Shipwrecked by the laughter

I have been watching TV footage from the G20 Summit in Australia this week and was shocked to see the face of the Russian President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin as he suffered a torrent of criticism over Russia’s involvement in the civil war raging in eastern Ukraine.

It is difficult not to find at least a touch of sympathy for someone who does a job no-one else would sensibly want to do – rule over physically the largest country in the world. Especially knowing that their critics have little or no conception of the context in which rule is necessary, or the fact that Ukraine had – until the collapse of the Soviet Union – been an important part of Russia since 1667.

All of which made me reflect how difficult the job of top management is, especially when there are conflicting pressures from different internal and external interest groups and the scale of operations is large. It is extremely easy for any individual to find fault with their employer or government, but a very different matter to perform the endless balancing act that keeps the entire social and economic organism alive.

This, I guess, is one of the central problems inherent in democracy. It may seem to be straightforward to follow the utilitarian principle of giving the greatest happiness to the greatest number, but how do you ensure that happens, keep minority interests in check and even know what “happiness” means? In a company this job is simplified because the profit motive can be uppermost and everyone directed towards its maximization. But no-one other than an immigrant chooses to be part of a nation and GDP growth is not at the top of everyone’s agenda.

That is why, unpopular as this notion may sound in the west, I was sorry for the Russian leader this week. Although his critics shared the weight of states upon their own shoulders, few can have such a weight of cultural, historical or political precedent upon them today as the Russian President.

….And my enigmatic title? It comes from Albert Einstein “Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods”.

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