And they were right. Consulting projects and teaching assignments claimed my attention. Until, one day, last week, it occurred to me that I’d not written in a long time and was not sure why. The problem was, how to begin again?

Tonight, I logged on. I’ve been reading Paul Valery’s reflections on European politics from the late 19th Century to  the late 1920’s; and I was struck by a quote that might have come from last week’s Financial Times about the unanticipated effects of an interconnected globalizing planet:

“Henceforward every action will be re-echoed by many unforeseen interests on all sides; it will produce a chain of immediate events- confused reverberations in a closed space. The effect of effects, which were formerly imperceptible or negligible in relation to the length of a human life and to the radius of action of any human power, are now felt almost instantly at any distance; they return immediately to their causes, and only die away in the unpredictable. The expectations of the predictor are always disappointed, and that in a matter of months or a very few years.” (Valery, 1931, Forward for “Regards sur le monde actuel”)

Sounds like something written by the Bank of England last year, on the rationality of profit maximization by individual banks resulting in the destabilization of the banking system. Or the effects of German internal politics on Greek debt; or spiking Eurolibor because banks in one country don’t trust the viability of banks in another. Or last Friday’s 300 point drop in the Dow because the 400,000 spike in US job growth was mostly in part-time census workers (more on that next time).

The wheel continues to spin faster and faster: but Valery reminds us, we’re just in a later moment of modern times.

Opposing knowledge were the final days of 21st Century Weimar: thousand dollar bottles of champagne at over-priced exclusive clubs for the finance teams that had worked feverishly to bring in the deals; private plane chartered to international soccer matches; hob nobbing with C-Suite bankers in the Colorado snow; wind surfing off the most perfect secret spot in an undisclosed South American country.

The secret was that bad debt was spreading virally throughout the world, as bankers and investors gobbled up its dubiously rated super secure ratings. The speed with which merger and acquisitions had to be consummated in that final year, meant little sleep. And the terrific profit margins for lenders that had typified the growing generation of risky debt, began to diminish rapidly. Yet the players could not withdraw because their organizational roles required that they continue to play. If one bank refused a deal, then another would take it; and reputation was at stake. Standards loosened. Yet, while personal reflection of participants within the context of psychological business consultation was focused right on target, nothing of this was permitted in the workplace because the goal-determined purpose of the work required a uniformity of belief in corporate alignment. And this was affirmed in industry alignment.

Slowly, the clients I knew, began to revise their career plans. They were paid well to leave, either to pass the baton or to close up shop. Remarkably, the knowledge underlying their individual anxieties became lost to their work organizations. So that when the larger societal world caught up with the dilemma, the organization could truly claim ignorance: not only had knowledge been off-limits, but also those who knew and couldn’t say, were no longer around. Incentives to stay demanded the ignorance of the group; and incentives to leave made sure the group’s ignorance could be validated

Clearly, the ideal Self is easier to take. We may call it “self-actualized” or “Protean” from the Organizational Behavior perspective; but it is static and offers only defensive utility. That is, as an ideal, this model proclaims: “I have arrived. No more work to do.” As a Self model, it is like outdated leadership that doesn’t quite get the changing business environment.

The real Self is certainly more difficult to acknowledge. Lasting changes and the building of character result from loss. And loss must be endured to be recognized, and recognized to be mourned. Change requires that both growth and loss are always in play within the Self: at each developmental stage—childhood, adolescence, early adulthood, middle adulthood, and old age – there will always be a back and forth of balance within the real Self of reconciling past experience and ongoing capability with present challenges, both internal and external. As we mature, the Self must also grapple with timelines that are not only chronological, but also physical and psychological.

While it may not be as comforting as the ideal Self, the real Self allows us to see clearly what is before us. It prevents us from thinking that what is good for GM is good for the US, as we deplane from our corporate jets to lobby Congress for federal funds, and are blindsided by how we are perceived.