Autonomous. Authentic. These words remain in my head from a discussion I had with a friend last night. I kept thinking of them this morning, before I got out of bed, trying to understand their importance. In conversations with friends, thoughts put on paper for my next book or ideas I got from other people, I returned to the same issue: servitude.
Servitude in the form of dependency that comes from a wrong kind of acceptance, from renouncing to the fundamental right to be human, to be treated as an entity different from others and to have the right to make your own choices.
Dependency that comes from renouncing to the fundamental right to be human, to be treated as an entity different from others and to have the right to make your own choices.
In business the excuse “I don’t know how to do it otherwise” is not valid anymore. You are overwhelmed with recipes for success, tips from experts and other useful information. They are useful and some need to be applied for better results. Only that most entrepreneurs I’ve met over the last four years create replicas of a corporate military structure, especially if their previous work experience was in a multinational company.
It doesn’t work! Plain and simple. It doesn’t work! You can not ask employees in a start-up to work overtime when you pay them so little and you don’t get them emotionally involved. They should be part of an economic entity that provides them not only a salary, but also profit. That can redirect their emotions so they feel passionate about their work.
The gap between theory and practice is almost always present in any type of company. The inhuman and illogical actions regarding education of various governments in the past 20 years have created a number of generations consisting mostly of immature adults, disoriented, no longer aware of their intrinsic value as human beings, people faced with a simple choice: keep working and sleep when you can or starve to death. Nowadays is acceptable for a company to benefit from the work and creativity of young people while treat them like replaceable resources.
I have gathered many personal experiences and of those around me. All those I spoke with have been or are going through the same situation: managers giving up their humanity and behaving like animals.
We are all born and are or should be educated to interact with our own specie in order to evolve as a whole. The ongoing effort to become better and to help those around us should be an end in itself. I have heard this stated strongly in conversations with people that the next day to office have spent the first hour making life miserable for all those over which his/her formal authority extends.
Others are more prepared to take on the task of reverse educating a society. These others are the ones that we, as a majority, enthusiastically decide to entrust with this: politicians, illiterate/literate individuals elevated to the rank of public figures, intellectuals too busy masturbating their own mind, companies who gladly accept the right to treat us as slaves or as walking toxic food storage units.
In a broader perspective, my initial intention to write an article which will motivate the readers to think about their own autonomy and those personal characteristics that make them authentic is not significant. Maybe what most of us want is just a slow form of social suicide.