Imagine you are a family of five members trying to make your way in life and find the promise land. Should we go to Las Vegas, New York, or Abilene? The Father says, “Vegas or bust, baby!” The Mother says, “The state of the free and hard working, New York, baby!” The children say, not understanding any of the locations or what it means to the family, say, “Abilene or bust, baby! Can we have our allowance now,” the children yell out? The Road to Abilene phrase is used in the aftermath of a scenario that one concludes a communication breakdown occurred in which each member mistakenly believes that their own perspectives or preferences are counter to the group’s and, therefore, does not raise objections and then some negative scenario or crisis event follows. As a family or organization, can the leaders afford to not to develop resiliency? As a leader, are you so caught up in our own drama or crises that you miss the obvious indicators pointing to failure? It is obvious that one crisis begets another crisis, which begets another crisis if leaders don’t develop resilient practices to mitigate crisis. The alternative: are you a participant in one big experiment just waiting for the good news of serendipity to develop or be handed to you on a silver platter? Will you come to the end of our life and still defend your own ideologies, beliefs, or perspectives at the expense of the greater good for mankind, your nation, or your community? Maybe your hypothesis or the way you view things (i.e., your “lens”) is off by several hundred meters or miles.

If only innovation and resilience were human and could speak to us. He would tell us to be a strong leader (lead by example, not by followership); he would tell us to balance our checkbook—not spend like out of control young teenagers on the Road to Abilene of failure; he would tell us to foster a collaborative environment to solve problems—not blame others, but take accountability; he would tell us to rely on our principles and values that brought us to where we are in this world—not with flip flop principles whenever the situation warrants; and finally, he would tell us, don’t compromise what you believe in – belief in a Supreme Being or God that fuels our faith and that loves and watches over us, belief in family, belief in people, and belief in sound practices that ensure continuity of operations for the future.   Assuming we don’t select the children’s choice of the unknown along the Road to Abilene, developing resilience is the key to avoiding the Road to Abilene paradox.