The elephant in the room

There is an elephant in the room today.

There is no point in talking about anything else today, when all anyone can see is the elephant.

Soon, people will start blaming nearly everything on the elephant, or alternatively, giving it credit for nearly everything. This is a mistake. A lot what happens next has been set up by the actions of the whole menagerie in the years that preceded it. A lot will not be the responsibility of the elephant. Still, this is what we do.

This elephant was here once before. That coincided with a lot of problems. Then the elephant stomped off. The problems didn’t disappear. Now the elephant is back.

As a result, we think we know how to live with the elephant. But this isn’t the same elephant, or the same room, or the same set of problems as last time. We are not the same, either.

Eventually, people will start to see the elephant’s presence as a natural part of the room. That, too, is a mistake. The elephant was out of place to begin with, it doesn’t necessarily have to be part of the way we see everything.

The elephant is here.

The problems are still here.

We are still here.

How we feel about the elephant is, ultimately, distracting.

It matters how we deal with the problems the elephant causes.

It also matters how we solve all the other problems while the elephant is here.

Strategy matters. Problem-solving matters. Positioning matters.

Do something. It’s a lot better than doing nothing.

But I’d wait a day if I were you. Because today, right now, the elephant in the room is distracting everyone.