Frustration is the mother of invention

I finally became so upset and disgusted with the situation, that it consumed me. I couldn't focus on anything else. No solution that I had ever read about or conceived of could change the motives or behavior of the two powerful political parties, their pundits, or the partisan media. I repeatedly thought, "How could there be a solution? The situation is just so complex and it feels hopeless. How could this hateful propaganda trend ever be reversed when it is so profitable for the parties and the media?" It seemed so easy to control people's thought processes through fear and propaganda. If it is so easy, how could we have hope that any sort of common sense would ever be part of the political process?

Fixing the process

As disheartened and dejected as I was, it’s never been my nature to simply accept defeat and to walk away from a problem. I wasn't limited or powerless. In my 45-year career, I had solved many enormous, complex problems for the military and for Fortune 100 companies and other large corporations. As a business management consultant, a software designer, and as the head of innovation for four large corporations, fixing processes was my super power. I had the skills along with time-tested methods and tools. To be honest, I've never been able to resist the largest and most difficult challenges. And so, I selected the appropriate problem-solving method for this type of problem and started at Step 1.

Basic method for fixing a process

Step 1 – Define the problem and determine its root cause

The first step is to define the problem that you intend to solve. I define our political divide problem like this.

The political parties have adopted extremely different ideologies. Media companies pander to their partisan audiences, giving them information that confirms their biased beliefs. Each party and their partisan media vilify and ridicule the other party and its politicians through negative propaganda that persuades followers that the other party is the cause of all of our problems. Our society is divided and paralyzed by escalating fear, bias, and hatred.

In the next few chapters, I will dig deeply into this problem beginning with its root cause. Without understanding the root cause, a problem can be difficult if not impossible to solve. However, once the root cause is understood, the solution is often easy to develop. Reviewing how the problem occurred can help us to further understand it and to error-proof our solution so the problem doesn't repeat. Using our research, we can then develop a list of requirements that would help us to recognize a satisfactory solution.

Step 2 – Explore if a solution already exists

Once we have solution requirements, we can look around the world to see if any answers currently exist that would help.

Step 3 – Create the solution

At that point, we will be prepared to choose an existing solution or to invent a new one using what we’ve learned, error proofing it where possible. We can then pilot test our solution and create a realistic implementation plan that is easy to support and to fund.

More than just an idea

As you can see, the purpose of this book isn't to express my opinion or to persuade you to change your belief system or your political ideology. Rather, this is a "how to" manual to help us improve our government's processes as a practical solution to the political divide that many are predicting will "destroy democracy." A solution isn't really a solution if it can't be realistically implemented with sufficient support. Therefore, I've included an implementation plan as the last chapter.

Comprehensive solutions such as this are best conveyed by chunking them down into digestible pieces and communicating them in the right sequence. As a "how to" manual, each chapter builds on the previous chapter to cultivate an incremental understanding of the problem and the solution. Therefore, reading each chapter in sequence will give the best results.