The "Detroit syndrome"

Choosing not to change when faced with compelling evidence to do so could be likened to a form of death wish; under these circumstances, it's not unusual that bad things happen while the actors know they're in full control of the process, see time running in slow motion, grasp the most minute detail with intense clarity, yet feel totally paralyzed and can't do anything to rectify a situation that's going bad. This in many ways is what happened to our Detroit automakers that knew since 1973 that fuel efficiency would become a vital issue, but chose to ignore it, while fighting “Cafe” standards as hard as they possibly could. At the same time, GM came with a first version of the “electric car” and chose to kill it for no good reason. Toyota's Prius would soon fill the vacuum...

This syndrome is found in government, organizations and companies... This is also what's preventing our seven-resort interconnect from happening. So what is causing that “mental block” that stands in the way of change? Is it, as we often suspect, fear or is it also denial, disbelief, apathy, laziness and over-sized egos? I'd vote for a combination of all these factors with much weight placed on the latter. Now, the challenge is to find a clever way to clear the blockage and to move toward a goal that's in everyone's best interest.

Perhaps a “quiet revolution” will eventually change minds and advance the agenda. The best revolutions are generally short on arm-twisting and long on persuasion. When conventional wisdom has become too slow, too predictable or too comfortable, and when too many folks feel they have no control on the general outcome, it's time to start a gentle revolution. It could take the form of a sudden groundswell of “consumer demand” and a create a significant shift in views. When a growing number of highly determined folks becomes too hard to ignore and is eventually taken into consideration, the Wasatch seven-resort interconnect will begin to get traction and nothing will be able to stop it!