Where Outcomes come from…
By my Junior year in High School, I had found at least the beginnings of who I was becoming. Now officially on the Debate Team, I spent the summer at a camp for Debaters at TCU. Yes… I am a real nerd who actually spent two weeks preparing, studying, and practicing the debate topic for all of the NFL that season… not THAT NFL—the National Forensics League. But for now, I was spending August of 1974 studying Presidential Elections…
… with some of the smartest students from the Southwest. We were all there in Fort Worth – a cowtown – doing some deep research into how our political system actually worked, or doesn’t 😉 We spent many hours in the library looking into things like the Electoral College, National and Regional Primaries, and even thinking about a Parliamentary form of government here in the US. While we were doing that, a committee was hearing evidence of the current president’s – Nixon’s – malfeasance. The Outcome that was capturing the entire world happened while I was there.
… are predictable when…
The paradox was not lost on me… theory was becoming real – will our system work? Or are there critical weaknesses we would need to address? We would end our days after rounds of debates, critiques, meals at the cafeteria… to return to observe on TV what had happened in DC. I remember one evening, like many others, when the President came on and announced it was over… he was resigning. And in our group of 100ish 15-year-olds, regardless of leaning politically, we were stunned… looking at each other like “what does this mean for us?”
Cat was similarly enjoying the success of his first 3 albums… all written while confined to a bed nearly dying from TB. Having proven he had observed some things that resonated, he now dug even deeper into his journey… and was perplexed The weird title of the album, “Catch Bull at Four” is drawn from Kuòān Shīyuǎn’s ‘Ten Bulls’, a Zen series of poems and illustrations. It explores an individual’s search for enlightenment, and their subsequent return to society to pass on the wisdom they’ve gained. Yet, he recognizes this struggle as a necessary stage before progressing.
… you observe differently…
We have all observed with varying degrees of disdain, horror, fear, and anger this year. Like Cat, I have stepped back into the inner world of what is within my own control. It is not an easy path, and the metaphor of wrestling with a Bull seems about right most days. Leaders also have the paradox of both dealing with what is here now and hoping to guide and project what could be/should be the “right” Outcome in the future.
I have found that stepping back worked best now and during those High School years. If everything points to one Outcome, the “popular path”, it often hides something that needs deeper reflection. And, the paradox is that making a simple step forward frequently changes what you can observe… IF you stay somewhat detached from being sucked in.
… where the Bull is…
A leader I was working with just this week fell into this trap. The pressure to decide crammed an issue onto the table before they or the team was ready… and they were forced to make a decision. The Outcome that someone was pleading for left everyone else in a bad place. As we talked it through, we could now step back… think about what is not obvious, what is missing, what they don’t know. It led to better questions, and also, what was unclear was the Outcome … that this leader needs to steer towards. Without that clarity of purpose, to return to Cat’s metaphor, the Bull was winning.
As I improved at Debate, one of the keys was asking great questions. They should be simple.. and easy to answer in a way that would eventually lead to the Outcome… I wanted – winning. Observing the Senators each night during Watergate, we saw masters at it, each day tried new approaches, and eventually we all became very skilled at it. Many of those “kids” are, in fact, now IN Congress, or other positions of enormous power around the country. With this year starting up differently than any other year, what lessons from your past can you re-observe to change your Outcome? Like Cat, where is the Bull I have been wrestling with taking me … I Can’t Keep It In.
