“Before you take any decision, consider its effect on the next seven generations”

… Native American Hopi Proverb

We’ve devolved into a society of short-term thinking. In business it is all about month-end results, next quarter and annual reporting. Governments (aka politicians) often consider only what will get them elected in the next go-round. As individuals most of us are just managing to keep up and are having a hard time thinking a few years into the future, let alone the impact our decisions will have seven generations (140 years) hence.

Yet, everything we do in our day-to-day lives, whether alone, as part of a corporation, or as part of a country, leaves a lasting imprint on tomorrow and many tomorrows to come.

Let’s go back and reflect on the inventions of the past and consider if consideration had been seven generations ahead, what might have been done differently?

• 1878 David Edward Hughes invents the carbon microphone

• 1879 Thomas Edison invents the first commercially practical incandescent light

• 1885 the first skyscraper opens in the Chicago — ten stories high

• 1884 Hiram Maxim demonstrates the first prototype of the machine gun

• 1885 Karl Benz develops the first automobile to run on an internal combustion engine

• 1895 Wilhelm Röntgen discovers X-rays

• 1962 Sten Gustaf Thulin invents the plastic bag

Each of these inventions has had significant impacts on our lives today, from the illumination of electric light, to the massive skyscrapers that dot every city’s skyline, to the deaths (and victories) resulting from the invention of the machine gun, to the environmental havoc created by plastic bags. And let’s not forget, there would be no karaoke without the invention of the microphone!

I’m not saying the world would be a better place without these inventions, but had there been thought given, at the time, as to what the impact would be on us today, perhaps there would have been more thought given to the use and commercialization of each of these creations.

Perhaps there would have been a limitation put on by towns and cities as to the height of skyscrapers, that now choke out the sunlight in cities, cause many birds to die, and cause major congestion, which of course has a massive environmental ripple effect.

Perhaps the need for a machine gun that would only be used for mass slaughter of humans would have been re-thought. Because of this invention, many other faster, better weapons were invented, as the push was on to kill more, faster.

Perhaps consideration would have been given to the infrastructure that would be needed to support all these vehicles with those internal combustion engines like the paving over of greenery and the spewing of fumes into the air.

Each one of these developments has an absolutely amazing side, but also a down side (except for the machine gun, because that has wrought, as far as I’m concerned, only death and destruction). Yet think, if at the time, there been some tribal elders, who would have considered the impact on us today both positive and negative as well as from a social, economic and environmental perspective, we would be living in a different, and I would hope, better world.

Now please understand, I’m not a crunchy granola type, who has my own cow, lives off the grid, and uses a horse and buggy to get around. I am a product of my generation, and as such I embrace all the creature comforts that today’s world offers.

Yet, I can’t help but ponder, as we look at a world that is choking and straining at the seams, of what could have been done differently, had we had a forward-looking mentality. Maybe not seven generations. Even four would have been a godsend.

But here we are today, trying to undo the “sins” of the past, which quite honestly are difficult, if not impossible to undo. It’s not like we can get rid of skyscrapers and, of course, just the opposite is happening. Doesn’t there seem to be some informal competition as to who can build the tallest building?

And we outsource our manufacturing to countries that are interested in building their own economies and many that are spewing toxicity into the air, poisoning their own populations and damaging the ecosphere. What for? Just so that we can have more stuff, cheaper? Or that shareholders can line their pockets with profit? Ask yourself how that will play in the history books. Personally, I’d look for it under the Seven Deadly Sins tab of Greed.

What will be our legacy to the future generations? Will they look back at us, from a planet that is damaged beyond repair and say, “If only they had… ?”

Let’s understand that we are stewards of this planet we are privileged to live on. We have a responsibility to stop the bad and enable the good – environmentally, socially and economically.

So try one day, as you are making decisions, to consider the impact on future generations. Perhaps it would be of value, when you have a team meeting, or a sit-down with your family or partner or friends to have a discussion about decisions you made that day and what the potential upside and downside would be in a future world.

You may be surprised at what you discover!

And personally, I think if Mr. Hughes had known that his microphone would be intrinsic in karaoke, he probably would have shelved that device!