Four careers over 50+ years. USMC, engineering, consulting, education. Past twenty years have focused on helping leaders become and remain relevant during times of change.
MindPrep Reflection: Killer Fog
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Reader, In December 1952, London disappeared. A temperature inversion trapped coal smoke over the city and visibility dropped to feet. Smog wasn’t new and “dirty air” was so normal that people had adapted to it. London relied heavily on coal for a long time. They needed it for home heating, power generation, and industrial operations. And because of the cold, residents were burning more coal to stay warm However, the coal used was high in sulfur and when burned, it produced:
The temperature inversion trapped the smog near the ground and within days, thousands were dead. No one labeled it catastrophic until it was. Here’s the lesson: Gradual harm hides inside accepted norms. What have we normalized that is hiding future problems? Water use in the west? Credit card use? Social media toxicity? The next crisis may already be visible. It just looks familiar. By the way, I'm going to use more stories and examples in future issues. TJ tells me that I've become too "teachy." Bill Learn from the past, deal with the present, and intercept the future. |
Bill @ MindPrep
Four careers over 50+ years. USMC, engineering, consulting, education. Past twenty years have focused on helping leaders become and remain relevant during times of change.
Reader, My beta readers for Navigating a Wicked World have given me plenty of solid feedback, so I’m busy with “the book.” This week’s Reflection is short and sweet (I hope). Many of you know that I use the example of a radar screen in my workshops and ask participants to consider what’s on the edge. Here are a few things that I’ve noticed this week and want to bring to your attention. Remember 2008? Mortgage and banking systems got in a lot of trouble due to their “financial engineering.”...
Reader, Here are a few stories from yesterday and today that may apply to tomorrow. Me and my slide rule After my “military sabbatical” in the mid-1960s I returned to the college campus to finish my education. I decided to study engineering and was on campus when TI, Casio, and HP introduced calculators. A big question at the time was “Is using a calculator rather than a slide rule a form of cheating?” Well, no. But yes. Regarding exams, it was simply a tool that made precisions calculations...
Reader, I was on a call Friday with a financial analyst, and we spent a bit of time wondering about the similarities of the 1929 Market Crash and the probability of a recession in 2026. Certainly, the specifics are different, but are there some similarities? Yes. That conversation got me thinking about bad and good surprises over the last 100 years that, just maybe, should not have been so surprising. Here are a few for your consideration. Stories of Surprises 1929 Market Crash: A LOT of...