Chapter 12: Into the Rabbit Hole: Variation on Traditional Approaches to Diagnosis and Discovery

The rabbit hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way, and then dipped suddenly down, so suddenly that Alice had not a moment to think about stopping herself before she found herself falling down what seemed to be a very deep well.

—from Alice in Wonderland¹

The most famous of rabbit holes is, of course, the one used by Alice when entering the alternate reality referred to as Wonderland. As a metaphor, entering the rabbit hole has come to mean a number of things, but is frequently used when referring to a shift in one’s immediate environment—a shift so substantial that one’s concept of reality is challenged or even changed. In the world of consulting, I have often heard the term used to describe a situation where the consultant unwittingly gets pulled into the client’s system and loses objectivity, also widely known as getting “hooked.” Both refer to a situation where consultants become so immersed in the client’s system and reality they can no longer observe the system from an outsider’s point-ofview. This results in the consultant becoming just another character in the organizational drama.