MACROFORCES AND THE 21st CENTURY:
FACING AMERICA'S FUTURE
By Gene Griessman, Ph.D.OVERVIEW
Learn about nine MacroForces that will determine the future:
One. The Information Revolution and how it affects you and your organization.
Two. Globalization. What it means for consumers, businesspeople, and America's
national interests.
Three. Demographic forces. What seemingly dry statistics tell us about the
future.
Four The workplace—how it's changing and what the changes can mean for you.
Five. The Environmental Movement—how it has redefined what can be produced and
consumed. Six. The Consumer Movement—This gorilla weighs at least 800 pounds.
Seven. The Quality Movement—What raising the bar means to you.
Eight. The Human Potential Movement. This mighty force involves millions of
people and billions of dollars.
Nine. How to recognize and align yourself with the Dominant Values of American
Society.
We can customize a presentation just for you, focusing on the ways that MacroForces
will affect your organization.
MACROFORCES AND HUMAN EXPERIENCE
What does the future hold for Americans? What future trends will
affect your career, your organization?
The answer to that question will be determined in large part by what I call "MacroForces"—those
powerful elements of human existence that are larger than individual attitudes,
beliefs, and actions. Social scientists have long
recognized that these social influences exist, that they are pervasive and
powerful in shaping our behavior, and that they can be virtually impossible to
resist.
I have coined the term MacroForces to refer to these social forces.
The term acknowledges my debt to social scientists whom I
have met or read, in particular Emile Durkheim the brilliant early sociologist.
His work on customs and religion, and his research on suicide demonstrated that
there is a level of reality larger than the individual, that it can be studied
scientifically, and that it must be reckoned with.
Just a few decades ago John Nesbitt picked up on the macro
idea and produced a best-seller that he called Megatrends.
Some of the MacroForces are trends, as the title of
Nesbitt's book suggests. Trends tend to be short-term forces in a society.
Some MacroForces are movements that may run their course in a short time, but at
their peak, like tsunamis carry everything before them. Rebellions,
revolutions, crazes, manias, and revivals are examples of this type of
MacroForce.
Others persist for decades or even centuries and constitute
the national character of a society.
Much of my research and speaking on high achievement and
leadership has been at the micro level. In fact, the overwhelming majority of
motivational presentations, books, and cassette programs focus on the micro:
attitudes, beliefs, values, and the like.
The motivational speaker/writer asks very important
questions, but they are micro questions: How enthusiastic are you? How
competent are you? How time conscious are you? How many sales calls did you
make today? How many words did you write for that book, article, or report you
want to produce? What kind of attitude do you have?
I know of a book with the title, Attitude Is Everything.
It isn't.
The
micro--attitudes and the like--and the macro interact continually in our everyday existence. Effective
leaders ignore the macro at their peril. Social
forces doom some plans even before they are put into motion. Others are
rewarded almost immediately.
So understanding MacroForces is not dull theory. Far from it.
Whosoever would be successful must learn to see at the macro level.
HOW TO SEE THE FUTURE
Let me explain.
For years I've studied what goes into
becoming a high achiever. I have been fascinated by biographies since I was a
youngster. I have interviewed scores of celebrities for TV, radio, magazines,
and newspapers. For over a decade I hosted an interview show on TBS called UP
CLOSE. Many of the individuals I interviewed are considered legends. I wrote a
book based on those interviews that I named The Achievement Factors. I
hosted a syndicated radio show entitled The Achievement Digest and now am editor
of an Internet publication by the same name.
But the achievement factors that are at the micro level do
not guarantee that you or your business will be successful. In fact, one of the
factors that I discuss in The Achievement Factors and in my speeches and
seminars is the ability to see—the capacity to read the environment, the ability
to see opportunities and avoid dangers.
When you learn to see, you will be more like hockey
superstar Warren Gretzky who stated that most hockey players follow the puck,
but he goes to where the puck will be.
That is what Abraham Lincoln did. We have a splendid
example of Lincoln's focus on the macro in his famous "House Divided" speech.
It was given during his campaign for the U.S. Senate, just four years before the
Civil War began.
Lincoln said: "If we could first know where we are, and
whither we are tending, we could then better judge what to do and how to do
it…."'A house divided against itself cannot stand.' I believe this government
cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the
Union to be dissolved--I do not expect the house to fall--but I do expect it
will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the
other...."
Leonard Swett, one of Lincoln's early friends stated: "His
tactics were to get himself in the right place and remain there still, until
events would find him in that place."
But don't think this principle is limited to politics.
Listen to what real estate investment authority David T. Schumacher says: "The
investor should not be concerned with what a piece of property looks like now,
but what it will be like 20 years from now."
A CAUTIONARY TALE
The principle applies to sales and marketing. Let's
suppose that in the year 1910 you were the CEO of the Equus Buggy Whip Company.
You were bright, hardworking, disciplined, and creative. You possessed superb
leadership skills.
But beginning about 1905 you began to notice that no matter
how hard you or your salespeople worked, sales were beginning to level off.
Let's suppose you called a sales meeting to remedy the
problem. Here's what you might have proposed:--a more positive attitude,
enthusiasm, a quicker response time, getting involved with the community,
customized buggy whips, more effective advertising--the remedies that usually
work when a business gets into trouble.
Would any of those tactics have made much difference in the
buggy whip business in 1910?
Absolutely not.
A technological movement was developing that no individual or
organization could long withstand. Its centerpiece was an invention called the automobile. In 1900,
there were only 8000 of them in the entire United States—about 1/10th of one percent of the
population. But by 1910, ownership had grown to 1 percent of the population, or
about 90,000 automobiles. That doesn't sound like much of a jump--from one
tenth of one percent to one percent, but it's a huge percentage change. A tipping point had been reached.
Should the Equus Buggy Whip Company have abandoned the
transportation business?
Hardly. Fabulous fortunes were about to be made in transportation with cars,
busses, and planes that would totally eclipse anything ever seen in horse-based
transportation. Standard Oil found a use for the smelly waste product they had
been considered virtually worthless when they made kerosene. It was called
gasoline, and John D. Rockefeller became even richer than he already was.
What does the Equus Buggy Whip Company have to do with your
life?
A lot.
The buggy whip industry is a cautionary tale for all those
who ignore MacroForces.
You should make it your business to see and understand today's MacroForces. You
don't have to embrace them or even like them. Your preferences and beliefs
may turn out to be irrelevant. But you need to see them.
Does this make sense to you?
If it does, let's talk.
404-256-5927
800-749-4625
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In
case you haven't heard Gene Griessman....
Dr. Gene Griessman is an internationally known author,
professional speaker, and executive coach. He has spoken at conventions and
annual meetings and conducted seminars all over the world. As actor and
playwright, he has performed his one-man play on Abraham Lincoln at Ford's
Theatre and before audiences of many thousands at the Georgia Dome, the Ice
Palace, and the Lincoln Memorial. He has conducted exclusive interviews
with U.S. Presidents, famous actors, sports figures, business leaders, and Nobel
Laureates, including David Rockefeller, Jacques Cousteau, Sandra Day O'Connor,
Ray Charles, Mary Kay Ash, Jack Nicklaus, Hank Aaron, Julie Andrews, Aaron
Copland, Ronald Reagan, Gloria Steinem, Tennessee Williams, Ted Turner, and
countless others.
He often appears on television and radio, and his
award-winning productions have aired on WCNN and on TBS. He is a member of the
Television Academy of Arts & Sciences.
His book THE
ACHIEVEMENT FACTORS received the Benjamin Franklin Award.
TIME TACTICS OF VERY SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE
has been translated into a number of languages and is now in its 23rd
printing. THE WORDS LINCOLN LIVED BY: 52
TIMELESS PRINCIPLES TO LIGHT YOUR PATH focuses on the achievement
secrets that Lincoln used to become successful. It's in its 8th printing. Other
titles include the audio book THE INSPIRATIONAL WORDS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, the
CD, LESSONS FROM LEGENDS, the DVD LINCOLN ON COMMUNICATION and the book 99 WAYS
TO GET MORE OUT OF EVERY DAY.
Dr. Griessman has taught at the College of
William and Mary, North Carolina State University, Auburn University, Tuskegee
University, and Georgia Tech. He has served as Fulbright professor at the
University of Islamabad in Pakistan, as consultant at the National Agrarian
University of Peru, and as a visiting researcher at the University of New South
Wales in Australia.
He has been listed in WHO'S WHO IN AMERICA and
WHO'S WHO IN THE WORLD for many years.
Griessman is a member of the Television Academy.
"In
my 12 years as an association executive I've never seen a speaker better at
holding the audience's attention. Gene Griessman was the best." - Hugh J.
Rushing, Executive Vice President, Cookware Manufacturing Association.
Books and Videos By Gene Griessman
The
Inspirational Lincoln Quote Book
THE
WORDS LINCOLN LIVED BY.
CLICK HERE TO ORDER
Gene Griessman's
Lincoln performance before an audience of over 20,000 at the Georgia Dome.
CLICK HERE TO ORDER
 Over
200 time-saving tips from very successful people
Time Tactics Of Very Successful People.
CLICK HERE TO ORDER
"One of the very best
videos/DVDs ever made. It's a classic like 'Gone With the
Wind."
Brad McRea, "The Seven Strategies of
Master Presenters"
CLICK HERE TO ORDER
404-256-5927
800-749-4625
www.achievementdigest.com
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