Y2K LESSONS LEARNED

LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE Y2K PREPARATION EFFORT

Compiled and edited by Kenton H Johnson, Littleton CO USA

People are wonderful, caring and willing to act on their convictions with little compensation, even if they are in a very small minority.

A small number of people can make a big difference.

Expect the unexpected, especially when you think you have things figured out -- Diane Squire

People prefer black and white to gray.

People who solve problems are heroes -- those who anticipate and prevent problems are not recognized -- Jan Nickerson

We do not see reality, we each create our own interpretation of what's real -- can we talk -- Meg Wheatley's Principles of Living Systems, via Gerry Kaufman

Anxiety over uncertainty generates denial -- Jan Nickerson

The threat of disaster impacted people on both conscious and subliminal levels around the planet -- The Dalai Lama

In a crisis, people display creativity and resourcefulness, learn and respond quickly -- especially given good information -- experiment constantly to find what works, are unified by shared purpose and meaning, want to help others, and exhibit leadership without being in the role -- Ray Pena

Emergency preparation is intelligent and prudent for the long term.

Self-sufficiency is empowering -- Kathy Garcia

Helping others gain self-sufficiency is very empowering. -- Leslie Varnicle

Community and neighborhood building have created more self-reliance and self-sufficiency, which must continue to protect ourselves from another potentially serious event -- Paloma O'Reilly

Telecommunications, just-in-time inventorying, and other high-tech systems have greatly increased our global interdependence, making our way of life far more fragile than we realized -- Barbara Blakely

High-tech places humanity at unnecessary risk without a low-tech support infrastructure -- Tom Osher

Get the facts firsthand -- don't trust everything you read/see in the news -- Jim Allen

Not understanding complex systems, the media and the public reduce observations into simplistic cause-and-effect explanations and polarize perspectives to the extremes -- Jan Nickerson

When you build the connections, the expertise will show up -- Critt Jarvis

The Internet, while a great new communication medium, can easily be misused by legitimizing rumor -- Barbara Blakely

When Senior Executives pay attention, provide support and monitor the progress of a software project, it is more successful -- Ed Yourdon.

Business and government short-sighted practices nearly caused or allowed local and possibly national disasters -- Paloma O'Reilly

Our governments operate on short-term economic criteria, not public safety -- Jan Nickerson

Some governments realize the tremendous resource that citizen volunteers can be to them and are willing to support our goals of being an effective help to our community -- Cindy Brown

There are many other lessons for industry, government and the media, including the Internet -- see my list -- Dick Mills

Copyright © 2000-2012, CompWellness Network, Fairfield NJ USA, Complementary Wellness, except for Meg Wheatley's and Jim Allen's Lessons, which are copyrighted separately. Permission granted for the other originators to freely use their Lessons.