Week 40, 2018

Human Consciousness: Me, myself, and I; King and Country; Heal the World

Photo by Randy Fath on Unsplash

Each week, I share three ideas for how to make work better. Sometimes these ideas are decidedly practical. Other times they are decidedly theoretic. And this week, I’m going so far out on the theoretic end of the spectrum that I risk falling off. Because this week, we’re talking about human consciousness and organizational paradigms.

Last week’s issue outlined three things that author Daniel H. Pink says motivates us. And I ended that issue by eluding to an alternate point of view courtesy of a former McKinsey consultant. The name of that former consultant is Frederic Laloux. But before I dig into his work, please consider the following theoretic backdrop:

Research have identified seven stages of human consciousness and hypothesized about an additional three. You can read about them HERE. But for now, just know that each one is characterized by specific values and self-identity and that they all fall into either of 4 categories. This week, we’ll explore the first three:

1. Me, Myself, and I

The first category is called “Egocentric” and it comprise the first three levels of human consciousness (again, see the link above for details). As the name implies, it’s all about the ego. This is the consciousness we’ve relied on for most of human history. It’s what’s kept us alive, basically. And it favors risk-aversion, power, action, control, and instant gratification.

2. For King and Country

The second category is called “Ethnocentric” and it comprises one level of consciousness. “Ethno” refers to ethnicity meaning focus is on the group. It’s where tribalism, racism, and patriotism comes from. It’s where we get our sense of national pride and identify. And in the case of religion, it’s also a primary driver of ethics and morality virtues.

3. Heal the World

The third category is called “Worldcentric” and it comprises two levels of consciousness. And as the name suggests, it focuses on community, harmony and equality. Rather than the us-versus-them mentality of Ethnocentrism, we’re now all in it together. And while it might not always seem like it, it’s where the vast majority of people in developed nations reside.

At this point you are probably wondering what this all has to do with work. That’s an interesting question with an even more interesting answer! Frederic Laloux explains: “an organization cannot evolve beyond its leadership’s stage of [consciousness].” Translation: where goes leadership, so goes the organization.

And so next week, I’ll try to bring this back to organizational development. Specifically, I’ll try to channel Laloux in explaining what an organization might look like under Egocentric, Ethnocentric, and Worldcentric leadership. With any luck, that should then set us up to discuss organizations in the 4th and final category.