Reshaping the politics industry to restore the US

In addition to spending time with family, I took advantage of July 4th to read The Politics Industry: How Political Innovation Can Break Partisan Gridlock and Save Our Democracy by Katherine Gehl and Michael Porter. It is an outstanding synthesis of years of research into why the US political system is so broken for citizens while effectively serving the two major political parties and the entire political industry.

Powerfully, it argues that the root cause of our dysfunction does not sit with individuals (though the failures of some individual leaders are very clear right now). Rather, the crux of the issue lies in a system built primarily for the preservation of a two-party duopoly often at the expense of delivering better outcomes for citizens.

The ideas to address this are, of course, not easy; but they are more achievable and practical than I would have expected. So while the book left me disappointed about the state of American politics and its contribution to the relative decline of the US in the world on many dimensions of societal well-being—as well as the immediate, massive shortfalls in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic—it made me hopeful about potential paths to reform the system and ultimately get to better outcomes.

In order to achieve this, we all need to take responsibility to act in our own communities. As business leaders we must also use our unique positions of influence to try to help. Along with the many pressing near-term issues, I will try to do this myself. That starts with encouraging my fellow US citizens to read The Politics Industry. See if you agree with the authors’ diagnosis and recommendations—and if so, consider what you can do to be a catalyst for change.