the long view: precision (27 january 2015)

Silence and secrets only poison the work of improving a community. Norristown’s new leadership needs to start the year by breaking silence about the taboo social divisions and history of leadership miscommunications within local government. When trust takes root, then the details of complicated development plans (like the one recently announced by Montgomery County) have a chance to become realities. Precision and teamwork in government and enterprise require integrity and honesty.

Attention to detail comes from meticulous focus. Computer programming is an extraordinary experience to learn this skill. Every line of code must be flawless for the program to operate correctly. A typographical error or a stray back-slash can ruin hundreds of hours of work. Patience is the underlying virtue in the effort to design a successful new application. It is the opposite of the immediate gratification world that defines media like Instagram or Twitter. Texting only aggravates the problems of teaching precision. In the rush to get instant and constant attention, care becomes a liability.

Handwriting and typing classes educated previous generations about the techniques and systems of correct expression. For nearly five thousand years, written communication was the primary hallmark of elite status around the world. Digital communication threatens to usher in an era of photographic communication where the nuances of writing and oratory become antiques, if they survive at all. Will humanity become more thoughtful about the facts, ideas, and dreams it communicates as language becomes more directly representative of imagination?

This revolution has already transformed the world of finance as illustrated at the World Economic Forum last week. The lack of precise coordination among layers of global innovation has wrecked economies from Greece to Japan over the last four years. Even the most informed researchers have begun 2015 guessing about the consequences of the new frontiers created by quantitative easing. Taking time to learn a careful understanding of the digital, world society is the responsibility of every responsible, local leader.

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Dr. Walter Greason founded the International Center for Metropolitan Growth (ICMG_International Center for Metropolitan Growth) and is the author of the award-winning historical monograph, Suburban Erasure.  He is also the primary instructor for the “Engines of Wealth” initiative at Monmouth University.  His work is available on Twitter (@worldprofessor / @icmgrowth), Facebook, LinkedIn, and by email (wgreason@monmouth.edu).  For bookings (workshops and speaking engagements), contact NJ History (njhistory350@gmail.com).

Consider the scale of human achievement from the bosonic to the galactic – where is the next frontier of our learning?