Bjørn Uldall speaks with Dennis Nørmark about his new book 'The Price of Unfreedom', which punctures myths about human nature and hierarchy. The conclusion: we have too many leaders and too little leadership, too much regulation and too little freedom — and organisations are paying a high price for it. Jakob Holm is also in the studio.
This week, Bjørn Uldall welcomes Dennis Nørmark, who is currently in the spotlight with his new book The Price of Unfreedom.
They discuss how a flawed anthropological view of human nature, combined with outright false economic theories, have laid the foundation for the bureaucratic and misguided new public management model that poses great challenges to both organisations and society.
In his book, Dennis Nørmark punctures a whole range of myths about human nature, leadership and the necessity of hierarchy in larger societies and organisations. He does this through a thorough historical examination of misunderstandings in Western philosophy, and with surprising knowledge of our past in hunter-gatherer societies. Starkly drawn up, the conclusion is: we have ended up with far too many leaders and far too little leadership, far too much regulation and control — and far too little freedom and community.
Organisations and society pay a high price for all this unfreedom in the form of inefficiency, lack of innovation, engagement and human development. The good news is: if we manage to upgrade our view of people's capacity for self-responsibility and co-creation, and upgrade our understanding and practice of leadership, there are major gains to be made — more human freedom, engagement, responsibility and community, but also organisations in both the private and public sectors that, with fewer costs, are both more productive and innovative.
Furthermore, Jakob Holm Nielsen is also in the studio to represent the younger generation's perspective on the, at times, peculiar theatre that takes place in workplaces.