Consultant Perspective – Learning from the Past

by Confab Comm

The recent remake of Battlestar Gallatica included a primary theme over-riding the entire show “This has all happened before and will happen again”. Throughout the show the characters continue to stumble upon incredible coincidences that culminate with them realizing that everything that is happening to them now had happened in a similar manner in the past.

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is shocking in scope and potential environmental damage. The US government is launching criminal probes with everyone from industry watchdogs to stay at home mom’s asking “why weren’t we prepared for this?”

The published excuses include lax oversight, missing blow out preventers, and excessive depths of the drilling but none of them address the real problem… this has all happened before. Back in 1979 the Itox exploratory well experienced a similar blowout, fire, oil leak, and lingering lack of solutions. The resulting spill took several months to stop and years to cleanup. Apparently the industry did not learn from past mistakes to prevent them in the future.

As consultants we are in unique positions within our roles to identify areas where companies are repeating mistakes of the past. Taking a step back and recognizing the macro trends that have, “happened before and will happen again” can provide a level of insight for clients that creates real value. Confab 2010 provides a good sounding board for testing “new ideas” to see if they have been tried before. By learning from past successes and failures consultants can maintain their claim as expert outside sources.

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