Signs of Rot

Double Standards are a sign of rot. When those in charge are not held to the same level of accountability as those to whom they delegate responsibility but not authority. Responsibility without authority is meaningless. With every degree of separation from where the impacts of a decision are felt, information is lost. This is the heart of the reason why empowerment beats Central Decision Making. Why “Boardrooms” should be where obstacles are removed, not where decisions are made. And certainly not where accountability disappears. We talk of not giving hand-outs to those without money because of Entitlement and Dependency. We want to add conditions. We forget the bosses and talking heads higher up the chain who don’t roll up their sleeves. Who don’t get their hands dirty. Who don’t fall on their swords when their decisions don’t work out. Who do so well in the good times when “interests are aligned”, that they have a bottomless buffer to ride out the bad times. There is no Solution. There are only decentralised Solutions. Make more decision makers.

Wooden beam with significant fungal growth

Dependency and Entitlement

Most people are honest. Most people act honestly. The data collected by “Bagel Man” Paul Feldman suggests that the most “Dependency and Entitlement” (not his words, but what we normally attribute to the poor) comes from people with more. Feldman left bagels and honesty boxes in multiple offices in Washington. Some people took without paying, but not enough to make the project not worthwhile. Interestingly, honesty decreased higher up the chain. A criticism of just giving people money is that it creates dependency. This forgets just how dependent even the wealthy are on their communities. On their ability to rely on each other when they stumble. To retreat to their homes. Feldman found the honesty on the Executive floors to be lower than on the Sales and Administration floors. Except we are blind to our own dependencies. Our own entitlements. We forget the job we got through friends. The bank of Mom and Dad. We shouldn’t design systems around our fears. We should design them around trust and honesty. Most people are good.

See what the Bagel Man saw

Have your Cake

I have always struggled with the concept of “covering reasonable expenses”. Reasonable is in the eye of the beholder. Even if people are told to “spend roughly what they would have spent on themselves” anyway. I am a cheap bastard most of the time. Spending money is firing money. One of the best magic tricks of Capitalism is to convince people that it is better to “have their cake, but not eat it”. Then, instead of cake, they get a number that grows. Many of the super wealthy we look at are super wealthy “on paper”. They fire (draw salaries to spend) at different rates. Another rule of thumb for reasonable is “think like an owner”. But an owner knows not eating their cake means it gets bigger. An employee isn’t an owner. So expenses are often considered part of the remuneration. If you want to see entitlement, don’t look towards the poor. Look towards senior management. Actions normally follow incentives. Reasonable completely depends on how you look at the world and what drives you.

Make Do

There is something very empowering about releasing anyone from all their obligations to you. Entitlement is a passivity trap. It stops you from taking responsibility, and accountability, for whatever happens next. No one owes you anything. So what are you going to do next?

This is fun story to tell to create wiggle room to get out of responsibilities. Particularly for things we feel bad about, but don't know how much it is 'our fault' or what to do about it. It is easy to trot out forgive and forget, or starting from a blank page, if you have the tools to move forward.

As Trevor Noah pointed out, there was nothing Common about the Common Wealth. By moving forward, Jamaica just has a chance to win their gold back one medal at a time. 

I am not a Nationalist. I don't believe in the concept of sovereignty of The People. In order to create a The People, you have to create false boundaries and differences. You can choose language, sport, music, heroes, wars, skin colour, toe size, nose shape or any other form of common distinguishing mark. Then you can reinforce those differences. I grew up in Apartheid. I can smell its stench a mile away, and so sorry. I'll pass.

The truth is The People only exists by agreement, and that agreement is constantly renegotiated. The best agreements are transparent, clear and enforced by trust.

Looking back at the past as if anyone owns the fault is missing the point. What we know is The People never existed. Stories were told to dominate and compete. Our history is dark. Our agreements were weak or non-existent. But we have learnt a hell of a lot. We learnt it painfully. If we want to move forward, honest eyes and ears are necessary in the way we look back.