The economic woes have seen unprecedented times across the globe from the developing to the developed parts of the world. The financial sector has taken a battering and has seen many people question the embedded culture that existed for so long with an attitude of ‘let’s make as much money as possible no matter what the cost’.
The cost has been far more than just the loss of money. There has been a huge impact on people’s lives not only economically but socially and environmentally. Do you think we have now seen a shift in what people think about money? Are these institutions losing their appeal on being able to use money as a motivator to entice the once egotistical human being?
A few weeks ago I attended an event about people who were ‘escaping the city’ – it seems as though more and more people within the financial sector are escaping to find happiness through achieving their purpose, which they once thought existed by making as much money as fast as they could. I believe we are seeing a huge shift in how humans think and feel about money.
The late rapper Biggie Smalls once sang about ‘Mo Money, Mo Problems’ and it appears to ring true of those who make huge amounts of money, even when they do so ethically, having problems with people trying to bring them down. Don’t get me wrong I think having money and enjoying money is a great thing, I just think that humans are placing more of an emphasis on how money can be utilized in order to make a difference in the world.
We saw in the recent USA election the fight between Obama and Romney and on one side you had a person that was engaging local communities to support the election campaign and the efforts that together ‘we can make a difference’. Then you compare it to the other side that tapped into the financial institutions to finance the election campaign and their already bulging bank balance. And who won, it was the person that appealed to the people at a human level – a sincere level not based on how much money a person can make for business and those that operate in it, but how to support one another at all levels in society.
Let’s put aside the fact that money is not worth the paper it’s written on for a moment, and pay particular attention to those entrepreneurs that did not set out to make money but wanted to make a difference and felt compelled to utilize their talents in order to do so. I am sure you can think of many social media entrepreneur/tech companies that had only the thought that they wanted to take action on what they felt their passion was and through trial and tribulation made millions (actually billions) changing the face of the world and how we connect with one another.
If you haven’t done so already I would suggest you read Nilofer Merchant’s eBook 11 Rules for Creating Value in the #SocialEra. I will end this article with a short extract from Nilofer’s eBook ‘’Purpose is a much better motivator than money. Money, while necessary, motivates neither the best people nor the best in people.’’