Peak leadership: is the demand for leadership outstripping supply?
Related articles: People aren’t apathetic, they just don’t have an online network to channel their interests ; Peak Food ; Peak Oil ; The decline of the US dollar
I have recently written articles on Peak Oil and Peak Food. In both cases, the law of diminishing returns has resulted in a peak in production, consumption growth with population growth and ultimately short supply. In all cases, market forces are distorted and do not operate efficiently to promote longer term changes that increase supply, reduce demand, encourage greater efficiency and improve resource allocation on the demand and supply side. Generalisations are, of course, universally wrong, but they serve a useful starting point to focus attention. Further discussion introduces complexity that usually leads to inaction, despite a compelling need for action. In an era with greater demand for quality leadership, is the supply of leadership in decline? Does the law of diminishing returns apply to political leadership?
The world confronts key challenges. Demand is outstripping supply of food, oil and water. Many countries are insolvent through unrestrained consumption, unserviceable debt and unfundable promises. Countries are unable to communally agree on measures to reduce the environmental impact of human activity. The action that needs to be taken is generally agreed by independent experts, but political leadership is keen to defer implementation for a few more years, or require others to bear a disproportionate burden. Like Peak Oil and Peak Food, the global community suffers from Peak Leadership - a rapidly increasing demand for leadership, and declining supply.
As a community, how do we increase the supply of leadership? Leadership will come from the people. People aren’t apathetic, they just don’t have an online network to channel their interests. Online networks already exist that provide quality research into specific problems, indentify solutions that need to be implemented, and endeavour to lobby for their implementation. These are small relative to the influence of “public relations”. Individuals will increasingly realise that the internet provides them with their opportunity to make a unique contribution. The dissatisfaction with political leadership will encourage them to get involved. The influence of online networks will soon outweigh that of the public relations industry. The participation of our political leadership in online networks may also became an critical factor in a whether a candidate gets elected. However, the ultimate influence of an online network will be directly related to the number and contribution of its members. Greater participation in online networks by all members of the community will be essential for their credibility. Online networks could make a significant contribution to representative democracy.
[...] DRAFT! WORK IN PROGRESS! (This draft is publicly available to obtain feedback from third parties) Prerequisite reading: Online network business model (generic) ; Peak leadership: is the demand for leadership outstripping supply? ; Peak food: Are we going to run out of food? ; Will Peak Oil cause a depression from 2010? ; Peak leadership: the demand for leadership is growing rapidly and supply is declining ; The transition to online networks may take six months or 50 years The inspiration for this article is a video that I received by email. It is a plea from a child to the adults of the world at a conference in 1992. [...]