Rapid Changes vs Murky Mental Models
A couple of phrases often come to mind today during murkey conversations with many BC Business people on mental business models.
One is a very rude Dutch word that translates as someone who has sex with ants. It describes a person with very limited vision.
The other is the more elevated Law of Requisite Variety, taken from the study of Cybernetics. It says that an individual or group's mental models must be as diverse and flexible as those of the surrounding environments.
I think both apply in BC today. The short-term money offered by traditional economic sectors like resource extraction and tourism (i.e. the 2010 Olympics), is mesmerizing many BC business people.
And because of this focus, the province’s economy is in serious danger of being left behind economically as the outside world rapidly changes.
If we want to survive in this changing business world, we must have viewpoints that are as rich and flexible as those of the global environment. Think of the energy and innovation pouring out of nations like China, Korea, and even tiny Dubai.
But I don’t see much of that here. In their concentration on short-term opportunities, many people have forgotten about the longer term.
For example, information technology is moving so rapidly that the top 10 jobs expected in the year 2010 didn't exist in the year 2004. Anyone young knows this implicitly and has already adapted to prepare for it.
But many of their elders haven't. They've retreated to old and familiar mental models and so moan about how they can't find workers to fill low-end jobs in sectors like retail and food services and transportation, and “better” jobs in related services like law, accounting and engineering.
I'm not denying these sectors are important, but they’re old economy and are going to be a declining proportion of the overall economy in future.
To give our leaders their due, there has been some movement made in this direction. We have the lowest personal income tax rate in Canada and there is a tax break system in place to encourage innovation. Occasionally, some risk money is dribbled on businesses that represent the future.
But these are really just tidbits. Overall, we’re still economic renters living off what God provided – trees, rocks, scenery -- instead of our brainpower.
The future’s about using our brains instead of our backs to generate wealth. Where’s the vision shown by places like Ireland, Singapore, and others, who are rapidly converting their economies to compete in the 21st Century instead of the 20th?
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