Band-aids on the symptoms will not stop the crisis

Is the lack of a shared narrative, along with the absence of prompts for change, hindering us from taking action? In times of hardship, leaders must create clear and compelling stories of where we are headed and provide the necessary conditions for people to build it. The question is, as a leader are you motivated enough to confront your own biases?

Everywhere we look there’s a crisis – pandemic, political, energy, economic, food. Now even the neighbors have declared a school crisis when the local funding agencies need to tighten the budget. When will it all end, and how?

Why it keeps me up

I want to fight back, be on the barricade, and show leadership. But sometimes, I just want to hide, under a rock like a child pretending the storm will die down and all will go back to how it used to be. The problem is, I know it will not and never will. I even made it my job to know. I see friends, colleagues, and clients do the same. Hiding from the perfect storm of uncertainty, polarization, and climate change. Trying to ease the pain but pretending all will be good. This too shall pass.

Maybe we are all in some sort of collective mourning? Grieving what once was before we can regain the strength to face the storm head-on. Or is it something else holding us back from doing what science have told us to do, over and over again, like a tired parent nagging a rebellious teenager? Can it be, that the pull towards those shiny objects we have hailed as symbols of success, wealth and happiness for the last decades is so strong that we can’t even see it’s time for a change?

It's a behavior crisis

In a new paper lead author Joseph Merz suggest that current climate solutions are merely tackling symptoms, and without acknowledge human behavior as a root cause, we will continue to put band-aids on an open wound.

But if the pull towards what is, is too strong, who is to blame for pulling the strings? Is it media as Joseph Merz suggest, the big oil companies, politicians, or maybe the 1%? There must be someone we can blame. Without an enemy, how will we as leaders ever know who we’re up against or what fight we’re trying to win? But what if the enemy is not a person, entity or governmental body? What if those are only symptoms, and the cause of the perfect storm is our very way of life, the framework we in the western world use to live, work and play?

In a world where me is more important than we, instant gratification is the expected and public shaming and canceling is finding its way into the tissue of our culture, how do we create space for discussion, debate and reflection? Where the topic of change might not be structural, but human. Not technical but behavioral.  Not non-growth or growth but new measurements of what a sustainable economy is. Not them versus us, right versus wrong, but belonging, purpose and meaning.

We can’t move forward if we don’t know where we’re going

NASA’s Apollo program was able to land on the moon just 9 years after John F. Kennedy’s famous speech, not only because they wanted to explore space, but because they had a joint and very precise goal. Pfizer’s Lightspeed project developed a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine in 9 months, not only because they had the capabilities, but a clear motivation to succeed.

With the current polycrisis on our hands, it appears we lack not only a common narrative of a desired future state but also enough motivation to move from mitigating risks of current ways to uncovering new opportunities for growth. It is not targets or pure will that is missing, it’s bold, purposed driven leadership with a long-term perspective taking short-term strides, building authentic platforms for debate, discussion, and connections.

Not one answer. Not one hero.

Change is the only constant and there is no silver bullet. Incremental improvements and transformative leaps need to happen in tandem, creating stories that build several parallel movements. But none of it will transpire if we as a leader are not willing to change, open up to the conversation on what role our current culture plays, and the leadership behaviors that lie within. Not theirs or others. Ours.

In a world of hard facts and alternative truths, we must shift the conversation toward what unites and moves us forward. How can global platforms such as the UN, the World Economic Forum, and national parliaments, as well as social media, entertainment, and businesses become platforms for healthy discussions on the multitude of paths forward? This means a more distributed leadership, recognizing that diversity of thought is positive, and if we dare to listen, can be a source of unity and understanding.

We are navigating through the perfect storm. Acknowledging that we have created it, but also recognizing that we have the power to change it if we accept our role in the process, can be the first step out of the paralysis in which so many of us leaders find ourselves. Recognizing that it’s neither all doom nor gloom, success or failure, is another to stop us from hiding behind what once was and start to act towards something new.

Are you ready?