The Past Shapes the Present

Perspective. The ability to see things in context, to discern patterns, to gain keener insight and clearer vision.

Last week we talked about why perspective matters so much. Without perspective, we can misdiagnose the situation. Without perspective, we fail to understand what needs to change or fully appreciate what it will take to accomplish necessary change.

Without perspective, we cannot fully understand where we are or where we need to go. In other newsletters, we’ve discussed the importance of “peripheral vision” - the ability to look around. Peripheral vision is crucial to perspective. Crucial as well, is the willingness to see what came before. The past matters if we want to chart our future.

Intuitively, we all know that our personal or family past impacts our present behavior and therefore our future outcomes. This is why we want to know “where we come from.” It’s why when families gather, they talk through their history together. It’s why therapists and mental health counselors encourage their clients to face their pasts. It’s why genealogy websites and apps like 23andMe are so popular. We know our personal history matters deeply to the here and now and, therefore, to what comes next.

A wise leader knows that the history of a team or an organization matters as well. If an organization has historically rewarded the avoidance of risk, then innovation will be doubly difficult. If individuals on a team have a history of taking orders from a controlling boss, building a cohesive, confident team under a new leader will be more challenging.

Sometimes inexplicable behavior is easily understood in the context of history. Why were donuts so meaningful at HP? Because the original founders, Bill and Dave, used to bring donuts to work. Yes, that was decades ago, but donuts were long after associated with the original HP, founded in a garage. When culture change was clearly required at HP, we looked to the past for inspiration. We remembered what the original HP Way was, long ago in that garage and with those donuts. We stripped away all the calcified bureaucratic processes that had been accumulated along the way - and that, over time, had become impediments to progress.

Whether it’s a family or an organization, the past is sometimes a hurdle that must be overcome, and sometimes a catalyst to move forward. Whatever impact the past has, however, it’s vital to understand it and deal with it. Ignorance of the past has consequences - in the present and the future.

The history of communities and countries impacts present behavior as well. Why did European governments and populations suddenly and strongly rally around Ukraine, and continue to do so, even in the face of mounting costs and hardships to themselves? Because history had taught them the dangers of failing to confront an invasion of one country by another. Why are voting laws such a flash point in this country? Because voting laws and practices have in the past been used to disenfranchise certain voters. Why is there such anxiety about Taiwan? Because the world has observed how China absorbed Hong Kong. Despite promises of “one nation, two systems,” it’s now “one nation, one system.”

As we have said so often in this newsletter, leaders change the order of things for the better. Leaders solve problems. Leaders make progress. And leaders are more effective at all these things if they understand the present situation clearly. You cannot understand the present clearly without knowing how you got here. And if you don’t know how you got here, it’s hard to know the best way forward.

History isn’t just an academic subject. It’s not abstract and distant. History echoes across time and plays out in the present. History matters and is vital to gaining the necessary perspective. To understand ourselves and our circumstances, we must look to the past. Here in the US, we are engaged in many debates. Some are particularly rancorous and Americans worry that we are more divided than ever. Both company executives and employees tell me that even conversation at work has gotten difficult, just as it is in the public square. In truth, none of our present debates are new, and we have always been a fractious nation, deeply divided across the same familiar lines. At a time when civil discourse seems both more important and more difficult than ever, I believe our history offers us some critical lessons about how to move forward. Expect history to be a frequent subject of these newsletters.