We weren’t always democracies. In fact, humanity has spent about ten thousand years under the yoke of one form or another of autocracy. On only a few occasions during those millennia were we able to call ourselves citizens. Most of the time, we were variations of kings, vassals, artisans and serfs—but of course, there could be only one king and a handful of vassals, so the vast majority of people were artisans and serfs.
If we humans are anything, we’re adaptable, and we spent ten or twelve millennia adapting to autocracy. So today, do we come to public affairs as citizens? Not really. We come more like kings, vassals, artisans and serfs—usually vassals, artisans and serfs. That’s bad for democracy.
We don’t need to be better citizens in our common sense of the word. We need to reinvent our notion of what it is to be a citizen. We need to purge autocracy and autocratic roles from our traditions, thinking and behaviors, and replace them with something completely new. The NCI offers a new context for citizenship that we call “global leadership.”
When you think about it, everybody past the “terrible twos” is leading. We’re advocating, influencing, modeling. We generally don’t think of ourselves as leaders, but we’re leading nonetheless. Taking responsibility for leading is what citizenship is all about. And seeing ourselves as leaders inspires our greatness.
It’s possible for us to lead on every level. Perhaps we can only lead the people in our presence, but we can advocate, influence and model opinions and intentions for the management of the whole world. And we can do the same for all of our relationships and the groups between ourselves and the whole planet. That’s global leadership.
If you can see yourself as a global leader you’ll fit right in the New Culture Initiative. Either way, we hope you’ll join us. Click Next to read about the NCI as a whole, click here to learn more about global leadership.
In Permaculture Design there is phrase THE PROBLEM IS THE SOLUTION. When I read about how we, as a planetary culture, have been conditioned to fall into respective roles of King, Vassal, Artisan or Serf, I think about these as inter-related skill sets, thinking styles, character traits and positions of interest that exist in every sub-culture on the planet. Even in the household we see evidence of this hierarchical structure. The way I am choosing to understand it now, after reading your post above, is that every person has an idea at some time or another. I assume that for the moment that idea is born, the founder of the idea becomes the King. In order to work the idea into a practical social function, this requires an order of skills and commitments. Where I see this as a solution is if each of us would learn to master each of the four respective roles so that when opportunity arises for us to be in service we will assume the position fluently and immediately.
Wow, George. I’m amazed you noticed so quickly that, “Even in the household we see evidence of this hierarchical structure.” It’s a terrible source of verbal and social, if not physical violence, even with the ones we love.
I admit I don’t yet understand the second half of your comment, starting with “The way I am choosing…” Please say more.
Back in the sixties, as I was growing up with five older sisters, it was impressed upon me with some regularity that I was a male chauvinist. At first, I didn’t get it at all. Then after a certain number of years I began to see why my sisters kept insisting. Accepting that many of my attitudes and behaviors were sexist didn’t immediately stop me from having them. It just distinguished them out for me to exorcise one at a time.
The autocratic roles that prevail two-hundred plus years after becoming a democracy are as uncomfortable to accept as male chauvinism (and of course, male chauvinism is a manifestation of autocratic predilections). I think it’s helpful in putting autocratic roles behind us to have a vision of a new role to go toward. That’s why we invented this new context that we call global leadership.
I like what George says here: “I assume that for the moment that idea is born, the founder of the idea becomes the King. In order to work the idea into a practical social function, this requires an order of skills and commitments.”
I’m not sure whether George thinks it’s necessary for a single person to play all four roles of King, Vassal, Artisan or Serf at the same time on a specific task. If the task is a small one, such as preparing a meal for another, then planning, supplying the resources, implementing the preparation, documenting the results and restoring order could all be played by the mind and body of a single person withing the time frame required for success.
Most of us have played those 4 roles on a variety of tasks in concert with one or more others who have shared with us and know that all complex tasks require these four roles. As the “King” gets the plan, the king must be responsible to either carry out the other three roles personally, put up the money to get the roles covered by others, or cultivate, nurture, others into understanding and valuing the King’s vision as an opportunity to be informed, engaged and empowered to power self and others into an empowered, sustainable team or community. A good King should be able to understand and play out all four roles to a responsible conclusion, in order to be able to support others in playing the roles to implement and sustain the King’s vision.
In order to meet the challenge of sustaining complex global community capacity building AND democracy on the level Al envisions, I agree with Al that all individuals must agree to put unmitigated autocracy behind us.
To sustain democracy we must think along the lines of team work that allows the expertise of the need of the moment to be King for the moment, until the need of the next moment manifests and that individual or trait recedes to allow another empowered individual or trait to dominate in its moment of need. This is a kind of leap frog leadership. All four roles are playing simultaneously in all conflicts between vision and reality. Survival has always required bridging the polarity to create a balance in a “good enough” for survival in the moment. Throughout history, Literature, Visual Art and music have been about tragedy which occurs when the vision is great and the reality is great and the two cannot co-exist. Comedy in its Aristotelian meaning is when the man against man, man against himself, man against nature and man against society conflicts are resolved into a harmonious union of mercy and justice and a balance of the powers of authority and responsibility.
I like that Al’s writing talks about renewing the life-affirmative harmony and balance of powers of democratic tradition by integrating recent innovations in our understanding of patterning in molecular biology and social technology and using that understanding to meet the challenges of rapidly shifting global demographics and economics.
I wrestle daily with how to integrate all the roles necessary to achieving balance in our families, institutions, and our local and global communities.
Here are some suggestions I’ve been toying with to develop a leadership infrastructure for the USC IGM Art Gallery to be an incubator for an on-going series of art exhibits and art-framed forums.
At the USC IGM AG, we recognize that most learning and development is gained through on-the-job experience and assignments, while the remainder includes interacting with others through networking, coaching and mentoring, and through formal learning programs.
The IGM AG Advisory Council believes that the challenges confronting today’s arts and community capacity building organizations demand that arts and community capacity building professionals and their community partners respond more forcefully and proactively than ever before. These responses must be complex not reflex, strategic not prescriptive, systemic not situational, studied and deliberate not imitative and tentative, and most of all they must be from the inside out, not engineered from a distance. The future demands that our organizational responses be as creative, bold, entrepreneurial, clear, courageous and adaptable as the art and mindful partnerships we produce, exhibit and present. The IGM AG Advisory Council is committed to creative community building that is art-framed — led and directed by arts and community capacity building professionals
Learning Through Experience
With the majority of development happening through on the job experiences and career moves, it is important to carefully plan development that will prepare team members for future roles at USC IGM AG and in the community beyond. Planning development through experiences translates into identifying the experiences that can provide the greatest impact to a desired skill set. New assignments and job changes provide Gallery participants with the opportunity to learn and develop while preparing us for new roles. Leading or participating in a BPI (Business Process Improvement) project, working on a cross-functional team, or working on a national or international communications technology or USC delegation assignment are all examples of valuable on-the-job learning experiences.
Learning Through Others
Building a network, creating relationships and receiving feedback are critical to personal and professional development. Activities such as coaching and mentoring provide the guidance and support to help improve performance and grow capabilities. Assessments during event and exhibition debriefing sessions and reports provide insight and feedback from multiple perspectives on performance, so that individuals can identify opportunities for continued growth and improvement. Informal networking increases effectiveness as team members establish productive relationships with co-workers and key individuals across the Gallery’s local, state, national and international social network.
Training and Learning Programs
USC IGM AG offers a variety of formal and informal learning programs that target individual development. These programs are directly tied to business and higher education needs and are designed to develop specific competencies in the Leadership Framework, the model used to define and describe the set of core leadership competencies that are key to success at USC IGM AG.
USC IGM AG volunteer experience positions help prepare USC IGM AG volunteers, partners and sponsors for their current and future roles and cover a wide range of content including leadership and the USC IGM AG culture, diversity, BPI, business and financial acumen, and more. Below is a sample of our offerings.
Leadership
The Leadership Imperative is a series of Standing Committees and their programs that focus on different leadership topics that arise as the Gallery’s programs keep documenting, evaluating, refining and preparing for expansion each year. This ensures that the USC IGM AG facilitates the move from a culture of management to a culture of leadership. Consisting of leader-led working sessions, it’s designed to engage every Standing Committee Member, volunteer and partner in actively achieving future business results through leadership and substantive civic engagement.
Business and Financial Acumen
The USC IGM AG Value Proposition: Business and Financial Acumen component in all the Gallery’s programs provide USC IGM AG participants, worldwide, with a shared understanding of key business concepts and give them a common business and citizen diplomacy language. These highly interactive art-framed opportunities provide knowledge and skills for executives, managers and individual contributors in the areas of business, healing, creativity and financial acumen.
Manager and Executive Orientation
USC IGM AG offers two distinct interactive orientation sessions for new Standing Committee managers (LEAD First) and new Strategic Planning Committee executives (Leadership from the Start) to ease the transition into these roles and enable success.
Professional Development
USC IGM AG offers a host of learning opportunities for team members to develop professionaly. Offerings include a wide range of topics including functional/technical information and team and community engagement targeted at the specific needs of the job or higher education lead role (such as nonprofit and for profit development, technical support for event planning and exhibition programming), communications skills and more.
If any of this seems consistent with your thinking, I’m interested in exploring further. Lynn
Somehow everyone forgets Plato, (who was present when democracy was founded). According to Plato’s “Republic” the philosopher-king is the “Philosopher King” precisely because he is the best qualified to be the P-K.
We are not equal – never were – never will be. And we can only be “happy” if we “accept” our status in the hierarchy.
So —- pick up your hoe and start weeding the farm and let us great thinkers and great doers take our rightful place high-up on the stage of the world!
Huh? What do you mean – I’m the one who gets to work the business end of the hoe? And you get the big white house in DC – with the pension and the health-care?
No-no — you’ve got it wrong – I’m the smart one – you’re the insignificant one!
Come on now — my hands blister so easily. If I can’t be the king – then I don’t want-a play.
And you’ll be sorry – believe me – very-very sorry!
Because – come the revolution – things will be put back in proper order!
Signed: the Rightful (once and future) Philosopher King
Welcome to the site, Blair. Of course, at the time of Plato, autocracy already had an 8-10 millennia grip on “civilized” humanity. It was already like water is to the fish. Like all of his peers, Plato “forgot” (never realized) that what I call “autocratic theater” in “The Dark Side” was theater.
I’m thinking much of your post is tongue in cheek. It’d be great to hear more of your views straight up.
Everyone wants to be the boss – nobody wants to do the work.
We are all smarter than we are given credit.
There are no “bad” cowboys – only “sick” cowboys who need understanding.
Wit and satire sometimes are the best tools to point our life’s absurdities.
Yes – it was tongue-in-cheek (except for the part where I get to be the King!).
Gee, Blair. So cool to hear what you have to say. Please allow me to respond in pieces:
“Everyone wants to be the boss – nobody wants to do the work.” I’d say there are two motivations here. One we might call laziness, which I think is the common, albeit cynical explanation. The other motivation is that in a hierarchical (autocratic) society the people doing the work are lower than the boss. They’re worth less. They have less dignity. And in a high-stakes economy (see Stakes) put themselves and their families at risk whenever they accede to serving (doing the work). I think the laziness explanation masks a rightful source of discontent while defiling our character.
“We are all smarter than we are given credit.” Here, here!
“There are no “bad” cowboys – only “sick” cowboys who need understanding.” I agree, but I’d add that it’s the social environment that’s sick even more than the cowboys (see Social Imperative and A Few Bad Apples), and that we tend to blame individuals for the environment we place them in.
“Wit and satire sometimes are the best tools to point our life’s absurdities.” Yes, it allows us to tell the truth without being too dark, and yet it only leads indirectly to action.
“I get to be the King!” If we all took the viewpoint of wise and benevolent kings, I think it’d lead to more agreement and better courses of action. It’s actually a much better view than that of serfs, artisans and vassals (see Roles).
It was good to meet you in person. I hope you’ll read and comment some more.
Well, as I said above and you seem to agree, freedom is not free!
“Everyone wants to be the boss – nobody wants to do the work.”
Well, yes and no; over some things and not others; sometimes and maybe not now. Sure wouldn’t want to be in Obama’s shoes now! And while a lot of us would like to call the shots from a distance, fewer of us would like to be around when the ‘fit hits the shan’.
Leadership equates to responsibility, and laziness, complacency and cynicism all get in the way. And in such a diverse society, there are countless venues to apply this trait short of Kingship.
Yet on the other side of the same coin, the side that this website so thoughtfully articulates, the social and cultural context is hugely influential of the choices we end up making (duh!). Even in this “democracy” we are more inclined to be serfs than kings. And our education system is increasingly geared toward this – see Nick Kristof’s Sunday Times article “Pay Teachers More”. I recommend you add this to your “Recently Read” digest column, Al.
My ideal kingdom would be very ‘fluid’ where citizens could try out the various levels of “Global Leadership” with low risk. That’s where the conditions of the ‘low stakes economy’ become mandatory – see “Stakes”. Sadly, we are moving further away from this ideal.