Leadership

Although audience numbers have dwindled per blog since starting, got two different requests to blog on Leadership. Interesting series of papers by Alban-Metcalfe sent by a MSc hopeful clarifies some pertintent issues and quite interesting to relate to the Guyana situation.
So, as common with students today, I shall engage on wholesale tiefing of ideas to summarise the five main stages of Leadership:
1 (circa 1930's) -  'The great man' stage
2 (circa 1950's) - managerial and later leadership competencies, then behavioural theories arising.
3 Situational and contingency models
4 (circa 1970/80) - defining organisational reality
5 (now-ish) - engaging leadership

Several things stand out-- 'that being competent is necessary but not sufficient for Leadership'; 'also the possession of certain qualities and values is necessary, but not sufficient, for achieving success. If a leader is to be successful, they must learn to use their personal qualities and other attributes in certain ways, and to apply their values.'
A fine balance needs to be had between being competent at achieving goals and engaging/motivating  the rest of the staff to foster a strong 'team spirit' for the betterment of the Organisation as you may have someone who shows great concern for others, and creates a supportive environment in which all staff are valued, but is unable to deliver what is required of them in terms of achieving goals or meeting agreed targets on time. Such a person’s style of leadership is highly engaging, but they show a low level of competency as a leader.
Coincidentally I was half-asleep when an episode of the Mahabharata was showing on TV and it was at the part when Krishna was explaining the Gita and explained that a self-realised Man would do the right thing without looking for personal gain-- which approximates to Plato's Philosopher-King who would stand apart and do 'the right thing'. Sadly for Guyana none such exist!

The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield

An interesting if a bit hocus-pocus-y read. Anyone familiar with Eastern religion and Philosophy would recognise many of the Key Ideas or insights.
He made it into an Indiana-Jones type story but seemed a bit undecided about the 'Love/Sex' interest. Bearing in mind that the book was first published in 1994, I was impressed that there was a fairly strong environmental message about the relation of Virgin forests and mountains to humans. It may be coincidental that in a short time I will be experiencing just that- which is exactly the first insight- coincidences.  I thought the first insight would make those suffering from Paranoia feel justified so at least one group of people would be happy!
The attempt of the Catholic Church to prevent the publishing of the last Insight eeriely echoed the attempts of the early Church to suppress the Gospels of Mary Magdalene, Judas and Thomas - a documentary I saw a couple of weeks ago:  http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/beyond-belief/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TopDocumentaryFilms+%28Top+Documentary+Films+-+Watch+Free+Documentaries+Online%29

LORD help us...

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the Headline in today's SN- Canadian crime prevention expert shot and robbed-- I opted for the former-- and it immediately brought to mind the local Head of Security at the US Embassy being kidnapped while playing golf on the East Coast during the 2002 Crime Spree or one of the periodic upheavals of crime associated with impending Elections.
So this guy, an ex-policeman from Canada who's a Crime Prevention Advisor to the UN, went on his regular evening jog on the (Sea)Wall near UG and was accosted by two men, one of whom unfortunately had a gun and shot him in the thigh at the relatively busy time of 6pm last sunday... and all for a mere iPod.
The foreigners have the option to leave but this continues to stress the rest of the Population and interestingly, SN-- the harbinger of Bad News-- had an editorial that the Government seems to be in denial about the burgeoning Crime--- but excuse me-- aren't they the same people stoking the flames when things get out of control - about police brutality?? Needless to say, a comprehensive plan can't work when the problem of youngsters without the basic Math and English, never mind the moral values is not improving and in fact increasing!!   It is fairly depressing to hear from foreign volunteers here to train the 'locals' that they have to 'dumb-down' their program and virtually beg the few to even turn-up regularly!

Turtle-Spotting Weekend

Guyana's north-eastern Coastline, being relatively unpopulated with people is the Nesting Ground for four of the World's seven marine turtles- being the Leatherback, Green, Hawksbill and Oliver Ridley ones.
A solar-panelled station had recently been set up which doubles up as housing for a couple of Wardens, but set in the grounds of the de Freitas family who basically run the Guyana Marine Turtle Association. There seemed to be about six to ten families living on the beach-- and I have to hand it to them as I didn't see any netting in a couple of the houses I peeked into -- as the mosquitoes are the persistent, aggressive, black type common to New Amsterdam and who were a serious deterrent to any activity not undertaken under a netting!!
We had Beginner's Luck to come across two 5-footer Leatherbacks actually laying eggs on our 7-12pm patrol and we spotted two in the water-- one untagged one who ventured too near a populated area and one tagged one who swam away from the over-enthusiastic efforts of the youngsters to find the tag! The young part-time Warden who came with us noticed a trail from hatchlings and the accompanying paws of marauding dogs leading down to the shoreline and he traced back the nesting site and dug for any survivors-- we were thrilled to find three live baby Leatherbacks and one dying one. My baby Leatherback got all excited to hear the Ocean and carried out some strong Flying manoeuvres, so I went down to release him but was told the Cuirass- a type of ocean catfish - would be lurking to feed off the stragglers from the Nest. The rest of the youngish group, contrary to any conservation idea of little or no interaction with the Wildlife, had fun 'playing' with the babies and I think must have confused the s--- out of them by picking them up just when they reached the waterline to do the turtle equivalent of petting and laughing at their innate 'flying' movements. One little hatchling had the light shone of him for an extended period and he circled in and out of the water in confusion-- the warden -- being a 'nice' Guyanese guy didn't say anything but later told me that we could have blinded them by shining the strong LED lights on them directly! Sigh-- we still have a far way to go as I noticed that the innate Guyanese habit of littering -- was exhibited by the Warden himself, a native of the populated coastline- as he threw away the plastic covering of a sweetie wrapper-- which I'm sure I remember reading that the turtles swallow and choke to death by mistaking for Jellyfish! *
So-- it's the 20th Century problem spilled over to the 21st Century --- the effects of man and domesticated animals on the Wild Beasts-- as the warden said he estimated about 50% of the Eggs laid are destroyed by Man (people pay up to three times more for a turtle egg in the nearest largest town), their domesticated and feral dogs and Natural Predators - like Ghost Crabs and Carrion Crows ( local name for common vulture); leaving one in a thousand eggs to develop to Mature Adult.
Coincidentally this article came to my attention: http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/oceans-on-brink-of-catastrophe-2300272.html

* The area there is referred to as Shell Beach - for the obvious reason that there were shells on the beach-- but it reminded me of how the Georgetown Seawall used to be when I was a child. It was sad to notice that there were beginning to be signs of the pollution of Plastic bottles that has become such a common sight in Georgetown.

Recklessness...

... well, we're reaping what we sow.. took my parent's car to fix a puncture and it had the unusual feature of shorter Lugs for the spare as the rim was different-- now WHAT asinine manufacturer would dream up THAT and why?? The tyre was damaged beyond repair and as the spare was being mounted, the 'boy' at the Repair Shop proceeded to force in the last Lug-- I began to feel unease as I had changed several wheels in my lifetime and it was a relatively simple procedure- not requiring such Brute force-- I tried half-heartedly to halt the process  and say just leave the lug/nut sticking out the last centimetre or so, but was overruled by the brash confidence of Youth!
Was then unable to reverse the car because the extended lug was jamming the Handbrake/ brake-drum-- all the lugs came out except that last one-- they were scared to air-gun it as they felt it would break in the slot and instead took an hour to work it back and forth! It finally emerged damaged beyond repair, but worryingly-- I am keeping my fingers crossed that the thread of the hole is also not damaged beyond repair!!
I think this highlights the common experience in Guyana and the wider world that perhaps 85% of things can be carried out with little or no training but it's the crucial 15% that requires commonsense and expensive training to know your limits and when to stop.

Interesting letter in today's paper: which graphically illustrates this - http://www.stabroeknews.com/2011/opinion/letters/06/15/the-main-reason-for-guyana’s-low-average-growth-rate-is-that-total-factor-productivity-has-been-mostly-negative

- that people will be trapped in third-rate jobs and private-sector will be reduced to reselling goods and not producing- if we're not already there.
* A BBC radio program talking about the emergence of Biomass (composting) fuel noted that regular electricity was a pre-requisite for development and that with an emerging Middle-Class the taxation base is significantly increased so that Government can fund its own road and other programs.

My Wardrobe, My Right

This is a short documentary produced by SASOD, one of the more pro-active organisations in Guyana.
It pushes the boundaries of what sort of Society we want to live in by briefly following the lives of two Cross-dressers who both felt prostitution was the only job open to them-- I  took a brief moment to consider whether I would employ them in the office and thought their personalities were probably too big to do the job properly and then the job would become about them and not the work-- interesting that other self-employment options like farming didn't seem to occur to them.... but I digress.

Gulliver looked really attractive and hailed from Buxton, but I felt the producer dwelt too long on him putting on his make-up. I really sympathised with him to come from a family of boys and know that he wanted to sneak on his mom's black New Year's dress but would be castigated.  Peaches had some moral support from his sister/s and he related how the Police campaign to keep them off the Streets resulted in them having to put up Bail money each night and then be held without charges while enduring the ribbing of the Police. I felt annoyed that the Police would waste their time on 'soft' targets while more serious crimes merited the attention of the CID. As usual it's selective use of which Laws the authorities want to enforce. The magistrate also sounded very foolish to advise them to put God in their life-- as if THAT would then make them more acceptable to her and change their sexual orientation!  The SASOD spokesperson was able to give his point of view that morality was not a basis for Law-making and cultural beliefs, and that an objective basis was needed to make Laws and Public Policies. Mmm, who decides objective?

Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

Was surprised to discover this book was required reading for 15yr olds in the US and France as I thought the ideas might be lost on callow youths and perhaps scar them for life with the very French, cynical views on life.

I thought the book was about the sad life of mediocre Charles and wondered whether Emma- Madame Bovary could really be THAT self-destructive, as being an ambitious, savvy, social-climbing farm-girl, I had my doubts whether she would recklessly proceed to complete financial ruin. Somehow women are not THAT stupid - I mean they'll get into deep waters and then pull back. I lost any sympathy for her at her cold attitude towards her child who ended up in The Poor House being exploited for child-labour.
I wondered if the book was also making a commentary about women who took control of their sexuality - resulting in the ultimate salvation being a handful of arsenic- as mediocre Charles must have been a dullard also in bed and I really can't hold it against her for seeking outside affairs-- sounds like she got it right with Leon - but then I couldn't figure out the whole fantasy thing of buying expensive stuff for her lovers as she surely lived in the era when it was the other way around!
I was a bit depressed at the end as the Baddies 'won' - Lheureux established a regional company and Homais became the chief medical 'expert' in the village and won a National Award- and it seemed to reflect well the Guyana situation, making me feel the only salvation is a handful of Arsenic, but the death was so long and melodramatic I wouldn't do THAT!