My good friend Kristie sent me an interesting video last week, an interview between Todd Rose and Mike Huckabee, on Todd’s new book, “Collective Illusions: Conformity, Complicity, and the Science of Why We Make Bad Decisions.”
I enjoyed the video and the message so much that I bought the book; can’t wait for it to get here. I’m particularly interested in collective illusions about education, knowing that significant change is coming. Here’s a link to the video:
- Dr. Todd Rose BUSTS Collective ILLUSIONS: “We Actually AGREE on Most Things!” – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMo-rxxytAE
My favorite part of the video are his (Todd Rose) thoughts about what it means to live a good life, which starts at 7:15. He shares that in his work, they found that – in private conversations – character, relationships, and religion/faith matter. They want to be good people and live fulfilling lives. However, when you ask these same people what they think most Americans want out of life, they believe it’s status, wealth, and power. He adds that most people believe that most people’s #1 answer to what people want for a successful life is “fame”; however, when asked what they want most for their own lives, having “fame” comes in last. Interesting…
But what’s really disturbing is what he shares about children today. In the past, if you asked children what’s most important, the dominant theme was “character” – to be honest, to have good friends. For the past couple of years, the answer is now “I want to be famous.” And I see this in my classes with first-year students; when you ask them what job they’d like to have, more often than not, they want to do something where they can use social media (Tik Tok, Instagram, YouTube, etc.) to be famous. Really?
Does anyone see a problem with this? How do we change this? Be true to our private selves in public. How about that? And are you ready (and/or willing) to do that?
There’s a thought for the day…
The Dream Dean 
Welcome back, Bill! Just so you know, my next post will come out with the hashtag #LifeDesignCatalyst. I think this will be a good way to strengthen the language, and maybe we can all include it in our posts. What are your thoughts?
Since I don’t do much with hashtags, I’m good with it. Bring it up at the next meeting if you don’t mind. Thanks for thinking of us!