It might sound crazy. It may be risky. It is likely outside the container. But if you have an idea to move the marker towards the goal “just say it”. I have, after considerable anxiety, blurted out outlandish solutions or small steps to social issues. I always know it has hit a chord if the response sounds like ” we haven’t ever done anything like that”.
If we are facing wicked problems they require wild responses. If the problem has persisted (some for generations) doing the same thing we have always done, louder, faster or even smarter isn’t going to change much. If we continue to manage social issues, social issues manage to continue. It may be time to blow it all up and start anew. Will there be bumps along the way – sure. Will there be critics – guaranteed. Will you feel like shrinking from the challenge – probably. Are you capable of seeding the storm with an audacious thought – most definitely.
I am suspicious that innovation in attacking big problems is helpful. Variations on a theme serve our egos well but the incremental shift gets swallowed in status quo and the increments are denigrated and blamed for limited improvement. If we don’t need evolution maybe we need revolution. I understand that even if ‘everything must change’ (and I think in some of the arenas we are struggling everything is the right approach) we create resistance if we try to swing the position 90 degrees. Would a 10 degree pivot today and another next quarter calm the anxiousness about change? Would 10 degrees get us far enough from the unacceptable present as to see other possibilities?
I heard Zita Cobb speak yesterday about moving from blindness of conformity towards a new sunrise (that doesn’t blind us but surprises us) . How can you be surprised and surprise others? Maybe it is as simple as contributing to a new generative path. Just say it.
B
