Just before New Year’s Eve, I dashed to Maine to watch the private premier of the film Incredibly Loud and Dangerously Close.

The film’s scheduled for national release on January 20th, but I got my exclusive sneak peak courtesy of my friend, Alex Libby, who helped director, Stephen Daldry, do research for the film by speaking with September 11 survivors.

After warming up in the Freeport movie theatre, the lights dimmed and the audience watched 10-year-old Oskar Schell—portrayed by up-and-coming actor Thomas Horn—capture what it means to be interconnected in a father-son relationship. Tom Hanks portrays Oskar’s father, who is killed in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack in New York City.

As my wife Shannon and I watched the multiple plotlines unfold, my son, Alex, came to mind and I thought, how is it that interconnections in family are both incredibly loud and often dangerously unclose?

Systems approaches to organizations seem clinical at times. As organizational consultants we strive to “serve” the company, the CEO, and the mission. But what about our first organization—our homes? Where do the people in it—our family members—stand as stakeholders? How complex are the systems we create around those stakeholders? Do we know the systems that promote human sensitivity?

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