I want to be represented by people who are thoughtful, self-aware and collaborative. What would a system that elevated such people look like?
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the importance of having considerate and cooperative individuals in positions of influence.
George Monbiot's quote reflects a desire for leadership that prioritizes thoughtfulness, self-awareness, and collaboration. It challenges us to envision systems and structures that support and elevate these qualities, suggesting that the effectiveness of a community or organization relies on the character and mindset of its leaders.
In practice
This quote can be shared at a leadership seminar to inspire future leaders.
The notions that nature exists to serve us; that its value consists of the instrumental benefits we can extract; that this value can be measured in cash terms; and that what can't be measured does not matter, have proved lethal to the rest of life on Earth.
I believe that anyone who wants to stand in a national election should receive a course of psychotherapy. Completing the course should be a qualification for office. This wouldn't change the behaviour of psychopaths, but it might prevent some people who exercise power from imposing their own deep wounds on others.
I became an environmentalist because I love the living world, but I spend much of my life thinking about electricity, industrial processes and civil engineering.
Places that have become agricultural deserts, trashed by giant corporations, could be reforested, drawing carbon dioxide from the air on a vast scale. The ecosystems of land and sea could recover, not just in pockets but across great tracts of the planet.
Never underestimate the power of intrinsic values. They inspire every struggle for a better world.
Why is it so easy to save the banks - but so hard to save the biosphere?
Employees who can't trust their leader to be vulnerable are not going to be vulnerable and build trust with one another.
All the years I coached, we sent a card to every professor for each kid I had, and I was able to keep track on a daily basis who cut class or who was dropping a grade average. What I did was bring that kid in at 5:00 in the morning, and he would run the stairs from the bottom to the top until I told him to quit.
A man-of-war is the best ambassador.
If you have a sense of purpose and a sense of direction, I believe people will follow you. Democracy isn't just about deducing what the people want. Democracy is leading the people as well.
Being a woman in control of a company - even a small private company, as ours was then - was so singular and surprising in those days that I necessarily stood out. In 1963, and for the first several years of my working life, my situation was certainly unique.
Duty is the great business of a sea officer; all private considerations must give way to it, however painful it may be.
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