The value of crisis

Occasionally I get together with a colleague and friend of mine, John Creighton, to talk about topics like community, change, schools, libraries and social networking, among other things. I am also fortunate to sit on a Colorado State Library advisory council, discussing the future of libraries, in Colorado and beyond. And, as you likely know, I'm also involved with the Special Libraries Association (SLA).

In my conversations with John and with the council, the topic of crisis continues to come up, in one way or another. In some ways, the conversation around the future of libraries is spurred by crisis. SLA, like many associations, is dealing with crises of revenue, membership and sustainability. The budget discussions for Colorado schools is framed by crisis. The economy in general is in a state of ongoing crisis, it seems.

I think that as a society, we'd rather not have crisis. The passing of regulation and legislation is an attempt to control crisis, and reasonably so. We can't live long in chaos. Prolonged crisis takes its toll on us as individuals and as a society.

But the value of crisis is that it is a catalyst, as reflected in SLA CEO Janice's speech at SLA. Despite the harsh nature of crisis - and our prolonged struggles to avoid it - it is through crisis that we become our most flexible and our most creative. Only in crisis are we able to let go of the old things that we need to let go of, and embrace the new things that we need to pursue in order to move forward. 

You can see this in many contexts: in the economy, in our myriad budget struggles, in the reduction of resources, in natural disasters: fire, flood, earthquakes. In our personal lives, we have crises: the loss of loved ones, addiction, sudden changes in our circumstances.

Crisis is, by its nature, devastating. It is shocking. It is difficult to comprehend. We often can't see how we're going to move through it. And when we shake off the initial shock, it refocuses our priorities on what is important now.

Crisis, navigated successfully and as thoughtfully as possible, brings forth our strengths and our resourcefulness. It brings us back to our connections with others - those we know and love, and those we didn't know, but who help us nonetheless. Ultimately, crisis renews us. 

Whatever the context - SLA, libraries, schools, economy, personally - once we've recognized the magnitude of the crisis, let's not get stuck in the crisis itself. Let us recognize the losses, and what we must face, and then look for the opportunities that await us.

Comments

[Scott Brown]

Great example, thanks Matt! The idea of catalysts, I think, captures the idea of renewing change. Maybe the next step in this train of thought is that catalysts are embedded in all crises.

[Matthew Artz]

I completely agree, though I would say crisis could also be catalyst. For example, I'm moving to Finland. It's not a crisis per se - we're not losing our home, it's actually financially beneficial, etc. - but it's definitely a catalyst, presenting us with a reason/excuse/justification for making significant changes to what we own and how we behave. We've been having discussions about our values and beliefs, and identifying areas where we fail to adhere to them, but it wasn't until we were presented with a crisis/catalyst that we were able to address those gaps and work toward bringing our behaviors into line with our beliefs.