Leadership by virtue

Social vs. Economical system

If these two systems could or not be compared we should first lay out some definitions.

The social system is represented by people or groups of people. It is a social structure that refers to entities or groups of people that are definitively in relation to each other by having different functions, characteristics, origin or status. A social system is comprised of interdependent set of cultural and structural elements understood as a unit. Sociology is the study of human social behavior and especially the study of the origins, organizations, institutions and development of human society.

The economic system encompasses the production, distribution or trade of goods and services and consumption by different individuals, businesses, organizations, or governments. Economy as a study deals with the production and consumption of goods and the transfer of wealth and explains how people interact within markets to get what they want or how they accomplish certain economical goals.

To understand if the systems are comparable or not we should probably dig even more and try to outline also the basic differences between socialism and capitalism.

Problem solving and Leadership

Broadly perceived “western” trap says: “Problem solving is the essence of why leaders exist to do.”

Why is that false?

Like falling dominoes also the problems tend to accumulate fast? Most managers take short-cuts just to temporarily alleviate the most important tension points - just to be able to move onto the next problem. So, being unable to solve the core of each problem, the managers continuously get caught in the trap of a never-ending cycle thusly making it even more difficult to find any real resolutions. And these actions are draining all their energy and time resources.

To change . . . Why bother?

Heraclitus said: “Change is the only constant in life.” Accordingly, people like to change things or other people but are usually not so willing to change themselves.

Why do people resist to the change? Is it because they mistake inertia or no-change for safety and predictability? Logically, the fear of the unknown frightens us. Leaving a comfort zone and facing uncertainty creates a lot of anxiety thusly paralyzing any activity for a change even if the current situation or process is not functioning well. It is much more difficult to accept the change when we lack confidence. Mostly, we all tend to postpone the difficult or uncomfortable things that need to be changed. Postponing them until the very last minute (known as a “student syndrome”), until something generates an impulse of urgency. Why we believe that there is always enough time to think about a change tomorrow I have already described in Cause and consequence / Urgent and important.

Blurb of the book:

Interwoven around the leadership process, corporate challenges and martial arts this book brings the reader along to "listen in" on the day to day developments, struggles and challenges.

The reader is shown from a first-person perspective the internal refinement of a leadership process based on non-Western approach. The main character, brought up in Europe and therefore used to Western "cultural background noise" although practicing Chinese martial arts, has to learn and understand the differences brought by Far East principles if he wants to grasp leadership from a different angle ...

The book has eighteen (18) chapters. Chapters one to five are dedicated to the background setting and the evolution of the story and characters; Chapters six to nine are devoted to open different approaches and mentality that is coming from Far East and Martial arts philosophy and in parallel gradually introducing difficulties in leadership process and (miss)understanding of those Far East concepts; final Chapter eighteen is dedicated to merge those Far East and Martial arts concepts and philosophies with "known" Western ones and thus opening a new entanglement approach proposed with the use of the Leadership by Virtue.

A video review:

Jaro Berce has poured in the “Leadership by Virtue” his passion, knowledge, and wisdom. It is an exceptional view of blending eastern and western thinking and practices; it is thought provoking, an eye opener, challenging and more.

The book “Leadership by Virtue” by Jaro Berce is not just a novel, but a tremendous learning experience (by Pamela Jill Rapley).

Wing chun in Leadership

Wing Chun (in Mandarin Yong chun) means “eternal spring”. It is a marvelously efficient system of aggressive self-defense that allows immediate adaptation to the size, strength, and fighting style of an attacker.

Yip Man, who introduced wing chun to the west, was from the south of China where Cantonese language is spoken. Additionally, the Chinese pronunciation is very different from the Western pronunciation and that is why people misunderstand it. Consequently, we do not have only Wing Chun, but also Ving Tsun, Ving Chun, and Wing Tsun, as well as some styles that at the end of Wing Chun as a third word add Kuen (Mandarin Quan), meaning “series of fist boxing”.

Wing chun is also based on the Yin and Yang principle, meaning soft and hard or motion and stillness, attack and defense—they all come from each other. Yin and Yang may be the most important theory in China. The concept of Yin and Yang is simple and at the same time vast in nature. The earliest origin of Yin and Yang must have come from the observation of day turning into night and night turning into day. Yin and Yang are interdependent on each other. Yin cannot survive without Yang and vice versa—there cannot be activity without rest and rest without activity. Which is the fundamental tenet in Chinese thought that has been emphasized mostly by the Daoist schools is wu wei. The literal meaning of wu wei is ‘without action’ and is often included in the paradox wei wu wei, ‘action without action’ or ‘effortless doing.’ It means natural action—as planets revolve around the sun, they ‘do’ this revolving, but without ‘doing’ it, or as a tree grows, it ‘does,’ but without ‘doing.’ Wu wei refers to behavior that arises from a sense of oneself as connected to others and to one’s environment. It is not motivated by a sense of separateness. It is action that is spontaneous and effortless. If wu wei is seen purely as inactivity, then indeed it is anachronistic in todays’ times. But wu wei is not just a lack of purposeful action, it involves knowing when to act and when not to act. Therefore, it is a state of alert quietude and watchfulness, it is action only when and where required to restore the balance of universal harmony. In Wing Chun, one utilizes all these principles when fighting.

There are numerous programs, schools and methodologies helping to understand and learn how to manage business and people: different master of business administration (MBA) schools with their own programs and almost abundant methodologies and tools they teach their students. Unfortunately no one ever learns whatsoever about e.g.: ecology at an MBA or in their programs. Unethical business and environmental practices of some MBA students are uncovered consistently.

Responsibility across the broadest spectrum of society is vitally important to the future of the global economy. Having said that the key question in today's business environment still remains: do all those programs, methodologies and tools really come out the way we need them to?

The biggest issue to introduce all of the different programs every couple of years or so is mostly based on the matter that companies are entirely dismissing experience if you do not have a degree. This is short sighted and even negligent but attractive to those that want higher salary, better career opportunities or better consolidated business network. The second matter is that different methodologies and tools get sold to C-level as a silver bullet that is going to fix all of their issues, problems and will bring out the solutions.

But to probe even deeper - it is not the methodologies or the tools that bring solutions or break problems. They are good and they work when they are just frameworks to organize efforts. The important and mostly overlooked aspect of application of methodologies and tools is: they need to be based on the business needs, culture of organization and should be properly trimmed to benefit from using them.

MARSocial copetition: Leadership by Virtue

My book excerpt from “Leadership by Virtue” available on AMAZON.COM (Chapter 6, pages 117-120 of 539 p.) is entered into the Marsocial.com Author of the Year Competition Please Click the link and like, shares it. Thank you.

As for Shifu’s words, Tara asks Ben if he has seen a monster

Culture sophistication of employees pressures on realization of decisions

Leadership cannot really be taught. It can only be learned. (Harold S. Geneen)

The words “If you do not handle your time, how can you manage the time of the people you lead” from yesterday evening echoed in my ears through the night. And still now I cannot forget them. It is very true, and I feel that I need some guidance about how to overcome these rapidly evolving events that are consuming me and my energy. Drinking tea in my office and shuffling through my e-mail, I just cannot get rid of Shifu’s words. Where is the key that will unlock the doors that will allow all the negative energy accumulated in these two companies to exit? It seems to me that even an exceptional martial artist could not fight through all this piled-up problems.

I don’t even hear it when Gemini enters with the report I asked for about all those subsidiary companies and our ex-employees working in them mostly for FixCom. She starts to explain the background and the concerns she has if we cancelled contracts with companies right now. I agree with her and ask her if she can prepare a plan to pass important services to a new company smoothly and then to pass other less important services that are not our core business and do not bring high value added on to those companies. The plan should include the costs and people involved, and we can have preliminary discussion about it today at the merge meeting. I inform her that we will have this on the agenda of our first directors’ board meeting in two weeks.

Fedor enters with a smile on his face. This should be a good sign. And it is.
“Hi, Ben. I have the papers with me.”
“Make it good news, please.”
“It is. We finally entered all the data yesterday evening and tested them with the new SW module. This morning we cleaned the errors and ran them again through the system and the results are here.”
“That is great, and I should apologize for being rude to you yesterday.” It is a relief to say these words that I truly mean. Finally, a positive effect offering me proof that I’m steering the problems correctly.
“No problem. I understand the pressure on you, and we did not help you much to overcome them. Would you like to see the results?”
“Yes please, but first let us call Dylan too.”
“I already informed him, and he is on his way up here.”
Dylan arrives a few minutes later, and we have a long presentation and Fedor’s explanation of the data. It is half past nine when we are through, and I shock them by saying, “Would you mind if I leave now and you two carry out the meeting?”
“Something more important?”
“In some ways, you could say yes. But please can you inform me about the results afterward?”
“Is she young?” was Fedor’s provocative question.

Interested? READ MORE HERE.

Social vs. Economical system

Problem solving and Leadership

Resistance to change