BrkThu.org Leadership

Leadership

If you could predict who would become the leader you need now, would you elect him or her?

Good Leader

A good leader, a humane being, understands that ultimately all people are one; that the common belief that “we” are different from “others” creates great harm; and that hate, in any of its manifestations, steals away our energy, depriving us of our potential to improve our well being.

A good leader serves the best interests of his people and thereby all people of the world.

Cincinnatus

Cincinnatus — a leader Geo. Washington respected

Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus (519 BC – 430 BC) a Roman aristocrat and statesman whose service as consul in 460 BC and dictator in 458 BC and 439 BC made him a model of civic virtue. Twice granted supreme power, Cincinnatus held onto it for not a day longer than absolutely necessary. Early in his life, due to the actions of his son, Caeso Quinctius, Cincinnatus was forced to pay an immense fine, to sell most of his lands and compelled to live in humble circumstances on a small farm, where he and his family were able to subsist on the work of his hands. George Washington admired Cincinnatus for placing public service above personal gain. (Wikipedia)

Bad Leader

A bad leader, a psychopathic being, believes he/she is a higher form of life than all others; does not have the ability to empathize with others; promotes the common belief that “we” are different from “others”; and uses hate, in any or all of its manifestations, to steal away energy from others, thus depriving others of their potential to improve their well being.

A bad leader impersonates a good leader but serves his or her own interests above those of his people; and will maintain his “power position” sacrificing all others, at all costs, except to him or herself.

Many corporate and government leaders display psychopathic, even sociopathic, characteristics.

Breakthrough Leadership Test

Do all of the people or only a select few benefit from the leader's actions?

Research Breakthroughs

A. “There are a few things we take for granted in social interactions with people. We presume that we see the world in roughly the same way, that we all know certain basic facts, that words mean the same things to you as they do to me. And we assume that we have pretty similar ideas of right and wrong.”

“But for a small – but not that small – subset of the population, things are very different. These people lack remorse and empathy and feel emotion only shallowly. In extreme cases, they might not care whether you live or die. These people are called psychopaths. Some of them are violent criminals, murderers. But by no means all.”

“Professor Robert Hare is a criminal psychologist, and the creator of the PCL-R, a psychological assessment used to determine whether someone is a psychopath. For decades, he has studied people with psychopathy, and worked with them, in prisons and elsewhere. 'It stuns me, as much as it did when I started 40 years ago, that it is possible to have people who are so emotionally disconnected that they can function as if other people are objects to be manipulated and destroyed without any concern,' he says.”
Psychopaths: how can you spot one?, Tom Chievers, The Telegraph, 6 Apr 2014.

Especially see "Without Conscience", Dr. Robert Hare's website devoted to the study of Psychopathy and please take a look at the articles and publications listed.

B. “Psychopathy is a syndrome-a cluster of related symptoms.” This Charming Psychopath: How to Spot Social Predators Before They Attack, Robert D. Hare, Ph.D. Psychology Today 2007 and Aftermath Surviving Psychopathy

C. “... One consequence of the drives to bond was the development of a moral sense. Driven to Lead shows how the basic moral sense, common to all cultures, derives from the four drives and the decision-making process that manages them.”

“But it is also possible to be genetically missing the drive to bond. The result, although rare, is of outsized historical importance. For these are the psychopaths, the people who are genetically missing the drive and the capacity to care about other people. As leaders, they are the evil leaders who cause enormous suffering. Driven to Lead has a good deal to say about these people, how we can make sense of their seemingly incomprehensible behavior, and how we can finally begin to protect ourselves from them.”

“In Part II of Driven to Lead, Prof. Lawrence examines key leadership events in political and economic history and in the history of the institutions of religion, art, and science. Of particular interest is his analysis of the United States government and its Constitution as a reflection of the brain’s own four-drive decision-making process.”

“Part III brings Prof. Lawrence’s theory of leadership right into the ring, applying it to some of the most important leadership challenges we face today. Why does Congress find it so hard to do what’s right? Was it really just greed that caused the mortgage meltdown? Can we make sure that globalization does more good than harm?” Driven to lead: Good, bad, and misguided leadership, P.R. Lawrence.