This post is my contribution to Blog Action Day. The purpose of this initiative is to get thousands of bloggers talking about one topic. This Blog Action Day’s topic is the environment.
The environmental issue is a leadership issue. It involves persuasion, negotiation, inspiration, motivation, and all those other “-asions” and “-ations” that leadership is supposed to address. Therefore, leadership should play a central role in this discussion.
These days, the environment is on everybody’s minds. Obviously, Al Gore has been partly responsible for such attention, with his Nobel Peace Prize and all. Scientist, politicians, economists argue over the actual existence of global warming, its cause, whether it is human-caused or natural, and so on. But hey, let all the science to, umm…the scientists. For the purposes of this article, I’ll take the sensible premise that global warming is a reality and that humans have a significant role in it.
So what role can, and should, leadership play?
It has been drilled into everybody’s mind that one of the most important functions of leaders is to persuade people to adopt a stance and take action. The discussion of environmental issues has a huge need of effective persuasion.
Granted, I don’t believe that it is still a great necessity to persuade people that global warming exists. Even severe critics of global warming discussions admit that it is a reality.
What is more important than that is to persuade people that they can do something to improve what the future holds for our planet. In other words, we need leaders to persuade people to practice what I call personal leadership.
Why?
Put simply, this cause is not one which will advance with a big social movement led by a central leader. It’s too big of a deal for a small group of people In my opinion, the mission of curbing global warming and environmental pollution will be achieved through micro-collaboration. People will have to contribute whatever initiative, however big or small, that is possible.
What kind of initiative?
A classic simple action that may contribute greatly, from lessening dependence on oil to helping the economy, is to use FC light bulbs instead of standard light bulbs. Or perhaps you can use the train instead of the car. In fact, you can use the train instead of the car just one day of the week, and still generate some impact. Using this personal leadership, you can serve as an example to whoever you may influence. You have to urge this micro-collaboration. That is leadership in practice. And that is what will be necessary to change the course of our planet.
And what about the bigger-than-life leaders who will single-handedly change the world?
Occasionally some great individual leader will emerge as a motivating presence. Al Gore has taken a role, regardless of what people think of him, of proactivity. Nevertheless, he nor any other individual will be a savior, regardless of how many awards he wins. In this age of tipping points, long tails, and wikinomics, social micro-collaboration will be the key to reversing the damage that humans have caused to the environment.
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Categories : Action, Blog Action Day, Change, Environment, Persuasion, Proactivity // Add Comment »
