7. A lack of values in leadership

Leaders should be driven by something that moves us forward together. How can they ensure an inclusive global vision, untainted by self-interest?

In reality, it's more complex than that. Most people are neither one thing nor the other, so it becomes a question of degrees; to what extent do our leaders want to serve for the common good, and how much can that become tainted by the desire to do well for themselves and their families? The more short-sighted leaders fail to recognise that the common good is actually the only real way to prosper in the long term. Because no matter how well I do, I couldn't feel secure in a country in which the majority of people are struggling. In a country like that, nobody is secure.

Young people tend to have the strongest feelings on this issue; respondents under 40 told the Survey that they're not at all satisfied with the attention governments give to a lack of values in leadership. And they have every reason to be critical. They look around them, they see where the nation is heading and they don't want to go there. And yet they find they have no way of changing that direction because they're considered too young and inexperienced to be important.

Education is key to changing that, because while we can't always change things immediately, we should at least be able to understand what is happening and complain if we don't like it. And when enough people do that, a critical mass builds and a group of people will emerge with an agenda for genuine change.

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)