The L Factor

On Friday morning I had a conversation in the office with my colleagues on the L Factor. I could see the astonishment on their faces and the rolling eyes. I told them to treat it as a multiple choice question on an exam paper: “Which word would you choose between the following: Learn, Lay, Listen, Look, Lead, LOL?”

I could hear muffled laughter and saw that the people were shying from answering my question. A girl on my right was the first to pick up her courage and answer. She said: “Learn”. The girl’s answer encouraged others to speak up and soon, 10 out of the 15 had said “ Learn”, two answered “Lead” and three persons said “LOL”. Only one out of the three explained why.

Like Lord Sugar on The Apprentice, I jokingly told 14 of them they were fired for not giving the answer I was looking for. The one I “hired” was the person who answered “LOL” and gave the right explanation. They were all stunned, thinking I was joking. Everybody wanted an explanation.

I believe “LOL” represents the philosophy of the culture belonging to this age. We are living in very diverse, dynamic and democratic times, led by the superpowers of Social Media and youth.

If we don’t understand this way of thinking, we cannot be a part of change because we would find ourselves left behind by history itself. Be part of the history in the making by LOL-ing your way into a new philosophy.