Leon Battista Alberti - who was a philosopher, mathematician, musician, architect - is one of those extraordinary universal personalities that the Renaissance era lavished on the world. The center of his reflections is one of the most typical humanistic themes: that human action is capable of defeating even Destiny. In the Prologue to the Della famiglia books (The Family), Alberti denies all value to ascetic life, rejects all pessimistic views of man and gives human action the highest dignity. The true value of man lies in work, which allows the prosperity of the family and the city.
Alberti inverts the medieval ethic of poverty and renunciation, affirming that the flourishing of riches is not only not against religious principles, but is a clear demonstration of divine favor. Furthermore, "virtue", understood as a strong capacity to want and act, as human industry (also in the social and political fields), is superior to Destiny itself. For Alberti, man is the cause of his goods and his ills: only the stupid reproach Destiny for the origin of their misfortunes. True human dignity is manifested in the transforming action of nature and society.
Bouillé takes up and transcends the typical microcosm-macrocosm equivalence of hermeticism. The cosmos is everything but is not aware of what it is; man is almost nothing, but he can know everything. Between man and the world rests the same relationship that exists between the soul and the body. Man is the soul of the world and the world is the body of man. But self-consciousness, which man confers on the world, humanizing it to some extent, places man above the world. This conception, due to the supreme value that it attributes to man, may well be considered as "worthy epigraph of the philosophy of humanism".
The examples of people who have earned leadership on their own merits and with the essence of his followers, King David, Jesus of Nazareth, Viriato, Spartacus or Muhammad, to name a few, are exceptional in the whole of history.
Given that the tendency maintained for centuries has been to associate leadership with formal and hierarchical authority, it is not surprising that, when at the beginning of the 16th century the figure of the leader received first systematic attention, the prince was the first type of leader over the one written by renowned authors: Nicholas of Machiavelli (The Prince) and Erasmus of Rotterdam (The Education of the Christian Prince).
"Serve yourselves or serve them, here is the dilemma of today's leaders"
The thinkers who have contributed the most to the idea of a humanist leader: Greenleaf, inventor of the concept of “servant leader” and Kelley –specialist in the figure of the “follower”, among others.
According to Robert E. Kelley, a famous social scientist specializing in follow-up studies, " What distinguishes an efficient follower from an inefficient follower is enthusiastic, intelligent and self-sufficient participation - without stardom-in pursuit of a goal organic «. Concentrating on the task of training followers, Kelley argues that " understanding motivations and perceptions is not enough."
He focuses on two dimensions of behavior to establish follower efficiency: critical thinking and participation.
Kelley suggests that this follower has several essential qualities: self-management, commitment, aptitude (mastering skills) and focus and courage (credibility and sincerity). One of the approaches based on research and field experience, considered relevant and pertinent in these times of crisis and national and international changes, is the so-called Servant Leadership.
In the 19th and 20th centuries Thomas Carlyle's "Great Man" theory is an innate hypothesis of leadership; According to this approach, leaders cannot be made or trained, they are simply born to be leaders. He declared: "The history of the world is only the biography of great men." Carlyle argued that great men shaped history through his vision. "A great man demonstrates his greatness by the way he treats those who are or have less than him," "It can be a hero who succeeds as well as who succumbs, but never he who abandons the combat." The phrases that I have chosen from Carlyle are very accurate because life is fight, agon, combat. Living means facing that challenge, regardless of who wins or who succumbs in combat. It conveys a thought that has made me reflect and, of course, I share:“It is useless for man to regret the times in which he lives. The only good thing you can do is try to improve them. " Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) English historian, thinker, and essayist. Highly recognized for his book History of the French Revolution (1837). And certainly in these times when the economic crisis inspires so many headlines in the press, radio, television and the Internet.
The economic crisis can be approached from different perspectives but without forgetting that it is the consequence of an unjust economic system that generates serious social inequalities until reaching this kind of "crack" that was seen to come. Hence, it is urgent to articulate a new way of understanding human relations, no longer from the frantic and soulless competitiveness, and even less from the limitless profit motive, but from the more purely humanitarian aspect. That is why it occurs to me that the Leader should not lose that sensitive, human part, because he is attributed with having lost values when reaching an important position, and that we do not forget that we work with people and for people who deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, known but not protected by the legal system.
Conclusions
First, I would like to mention that in my professional career I was formed with a Humanist trend, that my director of the University was a Great Leader, that the motto that characterizes us as Social Workers is Awareness, Serve and Transform; We work for Society with the aim of teaching them that they can have a Quality Life, that they must work to achieve it, but without losing their principles and Values, without going above the rest, and that today they have sold us, first with Capitalism and currently with Globalization, that the value of a person is measured by what he has and not by what he is and his abilities; I conclude that today's leader must take into account that it is not only due to material successes, but also that success must be:be good with yourself and with others, if we talk about organization, meet the needs of many, and not few in the company. You must show a balance both personally (physical, family, professional). And be prepared to face the challenges of today.
Do not fear greatness; some are born great, some achieve greatness, some greatness is imposed on them and others greatness is great ” William Shakespeare
Bibliography
LB Alberti. Opere volgari: Della famiglia. Dinner familiaris. Town. Ed. By C. Grayson, Bari 1960, Vol. 1, pp. 3-12.
Cf. E. Cassirer. Individuum und Kosmos in der Philosophie der Renaissance, Leipzig 1927. Italian translation by F. Federici, Florence 1935, p. 142-148.
G. De Ruggiero, op. cit., p. 126
Robert E. Kelley, "In Praise of Followers," in Military Leadership: In Pursuit of Excellence, 3rd edition, editors. Robert L. Taylor and William E. Rosenbach (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1996), 136–37.
Ibid., 138–41
Abstract:humanism is considered a doctrine which is based on the integration of human values. It is also a Renaissance movement that was proposed to return to the Greco-Roman culture to restore human values. In philosophy, attitude that emphasizes the dignity and worth of the person. One of its basic principles is that people are rational beings that possess in their own capacity to find the truth and practice good. The term humanism is used frequently to describe the literary and cultural movement which spread to Europe during the 14th and 15th centuries. This Renaissance of Greek and Roman studies emphasized the value that has the classical itself, more for its importance in the context of Christianity. I chose this topic by the need that exists today with the great crisis of values, this is happening not only in organizations but also in families,schools and society in general, in this essay quote various approaches and theories of great people that have helped form stereotypes of leaders that society seeks and that It is currently losing by the great global crisis.
