Freedom Scores America:
4. U.S.A. 2007–Commercializer-Driven
In 2007, a mere five years later, America had dropped from its powerful generative leadership positioning in the marketplace. We may view the levels of NCD Components in Figure 4. As may be noted, the U.S. has dropped on all of these NCD Systems:
- MCD Positioning driven by Commercialized Marketplace Positioning (Level 3.0);
- OCD Alignment driven by Technology Systems (Level 2.0);
- HCD Processing driven by Planning systems (Level 2.0);
- ICD Modeling driven by Operational Systems (Level 2.0);
- mCD Tooling driven by Conditions rather than Standards (Level 4.0).
Figure 4. Levels of NCD Components (2007)
How did American business drop so precipitously on all of these NCD indices? Probabilities indicate that the causes are “over-determined.†Possibilities project that the causes are “under-generated.â€
Pre-potent among causes, the governmental sponsorship of Multinational Corporations as our market leaders has undermined Entrepreneurial-Driven Free Enterprise. American corporations have accepted more passive-dependent, “Chain-of-Command†roles in the evolving Command-and-Control Economy. With the dominance of the Multinational Corporations has come an undermining of the risk-taking initiative of the American entrepreneurs. They now experience themselves as “stalked targets†rather than “poised hunters.†With their decline, a general malaise has spread to the performance and spirit of Americans.
In summary, American-born corporations have come to see themselves as sub-contractors of the Multinational Corporations. Committed only to their stockholders, they have taken what the defense gives them.
Indeed, along with the Multinationals, they are “selling out†to the highest totalitarian bidders—without any commitments to the freedoms that bore them.
October 2nd, 2007 at 9:27 am
Dear Bob,
What strikes me in this blog is the difference between probabilities and possibilities. As the co-founder of Possibilities, Inc, I have some sense of what you are talking about here. Many corporations are engaging in defensive maneuvering to “play the odds” of surviving in a turbulent marketplace. In many ways, they are acting like Las Vegas gamblers who continue to think they can win when the odds are clearly, and mathematically, stacked against them. In the absence of any new responses, they keep rolling the dice or hoping for black jack. Some are simply buying lottery tickets. There are exceptions, of course, and those exceptions are looking for new possibilities and generating new ideas – think iPod, Starbucks, e-Bay, etc. Going on the offense means to start thinking as much about possibilities as about probabilities: “What if we were able to elevate our relationship with customers and employees?” What if we were able to generate an entirely new solution to this marketplace requirement?” “What if we were able to develop the human and organizational capabilities required to grow globally?” These are the right questions to be living in; not, what are the odds that the roulette table will hit on my number so I can survive another year?”