Did he really say, "Shut up and listen"?

I came across a good TED talk the other day by an Italian developmental economist named Ernesto Sirolli.  Oddly enough, I heard about this particular TED talk at our church this summer.  I can't remember what exactly the priest was talking about, but he did recommend Sirolli's book, Ripples from Zambezi: Passion, Entrepreneurship, and the Rebirth of Local Economies as well as the TED talk, "Want to help someone? Shut up and Listen!"  Sirolli tells of one of his early experiences with an Italian non-governmental organization (NGO) - every one of the projects that the NGO attempted in Africa had failed.  He tells one particularly poignant story of an early project that involved teaching the local African population how to grow food.  The NGO brought Italian seeds to southern Zambia in order to teach the locals how to grow Italian tomatoes and zucchini.  The area was located along the Zambezi River, and Sirolli tells how the tomatoes grew to two or three times the size of even the best tomatoes in Italy.  He goes on to say how the locals really weren't that interested in learning how to grow tomatoes and zucchini.  They tried paying them, which did work for some, at least on occasion.  Sirolli and his team were obviously very frustrated with the Zambians, but "instead of asking them how come they were not growing anything, we simply said Thank God we're here!"  The Italian aid workers were really proud of how well the tomatoes and zucchini were growing - "just think what we can accomplish here!  We will save the Zambian people from starvation."  But then, overnight, 200 hippos came out from the river and ate all the tomatoes and zucchini.  "And we said to the Zambians, My God, the hippos!  And the Zambians said, Yes, that's why we don't try to grow things along the river."  The Italians asked why the Zambians didn't warn them of the hippos.  "And the Zambians said, You never asked!"

Sirolli's message really struck home with me.  How many times do we experience a similar phenomenon with any kind of change initiative?  The most successful projects or initiatives that I have observed (in fact, nearly all of them) usually have two elements in common.  Number one - the project team is super-engaged and passionate about the work.  Number two - the project team takes complete ownership of the project - the planning and design of the project, as well as the implementation and execution of the work.  On the other hand, the projects that are 100% led in a top-down fashion almost invariably end in failure.  So, I guess it really does pay to "shut up and listen."  Incidentally, Sirolli's advice is a really great example of the High Reliability Organization principle of "deference to expertise," which we will discuss next.