Leaders and Leadership: Searching for Wisdom in All the Right Places

"In the West, and in America particularly, we have deep-seated beliefs in
1. Evolution the idea that all things are constantly evolving in the right direction;
2. Progress the idea that whatever is newer is better, whether it is a theory or a
technological tool; and
3. Consensus the idea that the more people who adopt a new idea or a new fashion in
clothes or cars, the greater the likelihood that they are right.
So we go from a new fashion to the next new fashion. We believe that change is progress. And
we have faith that the changes over which we have no control are taking us where we ought to
be going since evolving is inevitable.
These are beliefs that structure the core of our thoughts and our lives. These are beliefs that
lead us to see the world as linear and literal.
Most of the longest-running civilizations of the past native American Indian, for example
were cyclical. Every generation was expected to reprise and replicate the preceding generation,
with only minor changes in execution.
Those people were for thousands of years truth-keepers, carefully guarding the truths that had
been passed down to them from the past. By contrast, we are truth-seekers, forever inventing
newer truths in order to render the existing ones obsolete.
As a result, we look for the wisdom for living and for running our organizations in the most
recent emanations from our gurus and experts. In doing so, we miss the wisdom of the ages.
This book attempts to redress that fl aw in our thinking.
Lee Thayer shows us in this book how to fi nd the wisdom that could make a real difference in
our lives and our businesses. Few would be more qualifi ed to do so."