Posts Tagged ‘Individualism’

From the power of me to the power of we?

With the commencement season wrapping up, New York Times columnist David Brooks took the opportunity to note how many of the speeches had a pre-Great Recession, individualist tone that’s not necessarily in sync with today’s realities and mood. “If you sample some of the commencement addresses being broadcast on C-Span these days, you see that many graduates are told to: Follow your passion, chart your own course, march to the beat of your own drummer, follow your dreams and find yourself. This is the litany of expressive individualism…”

Brooks goes on to say that “graduates are told to be independent-minded and to express their inner spirit. But, of course, doing your job well often means suppressing yourself. As Atul Gawande mentioned during his countercultural address last week at Harvard Medical School, being a good doctor often means being part of a team, following the rules of an institution, going down a regimented checklist.”

Our 2011 SCAN findings show a decided shift from “me” toward “we” in the collective consciousness. Compared to the pre-Great Recession year 2007, significantly fewer Americans now like to think of themselves as “off the beaten path.”

% who strongly agree: “I like to think of myself as ‘off the beaten path.’ I like to do my own thing and not necessarily what everyone else is doing.”

In learning how to survive and maybe even thrive in the Great Aftermath, we’re gravitating to strategies that help us avoid risk. We’re becoming more fact-oriented and embracing the idea of safety in numbers. The American cultural idea of the lone, unique individual standing out from the crowd is giving way to the comfort zone of fitting into a larger community.

Business Implications: Taking refuge in the security of operating within the lines and within a group is one of the learnings from the economic implosion that has far-reaching implications. The “power of we” fuels social media, and, of course, social media fuels the trend. The shift away from calling attention to oneself impacts everything from product design to marketing imagery and messaging. More and more, “appropriate” is a positive perception for consumer choices from clothes to cosmetics to cars.

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