For Success 1: Responsibility and Rationality

Both responsibility and rationality are essential for production and efficiency—whilst they do not inherently generate well-being.

Responsibility implies rationality because expectations and predictions flow from specific duties; conversely, acting on whim, being illogical, and ignoring agreed purposes, are taken to indicate irresponsibility.

Rationality implies responsibility because others must be able to depend on a person standing behind their views, pursuing their stated goals, adhering to a doctrine or using evidence and logic properly.

Productivity Set

■ Responsibility is valued over Authority

These mentalities demand a degree of rationality and responsibility.

Moving down the diagonal reveals:

• an increase in risk and the burden of responsibility
  with the consequent requirement for:
• an increasingly disciplined application of rationality to counter the rising level of risk.

Methods: The burden of logic, purpose, knowledge and accountability leads to various approaches to reduce the risk inherent in any endeavour. A general method is to enhance expertise through focus and specialization.

• Perspective-centredness calls for responsible inquiry and self-discipline in any learning that is oriented functionally or thematically, rather than theoretically or by discipline. Rationality is valued, while popular opinion is neglected.

Risk & Limits

Risk: Even if intellectual accounts by journalists or academics imply the need for risky or revolutionary changes, intellectual activities are themselves usually low risk.

Limits: Inquiries are bound by terms of reference and theoretical purity, often to the neglect of pragmatic pressures that invariably determine action.

• Cause-centredness is built around a theory, discipline or ideology, which is constructed to be consistent and coherent. Responsibility is required to engage constructively with society and to promote specific changes acceptably.

Risk & Limits

Risk: There is always the risk of censure, counter-attack, social disapproval and ultimate failure.

Limits: The defining ideology sets bounds, often leading to the neglect of alternative ideals or the wider consequences of a manifesto.

• Market-centredness assumes responsible dealings and reasonable contracts. Profit-making activities should be based on rules, goals and facts. It is essential to know what you are doing and why, and also to be aware of any legal and financial implications.

Risk & Limits

Risk: An entrepreneur takes many more risks and carries a far greater burden of responsibility than an employee (even a CEO) whose duties and downside are circumscribed by an employment contract.

Limits: Responsibilities are firmly bound by the needs of the business or job, to the neglect of the wider environment.

Well-being Set

■ Authority is valued over Responsibility

These mentalities aim to protect or advance themselves or their group. So they trend to avoid, deny, spoil, reject or supersede rational thought and responsible action. Rationality is simply too cold or artificial and responsibility just too impersonal in the face of feelings, self-interest and suffering.

• Kinship-centredness actively rejects social responsibility in favour of responsibility for the family unit and protection of intimates.

Because: Intense emotions and the urge to gratify wishes interfere with rationality. Nepotism and racism interfere with responsibility.

• Power-centredness has nothing but contempt for rational argument given the easy quick results from applying brute force and the persuasiveness of bribes and intimidation.

Because: Saving face is always given a higher priority than responsibility; and cronyism, loyalty, impulsiveness and dangerous risk-taking tend to ignore rational factors.

• Community-centredness recognizes the obligations entailed by projects producing social benefit, but this is weakened if responsibility is diffused among group members.

Because: Rationality, especially about finances, tends to be displaced by irrational feelings, especially guilt, and the desire to be egalitarian and meet entitlement claims of group members.

• Reality-centredness is about seeing, so responsibility is irrelevant—what exists is what exists. The concern is to see through what is conventionally accepted or revealed by rational study

Because: Reality includes others’ minds and cosmic forces, so use of the imagination is essential; and the output of such seeing cannot be meaningfully subject to rational thought.

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• Go to the next requirement for success: authority & stability.

Originally posted: July 2009