Wednesday 14 April 2010

Potential and Fairness



To release "potential" and "give everyone chance to live the life they want" ... we need to "take power away from those who hoard it, to challenge vested interests, to break down privilege, to clear out the bottlenecks that block opportunity and block progress" ... and the simple word behind all these ... "fairness", a message Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader made clear today as he launched his parties' manifesto (a plan to "hard-wire" fairness into British society) ... which includes 4 steps to a fairer Britain, including 

i) fair taxes (e.g. by introducing a £10,000 tax-free allowance)
ii) a fair future (e.g. creating jobs by making Britain greener)
iii) a fair chance for every child (e.g. by reduced class sizes)
iv) a fair deal (e.g. by cleaning up politics & introducing a fairer voting system).  

He also highlighted the need for trust, stating in detail where taxes will have to rise to pay for tax cuts (as well as to cut the deficit).   With the "Seven Principles of Public Life" in mind (which all UK Politicians are meant to sign up to  - see above picture) straight forward honesty is key. Speaking at the same event, Lib Dem Treasury spokesman Vince Cable said the issue of the deficit had to be "confronted" ... but said Labour and the Conservatives had "banished" the subject from their manifestos. 

With trust in politicians at an all time low the Liberal Democrats were one of the few parties wanting to tackle this head on (nb they do not have disgraced MP's currently heading to Court and trying to use 'parliamentary privilege', as well as taxpayer's money to pay for their defence), with the Liberal Democrats leading the way during the expenses scandals but getting little support from the other parties (they all wanted to go off on their long summer break and/or stop it by changing the Freedom of Information Act).  

21st century leadership and management will fundamentally change how enterprises operate, how economies will prosper, and how successful democracies will work in the future ... it will also change people's lives for the better ... by challenging the misuse of Power*, releasing  'potential' and creating a "fairer" society ... are we about to see this occur at little faster in the UK ...?

We shall see in the next few weeks ...


* Poweromics = People using position and power for their own personal gain, based on poor moral values, self interest and greed.