Sinfulness and delegation

Jordan Peterson raises a fascinating question: what if the Bible stories are not literal truth, but fables, distilled from millennia of human experience, about a deeper, natural truth, namely: that when societies – and people, companies, sectors, countries – take their eye off the ball and fall into irresponsibility and negligence, really bad things happen.

He writes:

“When the hurricane hit New Orleans, and the town sank under the waves, was that a natural disaster? The Dutch prepare their dikes for the worst storm in ten thousand years. Had New Orleans followed that example, no tragedy would have occurred. It’s not that no one knew. The Flood Control Act of 1965 mandated improvements in the levee system that held back Lake Pontchartrain. The system was to be completed by 1978. Forty years later, only 60 percent of the work had been done. Willful blindness and corruption took the city down. A hurricane is an act of God. But failure to prepare, when the necessity for preparation is well known—that’s sin.”

Closer to home, Grenfell Tower burned after successive governments neglected the building regs and failed to challenge flammable cladding. Carillion cost us millions after its leadership hid from, and kept hidden, the realities of its finances.

It’s our job to look up from the day-to-day and spot the signs of chaos, and do the right thing, Peterson insists.

This resonates with me because delegation, too, is about spotting the risk or the opportunity, realising that you can’t do everything yourself, and enlisting competent help to do what’s needed.