Hell
I introduce you to hell.
It is called napalm, and its application is to roast humans alive.
Napalm is a fuel-gel mixture firebomb used to incinerate, burn, disfigure, asphyxiate and poison live human beings.
The name is derived from its original ingredients—naphthenic and palmitic acids—na_palm.
Its gel-like consistency causes it to adhere to exposed surfaces, like skin, increasing its lethality and destructiveness.
The United Sates of America has been the most prolific user of napalm in war. The American air force indiscriminately dropped 400,000 tons of burning hell on Vietnamese people during the American War—civilians, men, women, children, babies…
Yes, the “land of the free”, the “leader of the free world”, sent burning hell to a people 13,000 kilometres from their peaceful places.
Remembering
This past Wednesday, 30 April, I attended the 50th Vietnamese Victory Day commemoration of the American War at the Vietnamese Embassy in South Africa.
No doubt, all over the World, by the victors and the defeated, there were deeply etched memories of hell.
For those too young to be directly touched, it was also a time to be reminded of a seminal event of the 20th century.
Have we learned anything productive?
Not this Way
Let me preface the point I am going to make in this Note.
I sometimes find it quite a challenge to imagine that humans can be “humane” (compassionate, forgiving, inclusive, kind, merciful, warm-hearted…) when I see our endless barbaric behaviours (and not just towards people, but anything and everything on the planet).
But let us, those who choose to live the Influential Leadership way, extract productive lessons for our Leadership practice.
I offer one of Influential Leadership’s fundamental constructs to be a bulwark against the tides of inhumanity that are still being perpetrated as we read this Note:
- The power of CHOICE.
While we, individually and collectively, tend to absorb very few productive lesson from history, even from the most awful of our behaviours—it need not be so! Humans are not wired to murder each other en mass —we choose to, and we can also choose not to!
To convey my story, that we can choose better, I offer a series of infographics below that highlight the consequences of choosing badly. Sometimes we must reflect on where stupidity takes us.
Suffice to say that they centre around what Vietnamese call the American War (as opposed to the western custom of calling it the Vietnamese War).
Each image in each collage is iconic in its representation of this hell. Every person represented here could have been you or me… our families, our children.
If you have a delicate stomach, be warned.
The Lesson? More Wars…
There are about 110 mass violent conflicts happening around the world—humans murdering humans at an industrial scale, again…
The sixth infographic represents just 26 of the major ones in their various guises.
I do not include the so-called criminal act of murders that happen at the rate of about 500,000 people a year.
The Influential Leadership Way
If there is one perfect example of legacy leadership, it is this Stone Age recourse to war.
War is NOT the Influential Leadership way.
Proper Leadership is concerned with understanding and appreciating differences, then resolving them in ways that result in win-win outcomes.
Sure, we have differences with our partners, family members, teammates, colleagues and other citizens, but it is our business to work things out for the better.
It might seem almost impossible sometimes to “work things out” especially if the other person seems “unreasonable”, but it is what we do. The alternative is that we reach for the gun… Influential Leaders reach for their Leadership consciousness—we work it out!
Have a successful Leadership week working on conflict resolution!
Regards,
Colin Donian
Karoo Founder & CEO
Influential Leadership is for Win-win Outcomes!
Leadership Note # 1825 | 05.05.25
e: colind@karoo.world
Facebook
YouTube
