Swamp Issues

I read the following recently on the Servant-Leadership Blog. I'm not even sure who wrote it, but I find it thought-provoking.

Ellen Schall, who is Dean of Health Policy & Management at NYU, once wrote an article titled: Learning to Love the Swamp. In the article she talks about these things known as swamp issues - tangled, complex problems that resist technical analysis and thus stand in contrast to the high, hard ground issues that are easier to address but where less is at stake for the organization or the society. Swamp issues call for changes of heart and mind - the transformation of long-standing habits and deeply held assumptions and values.

When organizations make the decision to make progress on these difficult issues, or swamp issues, the practice of leadership now begins to focus on questions of purpose - and suddenly the criteria for determining whether or not one is exercising effective leadership shifts. No longer are the traits of individual personalities as critical; instead the focus is on the capacities of individuals to intervene in complex systems. It is a focus on presence rather than personality.

What are the swamp issues within your organization? Is the organization ready to begin tackling these - or are personality and personal power still too important to allow these discussions to take place?