The scale of the challenge
The hard part of viewing the world through a societal leadership lens is the immensity of the challenge. At its widest, societal leadership issues are embedded within pretty much every human system we will encounter. As Chief Seattle said, "We did not weave the web of life; we are but strands within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves."
Societal leadership is much the same, as so many of the systems we interract with call out for a new level of understanding about their connectedness, and demand that we act differently. In many cases, we're at a dangerous tipping point: natural systems that are unable to sustain the pressures we're placing on them and which risk sliding into outright collapse, and human systems like the international economy whose complexity is quickly starting to overwhelm our capacity to control them in our favour.
In some instances, the very scale of the challenge threatens to overwhelm our own capacity to seek understanding and action. It's very easy to throw up one's hands and ask, "Against something so big, how will my actions make any difference?". Or, it's equally easy to be pessemistic about the potential outcomes.
The easy part: choose to think and act
As big as the challenge might be, the response is comparatively easy: take an action each and every day that changes the way you've been interacting with the systems around you.
Awareness is the first, most important step. All it takes is being curious about what you're seeing around you, and holding on to the question of "What can we do differently?". That alone guarantees that you'll start to look at things in a new way.
Acting on that new understanding is the next step. In many cases, that means small actions to alter the way you've been doing things. If there's a local election, learn about the issues and the candidates and make sure you vote. If there are options to get engaged in community issues, do it. Meet your neighbour. Make sure you recycle. The list goes on, with all of these seemingly small and insignificant actions having a cumulative impact when you and others act on them.
Seeing the opportunity? Let us know what you're doing by using the comments option below...
