Over the years I’ve struggled with the question of what makes a person good. Now that I’ve seen and experienced many different people in different parts of the world let me share what I’ve learned so far.

Language is rather imprecise when thinking of the word good. Meriam-Webster offers the folling definitions:

• of a favorable character or tendency – but favorable by whom?
• agreeable, pleasant – so just do as others do?
• adequate, satisfactory – by whose standards?
• conforming to a standard – here it is again: ahh, yes, just like the majority does
• virtuous, right, commendable – say more!
• kind, benevolent – OK
• skillful – I’m trying, but writing is hard 😉
• loyal – to whom? Shouldn’t I pick?

So there are some hints here. First, there doesn’t seem to be a one and all encompassing quality that makes us good. In other words, there are many different ways we can be good. I would also observe that some of the qualities used in the definitions are themselves very hard to define – i.e. what makes us a virtuous person? Whole books have been written about that alone since the ancient Greeks.

Where I’m going with this is that being good is a multi-dimensional quality. The exact metric needs to be defined by each person individually, each society locally and each era separately. So ‘being good’ is a function of place and time. Let’s call this our first observation.

For completeness let me mention that many world religions would disagree here and proclaim the existence of an absolute truth and therefore an absolute measure of good. I will admit that such a value system that is coherent in itself can be constructed and lived by, but such a system is not unique (there can be multiple such systems, as proven by multiple co-existing world religions) and therefore such systems are not absolute (it’s a little bit more complicated than that but I’ll stop here). Which brings me back to my earlier observation that there can be multiple ways of being good. So multiple systems of goodness are co-existing and a function of place and time. You can observe this around the world manifesting itself in different societies such as European, Chinese, Indian, Saud-Arabian, Arboriginal, just to mention a few. I intentionally threw in some societies that the western world would have a hard time calling and accepting as good as they’re in direct violation of western goodness standards. But once you accept that the western system is just one amongst many possible, it’s easier to recognize that those societies while very different have also their own goodness standards.

So what is it in a western society today, that makes us good? Is it furthering mankind by making new discoveries and inventing new things? Is it compassion and love for others? Is it making as much money as you can and then give (some of it) back to society? Is it the heroic act of caring for others? As parents, as relatives for the family members in failing health? Or is it the altruistic way of living? Is it not sinning by the rules of the church? Is it being good if I reproduce (having kids)?Or is that alone not good enough?

I claim that it depends on what you as an individual define and what your surrounding society recognizes as advantageous in a non-individual sense, so for the greater good.

But were does such a value system leave individualists, that don’t live like the mainstream? Brilliant, yet eccentric scientists (think Einstein), artists (Picasso, van Gogh), business people such as Steve Jobs or Bill Gates? Are/were they good? They surely did contribute to their societies in exceptional ways.

So by going by my argument above that good is a multi-dimensional property, I’d argue that those outlier people are good people on some vectors of the goodness space, and very likely less so in others. Their goodness is only visible on a subset of vectors in the goodness space and we can’t judge them on more private and less visible ones like love and caring for others.

But in this observation lies hope. Being good is not one thing. It’s complex. It’s personal.  And it requires context in society. It also might change over time what we perceive as good.

But with this insight one can be good on your personal most favorite goodness axis and become the mother Theresia of (not for!) your own good, if you will. It just might not be publicly visible or recognized.

In the end we’re just passing time here. Be good in your own way and make your stay worthwhile. That’s a start.

Next: Humbleness

Here’s a message I’ve found recently that was sent shortly after the US presidential elections in November 2016 – when Trump won.

Dear colleagues,

With the US election coming to a close this week the  last couple of days have been taxing and many of us are finding ourselves dealing with strong emotions. The results are showing a deep divide through our country and the outcome of the election has been called historic by many all around the world.

When we deal with uncertainty from change in times like these it helps to revisit our core values, which will be there to provide us with direction,  guidance and stability. Refocusing on what matters to us as individuals, to us as a group with family and friends and to us as co-workers as part of our global company will give us the direction and energy needed to move forward.

We’re privileged to work on the cutting edge of technology in a global company with a truly exceptional and diverse team. We’re living the tomorrow already right here every day. You are that living role model for the modern, global and interconnected world. This world doesn’t operate on black and white answers. It consists mostly of shades of grey but also contains all the colors under the rainbow. It’s an exciting place! – It’s a complicated place. So let us celebrate diversity, freedom and all the democratic values this nation was built on.

Take little steps, little inclusive movements every day that will allow us to move forward in the right direction. We own the intention, not the outcome.

Germany has prided itself in striving for social consensus, while following a capitalist economic system. This has led to a high degree of social responsibility for companies operating out of Germany. They try to protect their employees from lay-offs, even when market conditions require adjustments in the work force. This protection of the social contract is backed by generous labor laws, high social security cost for both employers and employees (essentially taxes) and affects the bottom line of German companies, when compared with their international competition. In return it provides stable teams of long term employees, low turn over and predictable output. But the cracks in the system are starting to show. Much of the stability for the more senior part of the work force (with sometimes outdated skill sets) is paid by the younger generation. New college graduates are rarely offered a permanent position, and are frequently offered low paying internships, or time limited employment contracts. Frequently they are only able to enter the permanent work force after multiple years of lower paying employment arrangements.

So far the system has mostly worked, in large part thanks to the continuous productivity gains in the industry through automation, innovative technologies and dedicated work at reasonable pay by a large and highly educated work force.

When structural changes occurred in the past, such as the rotation out of coal mining into higher paying jobs such as production line workers, the government has heavily subsidized programs to retrain the work force. The results were mixed. It became clear that the workers that lost their jobs in the mines wouldn’t be the same workers that the booming automotive industry would hire for higher paying assembly line jobs. So there was a mismatch. The industrial transition was softened by state-financed early retirement programs, and retraining initiatives. Money that was ultimately lost to steer research activities into new technology sectors. (I remember a 65 billion subsidies program for the coal industry in the 90ies , when biotech startups needed money to get off the ground).

Now fast forward to 2020, where AI threatens to automate a vast number of high paying jobs in our societies: Sales clerks, cab drivers, truck drivers, assembly line workers, even lawyers and some say doctors will be largely replaced by AI in the medium term. This transition will have a brutal effect on western societies. Companies associated with BIG DATA will be the winners, everybody else pretty much a loser. If we’re not careful, highly functional societies run the risk of ending up in civil unrest and maybe civil war. A war across socio-economic classes. The socio economic shifts will be massive.

This is where social capitalism could shine. As companies in less protected capitalist countries such as the USA will shift fast and release large numbers of previously highly compensated workers and employees, countries like Germany will soften the blow by slowing the transition. It might help that Europe’s desire for privacy will help to slow the AI transition (which requires the free movement and access to all information).

So maybe Germany will be one of the big winners in this transition. In another scenario it will be left behind as the loser, which couldn’t adapt fast enough. AI will have outsized productivity advantages over any human being (think 24/7 operation). China is on its way to try. With lacking privacy laws and the centralized willingness to become the world leader in AI, there’s a good chance they might ultimately succeed. As of 2018 they’re graduating more engineers in China every year, than the rest of the world combined. IP protection is non existent, so the best western technologies are deployed rapidly in a country where IP rights cannot be enforced. Incremental innovation on top of novel technology – achieved locally with massive work forces will do the rest.

I would like for Germany to be successful in this scenario and be the role model of human capitalism as a way going forward. But based on the trends I see I’m unfortunately not very hopeful that this will be the reality we’ll experience.

Only time will tell.

Feeling good about the new year? Excellent! Let me rock your boat a little.

Where have you been for the last three days? – And why? I know you have the answer. Or you *think* you do. You can account for every minute of that time period, no problem. Or can you really? Because if you’re like the rest of us you’ve spent about 25-30% of your time unaccounted for. How’s that you might ask? Because you slept. We all do. But why do we sleep? Well, experts want you to believe that it is to recuperate, to give your brain and body a break. To dream. Or to sleep-walk. See, where I’m going with this?

The truth is: we have no freaking clue why we sleep. And that’s amazing. For all we know, aliens could come and take us every night. Admittedly, not very likely. But impossible?

So here we are on planet earth, living our oh-so orderly lives under the impression of total control, yet we can’t account for 25-33% of the times of our lives for what and why we’re doing something. Think about that!

Happy 2/3rd of the new year 2018!