By Flemming Wisler Futureorientation December 2006
Adjust your company to the next wave of consumption, which is aimed at self-realization through creativity, non-profit projects and volunteer work.
In the western world, and especially in Scandinavia, we are experiencing an increase in affluence that surpasses all expectations. Employment is at a peak. Ordinary people suddenly have the positive problem that money is growing on trees in the form of rising home equity that can now be converted to the realization of otherwise unattainable dreams. A whole generation of young people has never experienced anything other than almost unlimited opportunities for consumption. Denmark has largely reached the top of the needs pyramid. Now what?
What happens to a population when affluence comes relatively quickly and is enjoyed widely? Will it lead to rising consumption and a market for even more products? Will we throw our money into increasingly more luxurious products in a constantly rising curve? Can we keep feeding the consumption monkey, or should we count on other reactions?
Denmark is in the middle of an affluence “high” and the sale of party kitchens, flat-screen TVs and cars are beating all records. We travel like never before and a whole generation of frugal early retirees is throwing caution to the winds in realizing delayed dreams of moving, going on safari and playing golf. But the “high” will almost certainly pass, and self-realization will continue down different paths than the material.
The hunt for new prestige
How will Danes use their new financial freedom longer term? Even though we have used a lot of money on consumption in recent years, this is hardly where the continued growth will be found.
It’s a truism that consumption tends to lead to more consumption, because material things are only temporarily satisfying. The University of Southern Denmark, in the summer of 2006, released a study in which 400 people from different parts of the world participated. It showed (perhaps unsurprisingly) that the power behind our behavior is not things in themselves, but the dreams and expectations associated with the things. The study indicated that the deciding factor in this power is the social relations prompted by consumption and the reflection of oneself in others reactions.
In other words, we are really chasing social dopamine kicks, and we get them at first from new kitchens and flat-screens. But what will be the next wave, when it is impossible to stuff more things into the living room and wardrobe, and when you are on a first name basis with airport security?
Give and you shall receive
Something interesting and full of symbolism occurred last summer when the two financial superstars in the international heavens, Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, together in front of an eager press, and with visible contentment and a warm gleam in their eyes, announced they had found the path to heaven.
It’s about giving away. To pay back. Warren Buffett is giving his fortune in Berkshire Hathaway to Gates’ well-organized foundation for humanitarian research and development work that Gates is also donating most of his fortune to.
That was the start signal for a new wave of unselfish self-realization that is having effects in our part of the world. On Esplanaden in Copenhagen, the aged shipping magnate Maersk McKinney Møller is opening the floodgates of his family foundation. And the trend is not just about billionaires indulging themselves: Danes have begun to find new ways to have a meaningful life.
Volunteer social work
The Scandinavian welfare model has ended the tradition for charity work that is common in Anglo-Saxon countries. Volunteer work has, however, always been widespread, and Denmark’s culture of voluntary associations is almost world famous, but has been directed at education and leisure. That is about to change.
In the coming years, the interest in voluntary social and humanitarian work will increase, and will be associated with prestige and being able to show that one has enough extra resources to use time and energy on contributing to others.
At the same time, there are many indications that we will see an increasingly greater interest in creative and spiritual projects that cannot necessarily be calculated financially, but that require investment of time. The interest in art, culture and discovery travel is currently so great that one can almost speak of a new Renaissance. The beautiful losers have become super hot.
Business model #5: Re-renaissance
Re-renaissance covers the merger of affluence and global fellowship and insight that the Internet, broadband and technology are opening in our part of the world. There are indications that we will increasingly choose self-realization through non-profit projects and creative work at the top of a material consumption boom.
- As a company, the social dimension will be a decisive profiling parameter in relation to both internal culture and external initiatives.
- The interest in taking part in voluntary social work and cultural projects will grow and open up for labor that is otherwise scarce. This includes recruiting and HR perspectives for traditional companies who can adjust.
- New business areas will open up that facilitate volunteer work, often by redefining existing products within, for example, travel, transport, web and service.
- It will be a good career move to have volunteer work experience on your CV, and the demand for time and flexibility will be decisive in choosing work.