What Would It Look Like?

Good intentioned folks regularly ask, “What would it look like if such and such happened?” It’s the default comment when exploring a different kind of future than the one we’re headed toward.

What it becomes, however, is a placeholder for asking the harder question, which is, “What do we do about it?” I know those are sequential; the look-like question has to precede the do-about-it question. But we already know what it looks like! We ask that question because we're already picturing it in our heads but still want to be diplomatic (and not come across as the know-it-all).

Stop asking it, and start telling us what you see.

Because nothing will change until we get through the next question: “What do we do about it?"