Part 01
Some people I know like to talk about leaders as if they were above the considerations of culture, economics or politics. Perhaps, well and good, but only up to a point. That point is, such separation is artificial. It may be fun to discuss the issue over a beer but, any way you slice it, it describes a fantasy universe.
In reality, leaders don't operate in a vacuum, they operate as a part of subsystems that operate within cultural, economic and political systems. It is a truism that, no matter how high a leader may be in a hierarchy, somebody is measuring his performance. And, the metrics of leadership are governed by "the rules of the game" established within the various cultural, economic and political subsystems that comprise the milieu in which the leader functions.
I would be egregiously remiss, therefore, to overlook the human ecology of leadership, i.e., the totality, or the pattern, of relations between leaders and their environments. As well, I can't overlook the various degrees of reflexive interactivity that obtain between leaders and the systems in which they operate. In fact, to overlook these real world conditions would be to relegate the substance of this thread to a fantasy world where the most important discussion is the discussion centered on how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.
To elucidate: in the present context, I will use the term, ecology, not in the sense of describing the physical environment of Earth, as it is most commonly used. Instead, I will use the term in its human sense, i.e., as a sociological term dealing with the spatial and temporal interrelationships between humans (in this case, leaders) and their cultural, economic, political and social organizations. It is my thesis, then, that leaders live in human ecological systems comprising many ecological subsystems.
The interrelationships between leaders and the systems within which they work, are enormously influenced, if not governed, by cultural, economic and political drivers. As a consequence, leaders are free to act only within the constraints imposed by the drivers extant in their respective sector subsystems.
In the area of economics, for example, under Capitalism, the demands on leaders in the private sector subsystem are different from the demands on leaders in the government sector subsystem. The reason the demands are different is because the constraint-sets in the sector subsystems are different. In turn, the constraint-sets are different because the structures of the sector subsystems are different. Likewise, the structures are different because the prime operational drivers of the sector subsystems are different. The private sector subsystem is driven primarily, but not exclusively, by the profit motive. (There are many not-for-profit businesses.) The government sector system is driven primarily, but not exclusively, by the cost-justification motive.
What about leaders operating in the area of economics of a Socialist System? I will pick that up in Part 02.
Some people I know like to talk about leaders as if they were above the considerations of culture, economics or politics. Perhaps, well and good, but only up to a point. That point is, such separation is artificial. It may be fun to discuss the issue over a beer but, any way you slice it, it describes a fantasy universe.
In reality, leaders don't operate in a vacuum, they operate as a part of subsystems that operate within cultural, economic and political systems. It is a truism that, no matter how high a leader may be in a hierarchy, somebody is measuring his performance. And, the metrics of leadership are governed by "the rules of the game" established within the various cultural, economic and political subsystems that comprise the milieu in which the leader functions.
I would be egregiously remiss, therefore, to overlook the human ecology of leadership, i.e., the totality, or the pattern, of relations between leaders and their environments. As well, I can't overlook the various degrees of reflexive interactivity that obtain between leaders and the systems in which they operate. In fact, to overlook these real world conditions would be to relegate the substance of this thread to a fantasy world where the most important discussion is the discussion centered on how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.
To elucidate: in the present context, I will use the term, ecology, not in the sense of describing the physical environment of Earth, as it is most commonly used. Instead, I will use the term in its human sense, i.e., as a sociological term dealing with the spatial and temporal interrelationships between humans (in this case, leaders) and their cultural, economic, political and social organizations. It is my thesis, then, that leaders live in human ecological systems comprising many ecological subsystems.
The interrelationships between leaders and the systems within which they work, are enormously influenced, if not governed, by cultural, economic and political drivers. As a consequence, leaders are free to act only within the constraints imposed by the drivers extant in their respective sector subsystems.
In the area of economics, for example, under Capitalism, the demands on leaders in the private sector subsystem are different from the demands on leaders in the government sector subsystem. The reason the demands are different is because the constraint-sets in the sector subsystems are different. In turn, the constraint-sets are different because the structures of the sector subsystems are different. Likewise, the structures are different because the prime operational drivers of the sector subsystems are different. The private sector subsystem is driven primarily, but not exclusively, by the profit motive. (There are many not-for-profit businesses.) The government sector system is driven primarily, but not exclusively, by the cost-justification motive.
What about leaders operating in the area of economics of a Socialist System? I will pick that up in Part 02.
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