Deep Change

I was introduced Robert Quinn’s concept of Deep Change this weekend, not in some management class but rather in a sermon. The pastor did an excellent job of tying Mr. Quinn’s theory of leadership to the reading Mark 9:30-37. He stated that Quinn’s concept of true leadership was right in line with Jesus’ teaching as it reveals itself in Mark 9:30-37. Let me quote you this passage.

9:30 They went out from there and passed through Galilee. But Jesus did not want anyone to know,
9:31 for he was teaching his disciples and telling them, “The Son of Man will be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise.”
9:32 But they did not understand this statement and were afraid to ask him.
9:33 Then they came to Capernaum. After Jesus was inside the house he asked
them, “What were you discussing on the way?”
9:34 But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest.
9:35 After he sat down, he called the twelve and said to them, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.”
9:36 He took a little child and had him stand among them. Taking him in his arms, he said to them,
9:37 “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.”

It’s a little hard to find the management part in these passages isn’t it, but there they are right in front of you, verses 33 – 37. You see Jesus was saying 2000 years ago what Quinn wrote just a couple of years ago, that great managers don’t attempt to maintain the status quo, they upset it, they challenge their charges to think beyond their comfort level. As many commenters on Quinn’s site say when they write about their own revelation to Deep Change, incremental change is a slow death.

A slow death, what a phrase, but its one we as American’s should be used to, for we have been leading that slow death for decades. Jared Diamond writes in his book "Collapse:"

“…that societies, as often as not, aren't murdered. They commit suicide: they slit their wrists and then, in the course of many decades, stand by passively and watch themselves bleed to death.”

Vasko Kohlmayer repeats this assertion in his February 2006 article on American Thinker; The Suicidal Left: Civilizations and their Death Drives and while he reserves his analysis for the liberal Left, his assertion that “[E]ven as individuals commit suicide by drowning or shooting or some other such means, so the West is in the process of committing suicide by the Left...” is just as true for all political parties.

All four of these men realized that civilizations do not advance by maintaining the status quo, civilizations advance when someone steps forward and honestly leads at any cost to his or her standing among their peers. Maintaining the status quo they all reason only subverts true advancement or enlightenment, and a simple look at our modern society reveals their teachings to be brutally honest.

Today, America as well as most of Western Civilization can be found floundering about on its daily schedule completely ignorant of the events going on round them, unless, those events somehow upset their delicate sensibilities. Even the mundane traffic patterns of modern cities is upsetting to the status quo not because it equalizes all to its slow pace but because the pace does not match our own egotistical belief that my life is more important than anyone else’s. Socialism with its pie in the sky prize of enough for everyone at the minimal effort is but a symptom of our race towards a slow death. Toynbee’s Challenge and Response theories refuted the effectiveness of Socialism not long after Marx proposed it, but still the Left and many Americans and Europeans all believe that if only life were easier then life would be, well easier.

Today the anti-American and anti-military left is waging a slow war of decay, making our life easier by removing threats that we must endure to advance, and the American populace is following right in line. Unfortunately for western civilization the threats that the Left insists they are removing from our lives is only stepping off to the side and watching with glee as we slowly kill our own ability to resist them. Islamic Fascism isn’t concerned with being thought of as being tolerant, they believe that they are right in their views and their intolerance of those who speak out against them is not some hypocritical act on their part it is a calculated response. In their minds they are the dominant force and it is their right to quell any rebellion in any manner they deem necessary.

And where then does all of this leave us, the enlightened?

We are in a precarious position my friends for we have seen the best and worst of civilization and as of this writing only a few are fighting against the status quo. Even members of the Republican Party are not immune to the effects of the left’s suicide not because they are weak, but rather because they are not true leaders, for a true leader must be willing to do what ever it takes to challenge the status quo, to demand that what’s good enough is not enough and to demand that better ways be found to conduct our business.

The Gang of 14, the retired Generals and the leaders of the Democratic Party are the prime enablers of the Left’s efforts to maintain the status quo not because they all side with the left, but because as I said before they are not true leaders. They worry about the next vote, the next poll, and the next sound bite; in short they worry about being great and not being great leaders. Their comfort zone was attacked and they showed their true colors not by accepting the change but by going into a complete defensive mode to protect “their job.”

Great leaders are few and far between and yet we have encountered two of them in the last 20 years. The first was Ronald Reagan, the second, George W Bush and yet even the second of our great leaders falls into the trap set by the Left. He fails often when it is imperative that he does the right thing, but instead caters to the next poll, he is more often than not a human with allusions of greatness. And yet, he is a great leader for it is obvious to even the blind that is driving force is the protection and security of our nation, and it is this force that will never gain him any sympathy from those who wish us to fail. George Bush has challenged their status quo and it is driving the left crazy and for that they will vilify him to his death and ultimately ours.

A friend of mine, a veteran, is a member of this community that is vilifying the President, he calls it a Cowboy Arrogance that he hates, but what he hates to admit is it was cowboy arrogance that made this country great and will once again. My friend is torn between his love of his fellow service members and the challenging of his comfort zone, when questioned about it he will admit that it was the realization of the trauma of war that made him resign and move into the civilian sector and now he fights against that trauma everyday in his fight against the assault on his comfort zone.

For my friend it will only be good again when “that man” is gone and we can end this silly war, but what he refuses to see is that this war will not end when George Bush leaves office it will however do one of two things: either the next President will continue the war in its current form or the next President will end the current conflict allowing the enemy to regroup and attack us in a new and more deadly fashion.

For many on the left, leading us on an eventual path to suicide they focus their energies not on our common enemy but rather on some mythical date when all that is wrong with the world will suddenly in one fell swoop disappear. I know you’ve seen them with their 01/20/06 bumper stickers acting as if the rapture will come upon them on that date and their comfort zone will be returned to them, but on that date if we as a civilization are lucky they will not get their rapture for if they receive their wishes and the status quo is returned to its 09/10/2001 format, we will all die.

Allow me to leave you with a quote from Kholmayer’s ‘The Suicidal Left.’ He writes:

“Perhaps this recognition will give us the moral strength to swerve from the road to perdition along which we have been dragged for so long. There is every indication that its terminal point is not too far away. One can almost hear the echo of the abyss as one after another the great pillars of our civilization come crumbling down. Mixed with the doom-bound calls for appeasement in the face of barbarism, it makes for a bloodcurdling sound. If we want to live we must take heed, for the next bend in this road may well be the last.”

Perhaps but if human nature is any indication I believe we are in for a long battle not just from without by those actively seeking to kill us, but also from within. Great leaders do not seek to maintain the status quo; they challenge it and force it out of its comfort zone. Deep change is needed in this country and it is needed right now, we can no longer allow the status quo drive our policies nor our political parties. Our leaders cannot aspire to be great without first being great leaders. Christ knew this long before we ever realized it: when will you?