What is the chronic “crisis of meaning”?
To fulfill their ambitions to earn, save and invest enough money to survive, be free and live a good life throughout their entire life, including 20-30 years of old age,
… businesspeople are forced by reality’s operations, or Natural Laws, to produce and deal with a perpetual “crisis of meaning”.
Only when they can deal with each “crisis of meaning” effectively, strategically and competitively can they produce annual incomes between $400k and $4m.
The first part of the crisis is produced by businesspeople themselves.
Businesspeople produce the crisis of meaning whenever they invent a new offer, practice, narrative or strategy whose “marginal utilities” are uncommon, strategic and superior to common offers, practices, narratives and strategies that, by definition, lack marginal utility.
* A “marginal utility” is that portion of an offer, practice, narrative or strategy that increases its importance, utility or worth enough to make it unique in the marketplace and, therefore, to ambitious businesspeople’s Listeners — customers, employers, employees and colleagues.
The crisis is produced by the meaning of the “marginal utility” that is not, or cannot, be understood easily by the Listener.
The second part of the crisis, therefore, comes about because when presented an offer with a “marginal utility” of high value, businesspeople’s Listeners have no method for producing an interpretation about what it means.
When Listeners cannot understand the meaning of a “marginal utility”, they are also prevented from assessing its “relevance” to their concerns or situations, its “value” or its tactical, strategic and ultimate “purposes”,
… which means they are unable, and, therefore, unwilling to accept it, or transact for it, too.
This leaves ambitious businesspeople to deal with the chronic crisis of meaning they produce… forever.
The crisis, in fact, goes even deeper for both businesspeople and their Listeners because they, and most people, usually don’t understand the meaning of meaning in the first place;
… so they are unable to focus on producing it when they design or hear a new offer, practice, narrative or strategy.
Most people have no method to produce an interpretation of meaning because they don’t know the fundamental meaning of meaning,
… which will be discussed below.
The meanings of concerns, situations and actions
Before we examine the formal meaning of meaning, which we will do shortly, let’s take a few moments to explore a few different ways we normally think about meaning,
… and some of the fundamental requirements ambitious businesspeople need to accept
… in order to deal with the chronic crisis of meanings they produce for themselves and their Listeners while trying to fulfill their ambitions.
The “meanings” of concerns, situations and actions businesspeople know enable or disable their autonomous capacity to make observations, assessments and actions with them effectively, strategically and competitively.
Different effects, consequences and relationships between actions and concerns or situations produce, or are, different meanings.
Money, for instance, has different meanings depending upon the observer and his or her concerns, situations and actions.
The more fundamental the interpretation of meaning about money ambitious businesspeople “know”, the more universal and predictable its presence will be and the more effectively, strategically and competitively they can think and act with it.
* Effects are the direct outcomes of a “cause”
The effect of raising the price of a common offer beyond the “going rate” is often a decrease in sales.
** Consequences, which are “effects”, too, are usually more complex and indirect outcomes of an effect.
The consequence of raising the price and producing a corresponding drop in sales can be an increase in profitability and prestige, which produces an increase in sales a short time later.
*** Relationships are assessments about how something or someone in our environment, such as a new tool or an effective leader, affects our concerns, or whatever it is we care about.
Relationships are produced, and exist, whenever people make an assessment that something or someone can or will affect their concerns.
The meaning of a relationship to ambitious businesspeople is how the assessment triggers or launches thought and action in response, such as willingness or unwillingness to accept a new offer, practice, narrative or strategy.
Interpretations of meaning are also a matter of degree.
Meanings, as you will see, are sometimes circular, such as hunger, and sometimes linear or progressive, like falling dominoes.
People can understand the consequences of circular and linear meanings to different degrees.
People know the fundamental meaning of money, for instance, to different degrees.
Some know how to transact with money for groceries, where the “value” of the transaction is a one-time event, which is the meaning of consumption.
And some know the meanings of the groceries they are able to buy, or cannot afford, to different degrees.
Some know to transact with money to make more of it, by investing in goods, services or knowledge, and selling it for more than they paid for it later, which is the meaning of investing.
And some know the meanings of the investments and additional monies they are able to produce with them, to different degrees.
Interpretations of meaning are circular or linear, or progressive
Circular meanings repeat themselves.
When we get hungry, which is a situation, we are driven to eat, which is an action.
The action of eating, however, is not a permanent solution to being hungry because people always, eventually, become hungry again, which repeats the earlier situation, and drives new action to eat, which repeats the earlier action.
The same claims can be made about meeting a business payroll or producing a new offer, practice, narrative or strategy. Each one is not a permanent solution to the situations that drive the actions; so ambitious businesspeople can anticipate the repeated appearance of situations that drive, demand, launch or trigger repeat actions.
When meanings are circular, ambitious businesspeople know to anticipate recurrent situations and actions for their offers, practices, narratives and strategies.
Linear or progressive meanings unfold in the future by producing cascades or sequences of actions and situations that progress in predictable and, therefore, anticipatable, directions.
When we buy a new tool or learn new strategic knowledge, which are actions, we produce new capabilities to produce offers, practices, narratives and strategies, which are new situations.
The new situations, which include our having a new tool or a new strategic capability for thought and action,
… enable us to perform new actions and produce a brand new situation that will not repeat itself.
Instead, each situation or action moves us progressively into a new set of future meanings where we encounter new situations and new actions.
When meanings are linear, ambitious businesspeople know to anticipate new situations and actions for their offers, practices, narratives and strategies.
“Breakdowns” with concerns and situations, or anticipating them, drive meaning and action
A “breakdown” is an assessment that a concern is not being cared for satisfactorily, that care has been interrupted or stopped, or that an unsatisfactory situation exists with threats, obligations and/or opportunities,
… which is the same thing expressed in terms of a person’s relationship with the lack of care.
People take care of their concerns; for example, producing new offers or making money.
They live in situations that result from the care of their concerns, e.g., their annual income and the products or services it does or does not afford them for living a good life.
When they are unable to take care of their concerns, or make their situations satisfactory for success, survival, freedom or living a good life,
… they have a breakdown, or are in a breakdown,
… and need to “fix” it, or get help fixing it by accepting an offer of help.
“Breakdowns” taking care of concerns or producing satisfactory situations, or anticipating them, drive human action.
Breakdowns occur naturally as a result of human actions and natural mechanisms; for example, competitors change standards for satisfaction, equipment wears out and agreements lose relevance and value.
A situation — threats, obligations and opportunities — in which a person has too little money to buy the products and services he or she needs to take care of family and save for old age, for example, may drive a person to act to increase annual income.
Action to fix the breakdown or to increase annual income has multiple meanings.
The “tactical meaning” of the action will be to produce an immediate increase in value or transactions so that annual income goes up,
… which means people are able to take care of a concern, fix a situation and/or acquire a new capacity to think and act effectively.
The “strategic meaning” will be how the tactical meaning fits into a plan of action to take better care of the family or retirement,
… which means people are able to execute, improve or produce a strategy, or plan of action, to fulfill their financial ambitions.
The “ultimate meaning” will be to live a good life,
… which means people are able to fulfill their last or final objective, and give meaning to all earlier tactical and strategic thought and action.
A natural consequence of acting to increase annual income is breakdown. This is a fact of life for ambitious businesspeople.
That is, whatever action ambitious businesspeople perform to increase income will also affect or produce concerns and situations and produce breakdowns for them.
New concerns won’t be taken care of at first, or care of concerns underway will be interrupted.
New situations will be unsatisfactory at first, or production and maintenance of current situations will be destabilized.
Perhaps their actions will require them to avoid or stop making further offers to a customer. Or, perhaps, they will need to make different requests to employees or cancel their vacation.
The likelihood that a new action to fix a breakdown will produce new breakdowns in the process is close to inevitable.
The meaning of meaning…
The meaning of interpretations about meaning is to explain or describe the effects, consequences or relationships of:
#1 – Actions on situations
#2 – Situations on actions
Sometimes the operations of meaning are circular, such as meeting payroll, and sometimes they are linear, or progressive, such as learning strategic knowledge or how to sell,
… which is important when designing, crafting, speaking, fulfilling and producing satisfaction with offers, practices, narratives and strategies.
The tactical and strategic purpose of making interpretations of meaning is to enable autonomous thought and action to:
Take care of human, financial, career and business concerns
Produce satisfactory situations with threats, obligations and opportunities
Acquire new capabilities to think and act effectively
Execute, improve or produce new strategies, or action plans
… to succeed, survive, be free and live a good life.
In business or the marketplace, interpretations of meanings enable people to avoid threats, fulfill obligations and exploit opportunities to fulfill their lifestyle, financial and business ambitions.
Meanings can enable a person to think and act autonomously to their satisfaction or the satisfaction of another, or effectively.
Satisfaction can be produced by a person’s capacity to act effectively.
That is, when a person understands the meanings of actions, concerns and situations to think and act effectively dealing with them, they are satisfied.
Satisfaction can also be produced when a person understands why they cannot act effectively.
All problems and breakdowns do not have solutions. This is a fact of life.
When people have the capacity to know what will not work and why, they can quit trying and seek other opportunities to succeed and live a good life.
Ambitious businesspeople’s knowledge of meanings enables them to know what actions, concern and situations can be cared for or produced, and which ones cannot.
In this way, knowledge of meanings limits, times, organizes, structures and shapes people’s moods of willingness and capacities to anticipate the effect of outcomes on their concerns, situations, capabilities and strategies.
Their knowledge of meanings applies to fulfilling their own business ambitions and personal ambitions, as well as those of their customers, employers, employees and colleagues.
Of course, interpretations can be less than satisfactory for fulfilling intentions, or can have no meaning.
Interpretations of meaning can be meaning-full, meaning-less or meaning-free
To fulfill lifestyle, financial and business ambitions in the top 1% of the marketplace, ambitious businesspeople need to know the meaning of human, financial, career and business concerns, situations and practices well enough to produce competitive advantages, superior value and top 1% annual incomes. Their knowledge of meanings must be “full” enough to enable autonomous thought and action that is effective, strategic and competitive enough to fulfill their business missions and personal ambitions.
At The Aji Advantage we say their interpretations of meaning need to be meaning-full.
Meanings that enable a person to think and act autonomously to their satisfaction or the satisfaction of another, or effectively, are meaning-full.
Interpretations of meaning that do not enable autonomous thought and action effectively, strategically and competitively to fulfill ambitions have “less” meaning than is satisfactory.
They are meaning-less.
Ambitious businesspeople learn to recognize when their knowledge of meanings is unsatisfactory by realizing when they cannot anticipate or predict effects, consequences and relationships between actions, concerns and situations in order to produce competitive and valuable offers, practices, narratives and strategies.
Meanings that do not offer a full enough or complete enough explanation of underlying mechanics, philosophy, history, current standards, or distinctions to observe and assess or act with, to produce autonomy for thinking and acting satisfactorily,
… are meaning-less.
Ambitious businesspeople caught up in the business labor tradition, who use their common sense and other customary thoughts and actions, such as hard work, busyness and determination, do not know meanings.
They know what to do or how to think, but not why.
Their knowledge is “free” of meaning.
Their interpretations of human, financial, career and business actions, concerns and situations are meaning-free.
Where instructions, rules, procedures, customs, traditions, etc., substitute for meaning, and a person has no autonomous capacity to think or act satisfactorily, interpretations of causality are meaning-free.
For example, with meaning-full knowledge breakdowns are predictable and can be anticipated.
The more knowledge of meaning ambitious businesspeople have about the actions they take on behalf of caring for their concerns and situations, the more able they are to anticipate or predict the breakdowns their own actions will produce.
Meaning-full knowledge is necessary for interpreting relevance and value, too.
Ambitious businesspeople’s meaning-full knowledge of fundamental human, financial, career and business concerns, situations and practices enables them to produce effective actions and anticipate their effects, consequences and relationships.
Their anticipations enable effective action to become strategic or part of a plan of action that anticipates predictable breakdowns.
When a person’s knowledge of effects, consequences and relationships is meaning-less or meaning-free,
… breakdowns are difficult or impossible to fix
… and the inevitable breakdowns of action cannot be predicted or anticipated effectively.
Interpretations of what to do or how to think that lack meaning deny people the capacity to think and act autonomously, effectively, strategically or competitively to take care of their concerns and situations, or to produce competitive action.
What does meaning-full mean?
First, it’s important to remember that all interpretations of meaning begin with only two possibilities:
#1 – How actions affect situations or concerns
One meaning of the action “selling”, for example, is to produce a situation that can produce profits or incomes, or to take care of a concern for profitability.
#2 – How situations or concerns affect actions
One meaning of a situation that requires revenues to produces profits, which is a normal business situation, is that it predictably launches or triggers actions to sell.
Second, depending upon whether the mechanism triggered by an action or situation is circular or linear, additional interpretations about how situations or actions are affected are made, and differ.
#1 – A meaning-full interpretation of an action enables a person to think and act autonomously — to observe, assess and act effectively,
… to anticipate effects, consequences or relationships to concerns or the production of satisfactory situations.
* A meaning-full interpretation of an action always focuses on how situations or concerns are affected,
… and may, in turn, affect the need for future action.
#2 – A meaning-full interpretation of a concern or situation enables ambitious businesspeople to think and act autonomously — to observe, assess and act effectively, strategically and competitively,
… to know what actions to stop, modify or begin to take care of a breakdown or to fulfill a business mission or personal ambition.
* A meaning-full interpretation of a concern or situation always focuses on how action is driven, triggered or affected,
… and may, in turn, affect a future concern or situation.
We say an interpretation is meaning-full,
… when we assess our interpretations do, in fact, enable us to think and act effectively to anticipate consequences on situations or actions, or to fulfill our intentions.
* For ambitious businesspeople,
… a meaning-full interpretation enables them to think and act effectively, strategically and competitively enough
… to “win” or have their offers, practices, narratives and strategies accepted
… so that they can produce the competitive advantages, superior value and top 1% annual incomes
… they require to fulfill their tactical, strategic and ultimate ambitions.
People learn meanings of actions, concerns and situations to be able to take satisfactory care of their concerns or produce satisfactory situations. Meaning-full interpretations enable a person to fulfill their intentions for living a good life, whatever that might mean to them.
Members of the “learned professions”, such as engineers, doctors and lawyers, learn expert meanings of actions, concerns and situations that their respective professions offer to help people care for. They learn meaning-full interpretations that are expert or superior to a layman’s common sense. Ambitious businesspeople learn expert meanings of human, financial, career and business concerns, situations and practices.
Meaning-full interpretations in competitive situations, i.e., the marketplace
In a competitive situation, which is where ambitious businesspeople work, meaning-full interpretations for producing thought and action that is effective, strategic and competitive must be superior to their competitors’.
Ambitious businesspeople require meaning-full interpretations of all fundamental human, financial, career and business actions, concerns and situations if they are to produce and maintain superior thought and action for the majority of their career.
Ambitious businesspeople’s customers, employers, employees and colleagues are obligated to learn meaning-full interpretations from ambitious businesspeople if they are to succeed with their own business missions and personal ambitions.
In a non-competitive situation, meaning-full interpretations need to be good enough to produce tactical, strategic and ultimate conditions of satisfaction without concern for competitive pressures or rapidly evolving meanings.
In a non-competitive situation meanings are stable, low-cost and shared easily.
An engineer hired to build a bridge needs a meaning-full interpretation of every action, concern and situation that goes into building a bridge if he or she is to design, craft and build the bridge satisfactorily.
Where other engineers are not competing to invent new actions, concerns or situations about bridge-building, an engineer can trust that the meanings of the actions and concerns will remain relatively stable.
What does meaning-less mean?
An interpretation about a concern or situation is meaning-less,
… when it produces interpretations about the effects, consequences or relationships of action, concerns and situations on one another
… that are insufficient to anticipate satisfactory or unsatisfactory outcomes,
… or to enable autonomous, effective, strategic and competitive thought and action to produce satisfactory outcomes.
Standards for meaning are different in competitive and non-competitive situations.
In a non-competitive situation, such as going to the grocery store, a meaning-less interpretation is one that is flawed, incomplete, missing or weak relative to common knowledge and common standards for satisfaction about an action, concern or situation.
Automobile mechanics go to school to learn meaning-full interpretations of common action, concerns and situations so that they can think and act effectively to meet common standards for satisfaction with their work.
Ambitious businesspeople competing to perform in the top 1% of the marketplace who use common knowledge will have meaning-less interpretations about human, financial, career and business concerns, situations and practices relative to those already performing in the top 1%.
By definition, those competing to perform in the top 1% of a knowledge-based endeavor require uncommon sense and knowledge to be meaning-full if they are to have the capacity to think and act autonomously and effectively.
What does meaning-free mean?
The interpretation of a concern or situation is meaning-free when people are unable to observe, assess or act to anticipate how one affects current or future actions.
This means that they will not be able to notice, observe or assess, and anticipate, how a concern or situation is meaningful for producing action, thwarting action, preventing action or making action irrelevant,
… and will not be able to change what they are doing or do something new to take care of it.
People following rules or instructions need not know the effects, consequences or relationship of their actions on concerns or situations, or the effects, consequences or relationship of concerns or situations they encounter on stopping, modifying or starting new actions. They just follow the rules or instructions.
People using labor-based work ethics, for instance, may follow customary procedures like task orientation, reliance on common sense, or use of hard work, busyness and determination to compete, while having a meaning-free interpretation of their actual effects, consequences or relationships on human, financial, career and business concerns, situations and practices.
Business laborers thinking and acting with meaning-free interpretations of their labor-based practices are blind to their actual consequences in the marketplace. Hence, they continue to use them even though they do not work or enable them to accumulate sufficient knowledge and power to succeed fulfilling their business missions and personal ambitions, or for producing top 1% annual incomes they need in order to survive, be free and live a good life.
A person who follows rules, instructions, procedures or recipes without understanding their consequences has a meaning-free interpretation of them.
People following instructions or performing a procedure when addressing envelopes need have no interpretation of the meaning of the work. They only need to follow the instructions.
Children learn to follow the rules parents set to look both ways before crossing the street before they understand the meaning of the practice. The rule works as long as no unexpected concern or situation appears that might make waiting to cross the street ineffective. Without meaning, children can only do their best to follow the rules. Parents have to hope their rules work for any situation their children may encounter because rules do not empower their children to think autonomously and effectively in new or unexpected ones.
Wherever a person’s interpretations of concerns or situations are meaning-free, they cannot think or act autonomously, effectively, strategically or competitively,
… which is a fundamental and strategic concern of ambitious businesspeople.
They can only move as instructed or follow procedure and hope it is satisfactory. They are blind to the consequences, effects and relationships of actions, concerns and situations.
Autonomous, effective, strategic and competitive action requires interpretations that are uncommonly meaning-full relative to the competition.
Ambitious businesspeople must learn meaning-full interpretations about money and human, financial, career and business concerns
To ambitious businesspeople, interpretations about the meaning of knowledge and power, offers, networks, autonomy, accomplishments, identities, leadership roles, organizations and annual incomes are meaning-less if their interpretations do not enable autonomous, effective, strategic and competitive thought and action to fulfill their lifestyle, financial and business ambitions. This is why ambitious businesspeople seek to learn uncommonly competitive meaning-full interpretations about money and human, financial, career and business concerns.
Money, for instance, is a central and fundamental concern or situation defined by opportunities, obligations and threats for living a good life, which requires money.
Ambitious businesspeople require meaning-full interpretations of money to act with it autonomously.
Since the meaning of money is rarely taught in schools and never discussed meaning-fully afterwards (check with the baby boomers),
… common sense about money is unsurprisingly meaning-less.
So is people’s ability to think and act with it autonomously, effectively, strategically and competitively,
… which is required to earn, save and invest enough of it to succeed with living a good life throughout one’s entire life.
Interpretations about the meaning of money (concern or situation) are meaning-full when the consequences, effects or relationship to action to take care of it are well-understood and effective.
For example,
What is the fundamental meaning of money?
What is the concern about money really about? Why does anyone, or everyone, care about money?
What does a person need to know about money to think tactically, strategically and competitively (superior thought and action) with it to fulfill lifestyle, financial and business ambitions?
What is the difference between a situation in which a person has enough money and a situation in which a person has too little?
What effects, consequences or relationships to concerns, situations and actions exist with money that are important, useful and worthwhile to know?
How much money is enough… for what? (Business missions and personal ambitions)
Depending upon how much money a person has, or does not have, in some moment, what action must be taken to produce enough?
If a person does not act to produce enough money, what situations are produced that affect future actions?
People with meaning-less or meaning-free interpretations about money cannot think and act autonomously, effectively, strategically or competitively with it.
Their thoughts and actions are ultimately ineffective because they do not know what financial concerns and situations mean for current and future actions.
They do not understand what their actions mean in terms of their effects on and relationships to present and future concerns and situations.
They are unable to anticipate effects and relationships caused by money’s existence, or not, or its use, or not.
Health, children, work, play, sociability, education, money, career, spirituality and dignity are examples of fundamental human concerns. Only meaning-full interpretations enable a person to act effectively and autonomously to take care of them. Instructions, procedures, task orientation and rules are not effective strategically or ultimately because they are meaning-less.
Reality’s operations, fundamental principles or Natural Laws predetermine the truth of this claim because they operate regardless of a person’s understanding about their meaning or the consequences they produce.
The meaning of their existence and operation is that any person who does not take care of these concerns will suffer.
Ambitious businesspeople seek meaning-full interpretations because of the capacity it gives them to anticipate effects and relationships autonomously and effectively.
If a person knows academic descriptions of human concerns, his or her interpretations of their meaning are meaning-free.
Understanding pain, poverty, failure, old age or unemployment academically, for example, is meaning-free.
Pain, for instance, cannot be understood academically.
Constitution, strategy, sales, marketing, production of new offers, manufacturing, distribution, finance, planning and leadership are examples of fundamental business concerns.
As with fundamental human concerns, fundamental principles or Natural Law determines what will happen when they operate regardless of a person’s interpretation of their meaning.
The meaning of these claims is that businesspeople who do not take care of fundamental business concerns satisfactorily, fail and suffer.
Once again, ambitious businesspeople must seek meaning-full interpretations of concerns, situations and practices because of the autonomy they give them to think and act effectively, strategically and competitively.
When business laborers do not understand the meaning of business concerns in terms of the negative consequences to themselves or others if they are not cared for strategically and ultimately, they are meaning-less to them. Their thoughts and actions reflect the depth of their interpretations.
When business concerns are just words or utterances with which a business laborer is familiar but not knowledgeable, they are meaning-free.
People whose interpretation of commitments is meaning-free just says the right words with no capacity to observe, assess or anticipate the effects, consequences or relationship of their words to human, financial, career and business concerns, situations or actions.
People whose interpretations of commitments are meaning-less cannot observe, assess or act with them with full understanding of their effects and relationships on present and future concerns and situations. Their interpretations for anticipating the effects, consequences or relationships of their commitments are flawed, incomplete, missing or weak.
When human, financial, career and business concerns are meaning-less or meaning-free to a business laborer, they do not and cannot think or act autonomously or effectively with them in the long run. Certainly annual income statistics bear this out.
They cannot produce offers, practices, narratives and strategies that are meaning-full for their customers, employers, employees or colleagues.
They cannot produce competitive advantages, superior value or top 1% annual incomes.