Tom Friedman’s article on the US elections relates to the distinction between technical and adaptive issues as well as the concept of work avoidance on which Reut bases its theory of leadership.
“McCain and Obama have unveiled broad ideas about how to restore the nation’s financial health. But they continue to suggest that this will be largely pain-free…
McCain says giving everyone a tax cut will save the day; Obama tells us only the rich will have to pay to help us out of this hole. Neither is true. We are all going to have to pay…
According to Friedman, (and ignoring pre election politicking) both candidates seem to be relating to the crisis as a technical, rather than an adaptive problem. Ron Heifetz explains a technical issue as one in which both the problem and solution are known. An adaptive challenge meanwhile, is one whose solution requires a change in priorities, values, and behavior by the people.
Because adaptive work is painful, people tend to view all challenges as technical issues that can be easily solved. Leadership according to Heifetz is to get people to focus on the real issue rather than work avoidance mechanisms and to mobilize them to adapt.
This mobilization is already being felt in the phrase ‘Change can’t happen without you’
Related Links:
Did Obama take Heifetz at Harvard?
Gidi Grinstein: A Crisis of Trust not Leadership
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Just finished watching the Obama victory speech online and although it was incredibly cheesy and full of the expected rhetoric, we can only hope that Obama really does understand what needs to be done and is able to hold it all together. He has a big mess to clear up and is bound to upset many many people in the cleanup job to follow. An interesting few months lie ahead and they will no doubt get worse before they get better. Lets just hope people over the world will have the patience to see them through.