TITLE : MACROECONOMICS. 2ND ED.

Preface

Twelve years ago, I wrote The Unconscious Conspiracy: Why Leaders Can't Lead. It stirred up a bit of a commotion at the time. I was pleased to learn last summer that university presidents had named it (along with a more recent book of mine - Leaders [1985]) as one of their favorite books on leadership. I was pleased and disturbed, actually, since its continuing popularity suggests that while the players have changed, as the world has, their predicament has not - except perhaps for the worse. In America today, it is harder than ever to lead. One of my favorite social barometers, the bumper sticker, corroborates this. There has been a resurgence lately of such exhortations as "Don't Vote - It Will Only Encourage Them." For at least the second time, "Impeach Someone" is popular. Though we need leaders as much as ever, we have never held them in lower regard. Circumstances conspire against them. And so - without meaning to - do the American people.

Writers and teachers like to think that once they have identified a problem and offered some solutions, the problem is on its way to being solved. Having named the leadership problem in 1976, and having pointed out the direction in which I thought solutions might lurk, I moved on to fresh pastures. One such verdant field was an extensive study of leaders and the characteristics of leadership, which (with my coauthor Burt Nanus) I described in Leaders.

My next project was to have been a book titled Managing the Dream, in which I planned to focus on the application of leadership, spotlighting a variety of leaders and their organizations As often happens, however, I had to go back before I could go forward. I needed to look again at the context of leadership - at our organizations and at society itself - because leaders do not emerge from or function in a vacuum, and there has never been a more challenging context than the one in which we live today.

My intent at that juncture was simply to update The Unconscious Conspiracy to reflect the changed circumstances. Almost immediately, however, I saw that much more was needed. In tone and temper, the 1980s are totally different from the 1970s. Indeed, the 1980s are less an extension of the 1970s than they are the result of both the 1960s and the 1970s. In the 1960s, we wanted to make the world better. In the 1970s, we wanted only to make ourselves better. Now, at the close of the 1980s, we seem to be uncertain about whether we can make anything better.

The business world is turbulent, its waters roiled by scandals and a recent stock market crash. The political world is in upheaval, rocked by secret arms deals with terrorists and concessions to foreign despots who deal in drugs and have only contempt for the concept of human rights. The very fabric of our society is being unraveled by unchecked crime and drug traffic, increasing poverty and illiteracy, and unprecedented cynicism toward possible solutions. Who's in charge here? The answer seems to be, no one.

An unconscious conspiracy in contemporary society prevents leaders - no matter what their original vision - from taking charge and making changes. Within any organization, an entrenched bureaucracy with a commitment to the status quo undermines the unwary leader. To make matters worse, certain social forces - the increasing tension between individual rights and the common good, for example-discourage the emergence of leaders The narcissistic children of the Me Decade seem un willing to embrace any vision but their own - a narrow one that excludes the possibility of sacrificing a little bit today to gain something better tomorrow. A corollary of this unwillingness to sacrifice is an unwillingness to cooperate with neighbors. Americans are now going through a self-imposed isolation phase: Each individual feels helpless to affect anything beyond the immediate environment and so retreats into an ever - contracting private world - a fzhenomenon that manifests itself among the affluent as "cocooning" and among the poor as drug addiction. Activism is on the decline, including the simplest form of activism-voting. People float, but they don't dream. And people without a dream are less easily inspired by a leader's vision.

So the bad news is, the arena in which leadership is exercised has deteriorated. The good news is, we have, I believe, a better grasp of the problems and a better sense of the solutions than we did a dozen years ago. In fact, the last third of this new book is devoted to solutions - or parts of a solution. These suggestions for change - and that is really what they are -have been wrung both from my observations of other leaders, and from my own years of painful experience.

Why Leaders Can't Lead is an analysis of the problems facing anyone who tries to take charge of an organization - of whatever kind - and effect change. The book offers those engaged in the day-to-day tasks of leadership specific suggestions - not only on how to counter the turmoil and inertia that threaten the best - laid plans, but also on how to keep routine, which absorbs time and energy like a sponge, from sapping their ability to make a real impact.

The book is not overly optimistic. But I do think change is possible - even change for the better. Change begins slowly, however, as, one by one, individuals make the conscious choice to live up to their potential.

So Why Leaders Can't Lead is intended for everyone in a position of leadership, or aspiring to such a position; for all those concerned with who is elected, promoted, or appointed to leadership in any kind of organization. It is meant for anyone who holds a government office; anyone in public service. It is addressed also to professors of business, political science, and public administration; all department heads, deans, administrators, presidents, and chancellors of universities. It is intended for anyone interested in the future of this society. It will help the reader understand the problems facing leaders in this increasingly complex world of ours. At the same time, it will give leaders some practical ideas on how to deal with the troublesome issues that we all face.

Some material is reprinted here from my earlier book on the subject with very few modifications. The story of Charles Johnson, told in the first chapter, is still a moving example of how pressures from competing constituencies-pressures that are pervasive in our society - can destroy a leader. In the second chapter I retell the tale of the experience at the University of Cincinnati that led me to believe that existing academic theories of leadership were useless; but here the story serves to introduce my subsequent research and the four competencies that I believe are crucial for genuine leadership.

Most of the material in Part Two, "A Society Without Dreams," and Part Three "Parts of the Problem," is new, the results of my reexamination of the context of leadership. Part Four, "Parts of the Solution," is a combination of old and new thoughts. "Quitting on Principle" has been updated, for example, although the issue itself is no different The analysis is still the best I have to offer of this continuing problem, and I believe the insights are still valid. On the other hand, "Leading to Make a Difference," an essay on choosing self-fulfillment despite the efforts of parents, schools, and organizations to conspire against us, is entirely new, as are some of the other chapters.

This, then, is not The Unconscious Conspiracy Revised or even The Unconscious Conspiracy - The Sequel, or Part Two. This is largely a new book. While my description of our current circumstances may seem grim, I hope it will make the reader aware of the possibilities for change. In fact, I hope it will spur the reader on to take responsibility for change. Abraham Maslow said, "Each time one takes responsibility, this is an actualizing of the self." It is also the first step in taking charge, in becoming a leader. The best hope I have for this book is that twelve years from now I will look back on it and muse, "Where have all the leaders come from?"

Warren Bennis, Santa Monica, California January 1989