Maximizing human potential in a technology-obsessed world.
The Distance
Examining the gaps shaping human experience, what they cost, and what closes them.
The Distance is the hypothesis of a research program on what the space between us costs at three levels: who we are and who we have to be, within organizational dynamics between decision makers and the people doing the work, and groups within society.
A free instrument is under development to help you see your own experience with greater clarity. Join the waitlist using the form at the bottom of the page to be one of the first to take the survey when it is released.
The Hypothesis
An exploration of the aspects and implications of the distance between people.
Distance is a primary factor in performative behaviors and dehumanization. Environmental, societal, technological, and organizational experiences are exacerbating the space between us and weakening our capacity to meet the existential problems in front of us.
But, what if by better understanding the variables that contribute to our human responses so we can shift our mindsets and behaviors with greater intention, we could close this distance and change the prospects for humankind?
With consideration for Geert Hofstede's Dimensions of Culture, Amy Edmondson's work on psychological safety, Brené Brown's work on leadership and vulnerability, principles in organizational behavior, development, and design, and the work of my own graduate thesis, the aim is to seek the underlying patterns at the level of human experience.
Building upon these foundations and my own observations and experiences in the Be Human First approach to service, management, and leadership, the research will examine distance at three levels:
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The distance between who people are and who they have to be at work.
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The distance between decision makers and the people doing the work in organizations and communities.
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The distance between groups within society with applications at the micro-national and macro-global levels.
These appear to be separate problems, but the root may be the same. Distance produces insecurity and isolation, those produce fear, and fear produces the dynamics present in so much of our daily lives. So, then, how does the individual human experience in times of tumult, ambiguity, and change impact the collective based on our natural responses to threats, real and perceived?
Could the remedy be simply to get nearer, stop assumptions with questions, and get curious about someone else's actual experience? And is it possible that the remedy can be disabled by the condition, because the people who could close the distance are each stuck inside their own swirl?
To answer these questions, we must look deeper to unlock the mechanism for changing dynamics across the levels of human engagement. If they are all expressions of the same thing, it has to be examined in the round. Whether there are variables that underpin all three levels, and whether those variables are the way through, is what the research is designed to help us understand.
What the Survey Is, and What It Is Not
The survey is a structured self-inquiry tool with a research use, designed to capture experiences, observations, perceptions, and reflection. It measures a discrepancy and the experiential position across the three levels, not a type. The purpose of gathering this information is two-fold:
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For you to see your own experience in context, and eventually to see where it sits among other participants.
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For the research to produce insights and recommendations, and to help develop the tools and behavior changes that close the gaps across all three levels.
It is not a validated psychometric instrument. It is not a personality test. And it will never be used to make decisions about hiring, promotion, or termination. Personal identifying information will not be shared or included in the output of the research.
How to Participate
If you want to be among the first to take it, add your email. The instrument is in build. Draft one is written and in review, and it goes to a small pilot before it opens more widely.