Imagine If Politicians Had to Pass a Maturity Hearing
In a previous post, I wrote about why we cannot solve any of our shared problems—merely by addressing those problems. Be it Trump, climate change or the war in Ukraine. We need to dig deeper and confront our immaturity. Our bulky brains are inhabited by greed, short-sightedness, wishful thinking and an array of other immature members. They are the villains. They are the drivers of all our problems.
The world’s problems are the result of our immaturity.
In that article, I promised you an idea of how we can overcome our immaturity. Here it comes:
What if politicians, CEOs, or any decision-maker had to pass a Maturity Hearing before making major decisions?
The Maturity Hearing
Imagine them having to answer questions like:
1. Are you sure this will work? Why?
2. Why would this NOT work?
3. What are the longer-term consequences?
a. What will this look like 5 years, 10 years and 20 years from now?
4. What about the wider implications? A, B and C may also be affected by this.
5. What are the alternatives? There are almost always alternatives.
6. What are the challenges? How are you going to handle them?
7. What would make you decide this is not working and ditch it?
8. What if this will be a failure? What will you do then?
9. Have you talked to those who will implement this (= those doing the work on the ground)?
a. What are their objections?
b. Have you addressed their concerns?
10. What have other companies/ cities/ countries done in similar situations?
What if a Maturity Hearing had been carried out in the following cases?
What if…
…Reagan’s administration had faced such scrutiny, would they have dismissed early warnings about climate change?
…the UK government had undergone such a hearing, would they have handed out golden visas to Russian oligarchs?
Would Germany have approved Nord Stream pipelines, deepening dependency on Russian gas?
“We are already doing this”
Yes, many of my suggested questions are already included in common reviews and scrutinies. But they are mostly done internally, without any repercussions for giving insufficient answers. And far too often major decisions are triggered by groupthink.
“This won’t work”
Some of your objections may sound like this:
- “Who will carry out these Maturity Hearings?”
- “What will be the consequences of giving insufficient answers?
Here is my response.
Unlike so-called red teams, Maturity Hearings should be carried out by independent bodies which would, as far as possible, publicise results. That is doable.
We can also learn from the strengths and weaknesses of other types of hearings and reviews. For instance, the congressional hearings in the U.S., the EU commissioner hearings and the often criticised Environmental Impact Assessments.
Above all: setting clear consequences for inadequate answers is entirely possible.
“What about the costs?”
And if you are worried about the costs, think about the costs of NOT carrying out such Maturity Hearings.
Every flooding is costly. Every drought or wildfire is costly. And every time we ignore the impact of climate change the price goes up.
If the Reagan administration had been as smart as Jimmy Carter and taken action on climate change, the bill for us and future generations would have been much smaller.
The cost of stopping Putin would have been a piece of cake 10 years ago. It no longer is.
If Europe had been less eager to welcome oligarchs and buy cheap Russian oil and gas, it would have been much more difficult for Putin to finance his megalomanic war in Ukraine.
In addition, European countries now spend much more on defence due to the threat from Russia. Money we could have spent on finding better cures for cancer. Or on tinkling trams in car-free city centres.
Whatever objections anyone may have: Setting up Maturity Hearings or finding other ways to bring maturity into decision-making is a matter of will.
It Is About Will
And that is a tenet when it comes to creating a more mature world: solving our problems is almost always about will.
Ending wars, poverty and the destruction of nature is a matter of will. It is not about "politics,” "challenges," "priorities” or whatever catchword we use.
We need to stop deceiving ourselves. It is all about what we are willing to do. And what we are willing to stop doing. Such as not voting for orange babies or other inflated imbeciles.
To be mature is to accept that we can solve our problems—if we want to.
Your Turn
What do you think?
Do you think my suggested Maturity Hearing could work?
Do you have other ideas for how we could bring more maturity into decision-making?
Let me know in the comment section.
p.s. In a better world, I would have loved to watch the Orange Baby’s Maturity Hearing on tariffs.