Special Article Preview
New Special Article
This is a draft of the beginning of my new special article.
In this new article, I talk about the qualities that distinguish truly great men from others and how contemporary leaders fail.
I try to determine how “gifted” leaders come to the fore! And what makes a gifted leader in the first place.
It’s a big undertaking! So this draft that you read here may change.
I often dump drafts a couple of times and rewrite from the beginning as I research.
You can support me in this endeavor of course by buying me coffees and getting on the mailing list, which includes access to previous “special articles”.
Nothing is as it was. Not the climate. Not the natural environment. Not technology. Not human cultures and civilizations.As I have written in previous articles, there is no doubt that this is a new world—a new age. We need a name for it.
There is no going back to what was.
No MAGA. No “Build Back Better” — if only because most people today have no idea of what was or what used to be-- just what they see on TV-- or what old people tell them-- and the elderly have largely forgotten— or their memories are distorted by nostalgia and wishful thinking.
So we are at a cusp – a turning point. Something will happen.
But we have a problem.
When "civilizations" replaced the small group hunting and gathering lifestyle that dominated human history for 50,000 years — due to climate and environmental change change 10,000 years ago in the “Neolithic Revolution” , survival depended on leaders and leadership .
It is the same today. Even more so. Human survival is precarious today than it was then.
Exigency raises questions. What exactly is a “leader”? What is “leadership?” Can a single person, or even a group of people real change things? Or do we need something else? AI anyone?
If you Google “great leaders’ you will see lists of people who played prominent roles in historical events. Julius Caesar. George Washington. Abraham Lincoln. Gorbachev. Even Richard Nixon and JFK and Queen Elizabeth II!
But what exactly did they accomplish?
Did they actually shape events?
Or did they simply ride a tide of change? Paddling in the same direction. Did they have special gifts that allowed them to navigate the tide and use it? Did they just find themselves Crusoes on uninhabited islands?
There are two kinds of leaders. One shines in the light of historical circumstances over which they had little real influence. That’s pretty obvious.
The other kind might be mythical —but they are thought to create history itself or at least singlehandedly change its course.
Let’s assume the latter exists.
In the United States, only FDR then would fall into this category.
No, not Washington, who would've been nothing but a guy with wooden teeth without the Founders.
Not Abraham Lincoln, who got lucky with the demise of the Whig Party, and disunity in the new Republican Party which got him elected as leader of that new Party with the just 39% of the votes.
Not-so Honest Abe’s place in history, as with JFK’s, was ensured by assassination. All sins and weaknesses forgotten, in the interest of textbook narratives.
Had he or JFK lived, history might not have been so kind.
FDR, by contrast, changed America so much it took full decades to regress toward the elitism of the early 20th Century, which we now enjoy.
Since FDR at least there has been no president or American leader who has changed anything very much.
Some people might think of singular individuals who lead in another way —Martin Luther King for example.
Yet, emancipation of black people was something building towards a tipping point since before 1865. No exploited people can remain used and abused —not at least in the same way— once their numbers increase beyond a certain point and they become important economically.
Obama and Clinton were undoubtedly smart but not “gifted’ and in any case, did not alter the trajectory of the American Republic. Bush was a half wit. But in some ways, he accomplished a lot — all negative, of course. How to do we rate “negative leadership”?
Biden had dementia before he took office. The Donald was a half-successful businessman who inherited his wealth and in his Second Coming rode the tide of American discontent about almost everything. He was a TV personality with delusions of grandeur— or maybe glandeur.
America’s days are numbered. The US, despite what it thinks, is now the most Dispensable Nation, exceptional only in its illusions. It is a Netflix production that has lasted a few historical “seasons” and must be replaced by something new.
The global audience is tired of this same-old imperial Deplorable. The US public is getting tired too – as the Democrats discovered with the Kamala Harris attempt— that cringy re-make of Biden and Obama.
Trump won the election all right — how could he lose? But is not, a “leader”. Nor ever will be.
No matter what he thinks, he is not in any way “gifted”.
Nor is Elon Musk? Who shares a similar illusion. And really just needs to rocket himself to Mars.
Idiosyncratic, yes. Multifaceted? His extrinsic advantages certainly were. this things. But not his abilities.
The simple fact is this. Elon musk has not invented or founded anything Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning found Tesla before a majority share was bought by Musk, giving him co founder rights. All of his inventions we’re thought up by persons under his employ which gives him the right to call them his own. Musk is funded by his father who owns an emerald mine as well as other ventures, creating the billions he currently enjoys. He himself is relatively unimpressive as far as ‘’geniuses’’ go as the biggest contribution he has personally made has all been financial. Musk himself has no real credentials or qualifications and is only the deciding factor on what he funds. Heugh Richards. US Army engineer (explosives) and animal behaviorist.
Others may disagree with this assessment, of course. But where there’s smoke, there’s a failed electrical circuit.
My point here is that “giftedness” is generally misunderstood — and especially in the case of “leaders” who often lay claim to it and somehow think that “gifts” come without a price.
Musk touts his Asperger’s—a category the APA no longer recognizes – but which Musk obviously wants people see as “genius”.
Does he have ASD? Like Julian Assange? Or Richard Bransom? Or Leonardo da Vinci? You get the idea. Less than 1% of people with ASD are geniuses.
In 2018, Trump described himself as a “very stable genius”. Note the word “stable”.
I guess you could say one man’s “genius” is another man’s “moron”.
Right now, however, we really, really need political ‘genius’. And actually we have it – “we” meaning the World. There are (at least) two such people. Vladimir Putin. And Xi Jin Ping.
No, they are not the same kind of gifted leaders, That’s because “genius” is – by definition-- original. If you are one — you’re one of a kind.
True creativity is a priori to everything.
That’s why we call God the Creator - rather than the CEO of Heaven Inc.
That is also why creative genius is so is rare, reflecting a combination of cognitive traits, that depend on little bits of “junk DNA” –actually non-coding micro RNA, which to fall into place in just the right ways, unlocking the mind.
But what is unique to each of these people? How do we explain their success? How they became what they were? Why does the West not yet have such people. (Hint: “not yet”!)
Vladimir Putin – and Xi - the Da Vinci Trait
To be continued.
Very interesting start! I look forward to the next episode. I share your assessment of president Putin. What separates him from other leaders (especially western) is in my opinion: his authenticy, his morality, his focus on the well-being of the people he is responsible for.
Wikipedia
The family was wealthy during Elon's youth.[13] Despite both Elon and Errol previously stating that Errol was a part owner of a Zambian emerald mine,[13] in 2023, Errol recounted that the deal he made was to receive "a portion of the emeralds produced at three small mines".[18][19]