Causes and Consequences of Cultural Change
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Given that most corporate executives do not have the time to do extensive “fieldwork,” GBN gathered together a variety of GBN Network members who do spend a great deal of time studying cultural change, and even live in other (sub-)cultures as well. Our aim was to hear and discuss their stories of the future and glean insights into how cultural changes might interact and affect business and society.
Alex Singer kicked off the meeting with a multi-media presentation on cultural change as reflected in, and signaled by, film. The next morning, we heard stories from Network members Mary Catherine Bateson, Joel Garreau, J.C. Herz, Betty Sue Flowers, and special guest Van Jones, each of whom told a tale of how culture might change, looking back from 2015. With such excellent grist for our collective mill, enriched by our own ideas and experience, we developed a quick set of scenarios of cultural change to 2015. These four challenging worlds—“Evangelical Corporation,” “GATTACA,” “Bio-Cyberpunk,” and “Learning World”—diverge along two axes of uncertainty: the interplay between humanity and technology, and the relationship of corporations to cultural change. Brand strategist Chris Riley then focused our final conversation on the implications of cultural change for business in each scenario world.
Alex Singer kicked off the meeting with a multi-media presentation on cultural change as reflected in, and signaled by, film. The next morning, we heard stories from Network members Mary Catherine Bateson, Joel Garreau, J.C. Herz, Betty Sue Flowers, and special guest Van Jones, each of whom told a tale of how culture might change, looking back from 2015. With such excellent grist for our collective mill, enriched by our own ideas and experience, we developed a quick set of scenarios of cultural change to 2015. These four challenging worlds—“Evangelical Corporation,” “GATTACA,” “Bio-Cyberpunk,” and “Learning World”—diverge along two axes of uncertainty: the interplay between humanity and technology, and the relationship of corporations to cultural change. Brand strategist Chris Riley then focused our final conversation on the implications of cultural change for business in each scenario world.
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