“Just because a page is torn off the calendar does not mean that unit of time has ceased to exist.”
-Edwin Friedman, A Failure of Nerve:Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix
Here’s another quote from A Failure of Nerve that connects well with something that I’ve been thinking a lot about lately – time. Specifically I have been thinking about the past, and the way the past connects with the present and the future.
I’ve been having some leadership development conversations focused on character formation and the role of the past in sanctification and development. Friedman here is getting at one of the dynamics I’ve been having some conversations about.
The past has not just “caused” the present, it in some very real ways is “in” the present. Many people want to respect the causal nature of the past, but then set up a mental block when it comes to acknowledging the ongoing effects of the past in how we go about our business – as leaders, as people. The past has contributed to our identities, but is also very much a part of our identity too. In fact it will also be a part of our identity in the future.
There are those out there that like to quote verses (i.e. Phil 3) about letting the past go and moving forward. While we should not be trapped in the past, we have to attend to it to be free to move forward with integrity. For our history will show up in our present and future. The question really is how will it shape our future.Friedman has some really great insights on some of these things and dynamics as the way in which we are connected to our past is in our own emotional processes and the way we function in the various systems we are members of.
What I like about this quote is it represents a different and even corrective approach to time – one that I believe is more consistent with what we know about people and even from what the Bible speaks to about growth and maturity and sanctification. There are far too many that either get trapped in the past as victims or refuse to look at the past because they fear the pain of opening doors that they would prefer to keep closed. The former is all about passivity and lack of responsibility while the latter is just a failure of honesty…and what Friedman would call “A Failure of Nerve.”
