A few days ago I stumbled across a very old post on a blog called Kung Fu Monkey titled 'Farm Fetish'.
I know an odd title for a blog and sort of a strange post headline, in a sort of unsettling, not-safe-for-work kind of way. The main idea of the post is that changing demographics and dramatic shifts in agricultural production had rendered the idea of 'finding' the real America out on a family farm really was not just a quaint or nostalgic concept, but one actually inaccurate and misleading. 
Flickr - Dia
Since more and more Americans were living and working in cities, and less and less people were actually making a living as farmers, that our collective notion of ourselves as Americans and our collective self-image needed to adapt. 'Middle America' is no longer a farmer in Nebraska, but rather a web designer in Brooklyn, or an accountant in Chicago.
This notion is best summed up by this question in the article:
The honest question is, what in the American character keeps us returning to this completely false self-image?
I think that the post makes an interesting point, one that still holds up and additionally might be applied to many organizations as well, to their understanding of their markets, and potentially their workforces.
How much or little have organizations adapted their thinking of 'what it means to be us' and really took the time to understand the changes and re-composition of the people that make up the organization?
Have many enterprises started asking questions like:
What percentage of the workforce are managing significant challenges in caring for children or for older relatives?
How many are not native English speakers?
How many are avid video gamers?
How many blog or have large followings on Twitter?
We are seeing each week on prime time TV, courtesy of Undercover Boss, examples of CEO's and leadership in general not truly being in tune with the people in their organizations. Is it enough for organizations to try and 'know' their customers and their markets? Should they also strive to know themselves?
And if the organization did know these things would it be able to exploit that knowledge?
And then would the knowledge get shared, such that the organization's self-image would change?
Ok enough. I broke the record for open questions in a post.
Anyone know some of the anwsers?