One Hand on the Elephant

All those disciplined people who exercise several times a week are ruining human evolution for the rest of us.

Think about it.

For thousands of years the most human beings had to do was hunt once or twice a season (men), gather some nuts and berries (women), and then sit around or do various other chores in a relaxed way (aka “moderate activity”) so not to use up the energy they just got from eating what little food was around. Does that sound like 45 minutes 5times a week of cardiovascular fitness followed by an hour of weight lifting? HELL NO.

What is happening at this very second is that people who are gym-heads are causing evolutionary change. They are meeting at the gym, and procreating, and changing the very ability of humans to be active in a relaxed way. Even though our home sapien ancestors had more activity than we do now it was spread out in the day. In these modern times, doctors suggest “moderate exercise” which consists of 20-30 minutes of activity 3 days a week.

THE GYM GOERS NEED TO BE STOPPED. We can’t let them ruin our puffy butts with their rock solid bodies. Before long, after another 15,000 years, all of us will need 45 minutes 5x a week of cardio just to survive.

Where is the sense in ruining a good thing?

So here’s what: life in the hierarchy.

Blame my parents, specifically my father, for treating me like I had half a brain while I was growing up. It has only made my worklife hell.

When problems come up in the workplace, theorhetically, the hierarchy should save us from drowning. It should support us, helps us find a path to a solution. When we don’t feel that support, many people lurch out, guns-a-blazing, trying to get involved, empowered, feel some sort of control, input, over life in the workplace.
Hierarchies are all about control, however. They are political systems and politics = control. And, mostly what is at stake in these environments is “who-knows-what-and when-they-know-it”. Access to information is everything these days.

I have this terrible outlook that most people should know most things most of the time. I know: I’m too trusting. Let the people decide what they want to know — anything less is definitely too much responsibility for me. Other people don’t see things that way and base information access on factors of seniority, Chumminess, socio-economics, gender, race, sex… you name it.

Hierarchies are not all bad either. Large organizations including coroporations, universities, and militaries would have no direction and would not acheive as much without them. Not everyone is a leader. (Weird, but true).

But, basically, hierarchy disturbs communication flow. It gets Gunked going up, going down, and even going across because where there is hierarchy there is competition and, where there is competition, initiatives like teaming and collaboration are always performed with the idea of “winning” in the back-minds of the participants. If one person is winning then someone is losing and that leads to Gunked Up Communication.

Many people are familiar with the book by Lou Gerstner called “Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance?: Leading a Great Enterprise through Dramatic Change”. I’ve never read the book but I will now. And I need to ask him, “what do you mean by dance?”

Dance is a form of communication so if the communication flow is disturbed then there is no dance; I say that Elephants Gyrate. Have you ever seen that? Many of us are living that and it ain’t pretty.