The lyrics to a 1970 Temptations song read in part:
People moving out, people moving in
Why, because of the color of their skin
Run, run, run but you sure can’t hide
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth
Vote for me and I’ll set you free
Rap on, brother, rap on
Well, the only person talking ‘bout love thy brother is the preacher
And it seems nobody’s interested in learning but the teacher
Segregation, determination, demonstration, integration
Aggravation, humiliation, obligation to our nation
Ball of confusion
Oh yeah, that’s what the world is today
The sale of pills are at an all-time high
Young folks walking ‘round with their heads in the sky
The cities ablaze in the summertime
And oh, the beat goes on
Evolution, revolution, gun control, sound of soul
Shooting rockets to the moon, kids growing up too soon
Politicians say more taxes will solve everything.
So, round and around and around we go
Where the world’s headed, nobody knows
Just a ball of confusion
Oh yeah, that’s what the world is today
Fear in the air, tension everywhere
Unemployment rising fast, the Beatles’ new records’ a gas
And the only safe place to live is on an [deleted – politically incorrect]
Eve of destruction, tax deduction, city inspectors, bill collectors
Mod clothes in demand, population out of hand, suicide, too many bills
Hippies moving to the hills, people all over the world are shouting, end the war
And the band played on.
Performed 1970 by: The Temptations (https://youtu.be/D5P7x4vh_ts)
Songwriters: Norman Whitfield / Barrett Strong
Ball of Confusion (That’s What the World Is) lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
I consumed a lot of real estate in this Leadership Letter to share the song lyrics. They are not the entire set of lyrics (yes, there’s more – Google them!) So, what’s the point here?
The point is that this could be a song just released TODAY! OK, so we no longer have The Beatles (the singing group), and the hippies moving to the hills are now retirees moving to the Hamptons. Yet 95% of the song seems to apply to our world now. We are leading through today’s ball of confusion.
Josh and I have been writing extensively about leading through change, uncertainty, disruption, and more. We’ve provided our own insights as well as perspectives we’ve garnered from business publications and interviews with our colleagues and other experts. Look back on past Leadership Letters, peruse our blog posts, and listen to our podcasts for a great deal of our content regarding these topics. We’ll definitely share more with you in the days, weeks, and months ahead as we come to accept that the ball of confusion we’re experiencing is here to stay with us for a while. I don’t write this as a downer. In fact, the positive of this is that when we accept the craziness (as I wrote in a recent post), we can make decisions that help us cope with – and even thrive – as time goes by.
I have no greater insight to share in this particular Leadership Letter. I simply came across the song and lyrics during a recent conversation with a business executive and thought how prescient these over-50-year messages are at this point in time. I invite you to make your own decisions as to how you take in the messages and choose to lead so that 50 years from now they become irrelevant. We can only hope…and lead!