It is hard to believe that the Virginia Tech shooting was over 15 years ago, that 32 innocent people lost their lives, 17 others were injured, and countless others have had their lives changed forever.

It seems tragedies like Virginia Tech have been happening for way too long and way too often.

Unfortunately, we can never bring anyone back from these horrific tragedies, however, we can and must do the right things to make sure their lives make a difference for others and lives are not lost in vain.

After Virginia Tech, an outside panel released a report of recommendations and this telling statement:

“various individuals and departments within the university knew about each of these incidents, the university did not intervene effectively. No one knew all the information and no one connected all the dots.”

No one knew all the information and no one connected all the dots.  We have heard failure of connecting the dots excuses for over 20 years, we heard it with Columbine, with 9-11 attacks, with Parkland, with Oxford Michigan, and with hundreds of other tragedies.

No one knew all the information and no one connected all the dots. We have also heard these words and this excuse with workplace violence, domestic violence, community violence, drug overdoses, suicides, sex abuse, human trafficking, and numerous other tragedies.

No one knew all the information and no one connected all the dots… do you know WHY?

The short answer is the dots – the indicators and warning signs, the sources of information, the resources who can take proactive intervention and prevention actions – are almost always scattered across silos.  People silos, incident reporting silos, system silos, department silos, organization silos, community silos, law enforcement silos, mental health silos, and numerous other silos.

20+ years of research have exposed not only WHY the excuse continues, but also the new strategies and different solutions that are needed.

If you would like to eliminate this excuse, do the right thing for your organization, do the right thing for your community, do the right thing to eliminate tragedies and liabilities, and do the right thing for the innocent lives that were taken… this is your call to action.

Contact me to learn about the First Preventers Model and how it can help schools, higher education, organizations, communities, and leaders eliminate this longstanding excuse before it costs you innocent lives and millions of dollars in unwanted consequences.


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