We live in a world of incredible beauty, abundant
resources, and much human goodness. Yet, too often life for many people is
filled with ugliness, scarcity, and cruelty. There is a joy inherent in the
simple fact of our existence and a happiness present in each moment. Yet, too
often many people are caught up in anxiety and feelings of inadequacy. It
doesn’t have to be this way.
A chief obstacle to living better, more productive,
and flourishing lives is how we allow power and authority to be distributed and
exercised in our communities and work organizations. We made a mistake when we
decided that management should be a profession, instead of the
competence of every single person residing in our communities and working in
our organizations.
When management becomes a
profession, power and authority get distributed through rank-based leadership
positions, which distort the productive flow of information and resources
through the community or organization. Unwittingly every business school, management
curriculum, and leadership program contribute to the further decline of a
healthy and robust economic system.
One telltale sign of the
dysfunction of our professionalized management system is the continual need to
regulate business and large corporations. A healthy system is self-regulating. The
fact that we must regulate business and corporations today, otherwise they
would destroy themselves and harm everyone else, reveals that they are
unhealthy and dysfunctional. Government intervention in the economic system is
not the answer.
We must fundamentally reimagine how
we design and manage our communities and work organizations. This will be the
great challenge of the 21st century if we ever want to reach the
potential present in our human nature and the possibilities found in our common
human destiny.
That is exactly what I present in my new book, Deconstructing
the Supermeme of Leadership: A Brief Invitation to Creating Peer-Based
Communities and Leaderless Organizations. You’re probably asking
yourself, “What the heck is a supermeme and what does he mean by deconstructing
it?” Well, I invite you to purchase the book where those questions are
answered. Join me in this exciting new project of creating communities and work
organizations where beauty, abundance, and human goodness are the measures of
our success, and each person is able to experience the joy and happiness
present in each moment.
Here is a look at the table of contents:
Forward:
Deconstructing Leadership
Chapter
One: Supermemes, Idols, & Myths
Chapter
Two: Power
Chapter
Three: Power Relationships
Chapter
Four: Conceptions of Authority—Rank-based versus Peer-based
Chapter
Five: Emergence of Management Theory in the Twentieth Century
Chapter
Six: Leaders, the MBA, & Leadership Programs in the Twentieth Century
Chapter
Seven: Human Nature & the Nature of Community
Chapter
Eight: Creating Peer-based Communities & Leaderless Organizations
Appendix
One: Key Questions Regarding Leaderless Organizations
Appendix
Two: The Practice of Localism in Peer-based Communities
Afterward:
Becoming the Kind of Persons Who Can Flourish in Peer-based Communities and
Thrive in Leaderless Organizations
