« Zell's sources | Main | Fear » Politics, Organizations, LeadershipI'm traveling this week, hiting the east coast just ahead of residual hurricane Frances, seen in transit through an airplane window at 29,000 feet, a staggering diversity of white cloud formations, deceptively calm. One thing I'm thinking about on this trip is organizational culture, and I'm coming from a context of everyday thinking about the political problems of the U.S. and the world and how we might make repairs so that we can focus on very real problems of the 21st century - climate change, problems of developing nations, resource depletion, etc. Tough problems that the mainstream U.S. is generally ignoring because traditional channels of communication are dominated by divisive political squabbling and tabloid melodrama. A year ago I was talking to a great Texas political operative and mentioned the Dean Issues Forums that I was working on with Bob Jacobson. The politico smiled and said "I don't really care about issues. I just want to get our people to the precincts." Makes sense, of course - that has to be his focus. However that comment exemplifies the problem with partisan politics, which is not at all about issues, problems and decisions about governance. It's about winning and taking power. Party platforms and promises are often ignored once the latest iteration of the game is done. Parties take positions that will result in votes. Each candidate talks about "my plan" but you can't take those plans seriously - they're based, not on what the candidate is prepared to do, but on focus groups that tell them what their constituents want to hear. If we really want to solve problems and make the world more livable and more sustainable, we can't depend on politics or politicians. All of us who care must become activists, and advocate effectively for the issuese that are important to us. In politics, as in organizational cultures, leadership positions are too often assumed by persons who are not effective leaders. If this is the problem, I would say that the solution is to rethink how leadership emerges in those cultures, and now natural leaders can be nurtured and encouraged. Not everyone is a leader, and not every leader is legitimized by election or appointment to a position of leadership. This is a tough problem, and it requires that we stress in our teaching and training not just how to lead, but how to follow...and set that within some kind of ethical framework. jon posted this at 2:36 PM |
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