Crash Test Dummy Syndrome: A Checklist

Resistance to change is wired into the human condition.

This is true more for some people than others. For example, it is on display in the dogma of political leadership, discourse and policy. Drawing on a past when the world was less connected, much slower and much less complex than it is today, highly conservative minds and their rhetoric find safety in what they see as black and white. In their narrative and actions, there is little regard for the nuance of today’s complex environment.

Cause and effect, root cause analysis, SWOT and KISS are all used to simplify-away the real and potentially devastating impact of exponentially emerging, convergent, complex disruption.

‘Business as Usual!’ ‘Milk the Cashcow!’ Go LEAN!’ ‘Climate change is crap!’ ‘The market will sort it out!’ All of these are the catch-cries of those who fail to understand the nuances of complex and disruptive change. Catch-cries that are used as brick walls to hinder progress and get in the way of preparing our world for the extent of severe disruption that is bearing down on us.

And, when we say ‘used as brick walls’ we mean brick walls.

When trapped between a rock and a hard place, people can be forced to constantly hit their heads against brick walls. In that environment, they learn to hate change, resent…