Managing the Work Avoidance

Congress is in the middle of passing its latest bailout package. Watching their process is so hard. We are only a few days into President Obama's term and we are seeing quickly the limited reach he has to lead from the front. His mandate from the people doesn't have enough currency to effect congressional behavior. By many accounts, this 825 billion dollar package is not finally tuned to address the needs of the moment. Rather it represents an amalgamation of special local politcal projects that are more about paving the way for congressional re-elections then the good of the order today.

In effect Congress in passing this package, has effectively avoided the real work by reverting to the customs and practices of old. Today a reporter on NPR's Morning Edition said that after President Obama visited the congress to get both bi-partisian support and a more specific focus on the spending, he was over-heard to say "Old habits die hard."

I believe it is this work of changing old habits that will be President Obama's biggest challenge and his hardest work. And it looks like it starts just up the street with his former collegues in Congress. When a leader is unable to solve a problem on his or her own using proven strategies, it's a clear indication that the problem is wicked in nature. The common strategy that followers employ when facing a difficult situation is to avoid the issue and return to old work using old strategies.

Solving the financial crisis is a true wicked problem and it will require more and different approaches then have been used in the past. Most of these different approaches are unknown and have not yet been created. Mr. Obama's challenge is to wake congress up to the difficult reality they face now and do the hard work of inventing new solutions to a new kind of problem. If he is not able to do that, he will fall victim to the congressional strategy (which is implied and never spoken) of seducing the President with his own power-of-the-presidency and effectively give back to him the problem they were elected to solve.

As of today it looks as if Congress is leading this dance. Leadership in turbulant times is difficult.