What I've learned in doing values work in both communities and schools is that there's conversations that were not having that determine the culture in which we live and work. These crucial conversations shape our lives and even in some instances can take someone's life. As a child of the 1980's perhaps no bigger event shaped my life than the Challenger Space Shuttle explosion where seven men and women lost their lives. The "faulty o-ring" was the part of the wing that could not withstand the temperatures in the atmosphere. As a result the Challengers wings caught fire and burst the entire shuttle into flames. Upon further investigation NASA engineers had known for months that the o-rings were faulty. The obvious question becomes: why didn't the engineers simply say something about this? Well, at the time the engineers were afraid of questioning those executives and leaders that were higher up in authority and feared raising their concerns might cost them their reputation and their jobs. This is just one reason why we must have these crucial conversations in our organizations, with our loved ones, in our schools and communities; so how do we have these conversations when emotions are high, the stakes are even higher and there are opposing viewpoints? Stay tuned!
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