Getting Past Two-Alternative Thinking
I am a big fan of Dr. Stephen R Covey. He had deeply influenced my character and leadership style.
Dr. Covey has recently released a new book that is very powerful and a “must read”. It is titled:
The Third Alternative: Solving Life’s Most Difficult Problems
Over the years Dr. Covey has inspired me to move past the traditional two-alternative thinking and look at problems differently. He pushed me into the third alternative. As a result, I was able to contribute to his newest book.
The third alternative is basically the fruit of synergy, where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
Within this book is a chapter titled “The Third Alternative and Society and a section called “The End of Crime”.
And here is where we explore the magic around Ending Crime… Yes – ending crime!
Two alternative thinking that is either “tough on crime” or “soft on crime”.
The Third Alternative is the whole continuum – think of a river with a waterfall at the end – you have upstream, midstream and downstream.
Using this analogy – Downstream would be reactive, post incident corrective; Upstream would be front-end prevention; But, what about the middle? The middle – Think about it… What can we do there?
I love this saying by Henry David Thoreau, “There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.”
With this insight, Thoreau captured the consequences of Two-Alternative thinking.
Those who are “tough on crime” are satisfied with hacking at the branches. Those who are “soft on crime” are too often guilty of ignoring the branches. They insist nothing can be done until we get to the roots and solve the great social problems that generate crime.
But if Thoreau were pressed, I think he would agree that the branches need attention, too.
In essence, The End of Crime shares examples of where we applied third alternative thinking to come up with smarter ways to pro-act, interact and react to societies problems, and leadership challenges.
The exciting aspect is – the same approach works for business and organizations too. Business is business, whether you’re into policing or selling a service or product.
Go For the Third!
