Leadership versus Dominance - Power

Leadership versus Dominance of Mankind

By Carl R. ToersBijns

 

 

“Leadership is not domination, but the art of persuading people to work toward a common goal”– Daniel Goleman

 

Traditionally speaking, men are social creatures in a most complex social world. What we do and how we do it based on numerous factors that make us a different kind of animal apart from the others in this world. Human beings are in many ways, smarter than most members of the earth’s inhabitants but for some reason, have engaged in continued conflict at the fundamental domestic levels or fighting wars with each other that will eventually decide the fate of their survival.

 

We must all admit there is a hierarchy and a pecking order in this world we live in that is undisputable a daily influence of our lives. We organize our social skills, needs and desires based on social influences along with cultures, traditions and customs.

 

The pecking order can be based on many factors that maintain a class order as well. These factors are well known but center on intelligence, strength, wealth and social position in society or government. Regardless of intent, the pecking order is established for one reason, protection; protection from others as well as themselves. Protection designed to provide either a means to be self-sufficient and independent or to avoid an unbalanced dependence on others.  Thus we have what is commonly known as a predator and prey situation.

 

Is such a pecking order appropriate or is it flawed? What is the basis of such a concept and what establishes the rules of engagement to make it orderly and fair or does it have to be fair. Is the pecking order consistent or is it open for a competitive comparison of nature thus competing with other force that coexists in the same dimension or continent? The answers aren’t clear without looking at this a little bit deeper.

 

Does the order posses aggression as a means or a tool? It appears that every pecking order has a balance of “master and subordinate” concepts. This is the key to the organizational purpose of a society.

 

How it functions, copes and manages daily living is based on a master and subordinate concept that develops other elements needed to stabilize this process. Once can say that differences in cultures or ideas will create different societies established with different rules as well as customs and traditions to meet their statutory and religious based views.

 

Thus this social arrangement becomes another reason to divide the human race into smaller groups or interactions setting up its own pecking order and reasons for dominance. As such society becomes a complex system of building blocks with each a different set of rules and social expectations.

 

So how does dominance play into societal development? Observations of human being has confirmed there are at least three types of people within a social organization, the leaders, the workers and the followers alas another hierarchy in place to establish order.

 

Dominance is a prevalent factor in many different scenarios in life. The fact is that when you observe humans you will observe this quality of dominance frequently as it plays a significant and prominent part of any social organization or setup. Therefore, it is fair to say that both the hierarchy and the act of dominance are relevant to our society.

 

Another relevant fact observed are the traits of leadership and dominant functions of humans that are observed taking a lead in an assignment or role within our societies. Therefore one may ask is leadership a major characteristic of being a dominant character or is this assumption that is flawed in some manner.

 

Dominance can be divided into several groups within society and within the human interactions as well. Dominance can police behaviors or resolve or create personal strife or stress. It can take charge of most decision making processes that include where you live, what you do for a living, who your sex partner is and whether you remain single or married with children. It also determines whether you are aggressive or passive and other personal traits well accepted to be human behaviors and characteristics.

 

These are all human developments of domestication and impact daily life to the fullest and are in constant need for guidance and quality of life decisions that impact all those decisions and lead a reasonable safe and comfortable quality of life. There is a need to prevent looseness or direction within the group(s).

 

Hence we identify the word leadership and its purpose within our social structures but part of the problem is that leadership in its own definition is vague and can be broken down to several types of concepts. However, for this purpose, we will focus on social leadership.

 

For example, social leadership can be defined as maintaining law and order between individuals within a group providing protection for some when faced with a threat or predation. It is this type of leadership that is most commonly identified with the concept of leadership or leaders.

 

Leaders that are either appointed or self appointed to provide control, management or guidance of those things that are important to use whether tangible or intangible items within our world. Along with this leadership must come a careful balance to avoid a volatile vision of being master and slave relationships within the social groups.

 

Leaderships must be composed of mutual relationships such as partnerships sharing the burden and maintaining control over those social interests within each group. It must rely on social input and diverse thinking to seek what is best for the group and not individuals.

 

Leadership can develop during critical responses or daily and routine tasks and functions of society.

 

Thus it is fair to say that leadership is prompted by the need for an initiative or action to do something to either protect someone or maintain control or acquire something that is needed to exist, to survive or to manage in order to maintain the most human needs of our lives.

 

It could be concluded that leaders do not have to be dominant or sitting at the head of the table type of positions but rather, a characteristic that is mutually and co-operative in nature and acceptable in all social formats that exist at the time of need or purpose.

 

 

December 11, 2012