The Message from Fort Hood: Remeber the Balkans!

The massacre at Ft. Hood has been labeled as the first terrorist attack on US soil since 9-11. As more information continues to build about the influence of his Muslim faith and ties to terrorist sympathizers a message that must ring out more clearly is, “Remember the Balkans.”

Yugoslavia, the former dominant country of the Balkan Peninsula, was once one of the great nations of Europe. In the 90’s the country imploded becoming a killing field of neighbors that turned on and did the most horrific things to each other.

Take for example the country of Bosnia-Herzegovina. A country made up primarily of Croats, Serbs, and Bosnians and now governed by not one but 2 (TWO!) governments. Where once they shared the land, co-existed, shopped together, shared coffee, schools, playgrounds; in an instant began killing and torturing each other. A quick visit to the capitol Sarajevo, once a proud Olympic city, one will notice amongst the rich diversity of the Central European and Middle Eastern architecture, shops, restaurants and churches, a number of fresh cemeteries as a lingering reminder of their past.

What happened there that would not only turn neighbor against neighbor, but also turned people into less than animals, was among other things, paranoia.

The leadership and warlords knew exactly what to do to raise up the minions, to divide and conquer. There was an enemy, and that enemy was within, only not clearly defined, only an ideal, a culture, and they were going to kill you and your family unless you did something about it.

What followed was chaos and mayhem. Who was right and who was wrong became quite difficult to determine and therefore incredibly difficult to stop. Even those who tried not to get involved, not willing to give in to the craziness, got pulled in by either becoming victims or eventually victimizers out of need from protection.

This is the very definition and goal of Terror, the ultimate destruction of a society from within propagate by fear.

The US, like former Yugoslavia, is a land of many cultures. It is a country that celebrates its diversity accepting people of all cultures, races, and creeds. It is the most successful country in the history of the world, the most diverse, and the most progressive in integrating that diversity. Of course, it hasn’t always been that way, and it still has a long way to go, but it is very difficult to name a close competitor.

And although that diversity makes it unique and strong, it also, as in the Balkans, makes it vulnerable.

The US is not without internal conflict. As with most societies there are sharp divisions between political and ethnic groups, religions, schools, towns, families, even conflicts between music affiliations, genders, and pet owners. Yet these conflicts, regardless of their intensity remain isolated and controlled under the strength of the social fabric that holds the overall society together.

That social fabric has held the country strong for its existence, strengthening during times of external conflict, weakening during times of internal. Regardless, it has held strong, last being tested in the LA Riots and again on 9-11. Sadly for the former Yugoslavia, that net was proven to be fragile and therefore completely obliterated by paranoia/terror, the result of which was the physical and moral destruction of their once proud country.

In the recent aftermath of the Ft. Hood tragedy, information continues to pile up about the assailants ties to Muslim radicals and enemies to the US.

Most frightening is that an al-Qaeda leader published in an on-line magazine not a week before the attack calling for jihadists to conduct easy attacks on targets in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen, as well as in Western nations "at war with Islam." They were to use easily accessible weapons and explosives and to not "waste a lot of time finding the materials."

Even if more information comes out about Maj. Hasan’s relationship to the Muslim world, terrorism and those seeking the destruction of the US. Even if the Ft. Hood incident is followed up by other’s like Hasan, who sympathize with the United State’s enemies, and even if more American-Muslims take up that call to attack, remember what happened when the Balkan people allowed that social fabric to wear down, to give in to paranoia, to let chaos take over.

How can this be avoided?

The social fabric of any society is held together by a sense of security and rule of law. The populace needs to know that they have a law that protects them and more importantly that law enforcement is on their side.

Therefore after each and every incident needs to be followed by swift and decisive action taken to restore order. Secondly, to restore a sense of security, the populace needs to believe that this was an isolated incident meaning: 1) steps are being taken to prevent this disaster and 2) The leadership of the affecting parties needs to speak out against the action.

In the case of Ft. hood and any “Terrorist” Action , 1) immediate action needs to be taken by law enforcement to not only deal with the incident, but to act strongly and swiftly against any criminal acts that take place in retaliation. 2) That needs to be paralleled with immediate words of assurance from both the US and Muslim leadership.

A lack of both will foster paranoia unfortunately against the Muslim community in the US and also in Europe and cause chaos in all respective societies. These steps have been the immediate response to all incidents from all US and UK leadership till now. If it doesn’t continue, terrorism wins. The leadership in Yugoslavia wanted their wars and took the LACK of steps necessary to see that happen. How has the current leadership responded?

Be warned, remember the Balkans.

Change without Transparency leads to Rebellion

People spend a majority of time adjusting to circumstances in pursuit of comfort. And once there, our natural inclination is to resist change until a new opportunity justifies it. Yet, even in the process of change, there are comfort levels, be it pace or degree, and forcing people beyond those limits regardless of intention will be met with resistance. In times of radical change, the onset of rebellion can be thwarted by transparent leadership.

Good leadership articulates an inspiring vision and guides the formulation of a strategy for its pursuit. Transparent leadership then at minimum shares that vision and the strategy to get there with constituents.

This is what encourages the athlete through the struggle of training, the patient through the pain of rehabilitation, even the student through school. This is how Winston Churchill was able to bring the English through WWII.

The lack of which has lead to the coup’s in Africa, the potential revolt in France and the tea parties recently in the United States.

Why?

In terms of understanding, the world is divided into two groups, How and Why. “How” people are focused on the here and now, they take information as is, they are more satisfied being told what to do and where to do it, then the reasons behind it. They can easily focus on their tasks. They are people of the present.
“Why” people are focused on the big picture. They interpret information and seek meaning, they don’t break information into its parts, but seek relationships between the information, and focus less on the what is and instead try to project on the what-will-be, they are focused on the future.

How people are satisfied with what is happening and their role in it, why people simply can not move unless they know where they are going.

I once worked with a development group that was quite successful. I had a good relationship with the leader and the staff and enjoyed growing with the group. One day the leader returned from a convention and started to change everything. Which startled the staff, but we followed. However, the changes being implemented didn’t make sense, and in many cases were not only against what we had done in the past, but were simply wrong. I started to ask questions and wasn’t getting answers. Our relationships started to split and my resistance was seen as a threat. I wanted to follow him, but I for some reason just couldn’t and didn’t understand why. Eventually, I quit.

Years later, I came to realize that it wasn’t some adolescent rebellion against authority or sophmoric resistance submission. But very simply, I needed, information and was paralyzed without it. I am a “why” person, and have a natural need to understand the big picture, to see the vision, the strategy to get there and how I fit in to it. Radical change was happening and I couldn’t find the rhyme or reason for it. Therefore I could not find my place, so I could not support it, could not be a part of it. And since the direction seemed to be off, I could not just blindly follow.

Radical changes are happening the US, and many people are demanding information, not because they are from another party, not because they are not the same color, but because, it is mentally impossible to move without that information. People are seeing steps that are inconsistent with their former path. There are things being done that are against what they had been living for, in some cases it just looks wrong, and in interpreting the decisions to where they are heading, the direction seems off.

No one seems to know the vision (Change is not a destination). So it’s no wonder no one knows the strategy to get there. The transparency that was promised is partial, which is actually propaganda. And unfortunately platitudes and diplomacy also don’t work because people NEED that information, regardless of which party is holding that office.

In history, radical change without transparency has ALWAYS led to either rebellion or oppression. Either the people will react out of need, or the authorities will subdue with force.

Let's hope the Transparency promised the US comes soon.

People are key to Problem Solving

Problem solving today is less about finding solutions and more about convincing the powers that be to want to solve them.

Take for example the out of control legal costs that could easily be solved with a version of “loser pays.” It would lower the number of frivolous lawsuits, which lessen malpractice suits, which would eventually lower medical costs, which would lead to more affordable healthcare. But since our government is made up of trial lawyers, i.e. Sen. Edwards, that law will never be passed.

The new Stimulus Package proposed by President Obama presents another example. No economist or politician has or can show definitively how the new plan creates even an ounce of economic stimulus. The powers that be are NOT concerned with solving the crisis as much as taking advantage of it.

The proposed $900 Billion “Stimulus” which the House has approved and is claimed will pass the Senate, is estimated to ultimately cost somewhere around $7.5 TRILLION. *

That's about $25.000 for every man, woman, and child in the US.

Since the approval does not lock in allocation of funds, here is a novel idea. It’s OUR money, so let's get serious about stimulating the economy. Let's get serious about CHANGE, and give it to... ourselves.

Wouldn't this help the economy? For those non-system thinkers, let’s take a look.

If everyone receives 25k that means a family of say 5 receives 125.000...tax free! What happens?

1. Public calms down
2. People with bad mortgages start to pay them off, property value goes back up, value in bad Fannie paper goes up, financial institutions which invested in the bad paper raise in value, banks start to loan to companies, companies can pay for daily expenses and begin to hire again.
3. People without bad loans buy!! Company revenues rise, jobs return, money starts flowing.
4. Crisis over!!

But wait...Add to that...for the first few months, CANCEL Capital Gains TAX – watch what happens....

1. Investment activity in the market goes up (especially for those who just received 100k!!)
2. Confidence in market goes up
3. Company values go up
4. People start making money
5. Companies hire more
6. More people make money, which spend more, which means more jobs, more money, bla, bla , bla,
7. Banks and Companies are friends again. Bosses and employees are happy again and most importantly my landlord and I are friends again!! :-)

So the answer is logical, but is it realistic?

People are the key to problem solving, whether that be leaders willing to solve or in case of the stimulus letting the public solve it for themselves.

* http://abcnews.go.com/Business/Economy/story?id=6332892&page=1

Next Generation Leaders

Changing times mean Changing Approaches

World leadership is changing. Throughout history, the leaders were those who were the most effective in utilizing advancements of progress: the philosophical Greek societies, the might of Rome or the dominance of the British fleet. The leaders of this past century, the industrial age, were those who dominated through productivity. However, today, the production centers of the world have shifted to cost-shaving developing countries, without a corresponding shift in leadership. This means, once again, we are entering a new age and those who lead will be those who choose to embrace it.

The industrial age was sparked by the advent of the Assembly line. In the early 1900’s, a movement was started focused on the application of efficiency. Among the members was a young man by the name of Henry Ford, who eventually implemented principles of the movement into his automobile business. The result was the modern day assembly line, which was so successful it gave his company Ford Motors almost 50% of the market within a few years.

The efficiency of the assembly line led to greater productivity in less time at lower costs. By dividing production into simple tasks, it allowed the company to hire, train, and replace an unskilled workforce with very little effort. Management became an issue of control thus leaving the need for only a few hard-to-find and expensive talent in selected positions at the top.

The model was so successful that it was adapted to many other industries including clothing, restaurants, hospitals, even schools.

Today, the production centers of the world have moved to more developing regions, leaving leadership in the hands of those who embrace what is now the Information Age, and understanding the principles of the Knowledge-Based Society (KBS). Dominance by productivity has been replaced with innovation.

Today, information which was once held by scholars, experts and books, is readily available anywhere, at anytime, by anybody. So, although finding information is important, it is what is done with it that makes the difference.

The competitive edge from the division of responsibility in Assembly line production is giving way to a pooling of resources that comes from team-learning innovation. Whereas before employers poured through workers with focused limited skills managed through control, competitive companies now struggle to retain creative holistic experience managed through facilitation. Conservative companies with top-down authoritative structures are losing market share to living organizations generating bottom-up ideas.

Whether a country, company or an individual; being competitive comes down to being creative. The leaders are those businesses, hospitals and especially schools which embrace this new age by taking advantage of the advancements which support it. The times are changing, will you?