Jeff Bezos went to space, and I was watching Princess Weiyoung again, and had some thoughts I wasn't sure how to put down.
I think I want to start with Hope for the Flowers, actually. I've talked about it before, but for anyone who stumbles across this and doesn't want to dig for it, I'll summarize.
Hope for the Flowers is a story about a caterpillar. He's born and eats and wonders about what his purpose in life is, and one day he sees something that draws his attention. As he gets closer he sees that it's a pillar of caterpillars, and they're all desperately trying to get to the top. He soon joins the crowd, wondering what's there... but it's tough and frustrating and you have to climb over the other caterpillars to get anywhere.
And one day he makes eye contact with another caterpillar, and feels a connection. Together the leave the pillar, and they're happy for a time.
But it's not enough.
They argue, and he decides to go back to the pillar. Whereas the other caterpillar wanders for a bit, and runs into a caterpillar creating a cocoon. She's not really sure what she's doing, but she tries to follow her instincts... and soon starts creating her own.
Our main character, though, is determined to get to the top. After all, he gave up a lot for it. So this time he refuses to let anything get in his way. He climbs over the other caterpillars, keeps pushing, and eventually gets reeeeaaaaaallllyyyy close. Then he hears someone say "We can't go any further, they are blocking the way". The pillar shakes, and he sees caterpillars fall. When things finally settle, he hears someone above him say "There's nothing here!"
"Don't tell anybody! We can't let them know"
(He then sees a butterfly, one that seems strangely familiar, and that reminds him of the caterpillar he left behind. So he turns around and heads back down, but this time he sees the potential for a butterfly in every caterpillar he passes by.)
I bring this up a lot... well. The symbolism seems pretty obvious. And the caterpillar pillar is a great representation of all those things we hate. The rat race. The feeling that you have to play the game to get ahead, and even step on others.
I also really liked that potential butterfly, because yes... every single person has the potential to be a butterfly.
And I like the struggle to learn how to build a cocoon, how you don't really know what you're doing or where it will lead to, you just know that there's some internal instinct you have to follow. (I just wish... Well. I want to be a butterfly, not another caterpillar in the struggle. But I don't think I've reached butterfly status yet, and I'm not really sure how to make that happen. It's hard to follow those instincts when you've got bills to pay, you know?)
The reason I brought that up was for something different this time. Mainly about what happens with the ones who make it to the top of the pillar.
Because in order to reach that, they have to become just like everyone else... Have to be willing to step on others. Have to harden their hearts. Have to stop seeing their fellow caterpillars and their potential butterfly inside.
There are some who can be transformative... that's the appeal, for example, of my book on enlightened capitalists. Ones who see the potential butterfly and learn how to build systems that help people form their cocoons, and grow.
So I'm not saying every single person who makes it to the top has done so by hardening their hearts... but it seems like far too many do.
Which makes it very difficult for them to change the system. How can you envision something new, envision a world of butterflies, when you've succeeded by becoming the toughest caterpillar around?
These billionaires... the Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Elon Musk... they're not without some considerable talent.
I was talking with my Little about electric cars, and how a decade or so ago they seemed impractical. Sure, you could have an electric car to get around town... but where would you charge it if you went on a road trip?
But Elon Musk worked hard, not just to create Tesla, but also to create charging stations and give Tesla drivers a way to find them.
Systemic change.
So that now electric cars are less unthinkable.
I also remember hearing some tech guy who sold his invention to Windows, who commented that Windows had a much better organization for developing it further and putting it into use.
And as for Jeff Bezos - well, I've been learning AWS (Amazon Web Services) for work, and I do have to give him credit for all of that. The cloud is quite an operation. As is the convenience of Amazon, and the many ways it's almost impossible to avoid using them. (Not so happy about how he treats the workers that ship his stuff. My previous job was in shipping, and I know how exhausting it is to pick parts and ship them. It's no wonder so many of our employees wind up with bad knees and bad backs, no matter how often you teach them about ergonomics. And I remember how we saw clips of Amazon's distribution centers... the automation, the cleanliness. They apparently automated so much of the picking that many workers now just have to wait and pack what gets brought to them. And then I heard that this is actually causing more workplace injuries... which makes sense when I think about it. Most of our pickers would walk a few feet, lean down or reach up to pick parts and count them, put them in the bin, walk a bit more to the next place... and sometimes then switch over to packing. If all you do is pack, you're doing a lot more repetitive motion in the same location. It's less reaching up, walking, reaching down, walking, etc. So it probably shouldn't have been a surprise that more of them get injured.)
They do have talent, and I do think they deserve to be paid more. In general. But more as in 'hundreds of times more than their lowest paid employee', not thousands. Especially because any good leader knows that the entire system works because of their whole team. It's not just one person (and as Jim Collins points out, it's kind of a warning sign when someone says "I alone" can fix something. No... you, with the team you build, can accomplish great things. It's never you alone.)
The point then is this - for all their accomplishments, they succeeded in this system. Which makes it very difficult for them to be the ones changing it.
After all, it worked for them. And worked very nicely. The things they did to succeed, to get to the top, may just be perpetuating itself...
And for many, I would say that ignoring that quiet inner voice and 'playing the game' may get you to the top of the pillar, but it won't turn you into a butterfly.
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