That barrage is impacting our behavior. For instance, people answer mobile phones in the most inappropriate places. My wife, Kathleen, and I attended a wedding recently where a member of the audience refused to take off his wireless Bluetooth earpiece. As the church lights dimmed for the wedding procession, he sat there with the little blue light blinking away in his ear like some cheap disco ball. I wondered what phone call could be so important that he couldn’t even take off his earpiece for the bride’s entrance.
Our close friend Fred Applegate is a respected musical theater performer in major roles on Broadway in shows like The Sound of Music, The Producers, and Young Frankenstein. One night during a performance, the cast was interrupted by a cell phone ringing in the audience. To the astonishment of everyone in the theater, the patron actually took the call! The actors paused onstage to hear the audience member say in a loud voice: “Hello? No, I can’t talk. I’m at a Broadway show.”
» THE INVASION OF TECHNOLOGY—ESPECIALLY IN THE HANDS OF STUPID PEOPLE—IS A HORRIFYING THOUGHT INDEED.
But it’s more than technology that’s changing. As I write this, we’re experiencing a major financial recession. As a result, most people are cutting back financially in key areas to weather the storm. But according to a recent poll, 32 percent of respondents said they’re spending less across the board. More telling, however, is that these consumers expect this cutback to be their “new normal pattern” for the future. One study found that 75 percent have altered their purchasing in the last year. While some have traded down, most seem to have evolved into a completely new lifestyle. Steve McClellan quoted David Kenny, an advertising agency executive: “People are going to emerge from the current recession forever changed.”
» THE RECESSION IS NOW, BUT DISRUPTION IS THE “NEW NORMAL.”
That’s why it’s so critical for all of us to master the principles that will allow us to survive and thrive in the culture of disruption that is rapidly becoming our future.
I’m a writer, filmmaker, and media producer, and I started my career directing television programs. I’m a cofounder of a television production company in Los Angeles, as well as a company that focuses on helping nonprofit organizations use the media more effectively. I’m not a doomsayer. I’m an enthusiastic media user and probably value my iPhone, iPad, and laptop as much as anyone. But the truth is, we’re living in the midst of the greatest shift in our culture since the invention of the printing press. And it’s not the calm eye of a hurricane; it’s the heart of the storm—the belly of the beast. As I write this, America is experiencing one of the most serious recessions in its history, changes in technology are disrupting our lives, and cultural norms that have held true for millennia are eroding before our eyes. We’re losing family, cultural, and religious frameworks that have stabilized and supported earlier generations.
NAVIGATING THE WORLD OF DISRUPTIVE CHANGE
Out of clutter, find simplicity. From discord, find harmony.
In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.
—ALBERT EINSTEIN
How do we choose to deal with these radical changes in our culture and in our lives? Do we follow the Luddites, who in early-nineteenth-century Britain rebelled against mechanizing the textile industry by destroying looms they felt were leaving them without work and changing their entire way of life? Or do we just let go and allow technology to overtake us in a wave and wash us away like a boat with no rudder?
You probably have examples of both camps right in your own neighborhood or your company. Some think an answering machine is radical technology and still refuse to use a computer. I have a pastor friend who won’t buy a mobile phone, fearing both the loss of personal space and the ability to find privacy in a cluttered world. On the other extreme, I have close friends who are “gadget addicted.” They have standing orders for the latest wide-screen TV, mobile device, or computer. They scan the Internet daily for the next big thing.
I’m not crazy about either approach, and that’s why this book is about a third way.
» I BELIEVE IT’S POSSIBLE TO NAVIGATE THE CULTURAL SHIFT WITHOUT LOSING YOUR SOUL.
We don’t have to trade our freedom for connectivity, our values for financial success, or our devotion to God for our commitment to technology. Perhaps more important, we can actually embrace this radical disruption and make it work for us.
The secret is understanding the power of change.
There is comfort in chaos.
—JEREMY GUTSCHE, EXPLOITING CHAOS
A “jolt” is a shock, a disturbance, an abrupt change. It shakes things up and realigns our thinking. Like the Reset button on a computer, it cleans out the clutter that was slowing us down and allows us to start fresh.
In today’s world of overwhelming disruption, if we can understand the power of change and how to make it work for us, it will allow us to take back the control of our lives. We can make the right choices, rather than having choices forced on us.
» EITHER WE TAKE BACK CONTROL, OR WE’LL SPEND THE REST OF OUR LIVES AT THE MERCY OF OTHER PEOPLE WHO WILL DO IT FOR US.
The truth is, we all have things we want to change—we’d like to make more money, advance in our careers, find a husband or wife, turn the company around, become better leaders, have a better education, live in a different place, change our perspectives on living, change the dynamics of our marriages, find God, stop smoking or drinking, lose weight, get in shape, and more. The dream that we can change our lives is always out there, lurking behind the growing speed of our day-to-day living.
On the other hand, change is sometimes thrust upon us.
