Since some people might not be sure what a paradigm is, let's just define it a little before we start, and then we'll talk about the relative sizes of Texas and New Jersey, and why you don't inspect cattle wearing high heels.

Although the term "paradigm" can take on different shades of meaning depending on the subject and the people involved, the basic point of view is that a paradigm is the pattern within which you live, think, and operate. Since so many of our actions and reactions are based on the paradigm we are operating under, you can see how there is a possibility for a gross misjudgment on someone's part if their paradigm is incorrect or skewed. In other words, if your paradigm is one that assumes you are in danger, you may jump when a friend comes around a corner. On the other hand, if your paradigm says that everybody is your friend and you are safe, you will smile in greeting when that same friend comes around that same corner. It makes you wonder how many crimes get committed in Hollywood because the witnesses think it might be a movie!

A paradigm can be fairly broad or narrow, and there can be different, and sometimes overlapping, paradigms for things like school, home life, friends, and work...which is why I got in a fight with a woman in Pennsylvania.

I was a federal purchasing agent in charge of purchasing fuel for some National Guard units in Texas. I had the need to purchase some fuel outside of the normal system, and to do this, I had to get permission from an office located in Pennsylvania. It was pretty cut and dried in my eyes, so I made the request through channels, and I was surprised when it got shot down!

I called the woman who had refused to grant permission and politely explained our need. The Texas Army National Guard was having Summer training at Fort Hood, Texas which is in the central part of the state. At the end of training, a large convoy of military vehicles of all types were going to be returning to El Paso. Fuel had not been an issue when the units had arrived, because they came in small elements and had the support of their own fuel trucks along the way. However, on the way back, all units would be traveling together and the tank trucks could not hold sufficient fuel for the trip. Therefore, I was seeking to arrange an intermediate fueling spot on the convoy route. In fact, a National Guard supply sergeant had already found a fuel distributor approximately half way along the route who had said, "I don't care what time you get in, just call me and I will come over and fuel you up."

Now, the woman in Pennsylvania was telling me that there should be no need to set up a special refueling point on a road march back to home base because, as she put it, "The Pennsylvania National Guard just completed training in New Jersey, and THEY didn't need extra fuel to get home! Anyway, you should be able to find an authorized distributor along the way. Just buy it from them."

At that point, I could tell by the satisfied and certain tone in her voice that she had just solved the problem for the hick from Texas.

From the easternmost part of New Jersey to the westernmost part of Pennsylvania is approximately 350 miles...400 miles at best. The distance from Fort Hood, Texas to El Paso is over 600 miles. I have been in the Pennsylvania - New Jersey area, it is tightly packed, rich with transportation facilities and fuel possibilities. Major parts of the route to El Paso include wide stretches of arid land sparsely dotted with facilities of ANY kind. We did not have any pre-authorized distributors in the area because there were no places even large enough to have a National Guard unit, and the one distributor who was willing to put himself at our disposal was the ONLY one we could find along the route. I haven't even mentioned that many military vehicles in the convoy would get less than 10 miles per gallon.

So, I hope I will be forgiven for the next clearly unprofessional remark: "Lady, you could drop Pennsylvania AND New Jersey into Texas and never find them again!"

Okay, so then I apologized and explained exactly what problems we were facing. I still wound up having to go over her head to get approval. She just could not change the way she saw things. She was used to a compact, resource rich part of the country, and was completely out of her league when it came to wide open spaces.

Now, this example is just about something that was inconvenient, but operating on the wrong paradigm can be dangerous.

Take the time some female executive types with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) decided they were going to visit a USDA facility in Texas.

They flew into Austin, rented a van, and clad in the proper female executive attire of skirts, dresses, and high heels, prepared to drive to the facility. Fortunately, they were unable to come up with an "address" for the facility and called my wife's office to ask for directions on how to get there.

You see, once again the problem was that these four women were used to doing inspection visits on facilities in the northeastern part of the country. Every place they went up there had four walls, an address, and a bathroom. Unfortunately, the facility in Texas that they assumed was like all the others they visited was located near the border and wasn't much more than a stock dipping tank in the middle of the desert. It was a fairly high traffic area for drug smugglers, and the USDA personnel who did work in that area sometimes carried weapons for self defense. If these folks had been able to find the place without getting lost, there would not have been anything to see, and they possibly could of been in actual physical danger. When all this was explained to them by my wife and other local USDA officials, they were stunned to realize that their assumption of reality, or paradigm, was completely out of sync with the facts.

There are many stories which could be told about paradigms that turned out to be wrong and ruined, or even caused the death of, many people. After all, the Titanic couldn't sink, now could it?

So, if you are the manager or owner of a business, don't be like the folks in these stories and stumble around making incorrect or even dangerous decisions just because you are stuck with the wrong patterns in your head. It is especially important to be willing to change your paradigm when the facts warrant it, or you may wind up like the Swiss watchmakers who were absolutely positive that quartz watch movements wouldn't catch on.