The contributors to our understanding of how organizations work have been many. Most are worth reading. Two basic texts undergird my own work in organizational development and leadership.
The first is John Macmurray. A philosopher of the middle part of the 20th Century. He is mostly ignored by people because, well, it is philosophy. It takes real work to read.
MacMurray (along with Martin Buber and Gabriel Marcel) teaches us that relationships matter. Until you learn how to be in a healthy, mutually respectful, generative relationship, nothing else matters. NOTHING ELSE MATTERS.
The second basic text that undergirds my work is James MacGregor Burns. His book, Leadership, takes a historical approach to understanding leadership. This makes it ever so much more accessible than Macmurray. His insight applies to mom and dad leading children as well as to Presidents leading nations.
James MacGregor Burns gives us the term "naked power wielding" -- the opposite of leadership. Another concept is the difference between "Transformational Leadership" and "Transactional Leadership."
Transforming leadership creates change from the inside, out, from the bottom, up. It helps us see new realities and new possibilities. It says: "We can do better because we can be better."
Transactional leadership makes no change. It exploits the existing culture for the benefit of the leader. It makes deals. It only knows quid pro quo. It never strives to transcend a problem. It never seeks healing. It never asks followers to rise above their station or become someone new. It exploits. It throws away. It uses others for personal gain.
The Graham-Cassidy healthcare bill discloses the utter and complete failure of the Republican Party and the Trump White House for one simple reason. Everything about it is transactional.
Republican Senators must be brow-beaten, threatened, and exploited to pass it. That Republican Senators are vulnerable to brow-beating, to threats, and to exploitation reveals just how void they are of any quality that approaches real leadership. It is all transaction, no transformation.
This is why it must fail. Even if it passes, it will ultimately fail.
Barak Obama took this nation on a transformational journey. He was resisted by the Republican Party (Transactional Leaders all). But that is only because the Republican Party benefits from the status quo. They do not want transformation. They want exploitation.
But the American people are not the Republican Party. We are on a journey of transformation. We see it in Clean Energy. We see in the people's commitment to address Climate Change. We see it in our compassion for immigrants and the rise of Sanctuary Cities and even Sanctuary States. We see it in the embrace of the challenge of the LGBT community by good and decent neighbors who are everywhere all across the nation, even in "Red States." We see it in the emerging generation's transcendence of race.
Whatever damage the Republican Party does in the next few months before the 2018 elections cannot endure. They will fail. The reason is simple.
The rest of us know:
1. Relationships matter.
2. The transforming power of Neighbor Love cannot be long resisted without succumbing to the overwhelming power of grace at work in the world to redeem and save.
"You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."