Trains, Brains, and Timezones

As you know, I use stories to reflect and to encourage thought. My first years of teaching mathematics are to blame. The textbook I used for 6 years had a story to share as part of every lesson. At the end of the year many students would say something like, “I doubt I will remember all these math rules you taught, but I know your stories and the life-lessons you shared will stick with me.”

And off we go...Time zones were created in this country in 1883. Until then every city could set their time based on when the sun was at its zenith. Noon was different just a few miles away. This made sense when you lived in a world where it was a full day trip to go 10 miles and back, and you stayed near your home almost all the time. Then came the innovation of the train and the world was never the same (TrainAI?). With time being different in every town it was not possible to set a schedule for train arrivals and departures. ?The time for pulling off to the side of the tracks was locally set. The result? Collisions happened, people missed trains, connections between trains didn’t happen…It was a mess.

So, the train companies got together and created four time zones in 1883. In 1918 the US Federal Government gave the power to set time to the Interstate Commerce Commission, and five time zones were created just in time to deal with the crisis of World War I. Well, things get better, but the need for nationwide transport coordination became even greater after WWII. So, the department of transportation was created, and in 1966 (one year before your Cooperative was formed), they were given the power to require uniform adoption and observance of standardized time.

?It is hard to believe that time was such a barrier to success back then. It sure is now. How can we find time to do all we need to do? How can we ensure our projects are on schedule and critical tasks are completed (and documented)? We need to have a strong One Team mindset to get to the other side. Creating common approaches to support, consistent models of time and effort tracking in the journey of our shared work, and aligning our practices to a core set of protocols will create a space we can only envision today.

If we hold on to ’this is the way we do things’ individually we will be just like the trains trying to get to towns across the country on time in the 1800’s. It is hard to let go of the way we have always done things. Change is hard. But we are leaders (yes everyone is a leader) and leaders are change. It is our core purpose. We don’t just do what has always been done, we examine what is and find ways to improve practices. We look to a future state and find a way to navigate to it.?

After spending time in England during my doctoral studies I came home thinking the US railroad system was way behind the European system. Like almost all my perceptions, it turns out I was wrong. The US system is more than twice the size of all of Europe’s railroads combined. The US system transports over 3 times as much cargo per mile than trains in Europe. The US rail system is generally privately owned, while Europe is a publicly owned system. The US focus is on cargo, the European focus is passengers.?

Our reality is determined by our focus. If we focus on what was we will always get what we have. If we focus on what could be we can achieve what seems impossible today. If we focus on what we can’t do, we will get stuck in a reduction mindset. If we focus on what we dream to become, we can grow faster than AI’s influence. I guess my reflections this week are summed up by Buddha,?“All that we are is the result of what we have thought.”?