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General, short answer to the headline question: no, not really. Because of the recent Inauguration in the U.S., “calls for unity” is all the rage as a topic. I just did a Google News sweep and found dozens, including “Calls for unity are already being tested in Congress” and “the end of the uncivil war” and a “clash of ideologies looms.”
I think that last headline/link is probably most relevant to where we’re broadly at these days (and maybe since amoeba crawled from the oceans). We all inhabit a belief-driven world. We claim it’s a data-driven one, and we point to companies like Amazon and Facebook. In reality, most companies — including those two, probably — are largely run on the gut feel of the executives and founders, and we ascribe “data” to them when in reality it’s all a belief construct. Most things are about belief.
And that makes perfect sense: beliefs are things you hold, are dear to you, came to you from people you loved or moments that shaped you, and you have some semblance of control over your beliefs. You don’t have control over much in life. Your choice of partner? Maybe, but there are billions of people on the planet and you’re likely going to pick a partner in a 35-mile radius of where you grew up or where a job wants you to sit. It’s not as much control as you think. Your income? Sure. Maybe you play the market and make a good salary. A lot…
