Today Dev Dhaliwal (Director of our office here in Malaysia) and I were in “The Mall” in Kuala Lumpur – one of the first big shopping malls in the city (opened in 1986). We were near the top where big curving metal beams meet the roof, and Dev said, “I remember how when this opened we all thought this structure was so amazing…”
Meanwhile, yesterday (!) I was walking along the path below the Jumeirah Beach Hotel in Dubai with Jayne Morrison, the Director of our Middle East office. The skyline there is dominated by “the Burj” (Jumeirah’s Burj Al Arab hotel, which opened in 1999). We got talking about this remarkable structure, and how it’s almost breathtaking standing near it. Jayne wondered how long it would be before these properties would seem passé, and said something to the effect of, “I’ve loved going into this hotel since I first came to Dubai.”
In the past I’ve used the phrase “the test of time” thinking of the sweep of history – of those few works that remain relevant and significant over hundreds of years. But tonight it seems that time is speeding up, and I’m wondering about the “test of decades” or even, “the test of years.”
I look back to my years as a contractor (1980s) or as a teacher (1990s) and wonder: Does that work still measure up? (some yes!) Likewise, we started Six Seconds in 1997 — what from those first years still stands relevant? I remember our first “EQ Trainer Certification” with some chagrin compared to the solid program it’s become — but there are still elements from the very first one. Certainly the core model and learning design have stuck… and once in a while I hear from people who, at the turn of the Millennium, said “this experience changed my life,” and who still identify it as a turning point. In general I’m satisfied with the “decade test,” but I also see places where I now regret those cut corners.
But perhaps the real opportunity in this question is to consider it in advance… What would happen if we all practiced asking ourselves: “Will this decision stand the test of time?”
March 4th, 2009 at 8:39 am
Josh, I think this is a very thought provoking post. The few things that come to mind when you ask this question. As we all know, the economy peaks and valleys in cycles, and of course we never know when the valley will start or when the peak will end, and vice versa. But, we know that the cycle will happen eventually… I honestly believe that the work we do today as professionals have some relation to previous work done before, whether it be 5 years ago, 10 years ago or longer. I think that it is getting more and more difficult to see the linkages between what we do now and what happened many years ago because of one primary reason, that being the speed of change. Things change so rapidly today so it’s safe to assume that people don’t have the time to sit down and think through these types of things because they’re already moving onto the next piece of work, next fad, next phenomenon and so forth.
Perhaps I missed the point of your post but this is my interpretation and immediate thoughts.
March 4th, 2009 at 9:22 am
Hi Jeff –
Intriguing, I hadn’t though about that angle – that as the “speed of change” increases, the “test of time” becomes shorter… and while we innovate quickly, we loose perspective that comes from the thread of history.
Perhaps the faster we go, the more urgent it is that we learn to step back just for a moment…