We give leaders too much credit for change
I’ve been wondering about the influence of leaders. I’ve been wondering about the conditions that facilitate leaders contributing to major shifts in the ecosystems in which they operate. And conversely how other apparently talented and powerful people seem to be restricted in their influence. Some find pathways of ‘flow’, while others seem to be pushing against the system. For example … On November 3 rd 2020, the voting citizens of the USA chose Joe Biden over Donald Trump and the world sighed in collective relief. But as Hugh White argues in the latest Quarterly Essay , Biden’s view of America’s place in the world was grounded in the realities of 25 years previous, when the post Cold War world assumed its friendship and protection. Ironically, Trump’s instincts and prejudices mesh perfectly with the trajectory of global power structures that are seeing the US move from what White refers to as a unipolar to a multipolar power structure. The reality is, according to White, that the US...
