Understandings

"Philosophies of leadership are determined by beliefs about human nature."



Structure



How you believe humans act will determine how you act as a leader. For that reason, if you think humans act selfishly, then you think they are going to need more order. This will translate over to how you lead them and you will inevitably have a more structured environment. I believe that you're also going to lead according to your beliefs, however in a state of nature those beliefs may become altered and you will only do what is best for yourself. You will forget about right from wrong, and do whatever you have to do to be successful and survive. An example that shows a leader guiding their subjects according to their behavior could be a teacher and her class. The way a teacher treats your class depends on how she expects you to behave.  The widely assumed expectation for kids is that they need more structure, so she will already have some set in place to begin with. But if your teacher thinks that you are going to be chaotic, then she will be even more strict to prevent this from happening. I believe that humans need a dictatorship because without one everyone would become "hungry" and resort to violence. There would be no order without government.



Support



"The governed have a responsibility for their governance."



The people have a responsibility for how their government treats them. Therefore if they act bad, the government will treat them bad because there are consequences for actions. I believe you have a responsibility to say your views, but that does not mean that you will be heard. In most governments you are actually allowed to vote for your leaders. I do not support electing leaders, because I believe that humans are not capable of doing this and do not have the right. The only right they have is to protect themselves in anyway possible. Saying this, the relationship you have with your leader doesn't matter because there is no way for you to completely control what they do, the only thing you can do is change their opinion about you by making them think that you are not greedy, so in return you might end up with more resources. If you think back to my classroom example then you might be able to understand this concept easier. You can control how you're treated by changing the appearance others perceive of you. If you are quiet, you will get more freedom usually. If you are out of control you wont have freedom. So, by masking your true personality of being selfish and greedy you can actually receive more from your government.



Life is a Highway



"Human Nature does not determine our actions, it inclines us towards certain actions."

Our human nature pushes us towards being a certain way, but it doesn't mean we have to be or go that way. I believe that we all are selfish and greedy, but we disguise ourselves from being this way or decide to go another way so that we appear better. By appearing better we will have more opportunities to gain. This relates to a highway. We all are after a final destination, but if you knew that you could get there faster by taking another road you would. No one would turn down a shortcut if it would significantly benefit them for some reason. Life presents us with many different paths, but the one that we choose depends on what we are trying to accomplish and how quickly we will get there. You might go down a certain road in order to get to your destination, but in order to get there the fastest you take the shortcut. This is what humans do, they take advantage in order to get what they want. Their actions contradict their values at times, but it is only for the reason of being successful and surviving. They will always take the shortcut, because they will always be looking out for themselves.