ABSTRACT
Perhaps the ultimate challenge facing us and calling for new ways of working is the Y2K problem. When the calendar clicks from ’99 to ’00 there will be a true millennial shift and we will begin to experience our computer-dependent world in an entirely new way. John Peterson, Meg Wheatley, and Myron Kellner-Rogers, in a widely distributed article entitled “The Year 2000: Social Chaos or Social Transformation,” discuss the implications of this problem caused by technology that they feel can only be solved by new social relationships. The Y2K challenge is defined as:
• A technological problem that now cannot be solved by technology • The first-ever, nonnegotiable deadline • A systemic crisis that no one can solve alone • A crisis that dissolves boundaries and hierarchies • A unique opportunity to evoke contributions from individuals, or-
ganizations, and communities • The greatest opportunity to simplify and redesign major systems
We have created not only a computer-dependent society, but an interdependent planet. What better opportunity for individuals who are committed to solving problems in a collaborative proactive style? This is clearly work that needs doing by many different organizations-public as well as private.
