The old business rules have changed and new business rules have to be developed. Nowadays the things have been done in a different, even exotic, ways, totally different to earlier generations (both in personal and professional level). That, of course, is good. Or not? Is it progress, or is it something else. Perhaps a different approach in our new brave working systems should be employed or we should move towards a new ethic in business and work?
In any case, a new road lays ahead of us. It is our choice and responsibility to select it or forget it. But one thing we cannot do. We cannot neglect it! We should make a choice. Our choice!
Are We Different?
We are different! We have been accustomed to using our PC’s, smartphones, mobile devices, digital cameras, MP3s, to conduct a large portion of our social, professional and personal lives, while we devote a lot of our time to accustom and support these tools.
We are part of the trends of baby boomers, of Generation-Y, perhaps distinguished parts of Generation X, and all of us, co-existed and interact at the same time and perhaps in the same real or virtual space, have different lead, priorities, prospects, and drives.
We employ or design different business rules and procedures, in order to operate in the new business reality. So, definitely, we are different. In the ways, we do things, and in the ways, we think about things.
Furthermore, we are different to the ways we want to establish ourselves in our society, or in our peer groups, friends, families, etc. and we are different in the ways we seek the things we want in our life.
That means a new ethic and new behavior patterns, emerged by the pressure of the widespread culture and economy of sharing, the rising of the social and community’s economy and the mass introduction of technology in every aspect of our life. It is obvious that all the co-existed generations are not in sync.
Technology and economy brought huge differentiation in the ways of thinking and doing among the generations, leaving the most of the societies unprotected, against a huge and rushed the wave of globalization. And within the societies, the generations less adapted to the new conditions are threatened.
The older and more aging ones, the underprivileged ones, the less educated ones, the poor and without means ones, the difficult to adapt or learn ones, the hard to adopt new tools, ones, etc.
These trends, happen on a global scale, previously not monitored in such mass volumes, with the exception of the periods during the Renaissance, the industrial revolution, and the two world wars. But affect large and different levels of our society and have an influence on the lives of all humans, both in personal and professional level.
A New Road Ahead
These conditions, bring a lot of differences in the ways of doing and thinking, which led to different business practices. It is natural that humans weren’t able to match the rapid succession of the technology advantages we experience in just a few years, with result to fall a little behind in incorporating all the new factors and elements, creatively and intrinsically, in their everyday lives.
That though is not the problem. The problem starts, from the moment, people have to adapt professionally in an ever changing and complete different working environment. The problems starts with the portion of society we chose (or have!) to leave behind (consciously or unconsciously), without jobs, and means of self-support and without any provision for their re-training, their re-formation, their re-incorporation to our new and brave new workings ecosystems. History have witnessed a lot of such examples in earlier societies and almost never this fragile equilibrium had yielded good results!
Therefore besides our economy and technology we should take a serious look at the human factor and bring new ideas, ethics and politics that would provide a more decent treatment of the “ones left behind” and a more proper distribution of resources, energy and power.
The way we would develop and employ the new business practices is the way we choose to be remembered by our children and the future  generations. Is not only a subject of ethics, or legacy. It is a subject of substance and is a subject of well doing the new business better and with benefits for all the humans!
Why? Because we have to! And because there is no other way, if we want to march to the future with our head up, as civilized and intelligent people who are willing to bring a new paradigm, in the way we live, learn, relate, cooperate, collaborate, interact and doing business. This is the path towards a new business road! And the choice for this new business culture is ours, to take it or reject it!