I watched a neat movie last night, “Everything is Illuminated.” The story is about Alex, a young American jewish man that goes on a quest to find the woman who saved his grandfather during the Holocaust. If you haven’t seen it, it’s a wonderful story. The quirkiness of the characters make it come to life. It was at the very end that caught my attention though when Alex is reflecting on his journey on his return trip when he reflects,
I have reflected many times upon our rigid search. It has shown me that everything is illuminated in the light of the past. Alex
When I look into silent problems as far ranging as Madoff, to Toyota, to the financial crisis and countless others, its amazing how everything is eventually illuminated in the light of the past. Or in plain terms - the truth is eventually exposed. And what gets exposed is the numerous warning signs along the way. There was discontent amongst employees. There was a conflict of interest present. There was a bully in the mix that did everything in their power to keep the problem silent.
I’ve thought of and examined the context of these scenarios many times, and I realize there is a question we should be asking.
How can we illuminate problems in the present - so they can be acted upon?
This is the question we need to pursue, and one I focus on in the book Without Warning and on this blog. Because when we illuminate from the present, we can take action and hopefully avoid or at least mitigate the fallout from silent problems. And more importantly, many of the world’s problems could have been mitigated.
Your thoughts?
