Ending Fatalism by Peter Senge (Felice Physioc, Journalist WOBI.com)

Bailouts, energy crises, civil wars, global warming, the climate crisis, the Euro crisis: when you take a step back and look at the big picture of what is going on in the world it can sometimes seem pretty grim. Will Greece leave the Eurozone? Will Spain’s bailout work, or will they follow? What will be the consequences for the rest of the world? How will the Arab Spring effect geopolitics in the Middle East, as well as the world’s access to oil?

As I sit at my desk pondering these questions, it’s easy to feel that there is nothing, not an absolute thing I could do to help change the seemingly bleak outlook of any these scenarios. There is evidence that this “fatalism” is becoming an epidemic, that to a greater or lesser extent it is slowly infiltrating the minds of the majority of us.

So what is the impact of this creeping fatalism? We become complacent. We complain but we see no point of action. We don’t see the possibility of change, and we certainly don’t expect ourselves to be the drivers of that change…that would be impossible!

So what CAN be done to reverse this impeding sense of doom and inefficacy? According to Peter Senge, Senior Lecturer in Leadership and Sustainability at the MIT Sloan School of Management, the answer lies in developing an essential leadership characteristic: the capacity to make people believe they can change their future and that it is possible to alter the reality of today’s society. Senge’s involvement over the years in various organizations that have aimed to turn around seemingly hopeless situations demonstrates the importance of breaking the cycle of fatalism.

One such example is Roca, an organization composed mainly of former gang members who are recruited off the streets and in turn work with others on the streets to help them escape gang life. The group uses a model adapted from a Native American tribe, the Tlingit Indians in the Yukon, to form what they call “Peacekeeping Circles”. The organization demonstrates how involving people and empowering them to change their communities can disprove the fatalistic view that we can’t turn around inner-city violence.

Another example: how can we make sustainable food a part of the mainstream production system? The Global Sustainable Food Labs has grown over the past nine years to involve from 60 to 70 organizations, including some of the largest NGOs in the world, working together to create sustainable agricultural systems. The lab creates partnerships and helps manage projects that link small local farmers to big, global grocers such as Unilever to create new business models.

Senge quotes another Lecturer at MIT, Otto Scharmer, to sum up the principles behind these changes: “Fundamental changes always emerge from the periphery; they don’t emerge from the center.” Look away from the centers of power to see where change is and could occur. Senge suggests observing first; discover the problems and what is emerging from them, then leverage and disseminate the solution. In our video of the day, Senge discusses the concept of the cycle of fatalism, as well as gives more examples.