Central Texas' Future

This is a blog for the members of the Central Texas Chapter of the World Future Society. It's purpose is to exchange and develop ideas about the future of Central Texas, especially Austin.

Friday, October 12, 2007

Contracts with the Future

Time also demands its compromises, as we try to balance the demands of the present and the future. Short-termism is an ugly word for a tough dilemma. Businesses are accused of it, governments are plagued by it, none of us can escape it in our own lives. We all live with the knowledge that the things which we want most, and which are best for us - health, affection, long life - require us to give up immediate delights or to do things we'd rather not do. Personal short-termism damages our health. We know, in other words, that this sort of personal compromise is one way of dealing with the paradox that most of the things we enjoy are bad for us.

The dilemma is this - to what extent should you short-change or compromise the present in order to benefit the future? All investment involves taking something today to improve tomorrow: It only makes sense to do that if you believe in, or want, what tomorrow may bring. It is always another compromise. To what extent are we prepared to curb our bad environmental habits to ensure a cleaner, safer world for our grandchildren, a world which we may not live long enough to enjoy? To what extent will we curb our own behavior if others do not do likewise? Will the tragedy of the commons be played out on a global scale or will we adjust our short-term behavior for a greater common cause, to make life better for people we shall never meet? We will only do it, I believe, if we can look beyond the grave, if we can accept that there are some things that are more important than ourselves, and longer lasting.

At a more personal level, young dual-career couples struggle with this issue of common cause and compromise as they try to decide whether or when to start a family. The sacrifices in the present will be considerable, a loss of income, a change of life-style, an altered relationship. The commitment of both of them to a new future is critical, if they are to make the necessary compromises to start another family. It is, however, an impossible decision to make if they want to preserve their present while growing that future. They have to start by understanding that compromise is essential to most progress, but that voluntary compromise is only possible if there is a common cause, a cause greater than oneself, and a trust in the other. When compromise goes out of fashion among the young, so do babies.

In a business, to increase a dividend is to reduce the sums available for new capital spending. If the shareholders are not interested in the future of the company because they can sell their shares tomorrow, they will want to see dividends, not retained profits, in the accounts. The managers, on the other hand, with their own futures linked to that of the business, will want to invest as much as they can in that future. There can often be a conflict of priorities.

If there is no common cause, no agreement on the longer-term goal, the more pressing priority, or the most powerful party, will win out. If we think that we need shareholders more than managers, as we seem to, the shareholders will win. Compromise will be enforced, not voluntary - a British contract rather than a Chinese one. Only if the shareholders are also locked into the future of the business, as shareholders more often are in Japan and Germany, will they have common cause with the managers and be prepared to forego some present gains for future profits. As long, that is, as that common cause seems a worthwhile one. In the end, for the long term to prevail over the short term, we must want what the long term promises. Where there is no vision, there you find short-termism, for then there is no reason to compromise today for an unknown tomorrow.

The concept of stock options, common in Britain and America, is an attempt to make common cause between senior managers and the shareholders. The thinking is that they will tie the managers' compensation more closely to the longer-term performance of the company. It does, but it is because the managers can only make use of those options after a period of years or if the share price goes higher than the price of the options. If all shareholders were treated this way, they would look at the company a little differently. It would significantly alter the balance between the present and the future and so make compromise easier.

From The Age of Paradox, Charles Handy, Harvard Business School Press, 1995

CenTexWFS Presents Dr. Ben Streetman on "Leadership"

The Central Texas Chapter of the World Future Society will hold its next monthly meeting on Tuesday, October 16, 2007. It will be held at the meeting room of Marie Callender's, 9503 Research Blvd. #400, Austin, TX 78759 (512.349.7151) at 6:00 p.m. Dr. Ben Streetman will speak on " Leadership”

Dr. Streetman became Dean of the Cockrell School of Engineering in September 1996.

Dean Streetman is Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin, and holds the Dula D. Cockrell Centennial Chair in Engineering. His primary area of scholarship is semiconductor materials and devices. After receiving the Ph.D. from The University of Texas at Austin (1966) he was on the faculty (1966-1982) of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He returned to The University of Texas at Austin in 1982.

Dr. Streetman founded the Microelectronics Research Center in 1984 and was Director until August 31, 1996, when he was appointed as Dean. His teaching and research have been recognized by the Cockrell School of Engineering, which honored him as a Distinguished Graduate and with the General Dynamics Award for Excellence in Engineering Teaching. He has also received the Dad's Association Centennial Teaching Fellowship for 1996-97, in recognition of his teaching of undergraduates. He was awarded the Education Medal of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the world's largest professional engineering society with more than 300,000 members worldwide. In 1998 he was honored as a Distinguished Alumnus of The University of Texas at Austin.

Dr. Streetman is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and is a Fellow of the IEEE and the Electrochemical Society. He was awarded the AT&T Foundation Award of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), and has received the Frederick Emmons Terman Medal of the ASEE, and the Heinrich Welker medal. Dr. Streetman has served on the Science and Technology Advisory Council for ALCOA and the Research Advisory Committee for United Technologies Corp. He serves on the National Academy of Science Government-University-Industry Research Roundtable, and on several other panels and committees in industry and government. He has served on the Board of Directors for National Instruments, Global Marine, and Zix Corporation. He is the author of the book Solid State Electronic Devices which is used throughout the world in four languages, and has published more than 290 technical articles. Thirty-four students of Electrical Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, and Physics have received their doctorates under his direction.

Seating is limited so please reserve your place at:

www.centexwfs.org/index_Register.htm . (You can also prepay at this link via credit card.)

Price: $20 for members, $25 for non-members, payable at the door (cash or check only). Note: The price is for a meal, but must be paid for attendance even if you choose not to eat a meal.

Agenda: Networking, Announcements, Meal, Speaker, Discussion

For more information about the Central Texas Chapter of the World Future Society, visit www.centexwfs.org.

For more information about the World Future Society, visit www.wfs.org.
Paul Schumann, Presidentpaul.schumann@centexwfs.org
512.302.1935www.centexwfs.org