red (err... brown) meat

by Jerome a Paris
Sun Jul 5th, 2009 at 07:44:04 AM EST

Does he have a favourite historical dictator — Stalin, perhaps, or Mussolini? “Maggie’s gone,” he says. Then he pauses and continues, thoughtfully: “In a lot of ways, terrible to say this I suppose, but apart from the fact that Hitler got taken away and persuaded to do things that I have no idea whether he wanted to do or not, he was in the way that he could command a lot of people able to get things done.”

Are democracy and "getting things done" incompatible? Or what is the definition of "getting things done" for gazillionaires like Bernie Ecclestone?


Sir Oswald Mosley’s son would, Mr Ecclestone says, make an excellent Prime Minister. “I prefer strong leaders. Margaret Thatcher made decisions on the run and got the job done. She was the one who built this country up slowly. We’ve let it go down again.

“All these guys, Gordon and Tony, are trying to please everybody all the time . . . Max would do a super job, he’s a good leader. I don’t think his background would be a problem.”

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I was at a 5 day conference the other week which was for public sector managers.  It looked at a lot of things like leadership, engaging people (staff, services users) and the theme from the week which was really strong is that 'heroic leadership' has had its day.  

The aggressive style of management which doesn't listen to people or engage them is not the way forward and the so called 'softer' skills in management are much more important for achieving real and meaningful change for leaders/managers in both improving the working environment for their employees and in reforming service delivery in the face of the huge challenges the recession has brought about.

For the public sector, we are seeing a shift in attitudes of academics, and the host of various gurus, workplace psychologists, entrepreneurs and senior public service managers.  It was an interesting conference that reassured me somewhat that my own working style is along the right track and I don't have to be a mini Hitler to make an impact.  I've always preferred a much more inclusive and engaged management style but that's not what we've been taught is the 'right' thing to do.

Ad astra per aspera

by In Wales (inwales aaat eurotrib.com) on Sun Jul 5th, 2009 at 08:32:13 AM EST
Funny how these "effective" managers who get things done rarely leave much of  lasting legacy.

hitler and Mussolini are remembered for strating disastrous wars that wrecked their countries. Thatcher was good at destroying things and nowadays even her own party are trying to walk back her "achievements". But did she "build" anyting except an environment where British interests were sacrified for the shallow veneration of a fiscal model that only blew bubbles ?

Leadership is about more than shouting loudly and getting things doen. It's about getting the right things done in such a way they last. Clement Attlee was no dictator, but he created the post-War economic model that served the UK well up till the moment thatcher trashed it. That's management.

As for FDR, no dictator he. Again, his work didn't disintegrate, it had to be actively vandalised.

No, this right wing authoritarian hankering for strong men / nanny is symptomatic of their infantile inability to deal with difference. Mrs Thatcher infamously would question her advisors about appointments, "Is he one of us ?". their desire to inflict their opinions on others and inability to hear criticism as anything other than hostility is immature.

Bullying may get things done, but that which only exists on force of personality cannot survive a change of person.

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Sun Jul 5th, 2009 at 11:29:58 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Aaaarrrggghhh having to read the any-pub-you-go-into Café du Commerce drivel of this rug-wearing wheeler-dealer in car racing, property, and loans...

Bernie Ecclestone, the Formula One boss, says despots are underrated - Times Online

"If you have a look at a democracy it hasn't done a lot of good for many countries -- including this one.

Right mate. You having another one?

Another quote, not from the Murdoch press:

Bernie Ecclestone - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You know, I've got one of these wonderful ideas that women should be all dressed in white like all the other domestic appliances

...

<digestion disrupted, puke rising>

When locusts move on, they leave nothing behind

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Sun Jul 5th, 2009 at 09:07:28 AM EST
Oh, isn't he lovely?

Ad astra per aspera
by In Wales (inwales aaat eurotrib.com) on Sun Jul 5th, 2009 at 09:35:44 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I don't think his background would be a problem."

Well im sure they would have the unstinting support of at least part of Fleet Street, after all, they supported his Father.

The Voice of the Turtle

"Hurrah for the Blackshirts"

A famous example of the Daily Mail's longstanding commitment to impeccably balanced and unbiased coverage of controversial political events. This headline appeared on the front page of the 8 July 1934 edition, and accompanied a piece on Sir Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists that read, in part: "If the Blackshirts movement had any need of justification, the Red Hooligans who savagely and systematically tried to wreck Sir Oswald Mosley's huge and magnificently successful meeting at Olympia last night would have supplied it."

Subsequent articles emphasised the paper's unstinting support -- on 15 January 1934, the BUF was described as "a well organised party of the right ready to take over responsibility for national affairs with the same directness of purpose and energy of method as Hitler and Mussolini have displayed".



I'm tired of this backslapping, aint humanity great BS, we're a virus with shoes Bill Hicks
by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Sun Jul 5th, 2009 at 10:06:29 AM EST
A frigid, twisted, dry turd-for-brains that could fill a psych ward all onto his tiny self, gets plenty of space from The Relative Times-past, as a worthy subject.  

The ex-wife may never recover from the psychological abuse from this sociopath and he's definitely leaving his burn marks on this planet.  

It's all that progressives can abhor and Aznar's son-in-law can poodle, wrapped up into a single repulsive creature.  


Our knowledge has surpassed our wisdom. -Charu Saxena.

by metavision on Sun Jul 5th, 2009 at 02:37:26 PM EST
That's an interesting set of dictators/leaders being discussed, seeing as Max Mosley likes to have his pecker squeezed in dungeon-themed granny flats by girls dressed as Hitler, Mussolini, and Margaret Thatcher respectively.

Did I miss the memo? Do internet sextapes now qualify as policy platforms?

[no video link, but easy to find].

--
$E(X_t|F_s) = X_s,\quad t > s$

by martingale on Mon Jul 6th, 2009 at 01:21:38 AM EST
Those are the bosses of Formula One. Then there is team boss Flavio Briatore, who declared his vote for the neo-fascist La Destra before the 2008 elections.

It's funny that the bosses of the car factories and advertisers in Formula One may be troubled by new regulations, but not by such headlines.

*Traitor*, n.
A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.

by DoDo on Mon Jul 6th, 2009 at 07:00:53 AM EST


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