The Reluctance of Our Leadership to Change

Nipawin - November 29, 2000 - by: Mario deSatnis

I feel hurt
Recently, I have been thinking about the possible vested interest Premier Jean Chretien could

have had when he personally contacted the president of the Business Development Bank of

Canada (BDC) for the granting of a loan to his friend Mr. Yvon Duhaime⁽¹⁾. I must say that

I don't find much pleasure in digging out the corrupted behaviour of our leaders; rather,

as I write about their failures to serve the people and their success in helping themselves

and their friends.

express our opinions
Monday night's results of the election is another evidence of the state of decadence of our

leadership⁽²⁾ and of our division among every boundary, of geography, of language, of

culture, of religion. While in the US there is the so called democratic fight between the

''machinary of law' of George Bush and the 'every vote counts' of Al Gore, we experience the

ultimate expression of democracy, that is the division among people. However, we have been

always of the opinion that democracy starts with the individual and the related opportunity to

express ourselves publicly, and therefore, even though we are disappointed about the state of

our democracy, we can still somehow express our opinions and imagine that we can still make

a difference.

entrenched
We must make a difference, after all we are all different ourselves, and as a consequence we

have to celebrate our differences with our emotions at work, at home, in our communities. But

more and more I realize how entrenched, homogeneous, colorless and backward is the

mentality of our leadership.

superiority of research
Few days ago, Timothy Shire wrote the article "iVisit" and he showed us how new

technologies are helping us to shape a new world of networking communication where

we meet and see people of different countries, of different language, of different culture

and of different religion⁽³⁾. The common denominator of this worlwide opportunity to

visit each other is our humaness⁽⁴⁾, yet we still have leaders hailing the superiority of the

machine over people and the superiority of research over the education of people.

right place at the right time
So, for instance, we have Pat Atkinson, Minister of Health, who conceptualizes health care

as a machine to be fixed⁽⁵⁾. In the past, Pat Atkinson allocated specific funds for the purpose

to alleviate waiting lines for surgery, however such waiting lines have increased. Pat Atkinson

is now fixing this problem by the development of a provincial waiting list database to assess

how long people currently wait for care. She says "It's having the right people provide the

right service at the right place at the right time."

mechanistic mentality
Poor Pat Atkinson, this obsolete conception of having the right people provide the right

service at the right place at the right time is a reflection of her mechanistic and narrow

mentality. This is the same mechanistic mentality which supported the development of the

Saskatchewan Health Information Network (SHIN) and the consequential waste of dozens

and dozens of millions of dollars. In fact, SHIN was supposed to provide "the right

information at the right time at the right place."

humaness
Today, the problem is not in providing the right information at the right time at the right

place⁽⁶⁾. Today the problem in health care is the lack of conversation among the people, the

kind of clear conversations⁽⁷⁾ where we express our humaness and share and leverage our

knowledge; rather than impose our autocratic hierarchical power, impose our superior selected

knowledge, and control the success of the deviant studies of our researches.

abysmal disaster
Our concentrated health researches have been an abysmal disaster⁽⁸⁾, yet Pat Atkinson is

allocating more money for research for the simple reason to keep qualified health

professional in the province. She has stated "We have to have the facilities, we have to

have the scientists and we have to have the researchers."

shared vision
Journalists, academicians, doctors and health professionals have all spoken against the

Fyke's Commission on Medicare⁽⁹⁾, yet Pat Atkinson states that Fyke's report will help

the government to develop a common vision. Ken Fyke mailed some 400,000 questionnaires

to all Saskatchewan households and he hopes to come up with a shared vision by the

assemblage of the related responses. I mean, rather than spending millions of dollars for Ken

Fyke's Commission, why don't we recycle Louise Simard's 'A Saskatchewan Vision for Health',

after all, our former minister of health Louise Simard is the current Chief Executive Officer of

the Saskatchewan Association of Health Organizations⁽¹⁰⁾ (SAHO).

democratic beginning
Readers, you must tell me where is any creativity, any vibrant character, any humaness, any

common sense in our governments, our bureaucracies, and our businesses. We have been

left alone to express our individual voices, and we will start all over again to build a new

democratic beginning. Let us imagine changes, because it is with dreams that we realize

ourselves.

-----------References/endnotes:

List of relevant political and economics articles http://www.ftlcomm.com/ensign

1.
-
Prime Minister Jean Chretien: coping with his rules of ethics and his no-fault government, by Mario deSantis, November 24, 2000

2.
Canada isn't ready for change, Ted Byfield, November 28, 2000, National Post

3.
iVisit, by Timothy Shire, November 26, 2000

4.
-
The Cluetrain Manifesto: The End of Business as Usual, by Levine, Locke, Searls & Weinberger, 1999

5.
-
Money alone won't rescue health care: Atkinson, by Kim Mannix, November 27, 2000, The StarPhoenix, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

6.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Knowledge Management and Virtual Organizations, by Yogesh Malhotra (Editor), April 1, 2000. An excerpt: Myth 1: Knowledge management technologies can deliver the right information to the right person at the right time. This idea applies to an outdated business model. Information systems in the old industrial model mirror the notion that businesses will change incrementally in an inherently stable market, and executives can foresee change by examining the past. The new business model of the Information Age, however, is marked by fundamental, not incremental, change. Businesses can't plan long-term; instead, they must shift to a more flexible "anticipation-of-surprise" model. Thus, it's impossible to build a system that predicts who the right person at the right time even is, let alone what constitutes the right information. http://www.brint.com/kmbook/kmvoexce.htm

7.
The Simplicity Manifesto, by Bill Jensen

8.
HSURC Commission: Another Study, Another Dump, by Mario deSantis, November 2, 2000

9.
-
Fyke's Medicare Survey and the Psychology of Influencing People, by Mario deSantis, October 27, 2000

10.
Louise Simard is the New CEO for SAHO, by Mario deSantis, March 14, 2000


Nipawin - November 29, 2000 - by: Mario deSatnis

I feel hurt	Recently, I have been thinking about the possible vested interest Premier Jean Chretien could
	have had when he personally contacted the president of the Business Development Bank of
	Canada (BDC) for the granting of a loan to his friend Mr. Yvon Duhaime⁽¹⁾. I must say that
	I don't find much pleasure in digging out the corrupted behaviour of our leaders; rather,
	as I write about their failures to serve the people and their success in helping themselves
	and their friends.

express our opinions	Monday night's results of the election is another evidence of the state of decadence of our
	leadership⁽²⁾ and of our division among every boundary, of geography, of language, of
	culture, of religion. While in the US there is the so called democratic fight between the
	''machinary of law' of George Bush and the 'every vote counts' of Al Gore, we experience the
	ultimate expression of democracy, that is the division among people. However, we have been
	always of the opinion that democracy starts with the individual and the related opportunity to
	express ourselves publicly, and therefore, even though we are disappointed about the state of
	our democracy, we can still somehow express our opinions and imagine that we can still make
	a difference.

entrenched	We must make a difference, after all we are all different ourselves, and as a consequence we
	have to celebrate our differences with our emotions at work, at home, in our communities. But
	more and more I realize how entrenched, homogeneous, colorless and backward is the
	mentality of our leadership.

superiority of research	Few days ago, Timothy Shire wrote the article "iVisit" and he showed us how new
	technologies are helping us to shape a new world of networking communication where
	we meet and see people of different countries, of different language, of different culture
	and of different religion⁽³⁾. The common denominator of this worlwide opportunity to
	visit each other is our humaness⁽⁴⁾, yet we still have leaders hailing the superiority of the
	machine over people and the superiority of research over the education of people.

*right place at the right time*	So, for instance, we have Pat Atkinson, Minister of Health, who conceptualizes health care
	as a machine to be fixed⁽⁵⁾. In the past, Pat Atkinson allocated specific funds for the purpose
	to alleviate waiting lines for surgery, however such waiting lines have increased. Pat Atkinson
	is now fixing this problem by the development of a provincial waiting list database to assess
	how long people currently wait for care. She says "It's having the right people provide the
	right service at the right place at the right time."

mechanistic mentality	Poor Pat Atkinson, this obsolete conception of having the right people provide the right
	service at the right place at the right time is a reflection of her mechanistic and narrow
	mentality. This is the same mechanistic mentality which supported the development of the
	Saskatchewan Health Information Network (SHIN) and the consequential waste of dozens
	and dozens of millions of dollars. In fact, SHIN was supposed to provide "the right
	information at the right time at the right place."

humaness	Today, the problem is not in providing the right information at the right time at the right
	place⁽⁶⁾. Today the problem in health care is the lack of conversation among the people, the
	kind of clear conversations⁽⁷⁾ where we express our humaness and share and leverage our
	knowledge; rather than impose our autocratic hierarchical power, impose our superior selected
	knowledge, and control the success of the deviant studies of our researches.

abysmal disaster	Our concentrated health researches have been an abysmal disaster⁽⁸⁾, yet Pat Atkinson is
	allocating more money for research for the simple reason to keep qualified health
	professional in the province. She has stated "We have to have the facilities, we have to
	have the scientists and we have to have the researchers."

shared vision	Journalists, academicians, doctors and health professionals have all spoken against the
	Fyke's Commission on Medicare⁽⁹⁾, yet Pat Atkinson states that Fyke's report will help
	the government to develop a common vision. Ken Fyke mailed some 400,000 questionnaires
	to all Saskatchewan households and he hopes to come up with a shared vision by the
	assemblage of the related responses. I mean, rather than spending millions of dollars for Ken
	Fyke's Commission, why don't we recycle Louise Simard's 'A Saskatchewan Vision for Health',
	after all, our former minister of health Louise Simard is the current Chief Executive Officer of
	the Saskatchewan Association of Health Organizations⁽¹⁰⁾ (SAHO).

democratic beginning	Readers, you must tell me where is any creativity, any vibrant character, any humaness, any
	common sense in our governments, our bureaucracies, and our businesses. We have been
	left alone to express our individual voices, and we will start all over again to build a new
	democratic beginning. Let us imagine changes, because it is with dreams that we realize
	ourselves.

-----------References/endnotes:

	List of relevant political and economics articles http://www.ftlcomm.com/ensign

1. -	Prime Minister Jean Chretien: coping with his rules of ethics and his no-fault government, by Mario deSantis, November 24, 2000

2.	Canada isn't ready for change, Ted Byfield, November 28, 2000, National Post

3.	iVisit, by Timothy Shire, November 26, 2000

4. -	The Cluetrain Manifesto: The End of Business as Usual, by Levine, Locke, Searls & Weinberger, 1999

5. -	Money alone won't rescue health care: Atkinson, by Kim Mannix, November 27, 2000, The StarPhoenix, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

6. - - - - - - - - -	Knowledge Management and Virtual Organizations, by Yogesh Malhotra (Editor), April 1, 2000. An excerpt: Myth 1: Knowledge management technologies can deliver the right information to the right person at the right time. This idea applies to an outdated business model. Information systems in the old industrial model mirror the notion that businesses will change incrementally in an inherently stable market, and executives can foresee change by examining the past. The new business model of the Information Age, however, is marked by fundamental, not incremental, change. Businesses can't plan long-term; instead, they must shift to a more flexible "anticipation-of-surprise" model. Thus, it's impossible to build a system that predicts who the right person at the right time even is, let alone what constitutes the right information. http://www.brint.com/kmbook/kmvoexce.htm

7.	The Simplicity Manifesto, by Bill Jensen

8.	HSURC Commission: Another Study, Another Dump, by Mario deSantis, November 2, 2000

9. -	Fyke's Medicare Survey and the Psychology of Influencing People, by Mario deSantis, October 27, 2000

10.	Louise Simard is the New CEO for SAHO, by Mario deSantis, March 14, 2000