The Dream Society

I've been reading a good book called The Dream Society by Rolf Jensen.  It's one of those books that disguises itself as a business book, but is really much, much more.  I'd call it a philosophical exploration of life and the purpose of work within one's life.  Lots of stuff to ponder particulary if you are, in anyway, struggling with questions of meaning and career.  For Jensen, the dream society is a utopian view of what work will (or should) look like in the not too distant future.  He describes the dream society as "a new society in which businesses, communities, and people as individuals will thrive on the basis of their stories, not just data and information."  As this quote may indicate, Jensen places a great deal of emphasis on the power of stories.  Dreaming and stories are of utmost importance in the future state he conjures up.  It is linked to innovation and forward progress; necessary to create and breakthrough with new technology and products. 

Much of what Jensen has to say reminds me of Marxist theory from my grad school days.  He sees Marx's vision of revolution and dynamic change of the means of production as something occuring in the here and now.  Workers hold intellectual capital and their knowledge.  It is this, and not the productivity of machines, which fuels the dream society corporation. 

Here is the best part of Jensen's book for me, so far (I'm about half way through it).  He writes about success and the concept of "hard fun."  It's not just about a paycheck.  We've all heard that before, right?  Well, Jensen goes on to assert that success is really about finding challenging and meaningful work.  In Mazlow's hierarchy of needs, the need of idealization or "the search for a purpose beyond oneself" is critical.  Again, the idea of finding a higher purpose in your professional life is not anything terribly unique or new.  Where Jensen diverges a bit from the usual sentiment is how he links this concept of idealization to the notion that companies, in order to survive and prosper, absolutely need this.  It is not optional.  It can't be just a passing fancy for a handful of troubled workers.  Everyone has to subscribe to this and foster it within the corporation in order for the corporation to make it.  The dream society requires focus on self-actualization through the acquisition of meaning and the transfer of that meaning onto that which we create and put forward into the world.  Without this, we will never achieve the dream society Jensen imagines for us.  Okay Jensen.  I'm listening. 

Heavy stuff.  Important stuff.  Stuff worth thinking about.  What dreams do you have for yourself?  For your family?  For your work?  Are you in control of your own means of production?  If not, who or what is?  Have you found, for yourself, "a purpose beyond" yourself?  Is it possible to connnect this purpose to real dollars and a livable wage or is Jensen just a big, fat dreamer? 

I'm not sure, but I'd like to give the dream society a little visit and see for myself.