Jennifer and I have been here in the UK, with a short few days in Paris, for two weeks now and the constant talk in the news about the financial crisis in Europe is almost overwhelming.  Add to that the abysmal news out of Israel regarding settlements, and other goings on in the Middle East, as well as the basket case called the United States, it is easy to believe the world is coming to an end.

It prompts me to ask – Where are the great thinkers today?  It is pretty clear they aren’t leading countries, or corporations, or education systems, or public service operations.  So where are they?

I recall the different sort of crisis Western countries found themselves in in the 1970s and 80s, and the work of my mentor Dr W Edwards Deming, and his great book ‘Out of the Crisis’.  In this he shared his 14 Points for change that created the Japanese powerhouse of those years, and once countries like the USA and Australia adopted his Continuous Improvement approaches, they to were able to raise their standards to survive.  Read my article on Deming’s 14 Points if you are interested.

While today’s challenges are clearly huge, where will we find the answers?  Leaders of major countries continue to follow the same flawed path that created the problems, and business, particularly the banks, seems to be exploiting things even more than they ever did.  Organisations like the IMF, World Bank, Reserve Banks, NATO and the United Nations are playing their own games to continue the destruction, and in nothing I’ve seen has there been anyone in power saying much that helps.

I wish I had some answers, but the questions are bigger than me.  I am however optimistic that there are some great thinkers out there, and that if they could collaborate (which is the hard part) we will find some solutions.  Let me know if you know who they are, and if you have some answers please find ways to share them.  All the very best.