[Peace-discuss] Gerald M Weinberg on Leadership (+ & -)

[E. Wayne Johnson]

Excerpted from Weinberg's "Becoming a Technical Leader, 2nd ed. 2010)

In order for change to occur, the environment must contain three 
ingredients:
• M: motivation–the trophies or trouble, the push or pull that moves the 
people involved

• O: organization–the existing structure that enables the ideas to be 
worked through into
practice

• I: ideas or innovation–the seeds, the image of what will become

Leadership can also mean preventing change. If you want to stop some 
change from
occurring, you must do one of three things to the environment:

• M: kill the motivation—make people feel that change will not be 
appreciated; do
everything for them so they won't feel the need to do things for 
themselves; discourage
anything that people might enjoy doing for its own sake

• O: foster chaos—encourage such high competition that cooperation will 
be unthinkable;
keep resources slightly below the necessary minimum; suppress information of
general value, or bury it in an avalanche of meaningless words and paper

• I: suppress the flow of ideas—don't listen when you can criticize 
instead; give your own
ideas first, and loudest; punish those who offer suggestions; keep 
people from working
together; and above all, tolerate no laughter