INSIGHTS
- Crises and instability over the next twenty years will be like a "rite of passage" for our culture and will force us to leave behind our institutionalized way of doing things and move towards a "wisdom culture"
- There is a subculture of 50 million people in developed nations that already exhibit many of the values inherent to a wisdom culture
OVERVIEW
This brief discusses the current status of wisdom culture, as well as how to create a wisdom culture, both in a civilization and in an organization. Currently, our culture is stuck in an "adolescent" phase that is short-term focused. Authors like Paul Ray believe that we will be able to move into a global wisdom culture through increased dialogue and communication, which would create a "spiritual base" centered on the community. As seen in the "Insights" section, he also believes that
crises over the next twenty years will transform humanity's outlook, which would help create a wisdom culture. When focusing on an organization, creating a wisdom culture means putting an emphasis on hiring leaders who can act as role models and advocating for a reward system more focused on behavior than goals.
crises over the next twenty years will transform humanity's outlook, which would help create a wisdom culture. When focusing on an organization, creating a wisdom culture means putting an emphasis on hiring leaders who can act as role models and advocating for a reward system more focused on behavior than goals.
DEFINITION
"A culture [that] values long term perspectives. A culture which can learn from all spiritual traditions, which has the willingness to learn from all kinds of people and be concerned about humans and nature alike. Lastly, a wisdom culture which is the result of a concerted effort of co-creation and shared visions."
CURRENT STATUS OF CULTURE
Before discussing how civilizations or organizations can create a wisdom culture, it is necessary to understand the current nature, or status, of the human culture. Anthropologist Paul Ray describes the culture of modern civilization as "adolescent": He says that, currently, incentive and reward structures in the industrialized world favor short-term perspectives. He goes onto say that this culture, marked by a near-sighted form of capitalism, is inherently selfish and self-centered.
CREATING A GLOBAL WISDOM CULTURE
There are several insights regarding the creation of a global wisdom culture:
1) Paul Ray believes that crises and instability over the next twenty years will be like a "rite of passage" for our adolescent culture. It will force us to leave behind our institutionalized way of doing things, which, as stated earlier, is short-term focused and selfish. To elaborate on this point, it seems that Dr. Ray is suggesting that global crises will encourage a more unified, communicative, and egalitarian culture. Just as the two World Wars led to a higher degree of unification through the eventual creation of the United Nations, a new series of crises will take us to a "wisdom culture."
2) Ray also believes that there is a growing subculture in industrialized nations known as the "culture creatives." These "culture creatives" have been influenced by the social movements of the 1950s and already exhibit some of the values of "wisdom culture". Ray argues that the information revolution of the 21st century has allowed this culture to grow, with 35% of the population in industrialized developed nations being "culture creatives". He also says that these culture creatives, despite their prevalence, do not realize that they are such a large demographic because "most of them never see the face of their sub-culture in the mainstream media and when they go to work, they have to check their values at the door. So they rationally conclude — it’s just me and a few of my friends.” Creating a global wisdom culture will mean strengthening connections among these culture creatives through media, online communities and other methods in order to allow them to positively impact our communities and lead us toward a wisdom culture.
3) Another way of making this point is by contrasting the "hero culture" with wisdom culture. The hero culture is based on one leader or a prophet. On the other hand, in wisdom culture, the entire community will be the "prophet." In other words, creating a wisdom culture means that we must create a culture where the community itself is a "spiritual base." One form of Buddhism, Maitreya Buddhism, exhibits this idea; in Maitreya Buddhism, the future of humanity is depicted as a "collective Buddha" rather than an individual one.
CREATING AN ORGANIZATIONAL WISDOM CULTURE
1) Founder Values — The culture of a company will often be tied directly to the cultural values of the founders. For example, the company Ben and Jerry is still defined in many ways by the cultural values of its original two founders. The company continues to only buy from local farmers and donate to local charities — just as the original founders hoped. Thus, we see that creating a wisdom culture means identifying founders and leaders who have the values that we see in a "wisdom culture".
2) Leadership — Leaders on every organizational and hierarchical level, not just the top, must exhibit the values of a wisdom culture for the employees to follow. As one source notes, "part of the leader’s influence over culture is through role modeling."
3) Incentive structures — In creating rewards systems, organizations can fall in one of two categories: either they reward results or they result particular behaviors. In regards to creating a wisdom culture, reward behaviors or results can be more beneficial in creating the desired "wisdom culture" and employee behavior. In fact, if an organization were to reward results, it might create an "ends-justify-the-means" culture where short-term goals are emphasized over behaviors that can lead to more long-term consistency and procedural stability.
WISDOM CULTURE IN MANAGEMENT CONSULTING
In some ways, the stated values or mission statements of large consultancies align with "wisdom culture." For example, on PWC's website, they state, "We speak up for what’s right, even when that’s the harder option" and that they "Care About each other, about our clients, about empowering everyone to do their best." On Accenture's website, they state that "Accenture are also committed to improving communities and the global environment and they do this through a constant focus on building a better, stronger and more durable company that will last for future generations." These ideals align with the long-term, people-oriented thinking of wisdom culture. However, it should be noted that it is more than likely that different offices, under different partners and managing directors may operate in different ways and thus have different operating cultures. At the same time, the statement of these values does not mean they are executed in full, or even partially — especially in a profit-focused, competitive industry like management consulting. It is therefore inadvisable to use general principles stated on company websites to actually identify the culture of these management consulting organizations.
CONCLUSION
In this briefing, we have discussed both the global and organizational meanings of wisdom culture. In general, the most important aspect of creating a wisdom culture is to increase the dialogue between people and shift from a short to long-term outlook.
For more information, I recommend reading "The Culture Creatives — How 50 Million People are Changing the World" by Paul Ray, which discusses how a certain subculture is helping to create a new wisdom culture.