Unify for Prosperity - part 3: What unifies

Unify for Prosperity

E pluribus unum
Out of many, one

Part 3: Defining what unifies

It was said already that unity is oneness, an undivided entity, sharing a common cause and values.  A leader must define the unifying principle that brings us together and align us in the cause. Before the cause can be defined it must be clearly understood.  In the mass of the people there are many perspectives and ways of expressing what each person needs.  The leader (or someone) needs to be able to identify the commonality in the near chaos of ideas and then simplify it so that it can be easily understood.  A more popular term for the unifying principle is vision.

·      What is the problem that needs to be solved? 

·      What is the injustice that needs to be rectified?

·       What is the betterment that we seek? 

We need to know what we are fighting for.  Clarity reduces risk (by reducing uncertainty). Clarity in cause helps attract the right people and it helps them come to an agreement; it is difficult to agree on and commit with certainty to a cause that has a vague or confusing mandate (does not have clarity).  We also know that people seek clarity in what they need to do (what is expected of them) and how they should act in carrying out their responsibilities to use resources optimally to maximize impact and decreasing conflict inside the organization.  Clarity helps us know how successful we are.

What unifies and unites?

There might be a lot of things that are important to us and there will be unending debate about how to prioritize the important things.  Once we identify and agree on the big thing that is important to all of us then we will have an easier time prioritizing and agreeing on the little things.

We need to be united on:

1.     What needs to be done

2.     What we are willing (and not willing) to do

3.     How we will execute the plan (and our part in it)

All this also provides safety.

Especially for conservatives

In our human nature I believe there are two variants of people with differing worldviews; one half with a materialistic collectivist preference and the other half with a paternalistic individualist preference.  The collectivists aggregate into the progressive and socialist political ideology while individualists aggregate into the conservative political camp. Conservatives, due to their very nature as individualists, have to be more active in unifying to create political power. 

What drives this?  Individualists are more competitive and less trusting than collectivists.  Individualists are comfortable with people that are more like than and therefore create groups that are more exclusive while collectivists build more inclusive groups.  Many individualists would rather be a big fish in a small pond rather than a small fish in a big pond.  The result is that the natural tendency of collectivists gives them an advantage in the public policy process because they have created for political power for their causes.

The leader is the exemplar of unity – selfless action for the common good

A Croatian example

In Croatia we have two large parties, the blue party, which is nominally center-right and the red party, which is nominally center-left. Neither party acts in any way according to any unified political philosophy and are for the most part opportunists.  In the conservative spectrum of the Croatian political market there are dozens of small political parties – all of them powerless with most of them receiving very few votes (less than 1%) and hardly any campaign budget.

The veterans of the Homeland War (war of liberation, 1990-1995), predominantly conservatives and individualists create veteran’s associations in each town with no national veterans association.  The result is that the associations are social clubs with no political power to influence for the interests of the veterans. Why do they resist unifying?  To create political power the veterans should create one national veteran’s association with local chapters across the nation; work in one direction nationally and act individually locally.  One group with 200,000 members is far more powerful than 1,000 groups each with 200 members.

. . . . . and that is the start
deep down you know what needs to be done.
Go out and do it.
Do something worth joining.