Leadership and Change

He argues that an overarching goal of development should be increasing human freedom; economists, and perhaps leaders in general focus to much on growth in gross national product, personal incomes of industrialization.(3) While economic growth may be a way of providing means to greater freedoms in a society, it is no guarantee unless sources of “unfreedom” such as tyranny, repression, unequal economic or educational opportunities, neglect of public facilities, limited access to markets, etc. Unless the fruits of development can be shared by all citizens and inhabitants of a developed country or area, and that citizens have a voice in decisions on how resources should be utilized, then development will be incomplete and inefficient. Freedom is a social product that may be the determinant of efficient development.

Unfreedoms are found in the most opulent, developed societies. African American men have lower incomes relative to American Caucasian men, yet much higher incomes relative to men living in less opulently developed nations such as India or China. However this population has higher morbidity rates than those populations. Men in Harlem, New York, can be similarly compared to men in Bangladesh. African American men as a general population in these examples were deprived of the freedom to live the long and prosperous life that should be expected in a well developed nation. These men, Sen might argue, have been deprived one or more of the five distinctive freedoms that help advance the capability of a person: Political freedoms, economic facilities, social opportunities, transparency guarantees and protective security. (10) What do you think might be the one or two most significant unfreedoms that contribute to the lower life expectancy of this population?

Leaders in society are therefore tasked with eliminating unfreedoms in society, perhaps through changes in public institutions and private organizations. Leaders in an innovation society can accomplish this task by increasing the “free and sustainable agency” of their followers.(11) Developing the ‘agency role’ of individuals as participants in economic, social and political life contrasts with Sen’s belief that the widespread temptation of leaders is to deliver services to targeted, yet inert populations.(19)

An example developing citizen agency is found in a later article of Sen’s, “How Does culture Matter?” Following Commodore Perry’s 1852 visit to Edo bay, Japanese leaders made a commitment to change the face of education. After centuries of intellectual isolation from the world, Japanese leaders decided to change the face of education and in 1872 issued The Fundamental Code of Education which declared, “There shall, in the future, be no community with an illiterate family, or a family with an illiterate person.” By 1913, Japan, economically still considered poor, had published twice as many books as the USA.(Sen, 2004 p. 51) The innovations in education policy supported development of intellectual capacity and economic agency in its citizens ultimately fueling Japan’s spectacular rapid 20th century development.

Antithetical to the above example is Sen’s reference to 12% unemployment in Europe, and the system of welfare which supports those out of work, while simultaneously depriving welfare recipients of their freedom to be self-reliant, confident, and psychologically and physically healthy. The leaders deliver services to the targeted unemployed, yet do not create policies to reduce the unfreedom of the limited job market.(21)

I believe this article is useful as a construct within which leadership approaches and models can be examined or applied. It provides a philosophical base for development that goes beyond success as defined by economic metrics alone, and looks at the broader ideal of developing human capacity as a means of achieving individual’s freedoms to live the life they value. He mentions the barriers that tradition in religious or political systems may place before development and modernity (320. Yet he leaves the how of creating changes and conditions for maximal individual participation and freedom to us.

Sen maintains that famines do not occur under democratic governments, because elected leaders are accountable to all citizens. Yet there exists a leadership paradox in maintaining free markets and access to them in the USA which can create unfreedoms due to limited access for certain populations. Approximately 40 million Americans have no health insurance. Figuratively this group suffers from a health care famine. Development of our health care system has produced this situation.

What steps might leaders take to redevelop health care to redress the inequalities of health care access?

How might policy makers build individual agency and capacity to obtain good health and health care within the uninsured population?

Where might leaders find resistance and opposition to redevelopment of the health care distribution system?

Rao, V., Walton, M, 2004, Culture and Public Action, Sen, Chap 2, How does culture matter? Stanford University Press, Palo Alto, California