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Third Generation Leadership Develops Self Confident People

Guest post by: Douglas Long

Article Overview: At the heart of the human condition lies existential anxiety. Essentially existential anxiety is a search for meaning. As such it is unique to humanity.Traditionally people have found the answer to this quest in work and structure coupled with religious faith of one sort or another. Over the years three main ways of dealing with existential anxiety have emerged and these correspond to First Generation Leadership, Second Generation Leadership, and Third Generation Leadership.

Third Generation Leadership Develops Self Confident People

At the heart of the human condition lies existential anxiety. Essentially existential anxiety is a search for meaning. As such it is unique to humanity.

An old song (written by written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller and recorded by Peggy Lee in November 1969) summarises this search for meaning as it concludes with the words:

I know what you must be saying to yourselves,

if that's the way she feels about it why doesn't she just end it all?

Oh, no, not me. I'm in no hurry for that final disappointment,

for I know just as well as I'm standing here talking to you,

when that final moment comes and I'm breathing my last breath, I'll be saying to myself

Is that all there is, is that all there is

If that's all there is my friends, then let's keep dancing

Let's break out the booze and have a ball

If that's all there is



Traditionally people have found the answer to this quest in work and structure coupled with religious faith of one sort or another. Over the years three main ways of dealing with existential anxiety have emerged and these correspond to First Generation Leadership, Second Generation Leadership, and Third Generation Leadership.

First Generation Leadership enables a person to deal with at least some of their existential anxiety by following the rules (life is predictable)

Under the First Generation Leadership approach people had clear sense of purpose - to do exactly as they are told - and they knew that when they obeyed instructions the future was secure. Their sense of personal identity was tied up in knowing their place in society and in fulfilling the roles that were expected from their stratum. For most of them their work was able to be learned to the stage where the tasks became habits and so could be completed with little or no conscious thought. The same was true in the religious sphere. By learning rituals, prayers, chants, and the like, religious duties could be performed with little or no conscious thought and the penalty for freethinking was excommunication or death - something that is still a dominant theme in many religions and faiths today. Not surprisingly higher level learning, creativity and innovation were largely lacking.

Second Generation Leadership enables a person to deal with at least some of their existential anxiety by conformance to norms and rules and confidence in learning from experience

Under the Second Generation Leadership approach the blue zone started to be harnessed. Now people were encouraged to learn from experience and to think about what they were doing. Training was able to move from being rote learning and this gave rise to the tremendous increase in productivity and economic activity that we saw in the post Second World War period. This was accompanied by a "jobs for life" and "cradle-to-grave social system" in countries such as the UK, Australia and New Zealand. Anxiety about the future was dealt with by conformance because, if one conformed to society's mores, there was total confidence that you would be cared for in your old age.

At the same time, because Second Generation Leadership was an evolution from First Generation Leadership, the traditional First Generation Leadership approaches found in most religions and faiths could continue without being openly challenged - people continued to give some form of acquiescence to the dominant religious faith in their country. However two phenomena appeared in relation to religious practice. On the one hand there was a significant incidence of "nominal" faith - ie people who claimed allegiance to a particular faith or denomination but seldom, if ever, attended a place of worship. Simultaneously there was an increase in affiliation to a fundamentalist form of that faith. (Something that still continues today across a variety of faiths and denominations.) Clearly the issue of existential anxiety was being resolved by people in different ways. For some the freedom to openly question and to deal with ambiguity and complexity (blue zone) brought release from anxiety: for others this same freedom brought about disquiet that could only be resolved by retreat into an obedience framework (red zone).

Third Generation Leadership enables a person to deal with at least some of their existential anxiety by realising that "I matter to someone" and "I am making a difference"

Third Generation Leadership has been emerging since the early 1980's but, unlike its predecessors, it is a substantial change from the preceding phase and its emergence requires shifts in underlying behaviour as well as changes in policies, technologies and training. These underlying behaviours are very persistent and explain the long delay in it becoming dominant. Simply, most leaders have been successful in their careers using the skills of 2G Leadership and operating within a Second Generation Leadership framework. A shift to 3G Leadership requires a significant change in personal behaviours, a change that is difficult to make for people whose very success has been based on the behaviours that now need to change. It is a change in behaviour such that every individual recognises that they are special and worthy of respect.

The "red zone" is characterised by fear of what is a possible threat. Both First Generation Leadership and Second Generation Leadership are ultimately controlled from the "red zone". Thus we encounter very real pressure to revert to the old ways of doing things. We want the security of doing what we've always done - even if the evidence is that it doesn't work - because there is security in it.

But the complexity of today requires "blue zone" thinking. The fiasco of the Israeli-Palestinian imbroglio; the tragedies of the Iraq and Afghanistan colonial ventures; the problems in Africa and with Iran; the issue of drugs and countless other world issues are proof that First Generation Leadership and Second Generation Leadership approaches have had their day.

We need Third Generation Leadership and 3G Leaders.

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Article Tags: 3G Leaders, existential anxiety, third generation leadership



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