“You can’t walk backward into the future.”

Don't find fault, find a remedy.  Henry Ford

It is much easier to be critical than correct. Benjamin Disraeli

Have you ever noticed that there are two types of people in the world?  There are those who will tell you all the reasons why something cannot work, and there are those that will get on with it and try to make it work.  That is what the two quotes above are telling us.  When everyone thought that the automobile was only for the rich, Henry Ford went ahead and developed and built a “people’s” car that was affordable for the many.  He also saw the advantages of paying his workers’ wages that were adequate enough to be able to buy his cars, an idea that seems to be lost on present day industrialists.

But I find the “it cannot be done” syndrome to be around us at every turn.  I notice it particularly by government bureaucrats whose risk aversion is endemic.  It is probably why so many promising ideas never see the light of day.  Because belonging to the “let’s get on with it” group involves risks.  There is the risk that the idea does not work, or does not work the way it was promised.  Not meeting what were probably very optimistic results is seen as the ultimate failure by many, not as a partial victory as it often is.  There is also the risk that striving for a result may in fact lead to a different result.  It turns out that many medical breakthroughs were made through just such a fortuitous accident, penicillin being one.  Then there is the risk that pursuing an idea may take more effort or money than planned.  This is seen as the worst possible outcome for government programs.  However, if this risk had not been overcome, Canada would probably not have built a cross-Canada railway system. 

The most dangerous strategy is to jump a chasm in two leaps.
  - Benjamin Disraeli

This quote gets us into another aspect of timidity, the “let’s just go part way down this road” solution.  You know, the ones where we set up a milestone approach and if a milestone is reached without the desired results, the idea is declared a failure without any chance for the solution to be proven or to rectify itself. Most such attempts are designed to fail because the naysayers get a second kick at the cat to tell what is wrong with the idea and why it is not working, at least to their satisfaction.

If I had not been ready to take a risk and try for a better idea, I would not have tried (and succeeded) in going to military college, would not have persevered to get an engineering degree, would not have transferred from the operational to the engineering branch of the Navy mid-career, would not have risked making a go of civilian life, would not have opened my own consulting company, and would not have undertaken to write a book (or even this blog).  None of this may be earth shattering for anyone else, but each one certainly made a difference in mine.  At every step of the way, there were those who had reasons why I could not do what I set out to do. 

Why are so many determined that something cannot be done.  Risk aversion is one of the reasons, particularly for those who might have to take responsibility or take part in the effort. But another reason seems to be fear that the status quo will be upset.  People like the status quo.  It is comfortable for most, but not if you are suffering in the present situation.  Most poor people would like to see the status quo upset so they can better themselves.  The Occupy movement was an attempt to upset a status quo that the Occupiers saw as inequitable and ruinous to their futures.  As one commentator was quoted as saying:

A conservative is a man who believes that nothing should be done for the first time.
            - Alfred E. Wiggam

Worse than those who crave the status quo are those who want a return to the status quo ante of forty, fifty or more years ago, the so called “good old days.”  Does anyone really remember the truth about the “good old days”?  The days before civil rights.  The days before modern medical cures.  The days when mental health problems were stigmatized.  The days when medical costs could ruin you.  The days of forced retirement at age 65.  The days when we saw the threat of communism around every corner and feared a nuclear war any second. Or the days of smog spewing, gas guzzling cars.  I’m old enough to remember those “good old days” and I would much rather live in the present and then in the future.  To quote a friend of mine, “You can’t walk backward into the future.”

This brings me back to the original theme of this post, namely the need to overcome the naysayers and pursue new ideas. If our forefathers had not risked the experiment of democracy, we would still be living under an absolute monarchy.  If our forefathers had not undertaken the task of public education, most of us would be illiterate and unable to improve our lot.  If our forefathers in the Canadian colonies had not risked the uncertainty of union, we would still be a colony of Great Britain, as would most of the other countries in the Commonwealth. 

Now, however, our governments think it is too difficult or unsettling to tackle global warming, or to solve fiscal inequities, or to look for long term solutions to a myriad of problems.  It is just too risky.  It might upset the status quo.