Towards conditional self-determination.

Supreme leadership. Empowerment must happen first, before the delivery on expectations can begin.  Making people believe in the leadership’s ability to deliver on fictitious expectations is the price of entry. It is about giving the impression of being capable to deliver.

One of the reasons for needing a supreme leader is the scope of ancillary issues that we as individuals are unable to cope with. None of us is in a position to foresee and manage all aspects of life at any given point in time. We rely on the abilities and expertise of others which makes us interdependent. Hence, we need a supremely authorized leadership to administer and regulate our coexistence.

It is the people who elevate the leadership to a supreme power position.                          If the human genome would have a self-guided balance of ethics and values we could theoretically negotiate our coexistence with others directly without supreme governance.

 Leaders are dependent on the support of the masses before they can exercise their empowerment. That’s why the leaders’ primary goal is to retain popularity by promising to deliver on the peoples’ expectations. The unevenness of the supporters’ socio-economic influence compromises the leader’s impartiality right from the start and leaves large loopholes for mismanagement and nepotism. The psychological effect of empowerment. Every single empowerment causes a shift in the mental equilibrium of the people that came to power. No one can retain the moral and ethical values that he or she had before they came to power.  

It is always about taking advantage. Capitalizing on the uninformed. Informed people are critical about any offer.             They want to know what makes it special and how it differentiates from similar offers. Uninformed people rely on the impression that they receive from leaders and early adopters. There are of course many shades of believability in-between. Routine reassurance

Insecurity and the fear of losing power weakens our self-defense. Routine reassurance reinforces & strengthens the resolve needed to retain a commanding posture. (If there is nothing to fear, there is nothing to lose.)  

Declaring an allegiance. Leaders demand allegiance. In turn the people expect protection and certain privileges. Allegiance affirms the support given to exercise governance. Obedience guarantees a place in the hierarchic alignment and the possibility of gaining an elevated status. The satisfaction of being revered and followed, adds confidence in pursuing a cause but it does not indicate if the cause would lead to the desired solution Executed empowerment causes conflicts. The leadership needs to establish a desirable cause worthy of the sacrifices needed to win a conflict. But since in most cases there is no direct accountability for the outcome of a cause, the peoples’ reaction to a failed cause will have a negative effect on the leader’s position.

What causes economic implosion?                    The main cause is the inability of the leadership to make the needed adaptations.        A thriving economy needs a reasonable prospect of expansion at all levels of society. When a population in a society increases disproportionately to the available growth opportunities, the economy implodes. Despite an unprecedented increase in knowledge and global integration the underlying principles of economic interdependencies have not changed. It seems that self-sufficiency does not play a major role in these dynamics. Instead, an insatiable demand for more is the norm. If there is more,  we need more.  Increased socio-economic pressure triggers mass migrations and subsequent conflicts. And because the economy is by and large a fictitious entity. No one is responsible for it and no one can fix it. The economy changes its course regardless of any leadership’s considerations.  

The rise of predications. At a growing economic uncertainty, peoples' desperation for solutions grows disproportionately. In the search for ways out of the predicament we come across realities that were neglected or ignored like for example the realization that we are so interdependent that we cannot simply determine our socio-economic future at will.    When the socio-economic situation is on a rampage, people are more critical about the governing power. Issues that may have been brushed aside are now becoming points of contention.  

Misjudgments on behalf of the leader cause mistrust. When the position of the supreme leader is compromised the harmonious growth situation is being disrupted. And when the tolerance level has reached zero,  an urgent fixing is needed. Usually it is the supportive powers that were behind the debunked leadership, which are the ones designated to fix the problem. Empowerment is essential to progress at any level and no one wants to give up empowerment no matter at what level. 

The good news: The change also represents opportunities. While some continuity is good adaptability is essential to cope with change. It is a window of opportunity that should not be missed. Practicing adaptability while maintaining fundamental ethical values is a way forward.

Towards conditional self-determination.                                               Though we are governed by the socio-economic environment we live in, there is sufficient room to create an environment of self-determination. We peg the value of personalized assets and liabilities in comparison to our relatives and affiliates and identify the best growth potential.   Pegging the personal capabilities to adapt should include the ability to react to unforeseen challenges that infringe on fundamental ethical and moral codes.             Taking regular inventory of various power clusters that are at one’s disposal such as economic power, physical power, social power, knowledge power is important. And since nothing stays constant making adjustments to the application of each power asset is a given.

We need to come to grips with the existential reality that everything will change. And that we are meant to deal with the unforeseeable including the reliance on the support from the commanding leadership.  Change is written in the code of life and it comes unannounced. Making mistakes is unavoidable. Attributing mistakes to mitigating circumstances is a natural reaction that is inconsequential. Learning from mistakes can become an emotionally painful experience. There needs to be an understanding that making mistakes is part of an ongoing learning curve.  Establishing conditional self-determination is in any case an advantage though occasionally it reminds us that there can be pleasure in pain and solace in grief.           

Inspired by the writings of Margaret Heffernan, Bill Gross, successful entrepreneur. Dr. Shaun M. Powell, Dr. Jaakko Aspara, Prof. Henrikki Tikkanen, Key Mechanisms, Dr. Khanyapuss Punjaisri, Prof. Alan Wilson, Dr. Adny Lowe, Per-Ola Karlsson, DeAnne Aguirre Kristin Rivera, Indirect references to the thinking of Professor Olaf Sporns  A Psychological and Brain Scientist  Robert H. Shaffer Chair, and the Astrophysicist  Professor Neil deGrasse Tyson.  

 Best regards, Alex Goslar

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