What is the goal of an economy? The answer to that question for nearly every country in the world is to grow. If you ask why this is the case you’ll be told that it is because growth is a critical means to very desirable ends such as eradicating poverty, creating opportunity and social mobility, and providing abundant resources for innovation and progress, improving the quality of life for all.
And that is all true.
But what is also true is that the measures we use for economic growth do not take into account the value created by the unpaid domestic work we do in our households to provide for those we love. It does not count the fabric of trust and relatedness in communities. It does not count the environmental resources that we use to resource our economies. And it does not count whether we are happy and thriving.
At present, the systems we have built for ourselves are trapped in a worldview that is no longer a fit for the world around us. To win Best World Game, we have to expand that worldview and focus on the real goal of an economy, which coincidentally is also the goal of Best World Game: to create a world that works for everyone with no one and nothing left out.
Economist Kate Rayworth Blew. My. Mind. with her book Donut Economics, and I can’t recommend it highly enough. It you’d rather watch than read, give her 18 minutes and 34 seconds to blow your mind too.
How cool is that? If you want to play Best World Game by bringing the donut to your neck of the woods, Kate and her team have everything you need to get started here.
But don’t miss this opportunity to take a hard look in the mirror too. Those same flawed economic assumptions are all around us, and I know I struggle to figure out how much of my hope and dreams for the future are wrapped up in them. So consider asking yourself a similar question:
What is the purpose of my career? Is it growth in income, title, and influence? For what? Is there something about thriving as a whole person, surrounded by rich and healthy relationships? Certainly a measure of financial security is needed, but how much is enough? And if you get to that number, what then would more money be for? There are very good answers for that question. So I’m honestly asking, what is your answer? What is your real goal?