Occupy Wall Street: Where are the leaders?
A man holds his sign and the American flag upside down during the occupy Phoenix protest October 17, 2011 in Phoenix, Arizona. / Joshua Lott/Getty Images
Many pundits argue that this is a leaderless protest. But this view of leadership is stuck in the old model of the single heroic leader in command and control mode. What we are witnessing is a different leadership model-distributed leadership. Here multiple leaders take on various leadership activities in an attempt to move toward the collective good.
Here there is no one person who is "THE LEADER"- many are standing up to take on the role. OWS protesters have shown signs of leading simply by showing up and creating vivid images of support for the cause. Now their roles are becoming more specialized.
Occupy Wall Street raises $300K
Politics of Occupy Wall Street
Protest leaders have excelled in the early stages of mobilization. First, they have exhibited temporal leadership: they have acted at the right moment, somehow figuring out the instant when frustration was ready to erupt into collective action. They have taken to the streets at a time when a power vacuum exists, with neither Republicans nor Democrats able to capture the public narrative. The key temporal threat-winter.
Second, protest leaders have engaged in effective "sense making" -- making sense of the context in which they operate. Sense making answers the question, "What's going on out there?" The best sense makers answer this question by creating a new map or story to help reframe a complex reality.
The protesters' map stands in direct contrast to "trickle down" economics and "too big to fail". It does not put banks, the economy, our trade policies with China, or even tax policy up front and center. It is not filled with statistics and analyses. Instead, "WE ARE THE 99%" simply loudly broadcasts that our current system is NOT WORKING for most Americans. It highlights the gross inequities that have left millions without homes, jobs, educations, and hope for their children while the 1% continues to gain. It is a mechanism to say "THIS IS NOT RIGHT and we are going to be reminding you of this every day and if you agree that the system is broken, come and join us".
Third, protest leaders have demonstrated effective inventing--creating innovative ways to carry the mobilization forward. They have found public spaces where people can come together to talk and support each other in a feeling, a cause, a sense that the rules have been rigged. Others are galvanizing new participants by getting the word out through social and traditional media. The result: meteoric viral contagion. Other OWS leaders are figuring out how to organize food, shelter, and logistics.
So far so good, but some leadership activities are missing. There is no clear vision for what a different future and economic model might look like. There is no set of stakeholders coming together across the aisle to commit to change. There is no clear structure or game plan for how to coordinate action and move forward. And protesters are angering some potential allies as they send incendiary messages using words like "evil" and "hate". Are these protests doomed to failure without these focusing, relating, and structuring activities?
There are signs of hope-depending on which side you are on. Already the OWS leaders have created a new frame and a petri dish for inventing. Perhaps this fertile field will result in other leaders stepping up to supply visions and solutions, and new networks will emerge. Perhaps a full-fledged movement will be born. There is some support for this view. Media attention and protest participation continue to grow. Politicians are suddenly joining the bandwagon as they see that the protesters have their fingers on the pulse of an American public fed up with the status quo. OCW by its very existence is forcing others to respond. There are also calls for collective action such as setting aside November 5th as a day for people to transfer their money from the large financial institutions to community banks and credit unions.
Although largely invisible, OWS leaders are there and they are making a difference. But the jury is still out. We will all have to wait to see if the OWS protest will become a true movement for change, or lynch-mob chaos, or fizzle into nothing at all.
Bio: Deborah Ancona is the Seley Distinguished Professor of Management; Professor of Organization Studies at the MIT Sloan School of Management; and director of the MIT Leadership Center. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.
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The real beauty of the movement is that is appeals to almost everyone who is not part of the Top 1%. And it will force leaders to come to us, not the other way around. Hopefully that leader will be a real progressive like Dennis Kucinich rather than a corporate conservative like Obama.
"...The President of the United States, major news media, bloggers, bankers, stand-up comics, and people all around the world are shaking their heads and wondering what the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) protest is all about. Is it a display of leadership or anarchy, revolution or Sunday in the park? And the answer is, we just don't know yet. This is a new form of drama that is just beginning to play itself out..."
It is indeed a completely new drama, which is on a completely different frequency from what we are used to. We can even say it is in a different dimension.
We are used to a polarized world, with clear players on different sides, leaders, heroes, villains, etc, we used to live in a very monochromatic world.
The new situation is a round, multi colored world, with no clear polar sides, no clear ups and downs. Everybody is talking about a global world, but very few people actually think about what it means.
In a global world we are all interconnected on multiple levels, and we all depend on each other. There is no individual leadership, as no individual, or even nation can move a finger without moving everybody else in the process. It is like we all stuck in the same spider web, and from now on we have to learn how to move together, and of course in order to move together at first we have to make decision together, and achieve a common understanding and compromise for the benefit of the whole.
Otherwise we just dig ourselves deeper and deeper into crisis, as we see very acutely in Europe, or even with problems America is facing day to day.
This new movement represents this new awakening from the public, even without fully understanding what they are doing, learning, adjusting every day.
These are young people who lost any hope for a sensible future within the old system, and by some push even they do not understand simply came out and took matters into their own hands.
They talk about 99% although clearly they do not have such support yet, but it is only a matter of time, as we are all losing each day the crisis goes on, and as we watch our "elite dinosaurs" from the previous dimension just standing by or doing knee reflex decision just making everything worse.
Let us hope that the protests can remain calm, and peaceful, especially as time is supporting the change, as this new round kind of mutual cooperation and round table discussion fits into the system of nature, while the previous system was against it.
Very soon we will talk about 100% and finally start true discussions about how to build a new, round, united humanity.
It's not "We the People", It's the Business who runs this country now, and when it comes to getting cheap cheap labor, the business and all the rich are addicted to slave labor. They can't have enough.
Weather its the ReThugolCons or the DumORats, its all about flooding the US with the dirt poor from all over the world for cheap cheap slave labor.
Americans are being replaced with scabs from all over the world in every state and industry. The British Parasites (BP) scabs are getting all the media, movie, TV Ads and TV slots.
The Philippines are getting all the nursing jobs while all the American nurses are being laid-off and replaced. The Indians are the largest influx; they are bent on total takeover by any means including any and all kinds of Fraud. The Indian have been used to replace more American in every industry then all the other countries combined with H-1B/L1 visas. The Indians also have the largest influx with Visa over-stayers and Anchor Babies. Just between 2003 to 2008 over 75 million Indian entered the US and never left.
The Irish also have a very large influx of Visa over-stayers and illegals mostly in the north-east. And yes we all know about the millions of illegals the from south and north of our borders.
With over 30 years of open border and free pass to all business to do whatever they want, we are in the midst of becoming a third world just like all the cheap cheap labor we have allowed in.
"Today marks the 1,000th day of Barack Obama's presidency, and unfortunately, for America, those days have been marked by deeper deficits, lost jobs, prolonged unemployment, and bigger government. Meanwhile, many of those charged with leading the federal government have all but abdicated their responsibilities.
Fourteen million Americans are unemployed--that's 9.1 percent of the workforce.
The unemployment rate has beenabove nine percent for 840 of the 1000 days, and the average unemployed worker has been without a job for more than 9 months". http://www.hawaiireporter.com/...
H-1b outnumber US techies - In January of 2009 (month 1 of the administration), a US Government report cited that the total number of workers employed in the information technology occupation under the H-1B program substantially exceeded the 241,000 unemployed U.S. citizen workers within the same occupation." Source: http://www.computerworld.com/s...
Fraud and more fraud
According to US State Department Cables from the US Embassy in India (recently released on Wikileaks) report:
"H-1B fraud is one of the top two visa categories for fraud throughout Mission India. All posts regularly encounter inflated or fabricated educational and employment qualifications.
In an 18-month period, the U.S. investigated 150 companies in Hyderabad that applied for H-1B visas of which 77% "turned out to be fraudulent or highly suspect," the consulate reported. http://blogs.computerworld.com......
A GAO January 2011 report states, "a recent Department of Homeland Security study reported that 21 percent of the H-1B petitions they examined involved fraud or technical violations"
And, in March 2011 United StatesGovernment Accountability Office (GAO)Testimony before the Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement, Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives
"The nation's contentious H-1B visa program that lets companies fill jobs with foreign workers whose skills are scarce in the U.S. is weak in protecting U.S. workers, while bestowing disproportionate benefits to relatively few companies, a government report found.
...the H-1B program lacks a legal provision for holding employers accountable to program requirements when they obtain H-1B workers through a staffing company--a company that contracts out H-1B workers to other companies.
...and the "USCIS is not able to track the H-1B population"
Job #1 Put Americans back to work period.
Next - change the law. Prosecute and deport all violators and DO NOT send anyone here until Americans get a fair chance to compete for jobs in our own country.
FACT - there is an abundance of highly qualified Americans, ready, willing, and skilled to help our country recover.
The inconveniences faced by H-1b hopefuls are NOTHING compared to the tragedies faced by the Americans they replace. Let's focus on what really matters.
Charity begins at home - please do not let one more American family live out of their car this winter because they have been displaced by this fraud ridden program. Don't make a computer programmer family choose between medical insurance and dinner.
These real tragedies are happening all around us. Unfortunately, mainstream media is too focused on American Idol to pay attention to the real crisis going on in so many American communities.
Foreign visa hopefuls, with any luck, the US economy may recover sometime in the future. Please stay home, you will be more welcome in our country when we get back on our feet and can feed our families...
Thank you
Cronyism in D.C. whether from the left or right is the enemy to the people that is destroying our country. The only planned goal from Obama UP the chain of command is to come out of occupy Wall Street riots with martial law to initiate the next step to make Obama Dictator. These people today protesting don't even realize they are also being used as foot soldiers for who they despise the most & of Communism. It took decades to confuse them through media, US dept of ED, hollywood & it is likely they are too deeply misguided to figure it out until it's too late. The whole Wall Street protest movement is just another sign so many people are in the transition of awakening to political reality and at this point that partial knowledge is more dangerous for America than total ignorance. Many still at the stage of blaming Democrats, or Republicans, Obama, Bush or ANYONE with money, proving they are still missing the big picture that most of the US govt is run by, bought & paid for by the people who have amassed most of the wealth as the Top 1% of the U.S. population. Corrupt politicians representing their backers, NOT voters is the reality & they pass legislation that not only gives the super rich every advantage, but also free money through Quantitative Easing/Bailouts, not to mention zero accountability in the design. In addition, they own/control the mainstream media leaving the majority in America divided focusing their energies on decoys & partisan smokescreens.
At least the ones that have taken the streets in protest on wall street are not complicit, just misguided/confused but unfortunately are assisting the communist plan America was warned about in the 1960s! 0.1% is getting everything in place and when they do the Chinese, Japanese, Saudis & Europe will all dump their trillions at the same time causing mega hyperinflation. I am convinced we are in for one hell of a battle. Just like Hitler Obama & those backing him would rather see America destroyed to a medieval level before giving up power, all because the necessities of preserving America are irrelevant to their goal! I can't help but wonder how far will Obama & Company go if we the people are able to organize well enough before elections or even at the ballot in 2012 to stop & remove UNCONSTITUTIONAL government? What would Ohitlers reaction be if he thought it was inevitable? It's not a humane vision when looking at Otraitors actions from a historical perspective. I hope the Generals are on our side of the Constitution because I am sure Ovomits owners & the hundreds in OUR govt guilty of treason have several ideas to keep power for every step closer we the people get to taking back our govt & preventing Otrators Dictatorship. But I still think we the people can win this battle, we have one more chance in 2012, Europe doesn't. I want to see hundreds in this govt tried for treason. But also I should enjoy my time now, because at some point on the road to victory I may go down during the battle, or end up in a FEMA camp detained for high treason guilty for wanting to end the Federal Reserve & re-instate OUR Constitution! The only question left to ask is will we be able to clean DC enough in 2012 to fix govt to stop the drift toward totalitarian socialism? Here are my thoughts on where we stand:
https://www.facebook.com/#!/note.php?note_id=231962353516849
... where you are forced to debate the thieves, and their cohorts all the way down the feeding-chain, and the preceding, thief, benefactors, and useful-idiots alike, are heavily funded by the crime-lords and their lobbies, via the 'take'.
Death-By-Foreign-National is not laissez-faire.
Death-By-Foreign-National is not free-market.
MNCs' [/media/and academia] are not [supposed to be] in charge of U.S. immigration.
Visas such as H-1b, should be immediately suspended. MILLIONS of our better paying jobs would be instantly RETURNED, to Americans, in America.
HOW can anyone speak of returning jobs to Americans, while they ignore, or worse, lobby for, the CONTINUED replacement of MILLIONS of Americans, in American offices and worksites, with foreign nationals?
Start Article:
MUMBAI: US diplomat Peter Haas, recently appointed consul-general in Mumbai, stressed the importance of people-to-people contact in Indo-US ties.
US-India people-to-people connections are more powerful than any government initiative, said Haas. "While 8 lakh Americans travel to India each year, the US issues half a million non-immigration visas to Indians yearly," he said adding that Indian citizens formed the largest group of people to be issued H1B and L visas by the US over the last year.
End Article.
H-1b, L-1s, OPT, J-1, B-1, lotteries, green-cards, and on and on, and on, and on, it is no longer enough to stand as a nation and compete with the world-at-large, but no, the world at large will be brought to you, so that you may compete with them in your own offices and worksites...
Start Article:
The J-1 student work-travel program was created in 1961 to offer work opportunities and cultural enrichment for foreign students, and in the process, create goodwill ambassadors for the United States.
But the kids aren't working in professional settings that complement their studies.
They're toiling in warehouses for huge companies such as Hershey's, which have laid off hundreds of workers, and resorts, from Disney World to Morey's Pier in Wildwood, and for much lower wages than Americans earned doing the same tasks.
It's a great deal for U.S. companies, because they don't have to pay payroll taxes, Social Security or health insurance for J-1s.
One Spring Lake staffing company even has a nifty calculator to help businesses compare the costs of hiring J-1 vs. American workers.
End Article.
We should also revoke some or all green-cards, RETURNING a MASSIVE number of jobs, for Americans, in America.
And then there is the issue of sending our jobs offshore, often implemented by those brought to our country on visa, or those having become a green-card holder, who then coordinate the shipping of entire departments, knowledge-bases, and ultimately, entire industries, out of our country.
And what of, low to medium wage jobs? We can look towards our wide-open borders, and consider the traitors that advocate a nation without enforcement of its own borders, its laws, and disinterest in its own sovereign best-interest, survival.
And yes, it is Americans who have facilitated this betrayal of Americans, by corporations, supported by a sold-out government and press.