Applying Ecological Principles To Leadership

In his book The Web Of Life, physicist and systems theorist Fritjof Capra outlines six basic principles of ecology. He considers these principles critical to the creation of sustainable human communities. The organizing principles of ecosystems, according to Capra, must be the foundation upon which our educational, business, and political communities are built. He goes as far as to say that “the survival of humanity will depend … on our ability to understand these principles of ecology and live accordingly.” The basic principles include interdependence, recycling, partnership, flexibility, diversity, and sustainability. I will examine the relevance of each of these principles to leadership in a series of blog entrees.

The first characteristic of ecosystems Capra identifies is interdependence. All members of an ecological community are interconnected to form a network of relationships. Each individual’s identity is derived from the pattern of relationships within the network. The behavior of every member within the system is shaped by the behavior of other members. The success of the whole community is dependent upon the actions of the individuals within the system. Each individual’s success is dependent upon the effectiveness of the entire community. This makes an understanding of relationships the key to understanding systems.

Relationships involve patterns of interactions. Relationships cannot be understood by studying each individual in the relationship separately. To separate the parts destroys the pattern. You kill an organism when you disrupt its life-giving patterns by dissecting it. This is why it is fruitless to attempt to understand leadership by focusing on its individual components. You cannot improve leadership by training a designated leader without considering the relationships and context within which that individual must perform. The leadership response will differ as circumstances change.

Leadership of a group is destroyed when the components of leader, followers, and context are separated. Leadership is not improved by trying to analyze its different components. Analysis is taking something apart in order to understand it. Systems cannot be understood by isolating their parts. Systems thinking is holistic. It looks at the entirety. Systems thinking shifts attention from the parts to the whole, from objects to relationships, from content to patterns.

A systems perspective puts relationships within a network pattern. The relationships within a network are nonlinear. This means that a disturbance within a system will not have a single effect but will ripple out impacting many parts of the system, much like the effect a stone has when thrown into the middle of a pond. This is why a slight disturbance within a system can have far reaching effects. This constitutes the power of the leadership response. By altering your response to others or the environment, you can have a significant impact upon the leadership of the group.