Three signals to the future 006
Welcome to the sixth edition of "Three Signals to the Future", a newsletter where I share resources that I find useful and thought-provoking. Let's dive into the latest discoveries.
Hey all, today is my birthday and I felt like sitting down and sharing some sources that have been in my headspace for a while. These articles/posts address systemic issues in society and the workplace. They are forming topics that are big for me currently; Hope, Care, and Value. Graeber critiques capitalism's role in creating hopelessness and advocates for grassroots change. Mintzberg highlights the negative impact of soulless management practices on organizational culture. Wachter-Boettcher discusses how designers are often gaslit into doubting their value, suggesting a shift away from proving worth to embracing inherent value. I hope that these sources are going to provide you with food for thought as well.
On Hope
"Hope in Common" by David Graeber explores the mechanisms that foster a sense of hopelessness in society, critiquing capitalism's role in perpetuating environmental degradation and social inequalities. Graeber argues that capitalism is unsustainable on a finite planet and highlights the extensive bureaucratic apparatus designed to suppress alternative visions for the future. He advocates for the reimagining of communism in everyday practices of cooperation and mutual aid, suggesting that real change comes from grassroots movements and direct action rather than state-led initiatives
Hopelessness isn’t natural. It needs to be produced. If we really want to understand this situation, we have to begin by understanding that the last thirty years (editor’s note; this was published in 2008, at the verge of the financial crisis) have seen the construction of a vast bureaucratic apparatus for the creation and maintenance of hopelessness, a kind of giant machine that is designed, first and foremost, to destroy any sense of possible alternative futures.
▶︎ Hope in Common - David Graeber
On the epidemic of managing without soul
Henry Mintzberg's blog post, "The Epidemic of Managing without Soul," discusses the widespread issue of management practices lacking empathy and genuine care, leading to detrimental effects on organizational culture and employee morale. Through anecdotal evidence, Mintzberg illustrates how a change in leadership can transform a vibrant, collaborative workplace into a dispirited environment. He criticizes modern management education for fostering a detached, technocratic approach to management that neglects the human element. Mintzberg advocates for management with soul, emphasizing the importance of caring leadership that fosters a positive organizational culture and genuine engagement
Managing without soul has become an epidemic in society. Many managers these days seem to specialize in killing cultures, at the expense of human engagement.
▶︎ The epidemic of managing without soul - Henry Mintzberg
On gaslighting designers
The article "Hey Designers, They're Gaslighting You" by Sara Wachter-Boettcher discusses the manipulative tactics often used in workplaces to make designers doubt their value. It criticizes the demand for designers to continuously prove their worth and demonstrates how such expectations lead to burnout without genuinely recognizing their contributions. Wachter-Boettcher argues that true value cannot be proven through overwork and suggests that designers should stop trying to justify their worth to those unwilling to see it, advocating for a reevaluation of time, value, and relationships within the professional environment.
So whenever you get this advice — just do more, be more convincing, make the case again — know that this is gaslighting. It might come from well-meaning people — it might even come from leaders within your discipline who are truly trying to help! But if always proving ourselves, justifying ourselves, and working ourselves to death were going to work, they would have worked by now.