Navigating a Whackadoodle World: Episode 36, or What haven't you been noticing?
A Whackadoodle discussion about the Power of Process and Growth, in which I point out that the first step in process is to notice a problem before it grows into a cancer.
Click here if you would like to view Navigating a Whackadoodle World’s Table of Contents
“I just finished rereading our last two articles about Process and Growth,” she mentioned in passing. “And I noticed that we spent a great deal of time talking about how important consequences are in a process.”
“So?” I asked, sounding a bit defensive even to my own ears.
“Well, I think I know why,” she continued. “Because too many people out there are getting away with crap because their actions have no consequences. It’s like you said, ‘Consequences are meaningless when they don’t get enforced.’”
“What brought this on?”
“I don’t know,” she scrubbed her face. “Everything.”
“Everything is a pretty broad topic. Could you perhaps narrow it down a bit?”
“People with money have all the power, but they face no consequences.”
“Ah,” I nodded. “You’ve been focusing on the dark side of Guidepost’s Seven’s power. It does tend to get one overwhelmed.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Guidepost Seven, same as you. You remember, Guidepost Seven: The Power of Process and Growth. Don’t tell me that you have yet to realize that growth can be negative as well as positive?”
“But growth is always good, isn’t it?”
“Cancer grows,” I reminded her. “It even grows exponentially.”
“What does that have to do with the people in power?”
“Those people didn’t get powerful over night. Their power grew over time. They built up their bank accounts. They built up their connections. They built up their influence. They built up their usefulness to others in power.”
“Some people are born with power,” she objected.
“Because they are born into powerful families, who built up their power over generations, sometimes in nefarious ways.”
“What’s nefarious again?”
“A wicked or criminal action.”
Her hands clenched up, “But that’s what I mean. People act nefariously, but never face any consequences. In fact, they get rewarded!”
“So I guess we need to reexamine the process we use to provide rewards and consequences.”
“What are you talking about?”
“How do we currently reward people? Money, power, influence, admiration? What do we admire in people? The money they have in their bank accounts? Who gets all our attention? The people with the most followers and the best looks? Who do we allow to belong to our tribe, and who do we kick out? Who makes us feel secure? Who helps us survive? Answer those questions, then ask yourself, how do we enforce our consequences? Do we set boundaries we can’t, or won’t keep? Do we turn away and ignore the cancer? Do we give in to the cancer? Do we hope and pray that God will intercede, or do we actually take action? Do we stand up when we see something’s wrong? ‘As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.’ (James 2:26).”
“And you get mad at me when I ask more than one question at a time.”
“Okay, one question,” I said folding my hands. “How do you currently reward people, and how do you currently enforce your boundaries?”
“That’s two questions hidden in one,” she accused.
“And you are avoiding both of them.”
“I can’t believe that you just quoted the bible at me,” she mumbled without looking up.
“I’ve learned to speak in many faiths,” I countered. “Now answer my two questions hidden in one.”
I watched her struggle with her thoughts. “I can’t remember ever creating a boundary,” she eventually confessed. “I think that when I get upset with something, I just walk away.”
“And wait for someone else to fix things?” I heard myself add.
“Everything else takes work.”
“And what do have against work?”
“I’m not sure,” she said. “I’m not always sure that the work I do is working. I am not even sure why I work at all.”
“Most people work to make a living; to feed their families and keep a roof over their heads. They seldom notice the people who own their roof, or their jobs, unless their roofs and jobs become threatened.”
“What does that have to do with Guidepost Seven?”
“Guidepost Seven is about Process and Growth. The first step in process is to notice a problem before it grows into a cancer, or notice a solution as it’s about to give birth. The second step is knowing what to do once you’ve found one.”
“You are so weird.”
“I know.”
She stared at me. I could practically see her thoughts ticking away. “So what do I do once I’ve noticed a problem?”
“Not so quick,” I interjected. “Noticing a problem before it becomes a cancer isn’t so easy. It’s like weeding a garden. If you don’t know the plants that will improve your garden, you will never know which plants to encourage. If you don’t know which plants will take over your garden, you never know which plants to pull. You have to identify the weeds early, and pull them before they can become a cancer that takes over your garden.”
“You really like metaphor, don’t you?”
“I used the word like,” the tutor in me felt compelled to say. “It’s like weeding a garden. That makes it a simile.”
“But in the rest of your sentences, you talk about the plants like they are problems and solutions,” she shot back. “That makes them metaphors.”
I shook my head and started laughing. “You’re right, and I’m in no mood to argue. Question is, what was my metaphor trying to illustrate?”
“That I need to be able to identify the weeds before I start pulling everything up?”
I considered her answer and decided I like it. “So what are the weeds that let nefarious people act nefariously without any consequences? What are the weeds that reward them?”
She sat up straighter, startled, “I don’t really know.”
“Then I suggest that be your homework this week.” I pulled out my iPad and punched in a few words before handing it to her. “You might even start with this article. He points out one particularly nefarious weed that really does need pulling. The article’s a bit of a slog,” I added. “But well worth the read.”
I needn’t have bothered telling her about the slog, she was already busy reading…
