Free Markets

As a retiree who fights against boredom, I am busy doing stuff.  Volunteer stuff, but stuff just the same. Those of you still working a regular schedule and getting paid for it, you know there is stuff you want to dabble in, right?  Some of you yearn to have time to read a book. Maybe you daydream on your daily commute (train, car, bus?) of what your ideal vacation would be and what you would do with it.

One of my favorite daydreams was sitting on a warm, white sand beach with light breezes, full sunshine, mild murmur of surf, and an attentive resort staff that would bring me drinks and meals to my beach chair. Meanwhile I would nap and read, read and nap, and…you get the picture!  Of course those were the days when commuting in a Chicago winter was bitter cold, sloppy with snow and ice (and salty mush). I remember those days being hectic with work demands, constantly thinking of the next strategy to employ in achieving a better result, worrying about household projects and paying bills. There was no time to read except on the train, and that was often spent poring over office reports and white papers.

The lure of Florida beaches seemed very real in those days. I never fulfilled the fantasy!

Another favorite daydream was simply having a day or two free for reading. Now that daydream I was able to satisfy from time to time.

Nowadays I’m able to travel wherever I wish but I don’t have the spare cash to do so. But I do have time to indulge reading, daydreaming and doing stuff I couldn’t do while working.  Simply put, I volunteer.

Now the volunteer market is open and free. The price of admission is time, not money or skills. The latter make other options more enriching, but the price in terms of money is still zero.

My experiences in volunteer markets demonstrates a few oddities I did not expect:

• Labor is taken for granted whether free or salaried
• A pecking order in volunteer ranks clearly is evident
• Leadership among volunteers is as absent as it is in career ranks
• Innovation is rampantly offered but without good leadership is wasted and good offers fall easily by the wayside
• Prioritizing tasks is still catch as catch can, the same as it was with my last employer
• Volunteers can be fired and are
• Volunteers are not paid; they remain free
• The latter is the only thing free in this market!

I don’t mean to complain but I must share this observation: making the best of human resources – whether paid or not – remains a big problem in American culture. Solve that problem and just stand amazed at the growth in productivity! People want to feel valued, to achieve worthwhile objectives and to be part of a winning team. They kind of want recognition but they don’t require it. Nor is the pay the most important thing. – the experience is.

Part of this entire issue is disciplined thinking for long-term benefit. Short term objectives ought not be the focus. Long-term goals and achievements should be the aim.

Volunteers want this, too. They have many ideas to share and the motivation to make those ideas work. Lacking is organization and leadership.

Trouble is that leadership and organization are not in the free market. They are in the paid market.

I wonder how we could change that?

November 3, 2014