Читать книгу Leading Wisely - Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries - Страница 9

By and large, people who realize the importance of wisdom will make better decisions during their life's journey. They appreciate how wisdom can be an enabler. They realize the importance of wise decisions for their individual and social well-being. They realize that, without wise decisions, their societies will be at risk, but they are also quite aware of how much wisdom is still lacking in our present-day world, despite our great advances in knowledge.

It is for all to see that, on a fundamental level, the tragedy of the human condition has not lessened. We still are not able to get things right. Homo sapiens continues to make a mess of things. Presently, our sense of alienation – manifested through feelings of powerlessness, normlessness, and meaninglessness – appears to be at an all-time high. Fear, anxiety, and depression are ever-present, and related to this flood of emotional distress, epidemics of addictive behavior can be seen everywhere. Added to this sorry state of affairs, we are still living in a world full of conflict with large groups of people still exposed to much starvation and war. Sadly enough, the only difference between the past and the present seems to be the difference between throwing stones and shooting high powered, nuclear missiles. Notwithstanding these tragic developments, many of us live with the illusion that if we were to amass just a little bit more knowledge, everything would be all right. Unfortunately, very little thought is given to the greater accumulation of wisdom – how to make wiser decisions.

Sadly enough, while we are living in an information society where knowledge is omnipresent, we are still living in a world where wisdom is direly lacking. Clearly, in our current world, we are able to gather information and knowledge at a much faster rate than we are able to gather wisdom. Referring again to the idea of a ‘wisdom equation’ in leadership, there is no question but that wise leaders are rare and far between. Many of our present leaders are everything but paragons of wisdom. Frankly speaking, far too many of them are not up to the challenge. They are behaving more like actors in a reality show, trying to peddle their illusions. They are catering to what people ‘wish to believe’, but are unable to give wise council to their citizens. Populists as they are, many of them promise unrealistic, overly simplistic miracle cures to deal with the ills of society. They seem to be in the ‘fan fiction’ business, creating fantasy facts and alternative realities. It seems that the ignorant and the belligerent have the upper hand, and it is easy to recognize that in their actions, wisdom is direly lacking. Even worse, it often seems that the less wisdom they show, the more popular they are. The fewer facts they present, the more they push ‘dream politics’, the more they are applauded. The more factoids they present, invented out of thin air, the more they dazzle their followers.

These demagogue-like leaders are not concerned about what is in the best interest from a communal/societal point of view. They are not interested in the common good. Far too many of them only seem to be in pursuit of their self-interest. In other words, they are just looking out for number one. If we take a hard look at their behavior, it would become clear that most of them lack a moral compass. They are anything but value driven. However, where they do excel is in their capacity to take advantage of the dearth of wisdom among their followers. They seem to be acutely aware of the fact that wisdom does not emerge out of collective ignorance, but aiming for the lowest Zeitgeist denominator is not the answer to solving the complex problems that humankind is facing.

Many of these leaders seem to have forgotten that the greatness of a nation is not measured in dollars and cents but in human decency. What makes a country great should not be a simple transactional calculation. To be possessed by the forces of selfishness and greed – individual or national – is not the answer in dealing with the serious ills of society. On the contrary, well-functioning societies have a set of values that define them.

It is quite disturbing that in these very turbulent times, when enlightened leadership is needed more than ever, a country's citizens – confused and excited as they may be – are more likely to respond to the siren calls of these demagogue-like leaders while refusing to listen to the voice of wisdom. The results are there for all to see. Unfortunately, as has been said all too often, hundreds of wise men cannot make the world a heaven, but one idiot is enough to turn it into a hell. The philosopher Bertrand Russell put it quite astutely: ‘The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.’

All in all, the main reason I am writing this book about wisdom is that in this confusing world of ours, characterized by volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity, I am trying to make a plea for more wisdom in leadership. As I have suggested, looking at the state of the world, many of our present leaders are not the role models we would like to emulate. On the contrary, we need different kinds of leaders. I am referring to the kinds of people who prefer love above hatred, who are able to foster harmony, instead of divisiveness, who are advocates of peace, not of war, and who prefer to build bridges, not walls. Furthermore, we should be on the lookout for leaders of integrity, who advocate justice, not corruption and lawlessness. While I may sound naïve, I am also referring to the kinds of leaders for whom concepts like freedom, care, values and character do matter. We should never forget that freedom flourishes upon the bedrock of ethics and integrity, not hypocrisy. In particular, we need leaders who build social trust, not distrust. In high trust societies, good things happen. Leaders who cherish these values will be the life blood of any true democracy.

In our present-day world characterized by a pandemic, global warming, nuclear threats, terrorism and dramatic income inequalities, we need more than ever leaders who are interested in promoting knowledge and wisdom, not ignorance. We need leaders who transcend people's wish to believe. I am referring to the kind of people who are reality driven, who have a solid grasp of what is possible and are interested in doing things for the common good. It is exactly this kind of leadership that will prevent us from entering doomsday scenarios.

Notwithstanding the many threats that we are facing in this day-and-age, far too many people still do not realize the importance of wisdom for the advancement of humanity. They do not realize that time is running out if we want to save our planet. It is here exactly where wise leaders can make a difference. When leaders possess a degree of wisdom, their actions can contribute to real transformation, a process that is not merely a redecoration of the past but a transformation of humanity that embodies the eternally new.