Conclusions
In the midst of my exploration of Essence and its functioning in all systems, it is important to pause for a moment and acknowledge once again that this is an elusive phenomenon. It is easy to miss its presence or to miss-interpret the critical role it plays in the dynamic operations of a system. I am reminded of an old joke (that I think I first heard when consulting in one of the former Soviet republics). It seems that there was a worker in a highly secure Soviet factory that would leave each day with a wheelbarrow that was filled with straw. The security inspector was certain that the worker was stealing something that was hidden in the straw. The inspector carefully searched the straw each day but could find nothing hidden away in the straw. This daily search continued for many months. The inspector was growing increasingly frustrated. Finally, he informed the worker that this was his last day on the job. He was about to retire and absolutely needed to know what the worker was stealing. The worker proudly announced: “I am stealing wheelbarrows!”
Here we have a wonderful example of the key feature in this story being ignored. Wheelbarrows were the essence of the worker’s plan to steal from the factory. I also have wondered if the worker was also stealing straw!! This is a joke precisely because that which is most important (the wheelbarrow and perhaps the straw) is given no attention. It is a joke, at an even deeper level, because it represents the “stupidity” of the Soviet mode of security. The joke could be told because it indirectly was critical of the repressive Soviet regime. As I found during my work over several years during and after the Soviet collapse, humor was often the remedy for lingering frustration and despair. Perhaps, ultimately, this was the real Essence of this story. It was an expression of strongly held but inexpressible feelings.
We often do not see what is obvious in our world. Our true emotions are not shared. We are stubborn in our unwillingness to view and talk about that which is presence right in front of us. Under the challenging conditions of VUCA-Plus it is particularly difficult to identify and attend to that which at the Essence of the system in which we are operating. We search for meaning and purpose in the straw—and fail to look at the wheelbarrow. Hopefully, some of the tactics and strategies I have identified in the previous essay on Essence and in this essay provide guidance as to how one might discover and make full use of Essence in the transformation of VUCA-Plus challenges into entities and processes that are not only manageable but also constructive and productive. I offer one other essay to illustrate even further the use of one tool (polarity management) that is particularly valuable in addressing the mid-21st Century conditions of contradiction—and the intertwined conditions of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity and turbulence. In this essay, I focus on a particularly important and elusive form of Essence operating in our contemporary society. This is the Essence of Trust. Specifically, I offer a case study which portrays the use of polarity management in addressing Trust—as a major contradiction-saturated issue to be found in any interpersonal relationship or organization.
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