I was recently talking to some friends of mine about basic human nature. One said that as he saw it, there are at least two basic groups of people, those who live in the present and those who can foresee the impact of their actions. It sounded to me a lot like "one movers", those who just live in the present and "multi movers" who see the future actions of their actions. He went on to further describe how our centralized federal government wants to treat everyone "equally" or the same and how that is never going to work. The ones who just live in the present are never going to grow from some simple job to a more complex job that pays them more and allows them to have a high quality of life. For those who can see the future affects of their efforts are going to be burdened by all kinds of federal regulation, or do not need any help and want the government out of the way. I would like to expand on some of his points.
When I had a lot of people working for me, I would give all of them a personality inventory. An inventory is not a test to see how much you know, it is a type of test to find out what kind of person you are. If you evaluate just on education or prior work experience, you are making a very big mistake. The purpose of my inventory was to find out which of two groups the people best fit into. I had two groups, those who were more concerned about working conditions and those who were more concerned about professional growth. The first group tended to want just a good paying job, while the other group want a opportunity to work their way into a better higher paying job based on merit. My management style limited me in terms of what kinds of people I could manage and motivate. I could not manage people who just wanted a good paying job and were satisfied in doing that job for the rest of their lives. Those types of people bored me and I did not want them around. The people in the other group were exciting people who were fun and interesting to work with. They responded to challenge and problem solving. They wanted to find out what was over the next hill. Get the idea? I think that this country was settled by people "who wanted to know what was over the next hill".
I have been harping on our problem with high school drop outs and the fact that we rank so low in terms of technical education in the world, but now I and starting to see the "cause". We have too many "one movers" or people who just live in the present. We need more "multi movers" who can see ahead to the results of their current decisions and actions. The discussion went on about whether "one movers" and "multi movers" are born or are a product of the environment. I have lived too long and have seen too many cases that I come down on the side that "mostly" people are born "one movers" or "multi movers". I don't think enviornment or education has much to do with it. You may differ and hold out the hope that society thru environment or education can change people.
How many people do know who plant gardens with the goal of picking fruit or vegetables sometime in the future? Over my life time, I see fewer and fewer. People who plant gardens are mostly "multi movers". A "one mover" would see no value in planting a garden. Think about it?
Most people are fooled by education. Think of it this way. You have 10 applicants for a job and all have the necessary education. Some have better grades than others, so how do you pick the right person? Give them a personality inventory and pick from the group who are "multi movers". Reject the others. I know many people who have earned PhD's who are "one movers". They got thru school as mindless pluggers taking each class in a row without any vision of how it could affect their future. These people often get the best grades because they are zero dimensional people. These are the types of people who end up in governmental positions with others just like themselves. That is one of our problems.
"Multi movers" talk about work all the time at lunch and after work. "One movers" do not. They talk about "gaming" the system. Over the years, I have worked with a lot of "multi movers" and find it very strange when I have to spend time with a group of "one movers". I once went on a sailing trip with two people who were public school teachers and I noticed that they very seldom spoke about teaching. All they seems to spend their discussion time on was how to "game" the system. I know if you have any union friends that you will notice this very same thing. In the case of government workers, it is a no brainer. All they do is try to figure out how to "game" the system.
I have identified on of the problems with human nature, but not a solution. Another way to look at this two classes of humans is in terms of how to move them to work and produce. I contend that most "one movers" are motivated by a "push" from the rear, while "multi movers" are motivated by the "pull" of opportunities in the future. "One movers" do not look very far ahead, most just the present. "Multi movers" look well into the future, some even beyond their own life expectancy. I know what motivates "multi movers", it is the challenge of the future. For "one movers" it has to be more basic, like pain or hunger. The problem for the USA is that our social systems have removed such things as pain and hunger from the equation. If that is the case, what are we to do? Starting to see the nature of our problem and how it relates to "Human Nature"? We got a problem and what we are doing is "not" the solution. Obama Care is exactly what we do not need. Do you now see that?
