Here are some cool questions and quotes from the book:
- Do we have a moral duty to ensure that we don’t take this future away from our descendants?
- How long would it take to erode a mountain to nothing if you brushed it once a century with a silk cloth or an eagle’s wing?
- Why should I care about future generations? What have they ever done for me?’ ANON1
- People who read fiction get to live 10,000 lives rather than one.
- Our lives are just short links in a chain from ancient ancestors to tomorrow’s descendants: a mere flash in the history of life, our species and the Earth.
The Long View: Why We Need to Transform How the World Sees Time
“The Long View: Why We Need to Transform How the World Sees Time” aims to understand why the world became so blinkered to the long arc of time and how to change that perspective. From short-term thinking to long-term thinking. Maybe becoming aware of our responsibility to leave a legacy and to leave the world a better place for future generations. Something we are currently failing at miserably. Our generation is leaving many harmful legacies for future generations. Not glass, but more malignant heirlooms, such as plastic fibres in the ocean, spent nuclear fuel rods, or a heated atmosphere.
Short-termism
Our failure is caused by short-termism. Companies, regulators and politicians all make short-sighted decisions that suit their present-day needs, which then combine to cause catastrophes down the line. And faulty bridges are just the tip of the iceberg. Housing, education, healthcare, infrastructure, etc.. It is a long list. Also read “Slow down“. We need a different system.
Thinking about time
Thinking about time is interesting. Cathedral thinking, how speed of life changes perception of time, East vs West, measurement of time, fate, cycles, doomism, context, deep time, calendars (we have a lot of different versions), time management (a waste of time), presentism, the tyranny of targets, the Lindy effect, a fire versus a slow burn, globalisation and time, the role of media, mental time travel, forethought, geographical and psychological distance, use of language (is the past “behind” and the future “near” or “far” and the difference with the Aboriginals, Hawaiian, Chinese, Bolivians, etc.), the future as a landscape, biases, baselining, the long frog syndrome, arcs, infinity, perception of time by the Minute Man or the Millennium Man, the roles of faith, ritual and tradition, Zoroastrianism, Shinto, the transcendental time view, the role of the clock, capitalism and time, prioritise short-term gains over long-term stewardship,
- On the New York Stock Exchange, the average holding time for shares in the 1960s was around eight years. These days, it is only a matter of months.
- Quarterly reporting correlates with reductions in R&D spending, patents, advertising and hiring, as well as cuts in discretionary spending and project delays.
- Short-termism costs the 500 largest publicly traded companies almost $80 billion annually in foregone earnings.
- Nearly 80% of CEOs said that they were willing to take decisions that they knew would harm the company’s value in order to deliver on their short-term earnings promises.
- McKinsey has analysed the short- and long-term habits of more than 600 US public companies over thirteen years,by looking at their investment plans, earnings and growth. Over that period, they found that the revenue of long-term firms grew on average 47 per cent more than the revenue of other firms, with less volatility.
The sentiment is changing
That is why the sentiment is changing. Paul Polman as a fantastic example, the management practices of Amazon, Softbank and Patagonia, but also the introduction of B-corps and the 33,000 businesses that are more than 100 years old in Japan.
Long-termism makes business sense
Corporate executive Arie de Geus argued that long-term companies have a sense of community. When employees see themselves as part of a collective enterprise, it’s easier to nurture the long view. A company that wishes to thrive in the long term might be wise to ignore the noise and instead seek to serve the timeless traits of human nature. Many are ‘benevolent monopolists’, who have carved themselves a niche to provide services that speak to timeless human desires. They are often associated with a long-term public purpose that serves the common good – not just the shareholder or the customer.
The invention of time
Consider the invention of time. Historians argue that the machine that drove the Industrial Revolution was not the steam engine but the clock because clocks could synchronise people. When was time invented? When was the future invented? How long is “future”? The average person described a time fifteen years ahead, and beyond that, the future went ‘dark’ for them.
Do future generations have rights?
How does your county score on the ’Intergenerational Solidarity Index? Should a certain proportion of the legislature be made up of elected representatives for the future? What about stewardship and being a good ancestor? How many generations do we look ahead (apparently, the number is 7, or between 150 and 200 years)? If you could give a gift to future generations, what would it be?
Destruction
We are the first generation with the technology to destroy ourselves, but we have not yet developed the wisdom to ensure we don’t. We stand poised on the brink of a future that could be astonishingly vast and astonishingly valuable. With some serious questions to be asked about geo- and genetic engineering, with unanticipated consequences.
Deep civilisation
That is why taking a long view is important. In a deep civilisation, businesses are not swayed by short-term individualist profits but are motivated by ethical and sustainable goals. If we embrace good ancestry as a principle, it could become a compass for direction, meaning, inclusion, participation, unification, hope and clarity.
Legacy
I always remember reading “Legacy”. A book about the All Blacks. About leaving the jersey in a better place. If you know rugby, you understand the relevance. We all should be like the All Blacks. Striving for excellence and being better. Better people make better All Blacks, theyalso make better scientists, CEOs, entrepreneurs, bankers, private equity investors, lawyers, advertising agency executives, butchers, bakers and candlestick makers. They make better mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers, better teachers, politicians and friends. Together, collectively, incrementally, in a kind of compassionate kaizen, they make for a better world.
Be a good ancestor
