For years now, these scammers have been cold-calling people, claiming to be from Microsoft, trying to convince them that their computer has viruses, and then asking the “customer” to pay them to fix the problem. You’d think the government would make this type of thing stop… but years later, these scams still exist. – The “Tech Support” Scammers Called HTG (So We Had Fun with Them)

I always figure that ‘geeks’ are smarter than the rest of us (disclaimer, I’m often called a geek).  This random comment of “You’d think the government would make this type of thing stop” is a classic statement of the type that too many people think makes sense.

Well, gee. Wouldn’t it be better if the government (or whomever we consider to be the ultimate boss) first stopped crime, or car crashes, or cancer or you know, all those things that the boss is suppose to do?  Is it the government’s job to fix anything that we see is wrong?

I listened to a health expert argue her health care proposal on a panel discussion. The other panel members kept pushing her to explain how it would be financed. She finally said “You know, just like insurance. You give them some money and they then take care of any problems we have in the future.” The questions were then how much would it cost to pay for the insurance and what happens when an insurance company goes broke or goes out of business. “Oh, that won’t be a problem. My car insurance doesn’t cost me very much and besides they guarantee they’ll pay for it.”

She didn’t seem to get it that those big impersonal institutions that constantly make promises also periodically fail. We just don’t hear as much about that part, unless it is reading about someone who lost their job, pension or all their savings.

Beware of the notion that someone else, such as the government or our boss or the CEO, needs to solve all our problems. The real changes that make a difference often come from individuals within an organization (or society) who just go out and start doing things. Hopefully, when we see what they are doing, we join them to make it a bigger and more expansive success.

See for example Disrupt The Project To Make The Big Improvements

What are you waiting for the boss to fix that you can probably fix yourself?