Open Leadership: not I, not I and also not we as you and me.
People call for less egoism in world politics, world economics etc. The alternative is supposed to be ‘more we’ but this ‘we’ being ‘you and me’ eventually becomes ‘me and me’. You see? What is called a paradigm shift can be more of the same in another disguise.
This is apparent in politics as it is everywhere else.
A politician calls for ‘we’. After election time, it sounds more and more like ‘me’. This happens over and over again.
It is so general that one can think it’s a human trait. But it is not, according to ‘me’ at least. It is a trap, and there is a human weakness to fall into this trap. Just as there is a human weakness to fall into any addiction. Being addicted is not a human trait. Not even being addicted to superficiality. Politicians may enhance the ‘me’ of their electorate. They may also enhance it in the ‘we’ of ‘you and me’. We versus them. ‘They’ are of course the enemy, or at least the ones who stand opposed to us. Are you one of us or one of them?
A radical paradigm shift comes from modern neurocognitive science. This is about a different view upon the individual. Mere ego stands versus total self of the same person. This way, the ‘me’ in ‘we’ time and time again finds another ‘me’ very convenient to get away from the own ‘total self’. In contrast to this, we need to get over the mere ego… But of course it’s definitely one of the most difficult feats to accomplish. ‘Mere me’ in the sense of mere ego, is inventive. Am I not a very distinguished speaker in pointing out the egoism of others? Even altruism may be ‘all about me’. Am I not a very worthy caregiver in my altruism?
This also calls into question the meaning of democracy itself.
Is the adored demos actually nothing but a mere conglomerate of ‘me, me and me’, together being ‘we’? Is the cratos, the power, to be put into such demos? Mind: before you know, ‘we’ becomes ‘me’ again. Democracy is valuable to the degree that individuals transcend their ‘me’. Without transcendence, there is no democracy, but rather something like do-me-cracy.
Therefore, in order to safeguard true democracy, we urgently need a culture that shows people who they really are: not mere egos but total selves.
Above all, we need transcended leaders, who have opened their ‘me’ towards their own total self. We need Open Leadership at all levels.
The higher the level of course, the more it should be a necessary condition to even talk about any leadership at all. Open Leadership is strong and gentle. Compassionate. ‘Me’ is in the end hard and weak. Being open towards more inside, makes one also open towards more outside. One grows as an individual and can thereby more easily overlap with others, especially with other grown individuals. Open Leadership is compassionate. Circles become larger. Eventually, a very large circle is compassionate with everyone on earth.
What is true for world politics is also true for every level of leadership. If you are a leader of any sort, please take it as your personal responsibility to open up, to transcend your mere ego.
Open Leadership is about you as total person, infinitely worthwhile and beautiful.
With transcendence, the world might well become a eutopia in the sense of eu-topos, a better place to live in for ourselves and our children and children’s children. That is something everyone can work on. You don’t need to wait for elections or referenda.
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