Train leaders to think differently

In 1884 Edwin A. Abbott published his famous book Flatland, followed in 2001 by Ian Stewart's Flatterland. Leaving aside their mathematical and astrophysical contents, the main message of these books is that persons thinking in terms of one or two dimensions are unable to comprehend "depth" and cannot cope with multi-dimensional dynamics.

Iwould like to apply this idea to political leaders, for diagnosis and treatment.

A main concern of the Conference on the Future of the Jewish People held last week by the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute in Jerusalem was the quality of Jewish leaders, and ways to improve it. But the fateful importance of the matter requires sharper formulations and more operational proposals than fit into a conference.

To put the conclusions of my studies and personal involvements bluntly, the world as a whole suffers from an abundance of flat leaders, with dismal consequences.

In particular, dangerous expressions of flatness include thinking in terms of narrow slices of time instead of historic processes; focusing on the here and now instead of on the long-term future; seeing narrow segments of reality instead of holistic systems; a fixation on dogmas instead of pluralistic perspectives; tunnel vision instead of holistic views; focusing on a few factors instead of comprehending complex interdependencies; diagnosing what is on the surface instead of penetrating into underlying causes; trust in simple "solutions" instead of being skeptical about common sense answers to multifaceted predicaments; dealing with tactics instead of crafting grand-policies; and so on.

GRAVE POLICY fiascoes unavoidably result from flat, top-level leadership. This is harshly illustrated, to pick just three major illustrations out of very many, by indiscriminate American promotion of democracy irrespective of local conditions and cultures; European Union soft policies toward Iranian nuclear activities; and the gross inadequacies of global environmental policies.

Regrettably, flatness also characterizes the vast majority of Jewish, including Israeli, leaders. However, while other societies and countries can bear the costs of having flat leaders, we do not have this luxury. Our margins of existence are too narrow and the preconditions for thriving too demanding to permit the Jewish people to have a large majority of flat leaders, with all too few exceptions.

Rather than provide examples of the many tragic consequences of flat leaders throughout Jewish history, let me be constructive by mentioning a few domains requiring grand policies which can be crafted and implemented only by non-flat leaders, before irreversible failures hit us: