The stakes are high. We need wise leadership. Will we receive weakness, tyranny, or inspiration?
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President Barack Obama faces a world of dizzying change, opportunity, and danger. He’s preparing the US and much of the developed world to take on the issues of the 21st century. How he accomplishes this work will go a long way towards establishing the new world order for the coming decades.
Every world leader faces unprecedented issues. It’s the nature of the role. Yet some face challenges that have less precedent than others. From an American perspective in recent times Woodrow Wilson faced World War One and its global reach and mechanization before anyone else, FDR faced global economic depression and war in ways that had never been seen before, and Bill Clinton faced a post-Cold War world that was primed to grow, change, and evolve in ways the world had never done in the past.
So, let’s look at Barack Obama’s issues and challenges.
- A massive backlash against globalization. Not only are many countries and regions choosing to opt out or slow down their movement towards global integration (Venezuela, Ecuador, Russia, etc.), large transnational organizations are emerging that want to destroy everything in sight and return life to the seventh century (Al Qaeda and ISIS).
- Nuclear proliferation that’s nearly impossible to contain in any sort of traditional sense. The technology and know-how is abundant and available. Preventing weapons of mass destruction from reaching terrorist groups seems like a daunting task at this point.
- The climate is changing, whether as a result of natural forces or human activity. Life is changing—and will continue to change—for millions of people around the world based on climate-related factors.
The stakes are high. We need wise leadership. Will we receive weakness, tyranny, or inspiration?
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Dr. Robert Moore has written extensively on masculinity. He specifically has discussed the issues related to the maturation of important masculine energies. The energy that most applies to the question of leadership, now, is what Moore would call The King. The King—or King Energy—is at the heart of leadership. According to Moore, this “sovereign” energy (applying to woman just as to men) does two things: 1) orders and 2) creates. Ordering is about establishing meaning and structure to the world; it’s about how to see the word and how to prioritize its needs. Creating is about giving life (sometimes literally) to new things by sanctioning or empowering them through various efforts.
But not just anyone is ready to take on this role of responsibility. The fully evolved and mature “sovereign” can attend to these tasks with wisdom, measure, and confidence. The unready or immature leader will approach the situation in flawed ways. The output of these unsuccessful approaches leads to one of two negative outcomes: a) The Tyrant, who uses leadership to harm or subjugate others, or b) The Weakling, whose passivity squanders opportunity and appeases tyrants.
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How would you evaluate Barack Obama and other world leaders? Are they delivering the leadership that the world needs?
Certain recent flashpoints in the world have raised serious questions about this issue.
- Ebola outbreaks in West Africa.
- The rapid disintegration of formerly stable (if troubled) states such as Syria and Yemen.
- The emergence of ISIS, Boko Haram, and Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
- Catastrophic and deadly levels of air pollution on several rapidly advancing countries such as China and India.
Have world leaders been wise and courageous in addressing these challenges? Have the been tyrannical in their dealings with others? Have they been weak and passive in their ability to address challenges?
The world needs to sort this out. The world is facing opportunities and threats at an unprecedented level. The world order is re-forming.
Please share your thoughts.
Photo credit: Flickr/Les Haines