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The Importance of Community
Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan Chase, said recently that he believes our economy is headed into an “economic hurricane.” It was in this climate that I had an inspiring conversation with Britain’s Sir Paul Collier for The Puck.
Sir Collier is a world-renowned economist. He was knighted in 2014 for his distinguished career in the field and for his invaluable contributions to both the UK and the entire world. He grew up in a small city that supported each of its inhabitants in a period that he sees as an outlier, the post-war boom, and he calls on each of us to explore the importance of community, of belonging, and of caring for one another. It was refreshing to hear a world-famous economist talk about the need for improving capitalism and reminding us of the importance of looking out for one another.
At a time of great economic uncertainty and sadness over recent events, I recommend listening to our discussion when it is released later this month. One of the main themes of our discussion is Sir Collier’s strong belief that the technology leaders in the United States have a unique ability to harness their resources and creativity as thought leaders, and to use their influence to spread the benefits of innovation and development more evenly in localities throughout the United States.
Recognizing the role that globalization played in outsourcing jobs to other countries, Sir Collier believes there is a unique opportunity today to invest in local communities to bring jobs and development to the Midwest and other small towns in America. Sir Collier reminds us of a different time in post-WWII Britain, where people did have closer ties to their local communities, and how such ties nourished him growing up. He also shares how important it was in his life to have benefitted from opportunities provided to him by others and society at large because he was less fortunate. It was perhaps a simpler and happier time, but also one where neighbors were more likely to help each other out.
Capitalism is a great system for creating wealth, but it’s time we consider broadening and reframing it as “character-based capitalism”, where we learn to balance our priorities, and not just measure economic GDP, but also emotional GDP as well. If we as a people put more emphasis on quality of life, then, I believe, over time, we can bring down the level of suicide and of senseless murder in general. Countries have ethos and values, and in the United States today we are too often focused on “bigger and beautiful”, instead of being kind and wise.
We should spend less time on social media, isolated in our homes, and instead let’s reach out to each other, to begin building new bridges. Let’s learn to celebrate our teachers, nurses, fire fighters, police, and others, who haven’t been able to work from home during the pandemic. What I am asking is for each of us to step back and remind ourselves of the power of the individual to make a difference, by daily exercising our free will to choose kindness and simplicity over our natural desire for immediate gratification.
I have pointed out in the past that President Kennedy called on each of us to: “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” Sixty years later, I believe we need to call out a new challenge, but one as equally important: “Ask not what others can do for me, but rather ask what I can do for others.” Or, to put it another way, “Ask not what your neighbor can do for you, ask what you can do for your neighbor.” The reason I think this is so important is timing. President Kennedy said this in 1960. We then experienced the great tumultuous period we refer to as the “Sizzling ‘60s”, when we had a revolution of sorts in America, where many freedoms were established and many good things came to pass, such as the Civil Rights movement, the expansion of women’s' rights, and the recognition of gay rights. However, the pendulum doesn’t always swing to the center, and I believe we have taken individual freedoms to an unhealthy extreme, and so we now need to swing t he pendulum back toward more personal responsibility, greater community, and more of “our seeing the other”.
We are a great country and we have been blessed with tremendous natural resources and human capital. Let’s allocate just a bit more of that capital as a national priority to heal our individual and collective souls. We can and must do better. Let’s begin today.
CATCH UP ON RECENT PUCK EPISODES
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-35-shaylyn-romney-garrett/id1338978270?i=1000541478654
Jim spoke with writer and social entrepreneur Shaylyn Romney Garrett late last year about how we got to where we are today. Co-author of The Upswing: How America Came Together a Century Ago and How We Can Do It Again, we think Garrett's episode is a good reminder of what this month's newsletter is highlighting: a sense of shared responsibility, community and genuine interest in building bridges toward different ways of thinking.