Basic Skills / Fast Company / Journal Project, Will R. Yliniemi  September 30, 1999

Fast Company # 10, The Teacher Shoshana Zuboff by Keith H. Hammonds, July-August 1999 Issue Fast Company, Page 147

Summary

This article describes how people, even though they may have power, status and wealth, feel as if something is missing in their lives. Although they have reached the pinnacle of their profession, rather than feeling empowerment by achievements, they feel enslaved by commitments. They question - Is that all there is?

Shonana Zuboff, a social psychologist, conducts a program entitled Odyssey, a Harvard Business School course offering which provokes midlife introspection and career redirection. This two-week experience provides participants an opportunity wrestle with the question of How Much is Enough? Zuboff states that as long as we dont think that we have enough money, we dont feel free to ask the important questions about our lives. We use that rationalization to protect ourselves from the fearsome fact that we do have the ability to make choices.

The Odyssey experience starts with time for personal reflection, with participants writing the story of their life. This is not about discovering who I am, but rather about who Ive been, and a prelude to finding out who Im becoming. The autobiographies evaluate the larger patterns of their lives to get different perspectives on the truth. You have to understand the dynamics that have energized your life and how they have changed over the years, and then you can begin to see the change that will shape the next phase of your life.

Zuboff states that there is a tension between dissatisfaction and fear. On one hand we are not at peace and not happy with what we see in our lives and on the other hand, we are afraid to make a move and leave behind what we have been. When we reach our fifties, identity becomes its own prison. We fear that there is a lot to lose. But, Zuboff says you can keep your job and still become a different person. It depends on how we respond to what is put in our path. Crisis can be the crucible for lifes true riches, and should not be feared, rejected or organized out of our awareness. It takes a leap of faith by entering into a relationship with the sources of your dissatisfaction, so that one will realize that the only way out is forward.

Reflection

As I read this article, I found myself intrigued by the revelation that people with great power, wealth and influence were plagued by questions of who they were and is that all there is. I asked myself what about all of the other chumps who ask those same questions but do not have the privilege of even beginning to know How Much is to Much. Ordinary folks could certainly not even consider attending a session like Odyssey, and yet their needs are even more significant.

But Zuboffs basic premise that peoples identity can become their own prison certainly has validity regardless of status, wealth or position. The process of self-evaluation on getting different perspectives on the truth can reduce the fearsome fact that we do have the ability to make choices. Each of us is faced with crisis situations at various times in our lives, and choices with forward movement, rather than fear or rejection awareness, can make all the difference in re-energizing our existence.

Discussion

I discussed the premise of this article with a wealthy retired business executive friend of mine, who stated that the Odyssey experience sounded like a bunch of malarkey, and that these people should get a grip.

-- Anonymous, September 29, 1999