One Red Hot Country Mama!

Peter Drucker, who was one of the greatest thinkers in business said this:

In a few hundred years, when the history of our time is written from a long-term perspective, it is likely that the most important event those historians will see is not technology, not the Internet, not e-commerce. It is an unprecedented change in the human condition. For the first time – literally – substantial and rapidly growing numbers of people have choices. For the first time, they will have to manage themselves.

And society is totally unprepared of it.

Are we ready to manage our own lives to this extent? I have subscribed to the existentialist belief that life is a series of choices since I was a teenager. It seems that now, more than ever we have an ability to leverage education and entrepreneurialism to form the lives that we want.

Do you think that we can do it? I wrote a list this morning of why people like to have their decisions made for them by a school program, employer, family member, social norm etc. rather than taking charge of their lives:

• Protection
• Security (financial etc)
• Don’t need to take care of self (too lazy or not confident in ability)
• Don’t need to analyze and decide on each life-step – they are set for you
• Credibility (everyone understands what an MD is)
• Cannot be criticized – can complain about the authority instead of acting
• Strength in numbers
• Belief that the authority knows better
• Enjoy camaraderie of being part of something

This list (which is probably not completely exhaustive) represents why people move away from having complete control over their lives. I have always disliked authority and wanted to make my own choices on my own terms. Despite this, I still find myself frequently under the under the safety umbrella of people making choices for me for some of the reasons above. I think that Drucker raises an interesting question about millions of people managing their own lives. I wonder how many will choose not to have choices by following a prescribed path instead.