We're told that "big things come in small packages." We're told, contradictorily, that "one size fits all" and that "one size doesn't fit all." And of course, we're told that "bigger is better." Size does indeed matter. But bigger isn't better. Big is bad.
Really? America is a big country with a big population. It has a big economy the biggest in the world at the time of this writing, and it has been in that enviable position since 1880. Americans have big passions, and are quite used to thinking big. Americans continually come up with big ideas and big innovations. So what's wrong with "big?"
There's nothing wrong with that kind of big. The problem isn't with the land, or the people, or the economy. The problem is with big institutions.
Big institutions ("Bigs") whose interests are often, if not always, misaligned with the people. Bigs that ignore individuals and their needs. Bigs that always get captured by the powerful few with big ambitions, who are all too often the wrong kind of people.
This bigness of Bigs always takes on a life of its own. Its power and money always corrupt. It entices effective small institutions into becoming big. It refuses to change, regardless of the harm done to others and even to itself. Big's philosophy, like cancer, is to grow for growth's sake. Big will find countless ways to combine with other Bigs to create...really huge and frightening monsters.
In this book, the author dissects the Bigs that have come to dominate American life:
Big government, big money, big business, big labor, big lobbies, and big military, which have combined to dictate our public life
Big food, big medicine, big education, and big legal, which have collaborated to control our personal life
Big media, big tech, big churches, and big entertainment, which have taken on such an overwhelming role in our social life.
Starting with a focus on attacking the individual weaknesses and stupidities of each of these Bigs misses the bigger point: The central problem is the bigness itself. With each of the 14 Bigs, he shows clearly, point by point, what bigness has done to render each particular Big incorrigible, and perhaps unsalvageable. He warns us that "Too Big to Fail" is the wrong formula: The correct and more useable principle is "Big Always Fails."
Happily, he doesn't stop with telling us why, where and how Big Is Bad. He tells us in an out-of-the-box but very doable way, what we can do as individuals and small groups to take our lives, and power and influence and wealth, back from the Bigs. The Bigs all of them have to literally be cut down to size. Our size. Human scale.
You'll never be able to look at any institution ever again without asking the question, "Is this thing just too damn big?
About the Author :
James Raymond has spent over 30 years studying what the size of organizations does to their culture, values, behavior, actions, decisions, and competence.
Mr. Raymond has education in business, science, engineering and theology. He has been an executive in Big Business and an entrepreneur in small business. He has consulted with various branches of many of the Bigs: Big Government, Business, Money, Military, Medicine, Churches and Entertainment.
If you have a respectful question, constructive comment, or encouragement for Mr. Raymond, you may reach him at jamesraymond@americanbooks.com. He hopes to be able to respond to every email he receives.
