Content: Page 34, Becoming Your Own Banker Fifth Edition

Now we turn our attention to probably the most devastating matter that we have examined thus far — I call it “The Arrival Syndrome.” This phenomenon has more than likely limited the achievements of mankind more than anything else. When this “thing” infects us, we stop growing, stop learning. We ROT! We turn off or tune out the ability to receive inspiration – because “we already know all there is to know on the subject at hand.”

You may remember Ed Deming, that wonderful business consultant who died a few years ago – he was still working at age 90 or so! He was the person that taught the Japanese the idea of quality. Business schools all over our country fell in love with his teachings – after the Japanese showed the world the results of listening to Ed and following his ideas.

But, shortly after WWII, Ed started trying to get the attention of American businesses and teach them. Almost with out exception Ed ran into the response, “But we are already doing that.” No, they were not doing that! They were taking a superficial look at what Ed was teaching and jumping to the conclusion that they already understood all ramifications of Ed’s concept. And so, Ed turned to Japan, with an economy that was non-existent – they were flat on their backs – and he found a culture that already knew discipline and was willing to listen and do what he said.

The rest is history and American manufacturers paid the price for their arrogance. When Ed came back to America much later, he was accepted as being a genius. Many business schools in America now sing the praises of Deming.

Why is this syndrome so prevalent? I’m an airplane pilot and I have heard many a flight instructor say, “Don’t give me a student that has any experience – give me one that I have to lead to the flight line, point to the machine and tell the student, ‘this is an airplane.’ Such a person is more likely to be teachable.” Perhaps it’s because most of us are basically lazy. Maybe it is the desire for instant gratification that is so prevalent in our time. We want to take a pill and get immediate results.

But the truth is, life is just not like that. Anything worth while is going to take time and thorough understanding.
The historian, Daniel Boorstin, stated the matter this way, “The greatest obstacle to discovering the shape of the earth, the continents, and the oceans was not ignorance – it was the illusion of knowledge.”

Another example – after WWII airplane designers had run into the problem of the “sound barrier” – airplanes could fly no faster than the speed of sound because there was a barrier there that would prevent going any faster. Yes, according to their understanding of the facts at that time there certainly was a barrier, but with lots of further study – many years of it – the barrier no longer existed.

We all operate on the basis of a paradigm. The Infinite Banking Concept is a major paradigm shift. It is going to take some time – and some pain to make the shift, but the results can be unbelievably rewarding.

As practitioners of teaching clients to develop their own banking systems this is probably our hardest job – to get people to open up their minds and take an in-depth look at just exactly what is going on in the financial world and correctly classify what is seen.

In September 1993 the cover story of FORTUNE magazine read, “The Real Key to Creating Wealth.” It was all about Economic Value Added – a concept developed and taught by Stern-Stewart consulting firm. The last sentence in the eight-page article says it all. “If you understand what’s really happening, you’ll know what to do.”

That’s what this course is all about – learning what is happening in the banking world, learning who the characters in the play are, and deciding which one you want to be.

We will look at the last human factor to be considered in lesson 20. I’ll see you then.