WHERE ARE THE TRUE VISIONARIES?

In all my years of studying, listening to lectures, researching, lecturing to students and pondering the concepts of administration and leadership I have wondered when people with these great qualities were going to appear. After all Douglas McGregor developed his "theory x - theory y" concept in the 1950's and Maslow identified man's hierarchy of needs 10 years before that. We were teaching these ideas in the 1970's, the 1980's and it is not unusual to find some of these relatively simplistic ideas around in today's management classes. However, after all reading and listening to all of these seemingly great ideas it appears that no one has been paying attention. At least no one with enough clout to make the world sit up and take notice and apparently this is not going to change. And, now it seems there is scientific reason for the world not to change and it isn't just about money.

In a National Geographic Special entitled "Killer Stress" on PBS, Neurobiologist Robert Sapolsky has discovered that the higher one is up on the ladder of hierarchy the less chance he or she has of dying of a heart attack. Sapolsky's study of baboons in South Africa confirmed that the lower people are in the hierarchy the greater their chronic stress level and thus the greater their systems are taxed which lowers their immune systems and creates higher blood pressure. This, in turn, leads to those in the mid and lower levels of the hierarchy being subject to more chronic illnesses, high blood pressure, obesity, and diabetes.

Read Bill's full article here....