Crises: A Major Systems Problem

In the last chapter, we showed that Defense Mechanisms operate on at least two levels, the personal and the organizational. They also apply equally to institutions and thus to societies as a whole. Indeed, they relate to every aspect of our Being.

Wicked Messes: The Ultimate Challenge to Reality

The first two chapters have presented major challenges to what we commonly take as Reality and what we need to know and do if we are to stand any hope whatsoever in managing it. This chapter shows that it’s even more complex than we have dared imagine in our wildest dreams.

Changing the Culture of Policing: A Moral Imperative!

We want to turn to another major crisis that demands our serious attention. Not only is it important in its own right, but it reveals other important factors that bear on the nature of complex messy Systems.

Enlightened Leadership: Coping with Chaos in Increasingly Turbulent Times

We want to summarize and thereby tie together all of the previous discussions on Mental Health, Attachment Theory, Inquiring Systems, Culture, the Jungian Framework, Conflict Management, Surfacing Assumptions, and Defense Mechanisms. Used appropriately, they are indispensable in helping people deal with Reality.

The Choice Is Between Mental Health and Mental Illness

Even though the 2020 election has been decided, the issues underlying it will be around for a long time. For this reason, we return once again to the topic of Leadership and examine it from the standpoint of a different perspective on Mental Health.

Wrestling with the Inner Demons of Contemporary Life: A Brief Overview of Psychoanalytic Thought

We begin our examination of Enlightened Leadership by exploring a number of Psychoanalytically based theories, in particular with regard to what they have to teach us about the human condition. Thus, we briefly examine some of the key concepts and ideas of Melanie Klein, Sigmund Freud, Donald Winnicott, Eric Berne, and John Bowlby. One of the major benefits is that they illuminate important aspects of the Coronavirus that are difficult to ascertain otherwise. For one, each provides a different take on the enormous stress we are experiencing as a result of the Virus. They also reinforce the absolute necessity of following the dictates of reputable scientific experts and science itself if we are to stand any hope at all in dealing with the Virus.

Heuristics and Meta-heuristics for Coping with Messes

Given the importance of Wicked Messes, we need to say more about ways of dealing with them. In a series of publications, we and our colleagues have developed a number of Heuristics for Coping with Messes. If the underlying conditions are met, there is every reason to believe that they will accomplish their intended job. Nonetheless, they are only Heuristics, i.e., approximate rules of thumb. As such, they do not guarantee that we’ll be able to cope successfully with a Mess. Worst of all, they can even backfire such that instead of making Messes more manageable, they can make them worse, thus producing the exact opposite of what’s intended. Still, they’re all that we have. Nonetheless, by not looking at their potential downsides, the inescapable conclusion is that some of the most important aspects of Messes have not been given the serious consideration they demand.

The Coronavirus: A Jungian Analysis

Since we’ve talked repeatedly about the importance of Systems Thinking, we want to examine the Coronavirus from a different form. It brings out different aspects of the Virus that along with the Psychodynamic theories we examined in Chap. 10.1007/978-3-030-71764-3_1 are difficult to ascertain without it.

Inquiry Systems as Coping Mechanisms

First and foremost, Inquiry Systems or ISs are major models for the production and authentication of credible knowledge in which, along with Ethics, we put our basic trust to guide our lives. However, at the same time, ISs also serve as fundamental coping mechanisms to alleviate the intense anxiety that accompanies the immense uncertainty associated with less than perfect knowledge, especially in today’s problematic and highly uncertain world.

Assumptional Analysis: The Key Role of Assumptions

We cannot emphasize enough the importance of assumptions. For this reason, we want to describe a general method known as Assumptional Analysis for uncovering and analyzing key assumptions. It’s best described in terms of an important case with which Mitroff was involved.