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Occasionally a movie has a message for leaders of change that
deserves as much study as a good book. That is the case with
the film Bernt Capra released in 1990 Mindwalk: A Film for
Passionate Thinkers. Heavyweights Sam Waterston (Jack
Edwards), John Heard (Thomas Harrison)
and Liv Ullmann, (Sonia Hoffman) portray respectively
a Senator and would-be presidential candidate, his former speechwriter
(now expat poet) and a scientist who has checked out of academia
due to her belief that her work is being abused by the defense
establishment.
But, the policy ideas discussed by the three characters as
they wander a beautiful seaside setting are not the story. In
fact today they get in the way and date the film. But students
of change watching the film need to recognize that those issue
discussions have to be treated as distractions.
The real story is in the underlying theme of the movie, which
is about change: change from the 400-year old era of mechanical
or linear thinking to one of biological or system thinking.
Driven mainly by the ideas of the scientist, the senator is
forced to think about his understanding and misunderstanding
of the way the world works. In time he comes to recognize that
trying to solve problems with linear thinking is futile when
the world works in a biological, inter-connected fashion.
The key point for students of change is that it is critical
to understand the environment, (real and intellectual), you
are working in before you start to contemplate leading change
projects. Finding the paradigm that defines reality is liberating
and frequently opens all sorts of potential solutions that might
be much easier to implement than those fighting a linear construct
that actually is not longer relevant.
This 110-minute movie carries a PG rating, but that should not
stop you from watching. It is based on the book The Turning
Point by Fritjof Capra. Philip Glass’ music is almost
too relaxing, but complements the scenic nature of the film.
There are lots more wasteful ways to spend two hours.
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