
Second interview with Peter Block
The Soul of Enterprise: Business in the Knowledge Economy
The Price You Pay for Your Freedom
The author says anxiety is the price you pay for your freedom. We tend to think of anxiety as something you need to fix, but it's just part of the human condition. Everything in this book came from my experience with a business and an executive who got this. And so I think if you can get people used to talking about what they're anxious with, they have doubts about their ambivalence.
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Speaker 3
You know, when you were talking about stay at home work versus going, why don't people want to go back? You said it beautifully in the book because they're not allowed to be themselves at work. I think that gets to the heart of it. Yeah. It's really a great line. The other big topic you take on and while this, this one really made me think was you talk about anxiety. And of course, Peter cost him on the person that you're quoting from his work and then adding these brilliant insights around his work. He says anxiety is the price you pay for your freedom. And we tend to think of anxiety as something you need to fix. But boy, like you said, at the start, if we always felt safe, I think university professors with tenure. We wouldn't be as adventurous, wouldn't would we? I mean, anxiety is just part of the human condition.
Speaker 1
Right. And we're, we get anxious about being anxious. And then we think it can, it's a problem to be solved, or we can medicate it. Or better leadership will solve it because the employee, the professional colludes with the parenting with the promise. And then says, good, I want to get rid of my anxiety instead of using it. For years, I got very anxious when I had to give a talk. Okay. Because I knew I wasn't dynamic or motivational or interesting. And I knew I'd be exposed. And so, and then after a while, I started saying maybe that anxiety is a sign that I'm alive. And if I could reframe it as something that energizes me, then I could embrace it. And I'd just be anxious instead of being anxious about being anxious. And, I mean, you get this perfectly. What you're taking from the book is the point. And it's all there, businesses, organizations are human system. Even if it's 98% AI, AI is interesting, but just because something's amazing. Doesn't mean it's important. Doesn't mean it solves anything fundamental. And so they're human systems and we're trying to say, can we be smarter about how we construct these human systems. And I think that everything in this book came from my experience with a business and an executive who got this. You know, the whole conversation of freedom and how to think about failure and stuff like that. All came from executives that decided they were going to run their business differently. And they were very successful. And of course, as soon as they move on, whoever replaces them goes back to the paternalism. And the safety and it was interesting. One of my clients was Philip Morris for a while. And some of my friends I invited him in to work with me and said, I'm not working for a cigarette company. I think good. I want to work with a cigarette company. I want to be in an unexpected place. And they lied to their friends about where they worked because there was so much change in their life. And they didn't work because there was so much shame associated with a product that hurts people. And the work they did was to get that people said let's talk about how we feel about working. You know, of course we're making a product finally they came around and said, yes, we're going to do some about it. And to me, the more it became an extremely socially responsible company. But what about their product well come on. People making guns and military what about the product. So I just think the world is waiting for a conversation about what doubts to have about what you're doing. What what anxiety, where does that occur for you. What's not working. What do you study have ever seen about investments that didn't pay off people knew early in the game wasn't going to work. Why didn't you say something are you kidding. And so I think if you can get people used to talking about what they're anxious with, they have doubts about their ambivalence. Talk about failure, you know, failure is an option. Why don't we just acknowledge that.
Speaker 3
Right, because it doesn't
Speaker 1
mean death. Oh, yeah, and, and who's to say people you know I'm getting older. So poorly kept secret. And they say well it's better than the alternative and my answer is who's to say. You know, and so I mean, and there's no shame and failure is the denial of failure. That's manipulation. And what you're doing in your work is to get people alternative
Speaker 3
to that.
Ron and Ed welcome back the Godfather of modern consulting Peter Block for his second appearance. This episode is dedicated to the possibility that human beings are better served when we confront our freedom (the title of Peter's new book). Doing so, is difficult, challenging, and not for everyone. If you want to begin the process of confronting your own freedom, you are invited to participate in this episode. Safe return doubtful!