Page 20 - The Power to Change Anything

The Power to Change Anything 9

less than 10 percent of the speeches at the international AIDS
conference even speculated on how to change the behavior
that drives the disease in the first place. Here we have a disease
that would never infect another human being if people simply
thought and behaved differently, and yet the central forum for
discussing the pandemic hardly touched on the topic of human
behavior.
To cite an often-spoken metaphor that helps us under-
stand what’s happening with this ongoing tragedy, it’s as if a
steady stream of automobiles is hurtling toward a cliff and then
plunging to destruction. A community leader catches sight of
the devastating carnage and springs into action. However, in-
stead of rushing to the top of the cliff and finding a way to pre-
vent drivers from speeding toward disaster, the bureaucrat
parks a fleet of ambulances at the bottom of the cliff. When
the vast majority of our efforts go to after-the-fact treatment
rather than avoidance of AIDS, we’ve quietly announced that
we don’t know how to influence thoughts and behavior, so
we’ve given up.
You can see evidence of coping everywhere. What’s the
solution to, say, a gambling addiction? Current efforts are
aimed at developing an antiaddiction pill. IT department isn’t
performing? Outsource it. Spouse giving you fits? Legislate an
easy off-ramp to no-fault divorce. Are recently released convicts
leaping too quickly back into crime? Don’t free them so soon.
Build bigger penitentiaries, and put in a revolving door. Then
pray for serenity.

THE WISDOM TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Over the last year U.S. airlines lost over $10 billion and shed
tens of thousands of jobs. At the same time, Southwest Airlines
racked up its 14th straight year of profits and double-digit
growth. What do Southwest’s leaders do that others haven’t fig-
ured out? They engage everyone in doing more with less. They