Image from sptimes.com
Leadership In The Age Of Green
The new Green era is more than just addressing the physical impact of Green House Gasses.
Wherever there is conflict there is an impact on Sustainability.
Sustainability is just Green in its Ultimate Sense, the most obvious aspects being physical damage to the environment ... and hence the Colour Green.
We can infer then that wherever there is disharmony we can expect a negative impact on Sustainability.
Sustainability then is positively impacted by harmony, negatively impacted by disharmony.
Take for example the idea of 'fairness'.
Fairness is a challenging topic.
Certainly when events are seen to be ‘unfair’ within a given context we can expect reduced harmony and therefore a corresponding reduction of the Sustainability Potential within that given context.
That is why Greeks in Balaclavas riot in the streets of Athens and why Occupy Wall Street has come about.
However, Systems Theory proposes a holistic reality, and within that view, we can expect synergies between sub-systems.
Negative synergy sub-systems can impact upon the overall system, contaminating the 'whole' and not just their 'part'.
We are back into the ‘airy fairy’ stuff – the 'Everything is Interconnected' weird stuff.
About six million years ago humans and chimpanzees shared a Common Ancestor.
Dawkins is a wonderful author to follow on the subject of Evolution.
Like Carl Sagan made Contemplation of the Cosmos popular so Dawkins has helped us sense the incremental work of Natural Selection.
The Germans have that excellent term, zeitgeist, literally the “spirit of the times’ and the Zeitgeist is lifting all the time.
To quote E. F. Schumacher:
“Wisdom demands a new orientation of science and technology towards the organic, the gentle, the non-violent, the elegant and beautiful.”
Six million years ago is a long time ago but that does not mean that humans and chimpanzees are completely and totally separate, with no commonalities.
Our DNA has evolved but there are genes that have propagated themselves that are not unlike in character to what they were six million years ago.
There is one throwback gene still there, a disruptor of harmony, that is still as pure as it was in its intent six million years ago.
Desmond Morris captured the essence of it in his book, “The Human Zoo”.
It is the Alpha Gene.
In the First World War, it manifested in the Officers spawned by the Aristocracy, an Alpha propagating system that is fortunately on its last legs.
The slaughter of the First World War lies very much in the egocentric stupidity of the Alpha Gene.
Like the Common Ancestors that we share with the Chimpanzees, brutal wisdom-less Alphas drove Humanity in its millions ‘over the top’ to destruction.
The sheer size of the loss of human life brought some soberness into the second quarter of the 20th Century although Alphas like Hitler, Stalin and Mao soon brought another wave of destruction.
Behind the pyramids of corpses there is always an Alpha.
Alphas simply lust for power, and any cause to secure power is good. Communism, Fascism, Capitalism, Any-ism.
We then saw further displays of Alpha Madness in Saddam Hussein’s war with Iran.
Generally, however, the Zeitgeist is lifting and the world will no longer tolerate such indulgences from egomaniacs.
The Alphas have mostly spilled over into the production lines.
Their whips have continued cracking, and Humanity has been tormented day in / day out to produce the goods.
For example, now we have 'sweat shops' ... contemporary slavery.
Alphas are power-addicts and they need the trappings of power: luxury cars/ yachts/ homes/ watches/etc.
For the same reason that Alpha Chimpanzees to this day desire power, a reason so obvious that it is not worth spelling out thanks to Freud.
The Computer Age however upset the Alpha Apple Cart.
Geeks and Nerds with bad breath and pimples no longer needed to subject themselves to the ridicule of Colgate White Teeth and High Cheek Bones.
The advent of the Internet caused even more destruction to the Reign of Alpha.
Individuals of the geeky and nerdy type are being empowered every second that the Internet breathes.
The word “Boss” is now a negative term.
If you are being called "Boss" then your style of leadership is primal, a throwback.
You need some professional help on how to deal with people in a way that it respects their dignity, in a way that they will not call you "Boss".
The masses are rising to claim their sense of dignity, of individual self worth, and are no longer as submissive as they used to be.
They have options … the Internet is empowering.
True, HR has developed fast and Bosses are now increasingly constrained with regards to their employees.
That is the Vertical Relationship. We can expect less disharmony from the indulgence of Alpha Ego in the workplace.
But what about the Horizontal Relationship?
Business2Business?
For example, do you need a Non Disclosure Agreement to have you respect the Intellectual Property of another business?
Alphas cannot resist the temptation to behave like Intellectual Property Parasites, claiming the ideas of others as theirs.
After all, it is power that Alphas seek, regardless of the disharmony they provoke, regardless of the negative impact on Sustainability.
If Schumacher were alive today he would have no doubt derived his Wisdom Principle further and added that:
“Leadership demands a new orientation ... towards the gentle and the ethical.”
The new Green era is more than just addressing the physical impact of Green House Gasses.
Wherever there is conflict there is an impact on Sustainability.
Sustainability is just Green in its Ultimate Sense, the most obvious aspects being physical damage to the environment ... and hence the Colour Green.
We can infer then that wherever there is disharmony we can expect a negative impact on Sustainability.
Sustainability then is positively impacted by harmony, negatively impacted by disharmony.
Take for example the idea of 'fairness'.
Fairness is a challenging topic.
Certainly when events are seen to be ‘unfair’ within a given context we can expect reduced harmony and therefore a corresponding reduction of the Sustainability Potential within that given context.
That is why Greeks in Balaclavas riot in the streets of Athens and why Occupy Wall Street has come about.
However, Systems Theory proposes a holistic reality, and within that view, we can expect synergies between sub-systems.
Negative synergy sub-systems can impact upon the overall system, contaminating the 'whole' and not just their 'part'.
We are back into the ‘airy fairy’ stuff – the 'Everything is Interconnected' weird stuff.
About six million years ago humans and chimpanzees shared a Common Ancestor.
Dawkins is a wonderful author to follow on the subject of Evolution.
Like Carl Sagan made Contemplation of the Cosmos popular so Dawkins has helped us sense the incremental work of Natural Selection.
The Germans have that excellent term, zeitgeist, literally the “spirit of the times’ and the Zeitgeist is lifting all the time.
To quote E. F. Schumacher:
“Wisdom demands a new orientation of science and technology towards the organic, the gentle, the non-violent, the elegant and beautiful.”
Six million years ago is a long time ago but that does not mean that humans and chimpanzees are completely and totally separate, with no commonalities.
Our DNA has evolved but there are genes that have propagated themselves that are not unlike in character to what they were six million years ago.
There is one throwback gene still there, a disruptor of harmony, that is still as pure as it was in its intent six million years ago.
Desmond Morris captured the essence of it in his book, “The Human Zoo”.
It is the Alpha Gene.
In the First World War, it manifested in the Officers spawned by the Aristocracy, an Alpha propagating system that is fortunately on its last legs.
The slaughter of the First World War lies very much in the egocentric stupidity of the Alpha Gene.
Like the Common Ancestors that we share with the Chimpanzees, brutal wisdom-less Alphas drove Humanity in its millions ‘over the top’ to destruction.
The sheer size of the loss of human life brought some soberness into the second quarter of the 20th Century although Alphas like Hitler, Stalin and Mao soon brought another wave of destruction.
Behind the pyramids of corpses there is always an Alpha.
Alphas simply lust for power, and any cause to secure power is good. Communism, Fascism, Capitalism, Any-ism.
We then saw further displays of Alpha Madness in Saddam Hussein’s war with Iran.
Generally, however, the Zeitgeist is lifting and the world will no longer tolerate such indulgences from egomaniacs.
The Alphas have mostly spilled over into the production lines.
Their whips have continued cracking, and Humanity has been tormented day in / day out to produce the goods.
For example, now we have 'sweat shops' ... contemporary slavery.
Alphas are power-addicts and they need the trappings of power: luxury cars/ yachts/ homes/ watches/etc.
For the same reason that Alpha Chimpanzees to this day desire power, a reason so obvious that it is not worth spelling out thanks to Freud.
The Computer Age however upset the Alpha Apple Cart.
Geeks and Nerds with bad breath and pimples no longer needed to subject themselves to the ridicule of Colgate White Teeth and High Cheek Bones.
The advent of the Internet caused even more destruction to the Reign of Alpha.
Individuals of the geeky and nerdy type are being empowered every second that the Internet breathes.
The word “Boss” is now a negative term.
If you are being called "Boss" then your style of leadership is primal, a throwback.
You need some professional help on how to deal with people in a way that it respects their dignity, in a way that they will not call you "Boss".
The masses are rising to claim their sense of dignity, of individual self worth, and are no longer as submissive as they used to be.
They have options … the Internet is empowering.
True, HR has developed fast and Bosses are now increasingly constrained with regards to their employees.
That is the Vertical Relationship. We can expect less disharmony from the indulgence of Alpha Ego in the workplace.
But what about the Horizontal Relationship?
Business2Business?
For example, do you need a Non Disclosure Agreement to have you respect the Intellectual Property of another business?
Alphas cannot resist the temptation to behave like Intellectual Property Parasites, claiming the ideas of others as theirs.
After all, it is power that Alphas seek, regardless of the disharmony they provoke, regardless of the negative impact on Sustainability.
If Schumacher were alive today he would have no doubt derived his Wisdom Principle further and added that:
“Leadership demands a new orientation ... towards the gentle and the ethical.”