Replying to LO26869 --
Replying to Tragedy of the Common Issues LO26831 Rick wrote:
"In Africa right now, elephant herds are butting down the trees... I
presume they get some benefit from doing this. When there are no more
trees, I believe the elephants suffer."
Rick, Mark & All
I was at a training event several years ago in which we were shown a film
of elephants butting down trees and asked what we thought the solution
was.
Like most participants, I assumed the "problem" was the elephants were
harming the eco-system by the wanton destruction of trees. Therefore,
having a keen grasp of the obvious, the solution was to plant more trees.
Unlike most participants, I eagerly shared my thoughts and rational as
soon as we were asked to do so. Little did I realize that I had fallen for
the trap.
After a brief discussion of the various solutions -- which included things
like re-locating the elephants -- we were invited to define the problem.
Naturally, all of us pointed out that the elephants were destroying the
eco-system by the wanton destruction of trees.
We were then shown the remainder of the film clip; which, as Paul Harvey
says, contained "the rest of the story." To our chagrin we learned that
knocking over the trees is a vital part of an extremely finely-tuned
eco-system. Consequently, when solutions similar to ours had been tried,
without exception, they did far more damage to the eco-system than the
elephants. If I recall correctly, my brilliant idea of planting more trees
was the worst action that could have been taken. As you've probably
guessed, the best "solution" for the eco-system was to leave well enough
alone.
Hence, the real problem was that we had not clearly defined the issue
before proposing solutions for what turned out to be a nonexistent
problem.
METANOICly Yours,
LJ Stevens
Metanoic Leadership Institute: http://www.metanoic.org
--"LJ Stevens" <maverick@pinn.net>
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