new web site about media is just one example of how this can be applied specifically along with a providing healthy respect for free markets and what they can teach us about competing effectively...versus what managed markets taught us re the media business during the past 70 years. Old media is crumbling because it was never prepared to compete widely. Stronger competitors make better products that sell for competitive prices. These are just a few of the many of the benefits free markets bestow upon a country.
If you run a business then consider this diagram. Understanding social mood will not make decisions for you but it will tell you better which questions matter most. Dave
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