How Ignoring Reality Leads to Disaster

People have an amazing ability to willingly "suspend disbelief" when they choose to. That's how we manage to enjoy so many things that, in reality, don't make sense. Fantasy books, sci-fi movies, and those awesome Geico commercials come to mind. The same goes for so-called "reality" TV shows like Jersey Shore which, ironically, have absolutely nothing to do with reality.

But hey, whatever floats your boat, right? Right, as long as we're talking about things that aren't real. But when we suspend disbelief in stuff that really matters, that's when the trouble starts. And not surprisingly, that's when we get into big messes like the dot-com bubble, the financial crisis, and the Gulf oil spill, to name a few.

Here are 10 examples of how we - leaders, executives, directors, managers, everyone - ignore reality to our own detriment. I guarantee that every one of you has fallen victim to one or two. And make no mistake; it's no different than believing in magic or superstition. It's surprising, given the supposedly enlightened era we live in.

1. Bubbles. Infinite demand for Internet infrastructure and the never-ending dot-com boom. And everyone can and should own a home whether they can afford one or not. Call it irrational exuberance, social engineering, or anything you want, but it amounts to throwing trillions of dollars at something that's completely illogical. What's next?
2. Delusional executives, greedy bankers, and investors who buy it all, hook line and sinker. Enron's mark-to-market accounting that allowed the company to book "potential" profits. And how about the whole idea that Bernie Ebbers, a milk-man and gym teacher, could somehow build telecom behemoth WorldCom out of nothing. And no, Sarbanes Oxley won't stop the same thing from happening again.
3. Barack Obama's promises to change Washington. Yes, an awful lot of people fell for that one, but let's be honest with ourselves, did it ever really make any sense? No. Everyone was just so sick of "politics as usual" that they would have voted for anyone who promised change, no matter how implausible.
4. America's problem with obesity. We have more diets, pills, cures, and gym memberships than ever, but nobody's getting any thinner. Now we have governments legislating what we can and can't eat. And somehow, with each new fad, millions of people think "That's the one that'll work."
5. Meg Whitman's promises to fix California. Everyone in California knows that the state legislature is fatally flawed and no governor has the power to change it short of a constitutional convention. Period.
6. Books and blogs that will make workplace a**holes and bad bosses go away. This whole concept is so obviously flawed it's ludicrous. In life, society, families, friendships, and yes, even in the workplace, there are jerks, dysfunctional people, and bad people, as subjective as those concepts are. Next stop, Utopia.
7. America's obsession with self-help books, alternative medicine, homeopathic remedies and supplements, miracle cures, vaccines that cause autism because an actor said so, male enhancement products, cancer-causing WiFi, I can go on and on.
8. Oil spills. Why are we so shocked and disillusioned every time there's a tragic oil spill? Whether it's a tanker, a deepwater rig, or some other catastrophe, some executives will always think, "It'll never happen to us." People make mistakes, companies cut corners, accidents happen, and it'll always be easier to fix than prevent.
9. Megamergers, LBOs, and other dopey business deals. Did anyone except the bankers really think the AOL Time-Warner merger made any sense at the time? How about the current buzz about AOL acquiring Yahoo? But that won't stop them. Then there was Spectrum Brands' (Rayovac) crazy attempt to become the next Procter & Gamble. And how can we ignore the big three automaker's unsustainable deals with the UAW. There are hundreds of others.
10. Global Warming and other environmental causes. People (and governments) have a long history of fixating on environmental problems, overreaching, and creating even worse problems. As for climate change, the only thing that's certain is that it's not at all clear what's happening, what's causing it, and what we should or shouldn't be doing about it. Also that Al Gore's making a boatload of dough on it.

Image CC 2.0 via Flickr user Jar0d