Connecting the Dots
We’re hearing a lot of people use the phrase, “Connecting the dots,” these days. President Obama used it to explain the failure of U.S. intelligence to detect the radical Islamic man with ties to Al Qaeda who attempted to bomb a Northwest Airlines plane on Christmas Day.
His lieutenants and the news pundits have parroted the phrase ever since. But I have not heard one of them interpret what that phrase means … if they even know.
The issue is about critical analysis … it’s about thinking, questioning and challenging assumptions. It’s about using knowledge, experience and being curious.
In a process-driven world, critical analysis is not in style … it’s not vogue … these days. It’s seldom taught in universities. It’s no longer a component in business, overshadowed by the insane drive to generate oft-times outrageous profits.
I have written about the lack of critical analysis in the public relations industry which would more effectively solve client issues in today’s challenging online digital revolution. Fewer people are thinking and analyzing. They’re just doing process tasks, driven by PR corporate obsessions to boost hourly billings to the max while delivering the least amount of work. Not surprising that results, if any, are marginal and often unimaginative.
In today’s digital era, the public relations industry is quickly making itself obsolete by desperately clinging to old ways, outdated methods. Most of their energy is spent chasing quarterly numbers over the needs of clients. Fewer and fewer in PR are actually connecting the dots … and thinking. Not unlike, I suppose, what’s happening in government.
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Critical analysis is far from dead in industry, it’s just buried under a pile of political correctness.
Jack,
Appreciate the comment and hope you will expand on this most interesting issue.
David
Would you say that the lack of critical analysis is a symptom or a result of the widespread laziness that affects America? Or is this apathy a result of the acceptance of youthful impatience as the standard for getting things done?
It seems that businesses in this day are only focused on the bottom line and have completely lost sight of other important factors like building trust with their customer base.
My opinion is that America, Europe and the nations that are becoming more industrialized are leaning more and more toward an unorderly, “git-er-done,” lifestyle that leaves no room for strategic thinking and no thought for the future.
That’s fabulous for business owners who can survive such a Darwinian environment, but it unfortunately trickles into every aspect of culture, like connecting the dots in organizations responsible for our welfare. But that excuse feels like such a smoke screen, it is hard to tell what the truth really is, were there political motivations involved? It’s a possibility.