A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix

by Edwin H. Friedman

Pathogens do not have the power to create pathology on their own. There must also be a lack of self-regulation in the host. Oncogenesis does not always lead to cancer; not everyone gets sick because of what they breathe in from the surrounding air. The fact that some people seem to be untouched by a surrounding epidemic is not due to the fact that they were lucky enough not to “catch” a cold. In fact, it is well known that every human organism contains “opportunistic infections” that are kept in check by their own immune system. In other words, it is not merely the presence of the pathogen that causes pathology, but also the response of the organism that “hosts” it. Imagine that the cells of an organ receive an early warning signal that a rogue cancer cell is coming down the pike. Knowing that metastasis can only occur if the healthy cells allow the malignant cells to puncture their own membranes, they huddle together and agree it’s all for one and one for all; no one is to allow this thing in where it might metastasize into a colony of similarly lethal offspring. But after a while some of the cells at one end of the organ realize that the metastasis has begun. They look at the other cells, now dying, and say, “What’s the matter with you? What have you done? Why did you let it invade our space? We all agreed to keep that troublemaker out.” And the cells that let the cancer cell in say helplessly, “We were watching it swim all alone out there. It just seemed so lonely, and,...