For me, Miasma is one of the sickest non-medical terms in the English language. It speaks to the business and societal obsession with process and forgoes an appreciation of tactile results.
Today, we have real-time notifications, productivity platforms, collaboration toolsets and all types of communications hierarchies and devices. You would think that technology would have made us more evolved but for some it’s becoming a crutch and as a result, organizations and teams in all facets of life are reporting on the wrong goals and congratulating themselves on meaningless victories!
A technology crutch provides distance to overcome innate shyness and mitigates the pain of rejection. Because we’re all ultimately pitching something (our clients, our ideas, ourselves) to someone (colleagues, clients, press, prospects) we don’t love it when that someone doesn’t have the time or interest. So instead we’re told to mark progress in other ways — obsessing with the process, updating the app or populating the spreadsheet/platform convinces us we’re doing a good job — and miasma creeps in.
I have found it’s helpful to systematically take stock and ask myself what does it take to cut through the process and get the (real) result for our clients and our own business — what actually makes a real, positive impact on the lives and businesses of real people?
Don’t get me wrong, I love technology (arguably way too much!) but I think that having a simple, real conversation — listening, sharing, resolving, acting and reacting in the moment — can be the ultimate Miasma-antidote.
