(Pfeffer, 2015) There is a vast, ever-expanding leadership industry comprised of an almost infinite number of books, articles, speeches, workshops, blogs, conferences, training sessions, and corporate leadership development initiatives that have existed for decades.

The period witnessed the emergence of a set of recommendations for improving group and organizational performance that were largely stable and sometimes supported by research. The recommendations include, but are not limited to, the following: leaders should inspire trust, be authentic, tell the truth, serve others, be modest and self-effacing, demonstrate empathic understanding and emotional intelligence, as well as other similar-sounding platitudes.

On the other hand, there is abundant, if not overwhelming, evidence of workplaces filled with disengaged, dissatisfied employees who do not trust their leaders and whose most frequently expressed desire is to depart their current employer. Not only is the world rife with dysfunctional workplaces, but leaders are also struggling, as they face shorter job tenures and an increasing likelihood of enduring career derailments and being fired. The situation described above is an appropriate example of leadership failure. Leaders are in decline. The leadership industry continues to fail in its mission to produce effective and successful leaders, and it has failed to produce enough talent to cover leadership vacancies.

Why, then, and what are the causes?

According to Stanford Graduate School of Business professor Jeffrey Pfeffer, “the fundamental problem with this industry is the disconnect between what we say we want from our leaders and how they actually manage organizations.”

Pfeffer argues that the quality of our leaders will not improve until we evaluate them and our leadership development practices with a more clinical eye, utilizing useful, objective metrics, as opposed to handing out questionnaires at the conclusion of leadership development activities and asking participants if they enjoyed it. Pfeffer writes, “The leadership industry is so obsessed with the normative — what leaders should do and how things should be — that it has largely neglected to ask the fundamental question of what is actually true and why.”

Without data that allows us to make accurate assessments of leaders, we are unable to make significant enhancements to their development. Pfeffer argues that nothing is likely to change until leaders are evaluated based on their actual accomplishments and held accountable for enhancing both their own behavior and workplace conditions.

Conclusion

In this brief article, I show the enormous disconnect between decades of leadership writing, development, speaking, blogging, etc., and the sad condition of workplaces and leadership. I argued that the emphasis on emotion over science and on positive emotions over reality contributes to the continuation of workplace and career issues.

I conclude this article with an interesting quote from Schott and Zaretsky (2013):

“Set aside what you would like to imagine…Machiavelli writes, and instead go straight to the truth of how things really work…like the…moralizers Machiavelli aims to subvert, we still believe a leader should be virtuous…Yet Machiavelli teaches that in a world where so many are not good, you must learn to be able to not be good. The virtues taught…are incompatible with the virtues one must practice to safeguard those same institutions…The proper aim of a leader is to maintain his state (and not accidentally, his job)…there are never easy choices, and prudence consists of knowing how to recognize the qualities of the hard decisions you face and choosing the less bad as what is the most good.”

To change the world of work and leadership, we need to get beyond the half-truths and self-serving stories that are so prominent today.

References

• Pfeffer, J. (2015). Leadership BS: Fixing workplaces and careers one truth at a time. Harper Collins.
• Scott, J.T., & Zaretsky, R. (December 9, 2013). Why Machiavelli Still Matters. New York Times.
• Zimmerman, E. (September 9, 2015). Jeffrey Pfeffer: Why the Leadership Industry Has Failed. Insights, Stanford Business.

Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) has published Ghana 2022 Annual Household Income and Expenditure Survey (AHIES) Third Quarter Labour Statistics. According to the report, there were approximately 1.76 million unemployed individuals in the third quarter of 2022. Two out of every three unemployed members of this population were female. Approximately 157,000 people experienced unemployment in each of the three quarters, or were unemployed in each quarter. Out of the roughly 11 million people who were employed in each quarter, approximately 7.5 million remained employed throughout the three quarters. This shows that over the course of the three quarters, approximately 3.5 million people entered and exited the labour force, highlighting their vulnerability.

According to Felic Kwame Quainoo, Ghana’s current unemployment situation can be compared to a patient on life support who requires urgent and critical medical attention, a situation which, if left unchecked, could be disastrous in the near future unless immediate steps are taken to reverse the situation. It is alarming, a “ticking time bomb,” and a national security concern.

The magnitude of the adolescent employment problem in Ghana necessitates a comprehensive, deliberate, and consistent response.

Priorities for promoting youth employment in Ghana include:

• Aligning formal education programs and skills development initiatives with a labor market that is rapidly changing and requires new and diverse skill sets, and adapting to new technology.
• Collaborate with the private sector, such as by involving employers in the design of training programs and introducing certifications for occupational standards, to adapt to the future of work.
• Integrate pre-employment support activities into the current education system in order to better prepare young people for the transition to the workforce.
• Promote social inclusion initiatives to improve access to credit and management training for women entrepreneurs, as well as to improve infrastructure and equipment for people with disabilities, ensuring that no one is left behind.
• In addition, we emphasize the need for increased collaboration between various stakeholders in order to reduce duplication and fragmentation of adolescent employment programming.

To equip the large number of graduates who enter the labor market each year with employable skills, Ghana’s educational system must be reformed to meet labour market demands. Providing coordinated and comprehensive preemployment support services, such as internships, job search and help, coaching and mentoring training, as well as shaping digital skills, soft skills, and work ethic, is essential for preparing young people for the rapidly evolving global labor market. The aforementioned list of support services must be effectively incorporated into the Ghanaian education system in order to prepare undergraduates for a seamless transition into the workforce.

Finally, we suggest establishing public-private partnerships by providing private sector partners with incentives to train their employees, involving employers in the design of training curricula, introducing certifications for occupational standards, and encouraging private companies to engage young people. Targeted initiatives, such as enhancing female entrepreneurs’ access to credit and management training, as well as enhancing the infrastructure and instruments available to young people with disabilities, can promote social inclusion. These efforts will be essential to increase youth participation in the labor market and ensure that no one is left behind.

Taking into account the options outlined in the report, future policy planning for youth employment should not only address youth unemployment but also construct the human capital required to sustain Ghana’s economy.

References

Dadzie, C. E.; Mawuko, F., & Suleiman, N. (2020). Youth Employment Programs in Ghana: Options for Effective Policy Making and Implementation. International Development in Focus;.Washington, DC: World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/34349.

Fosu, K.Q. (September 29, 2020). Addressing Youth Unemployment in Ghana Needs Urgent Action, World Bank Report: Press Release. No. 2021/045/AFR.

Ghana Statistical Service (March, 2023). Ghana Annual Household Income and Expenditure Survey. Quarter 3 of 2022 Labour Statistics Report.

The Fundamental Strategic Role of Top Leaders in Organizations

“Where there is no vision, the people perish” (Proverbs 29: 18).

The strategic leader faces many obstacles because he or she must balance the need for continuity with the need for change. Strategic leadership determines the organization’s directions, meaning, purposes, and objectives. Besides many other skills, a long-term perspective is required.

Bass and Avolio (1993) assert that Strategic Leadership is an internal group process. To lead, a leader must take part in group activities. Leadership transcends mere authority. According to Ireland et al. (1995), Strategic Leadership has six components: 1) determine strategic direction 2) use and maintain important competencies 3) develop human resources (human capital development), and 4) sustain an effective cooperative culture 5) Emphasizing moral conduct 6) implementing strategic management. Moreover, Ireland and Hitt (1999) define Strategic leadership as a person’s ability to anticipate, create a vision, maintain flexibility, think strategically, and collaborate with others to implement changes can improve the organization’s future. (Chinoperekweyi, 2019) Building successful organizations necessitates identifying and focusing on factors important to all stakeholders, and promoting the prudent and strategic use of organizational resources.

Strategic leaders constitute the dominant alliance in any organization, which typically includes senior management, the board of directors, the CEO, and other senior-level figures (typically those who report directly to the CEO or the board of directors) (Finkelstein et al., 2009; Hambrick and Mason, 1984). In terms of organization development and leadership in the 21st century, strategic leadership is a crucial component. Strategic leadership practices and methods must be recognized as an integral element of organization development in order to achieve better and more effective strategic change results. Effective strategic leadership is essential for a company’s decision-making in a volatile and dynamic business environment to achieve both short- and long-term objectives.

According to Minja and Kirimi (2012), the majority of corporate failures stem from a lack of strategic leadership practice, which results from leaders’ inability to effectively communicate the organization’s vision to its followers, inability to inspire followers to be passionate about their roles, and inability to inspire employees to be loyal to the organization’s vision.

Competitive and dynamic markets necessitate strategic leaders who are proactive in ensuring the participation and alignment of all organizational members from the planning stage through execution, so as to achieve the highest level of cooperation and coordination among colleagues. Strategic leadership relies on participative approaches to promote organizational and team performance to support organization development concepts. Participation by employees improves morale and motivation, resulting in increased results and productivity.

The current global business environment is more complex, demanding, and replete with competitive threats and opportunities for businesses. Organizational survival and expansion are significantly dependent on effective leadership practices. Hitt and Ireland (2002) argued that strategic leadership practices help firms improve performance while bringing about the desired change in a volatile business environment. Without strategic leadership, Ireland and Hitt (1999) believed that the likelihood of an organization achieving superior or even adequate performance when confronting the challenges of the global economy would be substantially diminished. Understanding the characteristics and skills of strategic leaders is essential for assuring the success of organization development initiatives.

References

Bass, B., & Avolio. (1993-Spring). Transformational Leadership and Organizational Culture. Public Administration Quartely, 17(1), 112-122.

Chinoperekweyi, J. (2019). Comparative analysis of organizational effectiveness in banking: A case study of the Zimbabwean banking sector. International Journal of Commerce and Management Research, 5(1); 13-21.

Finkelstein, S., Hambrick, D. C., and Cannella, Jr., A. A. (2009). Strategic Leadership: Theory and Research on Executives, Top Management Teams, and Boards. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Hambrick, D. C., & Mason, P. A.(1984). Upper Echelons: The Organization as a Reflection of Its Top Managers. The Academy of Management Review, 9 (2), 193- 206

Ireland, R. D., and Hitt, M. A. (1999). Achieving and maintaining strategic competitiveness in the 21st century. The role of strategic leadership. Academy of Management Executive, 13(1); 43-57.

Ireland, R., Hitt, M. &Hoskisson. (1995). Strategic Management Competitiveness and Globalization Consept. St. Paul MN, West Publishing Company.

Minja, D., & Kirimi, A.B. (2012). Transformational corporate leadership. Uitgever: Andrews UK Limited.

According to Albert Chinualugomu Achebe, in Things Fall Apart, “A man who calls his kinsmen to a feast does not do so to redeem them from Starving. They all have food in their own houses. When we gather together in the moonlight village ground, it is not because of the moon. Every man can see it in his own compound. We come together because it is good for kinsmen to do so. Therefore, let us continue with the team spirit and enjoy the power of togetherness. Let’s smile not because we don’t have problems, but because we are stronger than the problems” (1996, p.118).

Chinua Achebe is right. We need teams in practically every aspect of our lives. To drive an organization forward, the top team (functional, exeutive & strategic aspects of leadership) must work together like a well-oiled machine.

Given the inadequate research on the topic of top team working in higher education, there is undoubtedly a need for further research in this area. One outstanding interesting area of potential research borders on the issue of team development in Ghanaian higher education institutions.

A discussion on the meaning of teamwork, particularly in top teams, from the higher education and corporate sectors based on the following literature (Bensimon and Neumann, 1993; Katzenbach, 1998; Wageman et al., 2008) is critical and to relate the findings to the challenges of upper echelons (Hambrick, 2018; Hambrick and Mason, 1984) team working in higher education settings.

The focus of the research should be on the theory and practice of teamwork in top management teams in higher education institutions; in particular on the value of teamwork, and what characterizes effective team working in the upper echelons in both the corporate and higher education sectors. It would be valuable to carry out a more systematic study of the approaches to team development that are in existence, the advantages of each, as well as the usefulness of developing tools and practices that could be of high importance for the sector.

Literature Reference

Achebe, C. (1996). Things Fall Apart. Britain: Heinemann,  p.118.

Bensimon, E. S. and Neumann, A. (1993) Redesigning Collegiate Leadership: Teams and Teamwork in Higher Education. Baltimore, MD: The John Hopkins University Press.

Hambrick, D.C. (2018). Upper Echelons Theory. In: Augier, M., Teece, D.J. (eds) The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Strategic Management. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-00772-8_785

Hambrick, D.C., & Mason, P. (1984). Upper echelons: The organization as a reflection of its top managers. Academy of Management Review, 9, 193–206.

Katzenbach, J. R. and Smith, D. K. (1993) The Wisdom of Teams. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.

Kennie, T. and Woodfield, S. (2008) The Composition, Challenges and Changes in the Top Team Structures of UK Higher Education Institutions. London: Leadership Foundation for Higher Education

Kezar, A., Jude Paul Matias Dizon, & Scott, D. (2019). Senior Leadership Teams in Higher Education: What We Know and What We Need to Know, Innovative Higher Education, 10.1007/s10755-019-09491-9

Wageman, R., Nunes, D., Burruss, J. and Hackman, J. (2008) Senior Leadership Teams. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.

Woodfield, S., & Kennie, T. (2008). Teamwork or working as a team? The theory and practice of top team working in UK Higher education. Higher Education Quarterly, 62(4), 397-415. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2273.2008.00399.x

Credibility is the foundation of leadership (Kouzes & Posner, 2011). People will voluntarily and cheerfully follow their leaders if they have faith in the people who lead them. Credibility is about how leaders gain the trust and confidence of their subordinates. It concerns what people demand of their leaders as a precondition to freely giving their hearts and minds to a common cause. It is also about the actions leaders must take so as to strengthen their constituents’ commitment.

The Problem

Since the last three decades, faith in organizations and leaders have started to fade away, and trust, the key element of credibility has taken a nosedive. No single event explains the whole decline, but a lot of people point the finger at Enron as the beginning of the fall. WorldCom, Tyco, Fannie Mae, other corporate accounting scandals, and illegal trading in mutual funds confirmed the suspicions of many about corporate greed, with persons like Bernard Madoff and Calisto Tanzi of Italy’s Parmalat only reinforcing these fears (Umar, Gungormus, & Kuzey, 2017). Sex scandals surfaced in churches (CIASE, 2021), as well as in the houses of parliament and statehouses. A housing and mortgage crisis in the United States, with a corresponding collapse in the financial markets, set in motion a prolonged economic recession that had the potential for bankrupting countries around the globe (FCIC, 2011). Millions lost their jobs; millions lost the roof over their heads; millions watched helplessly as the value of their retirement savings dwindled or disappeared. Adding to the anger of ordinary people was the fact that once-powerful organizations were given government bailouts while at the same time paying massive bonuses to their top executives (FCIC, 2011; Man and Ciurea, 2016; Umar et al., 2017).

To worsen the situation, in the recent past, environmental disasters have shattered entire populations and cost jobs in already unstable economic countries (Ritchie and Roser, 2021). In addition, the politicians on the campaign trail state publicly in their political billboards that their adversaries were liars, as opposed to offering answers that might help. The contagion effect was that public trust in all politicians weakened (Ikhariale, 2018). People are growing more reluctant to have confidence in their co-workers and their neighbours, especially in highly diverse organizations and societies where people are unaccustomed with the standards and expectations of their teammates.

Why Credibility Matters

Credibility matters influence employee levels of organizational commitment. According to Covey (1992), a high level of commitment generates an environment of cooperation and collaboration whereby leaders and constituents gain from open communication, benevolent interaction, and harmonious good organization thus producing a dedicated win-win performance bond. “Trusting other people encourages them to trust us; distrusting others make them lose confidence in us” (Kouzes and Posner, 2011, p. 106). In a nutshell, Leaders who demonstrate credibility create an organizational culture with increased morale, effective relationships, and high team performance.

Questions For Reflection

Leaders must accept that it is their responsibility to take the first step in earning back what has been lost and then further steps to sustain it.

• So, what can leaders do now to restore trust and confidence?
• What positive actions can leaders take to increase credibility over time?
• What can you do?

References

Covey, S.R. (1992). Principle-Centred Leadership. New York: Simon and Schuster, 31.

FCIC (2011). Final Report of the National Commission on the causes of the Financial and Economic Crisis in the United States. Retrieved from: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-FCIC/pdf/GPO-FCIC.pdf (Accessed 18 July 2022).

Ikhariale, M. (2018). Politicians on the Campaign trail. Independent. Retrieved from: Politicians On The Campaign Trail – Independent Newspaper Nigeria (Accessed 18 July 2022).

Kouzes, J.M., & Posner, B.Z. (2011). Credibility: How leaders gain and lose it. Why people demand it. San Francisco. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Man, M., & Ciurea, M. (2016). Transparency of accounting information in achieving good Corporate Governance. True view and fair. Social Sciences and Education Research Review, 3(1), pp 41-62).

Posner, B. Z., & Kouzes, J. M. (1988). Relating leadership and credibility. Psychological Reports, 63(2), 527–530. https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.1988.63.2.527

Ritchie, H., & Roser, M. (2021). Natural Disasters. Published online at OurWorldInData.org. Retrieved from: https://ourworldindata.org/natural-disasters (Accessed 18 July 2022).

The Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church (CIASE). Summary of the Final Report. Retrieved from: https://www.ciase.fr/medias/Ciase-Summary-of-the-Final-Report-5-october-2021.pdf

Uyar, A., Gungormus, A. H., & Kuzey, C. (2017). Impact of the Accounting Information System on Corporate Governance: Evidence from Turkish Non-Listed Companies. Australasian Accounting, Business and Finance Journal, 11(1), 9-27.

https://www.inderscience.com/info/ingeneral/forthcoming.php?jcode=ijesb

________________________________________________________________________

Remy Nyukorong

Abstract

The purpose of the current study is to propose a straightforward, real-world model of personal development and active citizenship that will enable the model to be easily explained as well as utilised as a framework when working with young people to improve their quality of life and self-sustainability, and to promote competitiveness and graduate employability. The model was created based on current research into employability concerns. The model sketches out what is meant by lifelong learning, in explicit and understandable terms, and suggests ways for interaction among the various aspects. However, the interfaces between the five stages of the model remain theoretical. The model will be a useful tool for teachers, guidance and counselling officers, curriculum development experts and any other practitioners engaged in entrepreneurship education activities. The model will be of value to any person with an interest in employability issues.

Keywords: entrepreneurship education, graduate employability, learning through life, learning for life

Int. J. Entrepreneurship and Small Business, Vol. 46, No. 1, 2022

Executive leadership is leadership at the top of an organization (Hambrick and Mason, 1984), “senior” leadership (Barnard, 1938; Heller, 1972), or “strategic” leadership (U.S. Department of the Army, 1993). Thus, the quality of an organization’s top leaders is a key determinant of its overall effectiveness and ongoing adaptability (Katz and Kahn, 1978). Those leading executive leadership processes typically oversee such business activities as fulfilling organizational goals, strategic planning development and overall decision making (Ben Cole, 2015).

In their planning and exercise of influence, executive leaders also are expected to balance many, usually conflicting, stakeholders, goals, demands, and obligations, both inside and outside the company. When leaders undertake these responsibilities effectively, their companies will likely perform well and, in a position, to adapt quickly to environmental dynamics (Zaccaro, 2001). High-quality senior leaders contribute significantly to the success and vitality of their organizations.

There are different executive leadership, namely servant leadership (Greenleaf, 1977), paternalistic leadership (Farh and Chen, 2000; Lin and Zhuang, 2018), participative leadership (and authentic leadership (Ilies, Morgeson & Nahrgang, 2005). Qualities of effective executive leaders include vision, transparency and accountability, problem-solving capabilities, emotional intelligence, and wide-ranging job experience. Effective executive leaders employ analytical skills to decide how to maximize the productivity of employees and get the maximum corporate value from company resources. Successful executive leaders show leadership behaviours such as compassion, being open to feedback and new ideas, adaptation to change, readiness to collaborate with others and the ability to listen effectively to their subordinates.

Executive leaders typically have a combination of hard skill and soft skills (e.g., common sense, a communication skills, organizational skills, interpersonal skills, etc.) which they use to motivate employees and leverage employee talents to improve corporate processes. In addition, effective executive leaders play a critical role in creating and epitomizing the corporate culture of the organization.

Based on the above, executive leadership is defined as:

“That set of activities directed toward the development and management of the organization as a whole, including all of its subcomponents, to reflect long-range policies and purposes that have emerged from the senior leader’s interactions within the organization and his or her interpretations of the organization’s external environment” (Zaccaro, 2001, p.13).

Mother’s day gives us the opportunity to thank our mothers and to reflect on the distinctive contribution that mothers make to society through their care of their children. The day forms a triptych with Father’s Day and Family Day in expressing gratitude to people who shape our lives as children. Each of these days celebrates relationships that bless us as human beings.

Mother’s Day points to the importance of being there and being well disposed in relationships, even if these qualities are often devalued. A mother’s disposition and behaviour during pregnancy and the first months after birth contributes to the health and happiness of the growing child. Basic trust and security develop in this time. The subsequent relationship with the mother, or with the person who offers encouragement and nurturing, also help shape the basic dispositions of the child in adulthood. The lasting importance of mothers is brought out in times of desolation – in war or in detention centres, for example – many adults cry out at night for their mothers.

For that reason, Mother’s Day is not simply a celebration for the family but for society. It is a chance for society to recognise the importance of mothers and to honour and facilitate their contribution. This poses a dilemma today because the premise on which our economy is built is that people are valued by the economic contribution they make to society, and so are expected to work in the market. But we put no value on the mother’s contribution at home. This puts a heavy burden on single mothers, who are often already burdened by not being able to share the care and nurturing of young children with partners, and who also often lack financial resources. We often regard them in society as second-class citizens instead of being admired for their generosity and so receiving help to discharge their responsibilities.

Mother’s Day is a day to thank our own mothers and to acknowledge the debt we all owe to people who accept the responsibility of mothering. It is also a time for asking how as a society we can encourage mothering.

Happy Mother’s Day to all!

Reflections on Ethics and the Russian Invasion of Ukraine

Any reflection on the ethics of war and the war in Ukraine must begin with what is brutally obvious: The Russian invasion is a moral outrage that has no justification in the ethics of war. But even in the hell of this war, we can make distinctions about moral reasoning. By making such distinctions, we can make clearer the moral responsibility for the conflict and vouch for the thin but powerful reed of hope that comes from the capacity to make moral judgments in the face of relentless gaslighting in service to murderous violence.

Here are four key ethical points about the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The Basis of Moral Outrage

To understand why the invasion is a moral outrage, we must note what may seem odd: The ethics of war is properly understood as an ethics of politics. I don’t mean politics in a reductionist, horse-race sense. But I mean it in the sense of politics as the ways by which large groups of people organize themselves into societies with laws that require obedience; with leaders who have authority; and with processes by which power is transferred from one leader to the next. The outrage of the war—the outrage that gives rise to all its other outrages—is that the Russian invasion is precisely aimed at denying the people of Ukraine the right to determine the shape of their own political community. In the language of just war theory, the rights to “territorial integrity” and “political sovereignty” protect the more fundamental right of a people to political self-determination. When Russia sent tanks across the border (and thus violated territorial integrity) to decide for itself Ukraine’s political future (and thus violating political sovereignty), it not only violated Ukraine’s right to self-determination but also threatened the order of the world which, whatever its faults, is based on the inviolability of this right.

Self-Defense in the Face of Overwhelming Odds

Self-defense is the classic ethical justification for going to war: You are attacked, and you may respond by using violence for the sake of political justice. But it is also an ethical requirement of going to war that there should be a reasonable hope of success. If going to war likely means you’ll lose badly and many people will be killed, then even if you have a right to self-defence, it would be more prudent and just not to fight back and thus avoid a needless loss of life. But the war in Ukraine has challenged how we interpret the requirement for success. No one thought the Ukrainians had a chance against the Russians. But four weeks into the war, the Ukrainians are holding out and inflicting terrible damage on the Russian army. Does success mean having to defeat another army? Or does it mean inflicting enough damage to get better terms at the negotiating table? Or is there an intangible but powerful success achieved by the self-respect and courage that comes with fighting for great values, no matter the odds?

Siege Warfare and Direct Attack on Civilians

Unable so far to succeed in battle against the Ukrainian military, the Russians have turned to what for them is a familiar tactic: siege warfare. In doing so, they have signalled clearly that they intend to terrorize the civilian population of Ukraine to compel the government to give ground at the negotiating table. The immoral logic at work here is: “Unless you surrender, we cannot stop shooting directly at hospitals, apartment buildings, and shelters.” Nothing is clearer in the ethics of war than the absolute prohibition on precisely what the Russians are doing: directly targeting civilians. And, for this immoral logic to work, there must be civilians to terrorize. Thus, it was no accident that the Russians consented to the evacuation of civilians from besieged cities and then directly attacked the civilians as they were evacuating. Terror is that much worse when it descends from blue skies on the desperate expectation of safe passage out of hell. Humanitarian no-fly zones established by NATO could be a powerful response to this problem. Such zones could offer greater protection to civilians fleeing a city under siege. And such zones could also weaken Russia’s military advantage by depriving them of what is now their awful but best negotiating tool: dead and injured Ukrainian civilians.

Ethics and Endgames

I noted already that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine threatens the global order premised on the right of states to determine their own political life. But we need to specify the values being threatened. The political right to self-determination could lead to a variety of kinds of government. But, in this case, the Ukrainians are defending their right to determine themselves specifically as a democracy—and as a democracy after years of living under the outright or proxy authoritarian rule of Russia. How the war will end is far from clear. But it will be impossible to evaluate its outcome without close attention to the fate of democratic values and not simply to military power. Ukrainians have moved the world by their willingness to die for such values. Putin has killed Ukrainian civilians in order to eradicate these values. Unless we see this moral component of the war, we cannot properly understand what is going on now and how it might end.

ACTIONABLE INSIGHTS FROM AUSTRIAN ECONOMICS

Business success is a function of knowledge — the right knowledge at the right time applied in the right way. But knowledge is always scarce and incomplete and sometimes wrong. It is best to regard knowledge as a process: continually gathering changing knowledge from a wide range of sources to integrate into decision-making and action. Austrian economics can provide that integration, helping businesspeople with sense-making in a complex, ever-changing world of knowledge.

We gather business knowledge from multiple sources and multiple disciplines. Gathering knowledge that’s relevant for business success is a process, a journey, and an exploration. We do not limit it to business subjects. A rounded businessperson studies economics, of course, but also history, psychology, languages, culture, computer science, political science. Why are these all relevant? Because business is a social science, concerned with how people think and perceive and interact, and how they adapt to new knowledge and changes in context and changes in choices. All the knowledge disciplines impact business.

There is an exploratory phase in every knowledge journey, where we cast our knowledge net wide. I gathered comparative knowledge of different countries and cultures. I continued the process by traveling to and studying in the Netherlands. I developed an elevated capacity for the critical business skill of empathy: seeing things as others see them, through others’ eyes, or rather, through others’ mental models. People who grow up with a different cultural, philosophical, religious,  linguistic and institutional background develop different mental models. The facility to discern, analyze and understand those mental models helps businesspeople in their interactions with customers, competitors, employees, partners, and suppliers. The exploratory phase of knowledge gathering does not require us to think about applying that knowledge in business at the time of gathering. It is building up a knowledge inventory.

I felt that, even with my wide range of multidisciplinary knowledge and multicultural experiences, I still did not understand people and their decision making sufficiently for business. I discovered Austrian economics by reading its definitive treatise, Human Action by Ludwig von Mises. I found the insights in Human Action, derived from theory, were highly confirmable in the real world through observation. Anyone can make the same discovery. Over time, for example, a person will build more and more confidence in his (her) understanding of how people make their decisions, as well as in their own decision-making about the future. By understanding how individuals’ value systems drive economic decision making, one will interpret and expect their economic choices. You will deduce the theories or mental models through which people see the world and analyze their actions that way. Value systems are at work in firms, as well. When a firm has a value system of trust and collaboration, there will be an alignment of interests among everyone who works there, and with suppliers and partners. If you take such a firm as a customer, you can apply the same values-based approach to building a strong business relationship.

What Virtues are Required in a Time of Crisis?

During the 1576 plague that menaced Milan and eventually took 25,000 lives, the civil government fled the city out of fear. The Archbishop of Milan, Saint Charles Borromeo, took over, assured the people he would not abandon them and, together with priests from the parishes and religious orders, cared for their material and spiritual needs.

He organized hospitals, cared for orphans, and brought the sacraments to those who were quarantined in their homes. He got priests to offer Masses in public squares and the middle of streets so that people could take part from their houses. He sold his personal goods and much of the diocesan treasury to feed the hungry and had the tapestries of his residence converted into blankets to warm the poor.

As a Good Shepherd, he will risk his life to care for both the souls and the bodies of those entrusted to him and could persuade so many of his brother priests to join him. Recalling how Christ died for them first, he declared that Christ “does not even request this pathetic life of ours, but only that we put it at risk.”

He challenged them to pay attention not only to what can kill the body, like the pestilence but also to what can harm the soul, commenting, “the devout souls of our brethren languish with desire for divine things.” And providing them, he argued, is not a small matter. “I will certainly say that the sick does not need our help in such a way that without it they would have no hope of salvation, but often our services are necessary. Besides, it is indisputably clear that we all understand how much [the sacraments] benefit not only the bad but also the good, and how much alleviation they usually bring to the sick body and above all to the soul solicitous for its salvation.”

The greatest illustration of that point was how he scaled a mountain of corpses to give absolution and viaticum to a man at the top of the heap who had been placed there prematurely. The example of courage tied to charity is a mirror for the Church and her leaders in every age, most especially of crisis. As all of us confront the coronavirus, we can profit from how St. Charles put the Catholic faith into action in the most demanding and dangerous circumstances. I would heartily recommend reading Msgr. John Cihak’s superb 2017 work Charles Borromeo: Selected Orations, Homilies and Writings.

To become courageous like he was, what virtues do we need?

The first is faith, to recognize that Christ, who promised to be with us always until the end of time (Mt 28:20), is good to his word. Faith likewise helps us trust in God’s providential care. There’s a temptation, in times of crisis, to take control even over things that human beings cannot control. This can come from a practical atheism, from living as if God doesn’t exist or doesn’t care. Faith inspires us to do all we can, but in tandem, rather than apart, from God, knowing that our life is in God’s hands.

The second is prudence, which helps us to discern the good in each circumstance among many competing goods — and to choose the right means to achieve it. It helps us set a proper rule or measure, something desperately needed in times of crisis when certain goods can be emphasized disproportionately, and others can be forgotten. Aristotle, and St. Thomas Aquinas after him, taught that moral virtue is a middle point between two extremes, deficiency, and excess. Compassion, for example, is the mean between apathy and sentimental indulgence. Courage is found between the extremes of cowardice and recklessness. In this present circumstance, prudence can help us see that an “overabundance of caution” is not a virtue but a vice. Prudence focuses on the right measure of caution, balancing, for example, the duty we need to protect those most vulnerable to infection by “flattening the curve” through social distancing, hand-washing, and various other practices, with other needs, like providing for one’s family, nourishing one’s soul and others’, providing goods and services, etc. Prudence assists courage in helping people know how to take the right risks.

The third virtue is charity, which helps us to sacrifice ourselves for the good of others. “No one has greater love,” Jesus said during the Last Supper, “to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (Jn 15:13), and charity motivates us to take risks, even dangerous ones, to protect and provide for those we love. Moms and Dads, even the most temperamentally timid and conflict adverse, instinctively protect their children in the face of gunmen, bombs, and tornados. The greater the love, the greater the audacity. Courage does not mean fearlessness, but doing what we ought despite our fear, and love gives us the strength to overcome fear and do what love demands.

The fourth is patience, which means principally not an ability to wait but a capacity to suffer. The word patience comes from the Latin patior, to “suffer,” which is why we call the sick in hospitals “patients.” Courage requires that we do not have an excessive fear of pain and of where our fear of pain ultimately derives, the fear of death.

In the present circumstance, many, including young people at very low risk of serious consequences from Covid-19, are terrified of contracting it, as if it were an automatic death sentence, even though, for 80 percent of those who get it, the symptoms are mild and pass like a cold or flu, and only those whose bodies are compromised by old age or other serious health conditions are in danger.

We should all be doing everything reasonable to prevent transmission out of concern for those who would be most vulnerable, conscious of the reality that our health care system is inadequate to handle over 120,000 people in ICUs at the same time. We need to work together to ensure that no one dies when medical services, received promptly, could save their lives. However, we should not be giving in to an epidemic of fear, as if catching Covid-19 were getting leprosy or stage-4 pancreatic cancer. Hysteria, based on fear of pain and death, doesn’t help.

The Imitation of Christ, Thomas à Kempis’ 15th-century spiritual classic, advised us that the easiest way to overcome the fear of death is to ponder it each day. “In every deed and every thought, act as though you were to die this very day.” Once we do that, we take every day more seriously: we do not procrastinate on telling family members and friends that we love them; we ask forgiveness from God and those we’ve wronged while we still have time; we let pass so many things that ultimately matter little; and we get our real priorities straight.

When we pray each day Jesus’ last words from the Cross, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit” (Lk 23:46), we become emboldened, like Jesus, not to have our life taken from us but freely to lay it down (Jn 10:18). When we’re not afraid to die because we’ve rehearsed it daily in prayer, we will be ready to offer our life without fear should that prove necessary.

Crises, like the present situation of the coronavirus, are times for Catholics united with Christ truly to shine. As salt, light and leaven, Catholics are called to help everyone else to become courageous in the face of the threats, to act to help others and save their lives, and to show everyone how to unite their situations to God. It is a time for Catholics to show that we truly believe Jesus’ words, “Take courage. It is I. Do not be afraid!” (Mk 6:50), and, like waves of apostles and martyrs throughout the centuries, and saints like Charles Borromeo, boldly lead society not only in response to people’s material needs, but in care for their even more important spiritual needs.

Different people can be useful for different projects. Another thing I have learnt over time is that people like being asked for their input and they enjoy discussing ideas – at least those who are any good at it.

When there is a group of you working together – thinking together – try to see yourselves as some kind of hive brain. Each one of you is a single component of a greater entity (idea generation, problem-solving, analysis, organization, figure work, practical skills). Between you, you have all the thinking skills you need. So have some patience, tolerance, understanding of those in the group who think in ways that you do not. Appreciation even. Because without them, the hive cannot function properly in the face of whatever comes along.

Never assume that people who are silent have nothing to say. This is especially true when there are two or more vociferous people in the room. If ideas and comments are flying back and forth – even if it is always fun and friendly – it can be quite daunting to people of a shyer persuasion, or those who consider themselves junior or less qualified to speak. And yet sometimes the sharpest observations can come from people who have a fresh eye, unsullied by experience.

We established it is not helpful if you all think alike and agree with each other most of the time. So, the most useful group is one that thinks differently and whose members often disagree with each other. The group has to express disagreement about it becoming a problem. The single most important way to achieve this is for everyone in the group to understand that it is their job to say if they disagree, and that it is necessary to ensure the group collectively thinks at its very best. Once you know people are briefed to challenge your thinking, and that they likewise expected you to question theirs, it becomes much easier to take. It depersonalises it.

You must have – or find – the confidence to make suggestions even when you think other people might judge them negatively. I have a line I like to use in this situation: ‘I’ve got a stupid idea but I’m going to say it because someone might turn it into a good idea.’ This works for two reasons. First, you do not have to worry people will judge you for having a stupid idea because you have already made it clear you recognise it. And second, instead of rejecting it out of hand (hopefully they would not but who knows), the rest of the group is likely to consider whether there is the kernel of a good idea they can build on. Similarly, make sure the surrounding people know they are always allowed to air ‘stupid’ ideas without fear of censure, and make sure you listen to see if you can think them into more practical ones.

Corruption: The biggest enemy against the sustainable development goals

It is a historic opportunity: to realise the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and secure a better future for us, the peoples on this planet. But this inspiring vision is challenged by risks, the most serious of which is that all 17 unanimously adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) could be severely undermined by corruption.

The scale and impact of corruption are alarming. This menace costs more than 5% of global GDP, hits the world’s most vulnerable groups the hardest, affects all states, societies, and sectors, and contributes to the collapse of entire countries and economies. Corruption is the antithesis vis-à-vis human rights, the venom vis-à-vis the rule of law, the poison for prosperity and development, and the reverse of equity and equality.

A strong, relentless fight against corruption is therefore a conditio sine qua non for realising the 2030 Agenda. However, it calls for more than just warm words and tepid expressions of support. It requires shared ownership by all, with leadership from the top, nationally and internationally, both from the political and corporate worlds.

And yes, conditions are tough. The world faces other daunting challenges, such as increasing distrust and dispute among leading powers, stern security trials, economic uncertainty, and climate change. Furthermore, citizens’ confidence in leaders’ ability to tackle global issues is declining.

But there are reasons for optimism too. One cause for hope is the growing awareness of corruption’s horrific impact. Another is the explicit language under Goal 16, which aims, inter alia, to “substantially reduce corruption and bribery in all its forms”. A third is the recognition in the 2030 Agenda that daily implementation is crucial if the SDGs are to become a fruitful reality.

The day-to-day actions against corruption must not rely on traditional criminal law and enforcement alone. It also requires prevention, education, and international cooperation – three of the key areas in which the International Anti-Corruption Academy (IACA,) an international organisation covering more than five billion people, is empowering anti-corruption and compliance professionals across the globe.

Preventing and fighting corruption is about sustained hard work, not quick cursory plasters. Let us thus be guided by recalling that investing and engaging in anti-corruption education and empowerment is the smart way towards sustainable development, safeguarding human rights, and strengthening the rule of law; on the road to 2030 and beyond.

Educating Our Young People About Climate Change

Sustainability is a concept most people only learn about through social media and news articles. In most places, sustainability is not taught in classrooms or from an early age and thus, it is not deemed as important as other topics such as mathematics or the sciences.

But as many of us are increasingly aware, sustainability is important and can be largely attributed to the intensification of climate change in recent years.

When we emphasize the importance of sustainability and inculcate environmental values during a child’s formative years, they will grow up with an understanding of why they need to protect our Earth and how they can go about doing so.

A poll conducted in the US found that 80% of parents and 86% of teachers are supportive of the teaching of climate change in schools as they feel that this will be the generation most severely affected by it.

Should Climate Change Be Taught in Schools?

In this same poll, however, it was found that less than half of parents and teachers are teaching their children about climate change.

Most teachers cited the reasons being climate change was out of their teaching scope and that they simply did not have the resources and knowledge to help students learn about it.

But teaching our youth about sustainability and how to tackle climate change is pertinent, especially currently where the effects of climate change are starting to manifest in disastrous ways.

The Future of Climate Change

Most projections predict that climate change is going to be catastrophic. Not only for the natural environment but for human welfare as well.

May 2020 has been the hottest month on record, with the record just having been broken in April, which had just been broken in March and so on so forth. This year has presented itself with soaring temperatures all over the world and it is just going to go up from here.

Global warming has devastating consequences. From increased frequency and intensity of natural disasters to food and water crises, the outcomes are bleak. Economic ruin will soon follow.

It is predicted that if we do not act, by 2100, average temperatures will rise by 4ºC, and GDP will fall by over 30%. And these figures are considered optimistic.

Around the World

UNESCO has introduced Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) to encourage action for the environment and to lead more sustainable lifestyles. They have since been working with governments around the world to integrate such learning into educational programmes.

Amid the pandemic, New Jersey has been the first state to mandate the incorporation of climate change into the K-12 curriculum, starting from the year 2021-2022.

Though this is wonderful news, the pandemic has resulted in a potential breakdown of the nation’s current outdoor environment programmes. 

It is projected that up to 65% of outdoor education aspects will have disappeared by the end of the year. These had been crucial in exposing and teaching children about the natural environment around them.

Italy has also recently introduced the education of climate change at the core of what the students learn, ensuring that the knowledge they gain in school comes from an environmental perspective.

New Zealand, on the other hand, has introduced an optional curriculum that can be adopted for youth aged 11-15 years old that aims to ease eco-anxiety and prepare youth for environmental activism.

And these are just some of the newer examples. Countries such as Australia, the Dominican Republic and South Korea have already introduced such programmes years ago.

Preparing Our children For Calamity

Many countries are catching on to the importance and urgency of educating their youth on climate change and sustainability.

Having knowledge of climate change and learning the skills to act upon it is crucial and will empower our youth to tackle this disaster.

Environmental values, however, should also be cultivated at home. Parents should bring children up with sustainability at the core of their actions, making them aware that every little thing they do can affect the environment.

Children will grow up with respect and care for the environment and will also better internalise what they learn in school.

Sustainability and the environment are of utmost importance. By educating our children in these areas, the world will stand a fighting chance against our common antagonist: Climate Change.

According to the extant literature (https://350.org/11-trillion-divested/), US$11 trillion has already been divested worldwide. But while it may seem a logical strategy, divestment will not lower demand for fossil fuels, which is the key to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, it may even cause emissions to rise.

The Issues:

At first sight, the argument for divestment seems straightforward. Fossil fuel companies are the main contributors to the majority of CO₂ emissions causing global warning (Scientific Consensus | Facts – Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet (nasa.gov). Twenty fossil fuel companies alone have contributed 35% of all energy-related carbon dioxide and methane emissions since 1965. Revealed: the 20 firms behind a third of all carbon emissions | Climate change | The Guardian

The argument goes that squeezing the flow of investment into fusel fuel companies will either bring their demise or force them drastically transform their business models. It makes sense for investors, too, as they avoid the risk of holding “standard assets”, fossil fuel reserves that will become worthless as they can no longer be exploited.

For companies heavily invested in coal, the most polluting fossil fuel, this rings true. Although new coal plants are still being constructed in countries such as China, India and Indonesia, predictions by majority energy agencies and industry alike indicate a steep decline McKinsey-Energy-Insights-Global-Energy-Perspective-2019_Reference-Case-Summary.ashx ) in its contribution to the global energy supply. With cleaner alternatives readily available, coal is no longer considered a safe long-term investment, and widespread divestment will only add to this sentiment.

When it comes to oil and natural gas, however, the picture looks quite different. Oil is used for a much wider range of products and processes (Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) – U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)) than is coal, while the cleaner reputation of natural gas gives it significant appeal as a “bridge fuel” to a zero carbon economy, whether rightly or not (The EU wants to fight climate change – so why is it spending billions on a gas pipeline? (theconversation.com). As a result, the push for oil and gas divestment is likely to have unintended consequences.

The disinvestment paradox/troubles

The primary targets of the divestment movement are international oil companies (IOCs) – private corporations that are headquartered in Western countries and listed on public stock exchanges. ExxonMobil, Chevron, Royal Dutch Shell, BP, and Total are among the private oil “supermajors”.

Recent research (Does the Fossil Fuel Divestment Movement Impact New Oil & Gas Fundraising? by Theodor Cojoianu, Francisco Ascui, Gordon L. Clark, Andreas G. F. Hoepner, Dariusz Wojcik :: SSRN ) suggests that divestment can reduce the flow of investment into these companies. But even if the divestment movement were successful in reducing the economic power of these companies, IOCs currently only produce about 10 percent of the world’s oil (International Oil Companies: The Death of the Old Business Model | Chatham House – International Affairs Think Tank).

The rest is mostly produced by national oil companies (NOCs), i.e., state-owned behemoths such as Saudi Aramco, National Iranian Oil Company, China National Petroleum Corporation and Petroleos de Venezuela, located mostly in low- and middle-income countries.

Given that NOCs are less transparent about their operations Secretive national oil companies hold our climate in their hands | Environment | The Guardian ) that are IOCs, and that many of them are also headquartered in authoritarian countries, they are less exposed to pressure from civil society. As a result, they are dangerously under-scrutinised (National Oil Companies, with $3.1 Trillion in Assets, are Dangerously Under-scrutinized | Natural Resource Governance Institute), according to the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI).

As they are state-owned, they are also not directly exposed to pressure from shareholders. Even the imminent public listing of Saudi Aramco ( Saudi Aramco’s $1.5 trillion IPO flies in the face of climate reality (theconversation.com) will only offer 1.5 percent of the company ( Subscribe to read | Financial Times (ft.com), and this will impose much less pressure to value environment issues. Environmental groups have urged Western multinational banks not to invest in the Saudi company ( Banks warned over Saudi Aramco by environmental groups | Aramco | The Guardian).

This means that while global demand for natural gas (https://www.iea.org/reports/gas-2019) and oil ( https://www.iea.org/reports/oil-2019) is still rising, and investments are insufficient to meet future demand (Global energy investment stabilised above USD 1.8 trillion in 2018, but security and sustainability concerns are growing – News – IEA ), divestment pressures are unlikely to impact the business plans of NOCs. As a result, instead of reducing global fossil fuel production, the divestment movement will simply force IOCs to cede market share to NOCs.

If anything, this would cause CO₂ emissions to rise. The carbon footprints of NOCs per unit of fuel produced are on average bigger than those of IOCs( CDP_Oil_and_Gas_Executive_Summary_2018.pdf (rackcdn.com).

IOCs are also generally better placed and more willing than are NOCs to reduce the carbon intensity of their products and support the transition to renewable energy (Oil and gas company strategies regarding the energy transition – IOPscience). They have, for example, led the way among oil companies in research into capturing and storing carbon, even if results have so far proven elusive.

Conclusion:

In a nutshell, the divestment movement will not reduce demand for oil and gas. It will transfer the supply of fossil fuel to companies that are more polluting, less transparent, less sensitive to societal pressures, and less committed to addressing the climate crisis ( Fossil fuel emitters and climate change: unpacking the governance activities of large oil and gas companies: Environmental Politics: Vol 26, No 4 (tandfonline.com).

What I see as the missing link

The divestment movement is understandably enjoying widespread appeal in a time of climate emergency. But by targeting the low-hanging fruit that are IOCs, the movement misses the more complex question of how to actually reduce the global demand for fossil fuels. To achieve that goal, the world would be better off creating a regulatory environment that forces both IOCs and NOCs to redirect their energies. For example, eliminating fossil fuel subsidies (4 Ways to Shift from Fossil Fuels to Clean Energy | World Resources Institute (wri.org) and putting a price on carbon (What is Carbon Pricing? | S&P Global (spglobal.com) would make heavily investing in renewables, already cheaper to produce than fossil fuels ( Renewable Energy Is Now The Cheapest Option – Even Without Subsidies (forbes.com), more attractive for all energy companies.

Such changes could also generate nearly US$3 trillion by 2030 ( https://www.wri.org/insights/4-ways-shift-fossil-fuels-clean-energy) for governments globally. These funds could be used to massively scale up renewables ( https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-019-0365-7) prioritise the development of energy storage to address the intermittent nature of such power, and improve energy efficiency in industry, transport and housing, which will make fossil fuels increasingly redundant.

While IOCs now produce much less fossil fuel than they used to, they still have huge among of expertise ( How the Oil and Gas Industry Is Contributing to Sustainability (spe.org) that could be applied to the energy transition ( Full article: The oil and gas sector: from climate laggard to climate leader? (tandfonline.com). In my view, rather than transferring power to less environmentally conscious NOCs, we should make use of them. As for those with shares in fossil fuel companies: they must exercise their powers as a shareholder to pressure them to support the energy transition as constructively and ethically as possible. Their influence matter greatly.