How many times have you read an article or heard a speech that starts with, “the problem is”?
One of our BIG problems is that the landscape is littered with people who just say, “the problem is”. Furthermore, the s0-called problem is often described as a crisis like yelling fire in a crowded theatre even though the speaker wouldn’t know how to put out the fire (if there was one) to begin with.
Many of these sooth-sayers have an all too common affliction called “PhDism”. An arcane highly specialized degree in gothic romance novels or the sex life of a Malaysian tree frog (or even neurosurgery) catapults them to positions of power and influence in media and government and somehow confers knowledge about almost every societal issue from immigration to climate change. Maybe Malaysian tree frogs migrate or their climate is changing.
The other “problem is” group just screams crisis for almost every issue. These folks (usually politicians) almost never take a side or offer solutions (even if there was such a thing for highly polarized issues) in attempt to galvanize every group imaginable and not alienate any group. They just say “we must reform, we must put an end to” this or that and stop there.
The next time someone leads with the, “problem is”, you might want to stop right there.
Where are leaders that start with, “wow, I’m not sure, this is a tough one, anyway we go someone will be unhappy, someone gets hurt”.