There seems to be a longing, a need that most people can’t put their finger on. They may be incredibly successful by all the ways we define success like money, position and power but they don’t feel satisfied. People don’t know why they are unhappy because by most definitions they think they should be happy. Some of my religious friends will say these people need to find God but even some of my highly religious friends are feeling angst. 30,000,000 people today are taking the prescription drug Prozac. This drug is for people that are depressed. With all of the upheaval of the financial markets, job loss, and insecurity, it is no wonder that people are questioning the very premises of the foundation of our culture. Even wealthy people who are not in dire straights are questioning why our society is experiencing these financial seizures. And when it was stable they were wondering why they were not happy. I think the two conditions are related to one cause. Perhaps if this one cause could be satisfied, then other conditions would cure themselves or at least be improved.
By some religious traditions the world is only 6,000 years old. What archeologists tell us is that 6,000 years ago, agriculture started to make surpluses, cities started to be built, and armies started to conquer. You could say that the world is gradually becoming one big city, with everyone a specialist, and everyone managed. Did we start building cities when we were thrown out of the Garden of Eden? As people moved off the farm to the city, it seems they were also moving away from community with neighbors to a martin house of strangers. They live close to one another but don’t know one another. Increasingly few know their neighbors and even fewer have community. Let me tell you what I mean by community.
Man needs to work with others for a common tangible goal. In fact, there are many cases of people who have been put into solitary confinement with no contact from others who have become insane. We desperately need other people and we need to work with them on worthwhile projects. There is just something about our well being that requires contact with others. You could say it is in our DNA. Man used to very easily work with others. We needed to work with others to get in the crops, to hunt, and to build. This was very common. Today we can point to rare instances of working together. When the Amish do a barn raising, they become closer with each other through work. They build community. When a church group gets together and builds a house for Habitat for Humanity, they feel a similar special feeling of community that warms theirs souls and builds friendships. I am convinced that is why Habitat for Humanity has done so well and captured people’s imagination. It is one of the few charities where one’s time and effort (not just a checkbook) is allowed to be joined with others to build community through a project that is significant. I think my wife’s grandmother’s favorite part of church was when she would join with other ladies in the church basement and spend many hours making quilts. These quilts would be auctioned off for charity. It was the community with the other ladies and the work toward a common goal that mattered. Maybe that is one reason group sports are popular. People miss being a part of a team, a community to work together to get a job done. And like a lot of things we miss, we get a vicarious thrill watching a child, a friend, or our favorite teams accomplish that win---that community accomplishment. If we can’t live in community, then we admire others living community through a sports team. Yelling and cheering for our team can give us a pseudo feeling of community. I suppose a sports fan is a member of a community but only as much as junk food is a member of a food group. True community goes much deeper.
There are rare instances when businesses and governments understand about the power of community. It is almost as if we hearken back to an ancient forgotten wisdom when it really matters and we must be successful quickly. During WWII, Lockheed Martin set up a special program to build aircraft to win the war. It was called the Skunk Works. Because their work was top secret, Lockheed created a special group, a team of individuals that could work in any way they liked with complete autonomy, no red tape or bureaucracy, and total freedom to get the job done. This group ended up designing planes in record time (Some thought in miraculous time) and ultimately helped win the war.
Many software companies use the Skunk Works business model with fantastic results. In the eighties I used to visit some of my clients at Microsoft. As I would walk into the lobby, I could feel the energy. I would hear excited software developers with their energized discussions about solving problems as they walked through the lobby on their way to lunch. This was truly a place where things were happening, where people’s souls were lit up, where community was in full swing. Just as Lockheed Martin got new airplane designs in record time, Microsoft’s software became the dominant software of the 20 th and perhaps the 21 st century.
People want to be part of something that is bigger than they are. They want to work with others creating something that matters. They don’t want to be isolated in a cubicle with no access to other people. They want community.
That is why I say community might be the solution to many of our current problems. We need to build a "Skunk Works" to help us out of our current crisis.
Note: Build a business, charity, or family that builds community and helps people work together for something big and you will have amazing success. Most are starved for community and the lack of community is the source of many of our problems.
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