One of my good friends is about to start a course on Buddhism and what it can teach us about living through troubled times.
In the marketing blurb, one of the selling points is that the Buddha’s teachings are as relevant now – even in a 21st Century pandemic – as they have ever been.
And that got me thinking. Why is that? Why is it that teachings from thousands of years ago – be they religious and / or philosophical – or literature can still ring true? The high value answer is that the ‘human condition’ does not change – the ‘truths’ about emotion and life and feelings are universal as we each make our journeys; and that is true of course. But there is a more prosaic response at the ‘working level’ – which is that, in every walk of life, we fail to learn lessons.
This rather unfortunate interview with the WHO representative – where, due to China’s posture, he is unable to acknowledge Taiwan’s actions – makes the point nicely. It is not the chap’s fault or indeed the WHO’s. It is the countries that support it and who play mindless and petty games. The same reason that the UN is emasculated. We have a right to expect more of those who have the arrogance to suggest that they have the ability and the calling to lead. As individuals, we are mired in the exigencies of day to day living and it is the duty of the leader to take a wider view, to show us our better selves, to provide us the opportunity to grow and do the right things. And that is true of leadership at every level – from a team to a business to a country. Not all of us will be able to live up to those standards but hierarchy – as opposed to personal relationships where the interactions are far more mixed and complex – allows the leaders to try and try again.
Today it is the coronavirus but, from what we read, some level of pandemic was always going to happen. Pandemic workforces appeared to exist in every nation, there were league tables of preparedness but there were also strategies delayed and recommendations ignored.
Global warming continues apace, wars and killing are everywhere, an increasing narrowness of vision, people talking nonsense. Think about the stock market – the great generator of wealth. It is built on the fundamental paradox that most money is made when there is volatility, whereas the best condition for enterprises is a level of steady state; what is good for those making up the market is bad for the market and vice versa. Barmy! We read about airlines and other companies that have driven huge share buy-backs instead of being prudent and now are short of cash. At an organisational level, how many leaders have you come across who really see the bigger picture and are not concentrated on ‘kicking down and kissing up’, who do not play politics and who do not focus on all the minor inanities? Of course, as a wise colleague once told me, ‘those are the behaviours that have got them to where they are, why should they change?’
Let’s go back to a macro level. I am 51. In my lifetime, and as a lay member of the public looking in, I have seen perhaps two leaders who encapsulate what it is to be a Leader – Mikhail Gorbachev and Nelson Mandela. They both changed their worlds with a greater vision of Life and what it could be. The fact that their legacies lie largely destroyed is the way of the world. So, it is and so it ever will be. Processes and frameworks and strategies and all the tools that we espouse on this channel are just the upper layers of a building that is our environment. To return to the beginning, the teachings of the Buddha are still relevant because the foundations are of poor quality and we are always having to patch those up. Are you hopeful that things will change? I confess I am not.
