A New American Century?

Henry Luce is credited with observing that the Twentieth Century was to be the “American Century.” Powered by an enormous and growing economy, America’s dominance became absolute as the world tore itself apart in World War Two. For sixty years from 1945 to the beginning of the Twenty-first Century this US economic dominance gradually diminished relative to the rest of the world as first Europe’s and then Asia’s economies rebuilt themselves (in most cases with US help, along with adherence to the principles of free and fair trade).

All this is right and normal, but we are now at a time when nearly five generations have passed since we entered the “American Century”, what sort of century lies before us and what will the US role be?

Clearly the US will continue to be a major player economically. More ideas are patented here and more new business start-ups happen here than in any other nation on earth—and that is not likely to change anytime soon. But there is one other area of difference that I believe will be key to the Twenty-first Century being a new American century: this lies in US dominance in the field of values as espoused by the plethora of NGOs and nonprofit organizations that have sprung out of US initiatives.

Military might backed by economic power is no longer enough to impose policy on the planet’s nearly seven billion people. We cannot even achieve this in Afghanistan. Rather, the future belongs to those who seek to empower the lowliest individual through the four freedoms: the freedom from want and hunger; the freedom from ignorance and prejudice; the freedom of speech, and the freedom of faith. Governments and for-profit companies have roles to play in this certainly; but don’t these four freedoms sound a lot like the mission statements and visions of our nonprofit communities?

I suggest that this largely unheralded sector—the nonprofit sector—could play the defining role in this coming century, IF they look outward and not inward and are savvy enough to navigate the global opportunities and pitfalls that lie before them.

The Principal Strength of Nonprofits is also their Greatest Weakness

One of the interesting facts we discovered in a human resource survey we did years ago, was how few people in the nonprofit sector are drawn to jobs offering higher salaries in the for-profit sector. For profit employees often take jobs in the nonprofit sector but the transition does not often work in the opposite direction. One can only assume that people choose the nonprofit sector for the “higher purpose nonprofits serve in society” that governments the world over recognize as the reason to award them tax exempt status.

The value-based foundations of this sector are truly inspiring—but nonprofit thinking can also be a manager’s nightmare when otherwise hard-nosed business people leave their brains at the door of nonprofit board or committee planning meetings.

Even if we weren’t living in these economically stressful times, it makes no sense for nonprofit organizations to commit their organizations to markets and projects that have no plan or deadline for ever being economically sustainable. Such actions can and do stress organizations to the breaking point—particularly these days--and in point of fact such “altruistic” acts sometimes disguised or excused as “lost leaders” more often than not achieve only one thing: the destruction of their organization. Those who are the intended beneficiaries of this largess often obligingly take these “gifts” in puzzled amusement at these wealthy people who have nothing better to do with their resources. But don’t expect appreciation—if they truly wanted what you are giving them they would have found the means to pay for it--so nonprofit organizations that are squandering their resources in this way find that they have not only wasted their time and money, but they likely also have alienated the loyal members who are subsidizing these acts.

If there is a quicker or more blatant way for an organization to self destruct we have not seen it. This is one of the major themes of The Association Guide to Going Global. For your organization’s sake, please offer this book as good holiday reading material to your professional and volunteer leaders!

Read more about the subject here, with an article by Plexus Consulting Group's President, Steve Worth.