Our Leadership Crisis is a Crisis of Duty, A Crisis of Service
I wrote this several years ago and published it on LinkedIN. I have since been deplatformed from both LinkedIN and Twitter ('X') for sharing uncomfortable truths. Here it is again for posterity...
Leadership in our society tends to be viewed through the lens of the organizational management definition - and in the materialistic / reductionist / consumerist idea or model of ‘success.’ We are most comfortable in defining leadership as the upper echelon of various organizations: corporate, government / political, military, a myriad of institutions, etc. One could argue that this is simply a product of our ‘democratic’ and capitalist system – that our view of leadership is really that of ‘resource management’ and ultimately about affecting outcomes – particularly those of (big) business – particularly those relating to unlimited profit & growth. Leadership primarily in service to shareholders (also now includes ‘stakeholders’) and leadership in service of self (that's the little 's'). That's what is rewarded in our society. And let's be brutally honest, that's not leadership, that's mercenary.
There are ceaseless analyses of leadership on LinkedIn and on the ‘professional’ sites and in the ‘professional development / self-help’ rags. Numerous business executives, politicians, industry pundits, career coaches, arbitrary ‘influencers,’ etc. weigh-in daily on what comprises a good leader – what they do, think, say, eat, wear, read, regularly practice, etc. I’m not saying that these studies aren’t useful to a degree, instead I am challenging the very notion of leadership itself – the contemporary, corporate / government notion of leadership (I’ll not get into the classical definition of fascism in this posting).
"Leadership is about submission to duty, not elevation to power." - Gordon Tootoosis
Truly great leaders have a much more expansive and holistic perspective. Leadership and Duty for many Indigenous peoples have much broader and deeper connotations than to simply the management of people & resources (i.e. the management of employees and business operations & objectives in this particular analysis). Party, clan, tribe, family, culture, society, Mother Earth (Nature), resources, hunting grounds, weather, seasons, omens, celestial circumstances, cosmic events, other Beings & Spirits, Ancestors, subsequent Generations, Great Spirit, etc. are all carefully considered in the mind (and Heart) of an Indigenous leader - and typically an Elder. This embodied leadership is beyond most corporate executives.
"If Service is beneath you, Leadership is beyond you." ~ Anonymous
Many years ago during an advance training in the New Hampshire Army National Guard, in the PLDC or Primary Leadership Development Course - the new school variant on the old "B-NOC" or Basic Non-Commissioned Officer's School - I distinctly remember a Vietnam era combat veteran instructor's salient lesson: "In the military, you first accomplish the mission - then take care of the troops. In the private sector or civilian life, you first take care of the 'troops' - then accomplish the mission." That bit of institutional (NCOs) wisdom has stuck with me ever since.
We are in the midst of an unprecedented reckoning. I think we’re beyond the point of reasonable denial of this fact: catastrophic biosphere toxification & destruction, a mass extermination event (human caused) as opposed to a passive extinction event, unparalleled inequality, endless and senseless (and criminal, genocidal) wars, the unreconciled histories of colonialism and imperialism – especially (in the USA) as they pertain to the genocide of the Native Peoples & the enslavement of Africans, military adventurism for resources exploitation and subjugation of populations, unfathomable rates of poverty, hunger, & disease, the egregious erosion of already woefully inadequate human rights, cognitive rights, and civil liberties, etc., etc., etc. I don’t need to continue. You get the point…
Even given these disastrous states of affairs, the leaders of this world – in the organizational & business / political senses that I describe above – have largely continued in their traditional Modus Operandi – with their current understanding of leadership as it relates to business & to unfettered capitalism. Granted, there are other organizational psychodynamic and sociological factors. And these are formidable. Current business leaders are for the most part, groomed for their positions by the socio-environmental forces from which they sprang. The very narrow interpretation of ‘success’ is predicated upon a very rigid and conservative understanding (and propagation) of this leadership ‘training ground.’ And from this leadership ‘prep school’ we get things like the widespread “Professional Managerial Class,” which is just another system and ideology of control - for unrestricted power and profit. The ‘middle (bureaucratic) management’ of tyranny, of the totalitarians.
This current leadership school has largely and catastrophically failed. It has sprung from a culture of greed that is – by design – institutionally divorced from consequences. And this as we know all-too-well, has wide ranging and extremely dangerous ramifications.
New and emerging leaders – the ones that will help us navigate the tumultuous waters we’re in – will embrace, display, and embody the qualities, attributes, and character of truly great leaders - ones that swear an oath – both inwardly (vow) and outwardly (oath) – to Serve the “highest good, the highest truth, and the highest beautiful” (Plato's Transcendentals). They will do this at great risk to themselves both personally and professionally – but their examples will inspire others. Many, many others. The Great Virtues, a higher calling, will provide the roadmap forward as opposed to the education (indoctrination) received by the current cult of success – the cult of profit – the cult of power – the current crop of so-called ‘leaders.’
Truly great leaders understand that there is a Duty beyond the current ‘professional’ or business / organizational paradigm, and they will stand for what it really means to be a Leader – and the prevailing operating systems, environments, and leaders will either evolve (step-up) or perish.
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Mark Passio’s “Natural Law” Seminar (Full Version). Almost 9 hours very well spent (IMHO).
i would restack this a million times if i could. Instead i restacked it here... and went right on the fuck ahead and reposted it to LinkedIn 😆 at first linkedin would not let me post the link. i had to try an alternate way of sharing it, but it wound up working. 😎 this message needs to be spread far and wide. thank you.