Shifting Identities - From Consumer to Networked Creator by John Hagel
John Hagel, one of the co-author of the Big Shift Index, is pretty active on his blog these days. And it seems that a Big Shift Theory is in the pipe:
Quoted from one of the last posts of John Hagel on Edge perspectives
In the 20th century we witnessed a deep split in our professional and personal identities. The quest for scalable efficiency in all of our institutions required us to conform to highly standardized organizational routines. To do this, we had to sacrifice much of our individuality, which was compartmentalized into “after hours” time. While passions in this domain were certainly acceptable, we were increasingly encouraged to seek status and expression through consumption. Scalable efficiency required mass markets. Mass marketing programs were all geared to reinforcing the message that our identity depended on a large home, a big car, lots of state of the art appliances and stylish clothing that changed with each new fashion season.
As a result, identity in the 20th century increasingly took two different forms – we were company men (and as the century progressed, company women) and consumers. Since the professional identity offered little room for individual expression, we poured much of our energy into expressing individuality through our consumption – perhaps a sportier car or a fancier dress. Our status hinged on our ability to consume.
The big shift in identities
That is all changing now – our identities are shifting in ways that we are only beginning to understand. All around us, we see people engaging in creation of various forms, sharing these creations and deriving satisfaction, meaning and status from these activities. Whether we look at the resurgence of crafts and hot rod cars, the rise of the “maker” movement, body hacking, social media or open source software, we find people who are investing more and more time and energy in the creation of things they are passionate about.
What is behind this shift? Well, it is all part of the Big Shift. It is emerging because we face unprecedented opportunity and unparalleled pressure.
(…)
At the same time, we find it harder and harder to deal with the mounting pressure in our work. Our recent Shift Index revealed that very few employees are passionate about their work. We were conditioned from a very early age not to seek passion in our profession, but rather to view it as a paycheck that allowed us to pursue our passions in our spare time. The problem is that, without passion, we have a hard time coping with growing pressure. We have a much higher risk of burning out or becoming marginalized as we find it harder and harder to keep up. Our traditional identities of company man (woman) and consumer become more challenging to maintain.
The only way we will be able to cope with the mounting pressure is by making our passion our profession.
