At present, MPOW appears to be retreating from what is arguably its most forward-looking project, a major collaborative enterprise that won’t start to bear fruit for any of the participants until a couple of years down the road. Although we contributed a fairly large sum to participate in the project, I thought we all understood from the outset that we were embarking on a daring experiment, not buying a turnkey system. Lately, though, it seems like we are much more interested in articulating the reasons why the project won’t succeed than doing what we can to ensure that it will. This is personally embarrassing to me and also, IMHO, a bad strategic position for MPOW.
I’m not generally a faith-based person, but my recent foray into strategery has taught me that sometimes we have to believe in something to make it real. I’m completely in favor of debate, discussion, and inquiry, but if the bottom line is that we just don’t believe in the outcome then skepticism doesn’t serve any constructive purpose – it just becomes a polite, faux-academic way of tearing down something we didn’t really want to do anyway. It appears that MPOW is having a crisis of belief at every level these days, and it’s starting to take a toll on those who are committed to and excited about change.
But it’s not all gloom and doom. My most treasured project just got a green light, and although I know it will unfold more slowly and cautiously than it should, it will ultimately go forward because it must.
