- Introduction
- Blinded by the Light
- Successful but Mistaken Maps
- Distorted Maps
- Central Position Maps
- Strip Maps
- Upright Maps
- Overcoming the First Brain Barrier
Overcoming the First Brain Barrier
Our main points in this chapter are straightforward. First, to fly, we have to understand the power of gravity. The first gravitational force relative to change is that which keeps people from seeing impending threats and opportunities. We have tried to illustrate that people do not see even obvious threats and opportunities because they are blinded by the light of what they already seethe mental maps that have worked for them in the past. Second, we pointed out that even when people have constructed successful mental maps, those maps are quite often flawed. Just as in actual cartography, people create successful but distorted maps, centrally positioned maps, or strip maps. The longer these mistaken maps work (or the longer we believe they work), the more difficult they are to change. Unless we understand the general nature of these mental mapping mistakes, it can be difficult to overcome them. Unless we overcome the power of mental maps, we have little hope of generating enough lift to get our change project off the ground.