Money is purely symbolic stuff.  It consists of paper, round metal discs and digital numbers in a database which can be passed back and forth between people and organizations. It does not have any intrinsic value and, in fact, derives it’s value completely from implicit social agreements between parties exchanging it.

Value is the stuff of human experience. Value can be said to have been exchanged anytime one party helps another party satisfy a subjective need state. The more urgent and important the need being satisfied, the more value has been exchanged.

The idea of using money as a symbol for the exchange of  value between humans was a very creative and liberating invention! It allowed humans to satisfy needs in previously unimaginable ways.  Eventually, it allowed value to flow around the globe instantly, and for heartfelt alliances to form among people who wouldn’t normally have one kind word to say.

But–hypothetically speaking–what would happen if  the sacred, ancient connection between money (the symbol) and value (the experience)  were to get damaged or severed? What if money were to become seen not a symbol of something (ie ‘value’) — but as the thing itself?

That would be a real mess, now wouldn’t it?

On one hand, we’d probably have untold billions of folks around the world chasing money for it’s own sake, without concern for the amount of human value that they were generating in so doing. Imagine that! A whole generation of highly clever ’symbol-lovers’ figuring out ingenious ways to amass larger and larger numbers of these symbolic pieces of paper without regard for the social, environmental or planetary impact of their actions.

On the other hand, if this happened, there would probably also be a pretty big backlash! We’d probably also see a growing class of  angry and ambivalent ’symbol-haters’ unfairly judging this little human symbol for robbing the world of all true intrinsic value (while also secretly wishing they had more of it, of course). If things got bad enough, we might even find these angry symbol-haters protesting in the streets major cities around the world–acting as if people with money were the source of all human evil. (Burning their bras and playing bongo drum too, perhaps. Who knows? It could happen.)

What a dramatic saga!  The shallow evil symbol-lovers vs. the irate symbol-haters. (Sounds a bit like all religious wars in human history, doesn’t it?)

Anyway, if that war were to happen, hypothetically speaking, where would you stand?  Would you stand with the unsatisfied symbol-lovers or the unsatisfied symbol-haters?

Seems to me that –should such an absurd situation unfold– the smartest move would actually be to avoid joining either party. Instead, I’d probably to try to heal the split where it originally began: the msiguided mental separation between money (symbol) and value (experience).

Call me crazy, but I still believe that money (the symbol) when connected to the exchange of genuine value can still a very powerful force for good. But to make this happen we first, perhaps, will each have to forgive the symbol (money) for what we did to it in the name of our much-too-clever human stupidity.

As 2011, comes to a close I find myself in a state of wonder. And as I stand back now, surveying the year as a whole, viewing the unprecedented business and personal breakthroughs that came to me through the most strange and unexpected corridors, one irrational truth becomes clear:

Only infinite patience brings immediate results.

In 2011 I discovered that ‘patience’ — that often-elusive state of complete trust in the moment and  detachment — when combined with clear underlying goals and intentions, is the royal road to to creating anything that truly matters as quickly as possible.

Now, I do realize that from that high-strung, Type A “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” worldview this idea might seem at first foolish and naive.

But it works. Patience works!

My roller-coaster 2011 experiences proved it to me beyond the shadow of any doubt.

After many years of  hardened effort, in early 2011 I found myself stressed and exhausted from cumulative years of forcing myself and others to move things forward. Everything went belly-up, and I simply gave up.

For the first time in years, in 2011, I simply stopped trying. Raised the white flag. Surrendered. And it was terrible. And in that state of terrible surrender a funny thing began to unfold:

Everything I had been striving for for years started to happen, effortlessly. Like magic.

• My physical health improved and I lost 30 lbs without forcing myself to diet or do extreme exercise of any kind.
• My business started booming and I tripled my income an from the year before without even making so much as a sales call.
• My creative life flourished, with the inspired vision of my next book and music project coming into clear focus with little or no conscious effort to figure them out.

So strange…It all started to happen, of itself, automatically once i gave up on trying and allowed myself to sit in that strangely unfamiliar state of complete and utter patience. It boggles the mind.

And if it sounds like I’m a true believer, it’s because I am. The gods of patience have taught me powerful, game-changing lessons in 2011, and for this I will be eternally grateful.

I have no idea what deep theme or insights 2012 will offer to complement the profound lessons of 2011. But since I’m now a disciple of patience, I suppose I’ll just sit tight and see. In the meantime let me wish you all a very happy, patient and effortless holiday season, en route to whatever it is your heart and soul seeks.

I’m pleased to announce that 2011 been a breakthrough year for the Roberts Worldview Assessment (RWA). Launched in July 2010, this innovative psychometric tool held the promise of helping marketers gain unprecedented insight into the minds and hearts of their target audiences. But strong “proof of concept” stories were still needed to give the tool market credibility and traction.

We have now used the RWA with a variety of clients, across several industries, on several national projects, and have found that it is remarkably predictive.  In short:

1. When it comes to predicting human behavior, worldviews rule

2. When is comes to measuring worldviews, the RWA  rules

You want proof? I thought you’d never ask…

Click here to download a free white-paper that we are just releasing outlining a collaborative national research project with the Shelton Group out of Knoxville, TN.

Key findings from this research include:

• How the overall American population falls within the worldview framework

• The defining characteristics of the worldview and Shelton sustainability segments

• How each of the predominant worldviews interpret and react to sustainability in terms of attitudes, behaviors and communications

• Proven strategies and tactics for communicating sustainability to each worldview segment

Enjoy the read and do share your thoughts!

If you haven’t seen Steve Jobs’ commencement address at Stanford in 2005, now would be a great time to check it out.  It’s 15 minutes well spent.

Listening to him, I hear the brilliantly clear chords of a particularly talented systemic ‘gold’ visionary who has faced the reality of his mortality while still alive…and used this as fuel for the fires of breakthrough innovation.

What a wonderful worldview and legacy.

New interview just posted from a Canadian group (TSSS) focused on building the sustainable economy in North America.  Always interesting–and sometimes surprising–to read your own words coming back at you.

When I wrote “Igniting Inspiration” a few years ago, my emphasis was mostly on THEM…strategies for getting other people (‘receivers’ of our communications) to see our vision and do our bidding.

Over the years I’ve grown to see, more and more, how truly critical WE (’senders’ of the communications) are to the communication & behavior change process!

It’s a messy truth, because it forces us to look at our own intentions first and foremost when devising behavior change initiatives.  And it’s also a messy truth in a business sense because it means that much of the market research work being done today will have little impact because it will not be implemented with the right attitude, intentions and orientation.

Regardless, I feel absolutely certain that about 95% of communication and leadership effectiveness comes from the US rather than THEM…and to ignore this fact is to remain stuck in the land of marginal effectiveness which plagues so many marketers in this noisy marketplace.

Either way, here’s the interview itself. I hope you enjoy:

Making Change with Understanding and Authenticity — an Interview with John Marshall Roberts

(Note: We’ll be diving into these concepts much more deeply in an upcoming 4 week webinar on the topic of overcoming cynicism. Details soon to follow.)

Been thinking a lot lately about problems. In fact, I’ve decided that they don’t exist. I’ve decided that the real problem we’re facing these days is that we are addicted to problem solving.

Let’s think about it from the perspective of communication strategy.

Let’s imagine that you have a great new business idea that you want to inspire the world with. Perhaps you’ve tried to share this idea several times now–with potential investors, customers, partners, etc.–and yet no one seems to share your enthusiasm.

A traditional problem-solving framework would have you analyze your basic communication problem with the strategic goal getting ‘them’ to finally see the great value of your vision. Under this approach you might do some research into what they care about, test market some messaging tactics, and then launch with a new campaign designed to get them enthusiastic and inspired.

Sounds reasonable enough, right?

In fact, this is how approximately 99% of communication challenges are tackled in the business world. Problem solving of one form or another to get ‘them’ on board with our wonderful agenda.

So what’s the problem?

The problem is that, with this approach we have focused on “solving a problem” rather than “producing an outcome,”and this basic starting point or orientation will set an immediate limit on the quality of the results we can ultimately achieve.

Einstein once said “Our theories dictate what we measure.”
This man deeply understood that the assumptions we bring into a situation deeply constrain our perspective on that situation, and–if left unchecked–can severely limit our insight into the situation itself.

In this hypothetical situation, our framing of the challenge as “finding a better way to make them get it” will cause us to implicitly view ‘them’ as a problem to be solved. Let me ask you this:

Have you ever been inspired by someone who viewed you as a problem to be solved?

The sad truth is that whatever strategies or tactics we come up with to persuade ‘them’ over to our cause — no matter how clever or brilliantly conceived – will come up short if the implicit assumption that drives our communications is problem-oriented and therefore uncreative/uninspiring.

So what can we do?

We need to solve the problem of solving problems by focusing instead on the outcomes that we want to create. If we let them, these outcomes will soon congeal into an authentic vision that will infect everyone we meet with enthusiasm, and will produce far better results than any clever manipulation campaign we might have otherwise conjured.

I just finished writing a very elaborate white-paper about effective communication strategy for sustainability advocates (to be released in the coming weeks). In it, as usual, I challenge the reader to deeply understand the different worldview lenses that people use to make sense of  communications and to cater their messages accordingly.

However, now mentally exhausted by several hours of intense scientific psychobabble, I find myself wishing that we could just simplify the whole process and do it like Bob Newhart does  in this infamous skit.

Who knows? It might even work once in awhile…

Fed up with altruistic marketing campaigns that prey on guilt and fear ?

Me too. The main reason I got into the ‘communication for social change’ biz was because I realized that 99% of socially-oriented marketing was doing more to increase cynicism than to inspire actual positive behavior change. Let’s face it: people want to feel good. If we start at them by trying to impress upon them the terrible urgency of some overwhelming global problem, we will almost always lose them at ‘hello’. Sad, but true.

Enter my good friends at the Shelton Group. Their new water conservation campaign pushes the envelope in a deceptively clever way: by leveraging the power of social awkwardness and twisted humor. Check out the video below and see for yourself what I believe to be the future formula for socially-minded marketing success:

IMPORTANT TOPIC +  CREATIVE MESSAGING = MEASURABLE CHANGE

(Note: There are several other videos available on youtube, each with its own twisted charms. Check them all out and please pass along to your friends if you feel so inspired.)

As the old Sufi story goes, one day a blind man was walking through the woods. He tripped and fell over something in his path. Something bony, with a pulse. Turns out that he had tripped over a crippled man who was laying on the forest floor. This poor fellow had been trapped in the woods for a long time without the ability to move. So now there they were, both of them stuck. The blind fellow couldn’t see his way out on his own. The crippled fellow couldn’t walk on his own. What were they to do?

After a brief discussion of their predicament the crippled man had a bright idea. “What if you put me on your shoulders, then I will use my eyes to guide us both out on the power of your legs?” And so began a wonderful forest collaboration. Soon both were free.

The End.

So what’s the moral of the story?

The great thing about stories like this is that they are open to many different valid interpretations. For me, this is a story about the value of partnerships, the power of intuition, and the limits of human reason.

I spent many years (too many?) in the academic world, spinning my wheels with a bunch of bright, highly rational beings who for the most part seemed completely dispassionate about the content they were being taught. With all of my excess rambunctiousness and wonder, I was often dumbfounded by this culture of  apathy and inertia. Eventually, I left. I became a grubby academic outcast, leaving the cold rational world of academia behind for the bright lights of bohemian Brooklyn, NYC.

Years later, when I  checked in with many of them I found that most of them were doing quite well in the world. Most now have safe jobs in big corporations with the letter ‘PhD’ next to their names. Most now have nice houses and shiny cars. Most now have already amassed impressive retirement savings. And most now seem bored silly and vaguely disenchanted with their lives. Chubby with comfort. Trapped on the proverbial forest floor, waiting for their own inner blind man to give legs to their long buried vision of emotional vitality and freedom.

Let’s face it: Reason is a wonderful tool, but without the juice of inner passion it is impotent.

Albert Einstein once confessed  “I never discovered anything with my rational mind.”

Discovery happens when we let go of reason and embrace life’s mystery, our own inherent blindness.  Only then does reason find its proper place, helping us harness these insights to escape the woolly wilderness of our unbridled passions.

Alone, emotion is blind and reason is crippled.

Together, they are a creative partnership that cannot be stopped.

1. They  help us escape the morbid complexities of  the real world problems

2. They are  shiny, loud and endlessly captivating to our senses

3. They deliver a clear sense of purpose or ‘mission’

4. They offer us an inflated sense of personal power and agency

5. They give us a compelling excuse to avoid chores

6. They let us to socialize without proper grooming