Biology Reference
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would never have resulted for human posterity.
Thus, we get back to the statement earlier that leadership is related to vision, the ability to
foresee future challenges and through influence, as a result of integrity and trust, to guide a
group towards a goal, with higher moral value. In the case of Bushmen prophetic visionaries,
the loosely defined moral value would be finding food for the community to share and curing
the sick. Clearly, part of leadership is not only the ability to influence people towards a goal
but also, through personal relationship, convince them that this is the direction they want to
take. Thus in our modern era it is difficult for the “mega” leaders like presidential candidates
to build those personal relationships. With modern media, leadership candidates still have to
strive to win the personal support of all potential followers who identify with their values and
ultimately, moral goal. Thus, in most situations, the leader is more dependent on the followers
than followers are on the leader. Hence there is the risk that a successful leader will become
arrogant and self-congratulatory about is own abilities while failing to see that his success is
due to his followers or even perhaps random luck. It is noteworthy, that chimpanzees choose
their leaders by their ability to find food, lead the fight against enemies, protect the weak,
arbitrate fights, and build alliances. This is useful for understanding the selection of human
leaders. One can argue the moral value in fighting to protect the weak and to arbitrating;
Abraham Lincoln's great leadership came from leading the moral fight against the abuse of the
weak, and Winston Churchill similar fight for a greater good. Clearly, leaders also need to
lead differently and flexibly according to the scenario they are in. Take for example the
President of the USA: dictator as Commander in Chief, charmer to the electorate, bully to
congress, visionary to financial markets, consensus builder in his party, and servant leader to
his constituents. He also needs to adapt his leadership over time to fit life's imperatives.
However, if a leader loses that ability to foresee to the future, loses credibility or integrity,
then the “shaman” aurora is lost and the person is seen as just another one of the clan with no
great shaman powers. Except in the case of dictators, their reign comes to an end. On a daily
basis, leaders are also in danger of being prideful. They may have climbed the steps to the top
of their pyramid, but they have forgotten that there are millions of pyramids that have been
climbed by other leaders. Furthermore, any leader who ventures onto another pyramid, by
changing careers for example, has to start over further down to the pyramid. As with lions, a
dictator's end is usually more violent because of the built up adversity hence he tries to hang
onto power for as long as he can. As an aside, it worth noting that these many pyramids are
often built to keep a group of people provided for and employed, protected by an incumbent
“clan” leader, but the pyramid is laid on a foundation of other transient people who make use
of the pyramid. However, in the process of transiently using the pyramid they have to carry the
weight in costs of the pyramid, like tax payers or those that pay for insurance or use a large
institutions products.
Perhaps, a termite mound with a subterranean network is the more appropriate African
analogy. For example, in South Africa before 1994, there was a large white public
bureaucratic sector termite mound; much of it for sheltered employment, but after the ANC took
over, this pyramid collapsed, only to be replaced by a new one. Will the labor unions
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