Powering recovery with liberal values and leadership

‘Each for there own’ or so the old saying goes, and so far be it from me to demean the way leadership modes have evolved in various settings. I know very well that many of you will work in companies, and live in countries, where strong persistent and control centric is ‘the right way’ for you, and that’s fine of course. Horses for courses, however...

Strategically aligned liberalism

I am of the view that (in appropriate settings of course) it is strategically aligned liberalism blended with the strong leadership identity (to connect, decide, inspire and mobilise) and necessary reasonable controls, in management and in societies, that plays to the human spirit and succeeds better in the long term. This should at least be an aspiration.

Grass is already green on this side

We’ve learned to presume the benefits of living in free liberal societies and companies, where freedom of movement, beliefs, expression of opinions etc. are guaranteed or encouraged. Sometimes that’s undervalued, especially in situations where dictating controls from the centre is such an apparently elegant and simple solution. Such is the lot of a school teacher who finally gives up trying to motivate teens to become successful learners, and institutes check lists, controls and punishments instead.

Command and control - fools paradise

In mass production, or standardised delivery organisations, forms of hierarchical models are established, where authoritative command and control seems to work, and for a time it appears to be the best possible alternative. Rising to the top are those formulating then institutionalising their ‘one way’ of thinking or working as being ‘the right way’ even ‘the only way’. History proves that eventually all such blindly dominant control systems fail, when the time comes where paradigms dissolve.

Annoyingly creative humans

And it is human people, with their annoying creativity and personal opinions, that form the opposing force, eventually disrupting that elegant idealised definition of what is ‘right’. And of course this is vital to success.

The cost of entrenched ways

Stubborn refusal to consider ‘new ways’ can lead organisations and countries to obsolescence - examples are plentiful, including Blockbuster Video whose leadership certainly spotted the emergence of online video streaming, but were far too deeply locked in their paradigm to respond by undoing a ‘successful business model’ to start from scratch anew; kept their foot firmly on the pedal through till collapse with $1billion debt.

The same can be said for ideology-based attempts to control human societies, which in various forms create strong centralised authoritarian states. You might think of China, Iran and Russia, but equally USA, EU and others have formed strong control states that aim to perpetuate their view of ‘the right way’ and ‘the only way’.

Good old human instincts save the day

Invariably it’s human nature in us that always has, and always will, disrupt attempts at systems of absolute control becoming dogmatic. Instincts that helped us evolve and survive as a species, our curiosity, individualism, creativity, our ability to innovate forming new teams to tackle new environmental threats that the central controller refuses to foresee, and yes often it’s just a stubborn insistence to have our say and a refusal to be told what to do.

Seeking solace in surrender to authority

In times of peril and crisis where do we turn? Intuitively perhaps, we seek a source of confidence and comfort, and often this is most visible and accessible by accepting over-simplified demagogues’ policy messages (I’ll exclude examples) or authoritarianism (e.g. Erdogan, Trump, Modi, Orbán, Duterte, Putin, etc.). Yet it is the responsibility of every one of us to keep check and ensure decisions that we support are truly decisions for the best.

Simple strong command and control messages far overpower the worn out ‘touchy feely’ liberal 'employees are stakeholders too', ‘protection of freedom’ and ‘goodwill to all’ messages, even if we know the crowd pleasing promise of the authoritarian is seldom if ever delivered, and rarely is the speaker genuinely concerned with the crowd they are pleasing.

One other human instinct to react to fear of uncertainty is a potent one, and demagogues know this. I've observed support for retrenchment embraced by startled investors upon hearing well-spun yet poorly considered executive contingency plans. Thus also we see certain people in Hungary, Poland, France, Turkey, Ukraine, and others, who suffered at the feet of authoritarians and fought for liberation, now turn once again find the illusionary comfort of nationalist authoritarians; recklessly offer to throw away protections of liberty like they are fast fashion items.

Collegiate, inclusive, interdependence, trust

People in organisations that have fought and worked hard to develop collegiate inclusive styles of working and leadership, they know that this is the best way to run and promote in meritocracies. Every time a leader listens and shows willingness to learn, the bond of shared beliefs and loyalty is strengthened.

What a price it would pay, to throw away that culture of interdependence and trust, just for momentarily convenient hierarchical punitive micro-management.

It’s a cost that could be needed, where a company, or a country, is about to fail. However, seldom is it failure that is at stake, but rather it’s blind ambition or a short-term perspective, or perhaps plutocracy or ideological social control in societies, that threatens all that we have built.

The opportunity?

Continuous improvement based on being open to challenge and invigorated by newness

The cost of failing?

To revert to a system of statehood, or a system of organisation, that we know will lead us right back to where we just escaped from.