Leading with Everything to Give: Lessons form the success and failure of Western Capitalism
ISBN 9781903689455
176 pages.
Published 15/5/2010
£4.99 - £11.99
Paperback, Kindle, Epub
Is it possible to have an ‘undefended’ society? And what sort of leadership would it take to accomplish that?
Having looked at the personal character of an undefended leader in Leading out of Who You Are and at the pragmatics of wielding power in Leading with Nothing to Lose, Simon Walker next looks at the politics – and economics – of undefended leadership. In this final volume of his leadership trilogy, The Undefended Leader, he analyses the crisis in social ecology in Western culture and its global repercussions. The West says, ‘I am rich, I don’t need a thing’ but is poor and pitiful; the majority world says, ‘I am poor, I don’t have a thing’ but possesses great strength. What a tragedy it will be, Simon responds, if in the coming decades we were merely to reverse our respective poverties. What sort of society and leaders do we need for all to become truly rich?
With study questions and practical ideas to help readers apply th undefended vision wherever they are.
“I have come to see that idealism and pragmatism are n incompatible bedfellows – the grand and noble and the humble and immediate are both necessary.”
Dr Simon P Walker is an Associate Fellow of Bristol University Graduate School of Education. He holds a DProf by Public Works from Winchester University, which was based on his contribution to the adult education between 1997-2013. He has bachelor degrees in Biology and Theology from Oxford and an MPhil in Applied Theology from Oxford.
I didn’t expect this book to be a “page turner” from the title but was inspired to read it by seeing the author at a conference. However once I started I was really surprised how quickly and easily I read it, understood the point being made and was challenged to do something. Simon outlines a theory of the structures of society and then shows how we have got to this point and therefore what we need to do in order to develop a new model of society. Without being directive about specific actions Simons gives direction both for practical action and discussion pointers.
Mr Jarvis
Contents
Acknowledgements ………………………….. vi
Preface …………………………………..vii
PART I: Deconstruction: Lessons from the Failures of Western Capitalism
1 Laying Out the Map …………………………3
2 The Crumbling of Our Foundations (RSC) …………7
3The Insatiable Hunger of the Well-Fed (PWX) ………19
4 Bowing the Knee: the Ascent of Money (PSC) ………31
5 Buying the World Cheap (RWX)………………..41
6 Celluloid Slavery: the Economics of the Celebrity Class (PSX) …51
7 The Rending of Our Social Fabric (PWC)………….59
8The Swelling of the Underclass (RWC)……………69
9 Death, Grief and the Changing Cycles (RSX) ……….75
PART II: Reconstruction: Lessons for the Future of Society
10 The Future Before It Unfolds ………………….89
11 Culture and Nationalism (RSC, Foundational) ………95
12 Consumption and Citizenship (PWX, Aspirational)……99
13 Capital (PSC, Dominant Norm) ……………….105
14 Control and Capacity (RWX, Migrant) …………..111
15 Celebrity (PSX, Iconic)……………………..115
16 Compassion (RWC, Underclass)……………….119
17 Cohesion (PWC, Mass) …………………….123
18 Conviction (RSX, Radical) …………………..127
19 Where Do We Go from Here? ………………..135
Select Bibliography ………………………….149
The Leadership Community ……………………151