Society's Breakthrough!

What is fundamentally the most significant problem we face as a society?

For a number of years I have been asking that question and have appreciated the deep conversations that quickly develop. People believe we have become materialistic, alienated from one another, disempowered, depersonalized, and caught up in making a living – diminished in some way. Concern is expressed about the unfair distribution of wealth, the loss of community and citizen involvement, the impending collapse of the environment, our increasing bureaucracy, and the general lack of good sense in our collective actions. All of the comments suggest a breakdown in our underlying system – the way we have structured and organized ourselves economically, politically, and socially.

This book explains why this breakdown is occurring and proposes a specific remedy – a capital "B" Breakthrough. It shows how we can subtly adjust the system to help us make a giant leap forward on all these issues simultaneously.

That’s what a Breakthrough is – a simple change that makes a huge difference. True Breakthroughs challenge the paradigm of our times, the set of assumptions that circumscribe our lives. Even if no outward risk can be found, a Breakthrough is felt to be threatening until the paradigm shifts. Once that happens, the idea seems like common sense, only it’s a new common sense.

Limits to Our Current System

To illustrate how one little change might transform many difficult, seemingly impossible-to-solve issues, consider the old story of the three blind men who encounter an elephant. One finds a leg and says that an elephant is like a tree. Another approaches from behind, touches the tail and says that an elephant is very much like a rope. The third comes to the front of the elephant, and feeling its trunk, says an elephant is like a snake.

Pretend for a minute that the elephant is restless, causing problems for each of the men. The tree-like legs are stepping all over the vegetables in the garden; the rope-like tail is whipping the blind man in the face; and the snake-like trunk is destroying a nearby bush. Not understanding the whole system, each man then works hard to solve his particular problem. One tries to turn the tree-legs into posts, heaping dirt around them. Another attempts to cut off the rope-tail. The third squirts poison at the snake-trunk to protect himself. The elephant, of course, doesn’t benefit from these actions, nor do the other men.

Generally, this is how we approach societal problems – as though they are separate and as though we can use methods of control to fix them. But a Breakthrough allows us to see the whole elephant and respond intelligently. With this seeing, we might place some food nearby to motivate the elephant to move to a more advantageous location for all concerned. On its own, then, the elephant itself will eliminate the separate, individually confounding issues.

However, such a simple appearing "whole system" answer might be resisted by the blind men. Even though each may care deeply about the problem he addresses and want it solved, the narrowness of his perspective may cause him to believe the new solution is irrelevant and resist it. What value could there be, they might all exclaim, in placing a pile of hay nearby? After all, each is an expert in his field of study and all agree there is no value to this new idea.

Society’s Breakthrough suggests that we can address our societal problems through this kind of simple action by looking at the whole elephant. The particular Breakthrough suggested here arose from my work leading four-day seminars on Dynamic Facilitation Skills, teaching participants how to help groups address issues creatively and collaboratively. In the seminars, participants form small groups and take turns facilitating the others. Each facilitator helps his or her group choose difficult issues, like inadequate healthcare, racism, or improving education, and then helps people stay creative in solving them. The facilitator doesn’t participate in this conversation and isn’t concerned about what the group ultimately decides. Instead, the facilitator manages how the group talks. He or she assures that everyone is heard and respected and that the process is creative.

Over the years, as groups have wrestled with these different problems, their many insights have flagged one ultimate cause: our system.