Pocket Change: Strategic Optimism
Pocket Change is a monthly series of notes on disruption, authored by 18 Coffees co-founder Caleb Gardner. Be the first to read Pocket Change — subscribe to the email newsletter here.
As we end another frustrating COVID-dominated year, we find ourselves stuck between what feels like a series of existential threats – most urgently vaccine misinformation that continues to prolong the pandemic here in the U.S. It is extremely easy to become paralyzed and cynical in the face of the kinds of problems that are ahead of us. But I want to end the year on a positive note: we have more power to make change than we even realize—and our sphere of influence is greater than we see when we’re caught up in the everyday news cycles.
We can start with the place we spend the most time: our jobs. The work of turning our companies into more ethical organizations, making them less exploitative by what may feel like imperceptible degrees, may seem trivial in the face of the kinds of large, complex problems we’re facing. But we’re going to have to build the new radically-conscious economy one organization at a time. If you believe, like I do, that business can be a force for good, that we’re not fated for endless exploitative capitalism, then we’re going to have to make change collectively—and it’s not always going to feel like it’s moving quickly enough.
In fact, change will probably always feel like it’s coming too slowly. The goal is to not become lost in the infinite, paralyzed by problems that feel too big to solve. We have to find our own context again, in whatever ways we can.
In her book A Future So Bright, friend and futurist Kate O’Neil writes about “strategic optimism” as a tool for breaking through the cynicism in which we can become mired. Hope with its shoes on, ready to act. That’s what I’m aiming for in 2022. What other choice do we have? Either we believe things can change, or we don’t. Either way, we’re right.
Keeping an eye on:
BETTER SERVICES — In an effort to modernize, President Biden just signed an executive order seeking to improve the federal government’s ‘customer’ experience. Think it’ll make a difference for my trip to the DMV this week?
I.T. DESTROYERS — Joe Peppard makes a compelling case in the Wall Street Journal that centralized I.T. departments no longer make sense when tech expertise should be distributed throughout the organization.
OMICRON SCARIES — Ed Yong, writing about the Omicron variant of the COVID-19, paints a bleak picture of the capacity of the U.S. to handle the kind of societal-level problems the variant will cause – including but not limited to the capacity of our health care system to handle it.
STAY INTERVIEWS — Many companies are struggling with resignations, but what if we got out ahead of exit interviews with “stay interviews,” and identified ways to make high performers happy before they’re tempted to leave?
SURVEILLANCE POLICING — The FTC is considering new rules for companies that invasively track their users, pointing to privacy concerns as a priority for the new FTC Chair Lina Khan.
HEALTHY HABITS — Going into 2022, great to keep in mind these healthy habits, including building in time for “exercise snacks” and “five-finger meditations.”
