Who cut down the last tree?

 

Easter Island is the true story  that Dr. Suess  might have based the book  'The Lorax' on. 

It was home  to a successful community for many generations. Over time,  the limited resources on this isolated island began to disappear until one day, 'chop!' the last tree went down.

Jared Diamond makes the story real in his brilliant   article  and   book  (thanks Seth Godin for linking this!).

The question we could  ask is: Who were the people that warned everyone about the pending crisis? 

Someone must have known about the potential danger, right? 

It's possible that the entire community was suffering from co-pilot  syndrome. It's the condition  where the co-pilot doesn't mention any potential danger to the flight crew  because he or she feels that speaking up might disrupt the deeply  taught culture of chain of command. Experienced pilots never make mistakes, especially obvious ones. Speaking up against  them could get you in big trouble.  So the co-pilot says nothing and the result can be disastrous.

Perhaps the community on Easter Island was based on this premise. Of course the leaders have a plan for the disappearing resources. Speaking out against the plan could get you banished and that's not a good place to be on an isolated Island in crisis.

Where in our culture do you see this type of behaviour?   Do you feel comfortable speaking up in a meeting if you're on of the junior team members? Do you automatically assume that experienced leaders  will always have it right? It sounds silly to think that way, but watch out, you might already be doing it. 

With a massive environmental catastrophe on the horizon, we can't wait to act. We need to speak up now.