Orange’s shadow
The scientific and industrial revolutions have brought us enormous freedom and prosperity. Increasingly, we also witness the massive shadow they cast on our future. One shadow is “innovation gone mad.” With most of our basic needs taken care of, businesses increasingly try to create needs, feeding the illusion that more stuff we don’t really need–more possessions, the latest fashions, a more youthful body-will make us happy and whole. We have reached a stage where we often pursue growth for growth’s sake, a condition that in medical terminology is called cancer. It results in a predatory economy that is depleting the world’s natural resources and killing off the very ecosystems upon which our survival depends. Another shadow appears when success is measured solely in terms of money and recognition. When the only successful life is the one that reaches the top, we are bound to experience a sense of emptiness in our lives. The midlife crisis is an emblematic disease of life in Orange organizations: for twenty years , we played the game of success and ran the rat race. And now we realize we won’t make it to the top, or that the top isn’t all it’s made out to be. When all boils down to targets and numbers, milestones, and deadlines and yet another change program and cross-functional initiative, some people can’t help but wonder about the meaning of it all and yearn for something more. The Orange worldview is solidly materialistic–there is nothing beyond what we can touch- and our longing for meaning for being in touch with something bigger than ourselves, has nowhere to turn.