Go Lean…Caribbean

Go Lean Commentary

What is good for the goose is good for the gander. – Ancient Idiom

That is just the standard. Global Standard, that is! It assumes that moral code must be equally applied to all stakeholders. Any violation of this standard is considered hypocrisy, of which the end result is a total disrespect for all standards, rules and/or law-and-order.

For Good Leadership, those at the top must avoid hypocrisy, or hypocritical standards.

This is right, no one should be “above the law”; when there is the manifestation of Bad Actors that operate “above the law” or “without law”, then chaos ensues in society. This is an issue of justice, fairness, mercy and law-and-order. This is the historicity of our regional homeland; remember the Pirates of the Caribbean.

But no one is perfect, right?
Shouldn’t everyone be excused and tolerated even if they commit a misdeed every now and then?

While this is a popular notion – introducing a balance between justice and mercy – this is still a flawed philosophy, as many times the practice of justice and mercy is wielded unevenly. There appears to be a different standard at play: one of pluses and minuses; counting good acts versus evil acts, then taking the average.

This is familiar in the European rationalization. In my school days, there was a system of “Merits and Demerits”:

A point system for benevolent and malevolent behaviors.
Pros and Cons
Advantages and Disadvantages

It’s a flawed concept; it assumes that you will be acceptable, despite your shortcomings, if you only perform some good works … every now and then.

To anyone in leadership and contemplating leadership, I entreat you to flee from this flawed philosophy. This belies the actuality and reality of hypocrisy.

Yes indeed, there are certain demerits that cancels out any meritorious deeds a person may commit. Think murder, rape, child/elder abuse. For the New World, the Slave Trade was more than just a demerit; it was so morally indefensible, that hypocrisy – of the European colonizers – could not be excused, justified, rationalized or minimized.

In fact, go back in ancient history and think of the conduct – atrocities, lawlessness, debauchery, murder, naval hijackings, etc. – of the Pirates of the Caribbean and their actions during the eco-systems during Slave Trade. (Also, consider the very recent examples of the Sheriff eco-system for law-and-order in the United States). There is no doubt as to the historicity of these actors; where there is doubt, it is related to the lessons of the prevailing hypocrisy by the orthodox institutions.

This is the continuation of a Teaching Series on Good Leadership from the movement behind the 2013 book Go Lean…Caribbean; this is entry 4 of 6, which details the lessons-learned from the hypocrisy of orthodox institutions on the demand of the public to abide by law-and-order; they simply do not! The full catalog for this month’s series is listed as follows:

1. Good Leadership – Inaction could be deadly
2. Good Leadership – Caring builds trust; trust builds caring
3. Good Leadership – Agile: Next Generation of leadership and project delivery
4. Good Leadership – Hypocrisy cancels out Law-and-Order
5. Good Leadership – Example – “Leader of the Free World”?
6. Good Leadership – Example – For mitigating crime

The days of the Pirates of the Caribbean provides a glimpse for today’s pandemic crisis; the blatant hypocrisy of the times made societal progress difficult. There are no Ands, Ifs or Buts; today, we need Good Leadership – among our political, corporate, religious and civic stakeholders – to survive and thrive as a society. We need to heed, adhere and comply with Good Leadership; we do not need blatant examples of hypocrisy cancelling out the Law-and-Order principles. We needed this hypocrisy-free climate before this COVID-19 pandemic; we need it now in the throes of this crisis – think quarantines, stay-at-home orders, wear masks orders, and isolation orders – and we will need it afterwards.

The theme of the atrocities of the Pirates of the Caribbean thriving amongst the hypocrisy of the colonial orthodoxy- the civilized world – has been accurately depicted in the 2014 premium cable television series called Black Sails; (4 seasons of 38 episodes). Though fictional, the characters portrayed in this drama are loosely based on many historical characters; this is Art imitating Life; Life imitating Art. Consider the actuality of historical characters that were serialized:

A new pirate adventure coming to Starz from Michael Bay in 2014 centers on the tales of Captain Flint and his men, and takes place twenty years prior to Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic “Treasure Island.”

Characters: Captain Flint, Long John Silver, William “Blackbeard” Teach, Anne Bonny, Governor Woodes Rogers, William “Billy” Bones.

See this First Trailer of: https://www.imdb.com/video/vi2814748185?playlistId=tt2375692

Wikipedia Summary: Set roughly two decades before the events of Treasure Island, the 2014 televised series Black Sails follows the adventures of Captain Flint and his pirate crew. His first name is given as James in the episode “VI.” Episodes “IX” and “XIII” further reveal that he is a disgraced former Royal Navy lieutenant named James McGraw, dismissed from the service for falling in love and having an affair with Lord Thomas Hamilton. He was exiled from England with Thomas’ wife, Miranda Barlow, who has subsequently since hidden herself as a lowly Puritan lady on the trading island of Nassau. Lord Thomas Hamilton was the son of Lord Alfred Hamilton, lord proprietor of the Bahama Islands. McGraw adopted the name “Flint” after a mysterious man who boarded his grandfather’s ship while at anchor and then disappeared. He is portrayed by Toby Stephens.

The historicity of the Pirates of the Caribbean is really stark in considering its impact on Caribbean society’s moral code, even down to this day. In a previous submission from the movement behind the Go Lean book, this summary was presented:

The distinction between a privateer and a pirate has always been vague beyond the licensing Letters of Marque. Without the letters, the parties were considered pirates; of which many frequented the Caribbean region. This industry employed many unemployed seafarers as a way to make ends meet, but became increasingly damaging to the region’s economic and commercial prospects.

Licensed (Privateers) versus unlicensed (Pirates) exhibited the same practices, same conduct, same capital offenses and the same value systems, the only difference: one was considered legitimate while the other was illegitimate. This morality – or lack there of – was based on a piece of paper from the established orthodoxy. This was pure and blatant hypocrisy!

No wonder many privateers and pirates alike abandoned adherence to the orthodox moral code of their day. This is proof that any lack of moral authority – clear standards on right versus wrong – does not bode well for Good Leadership. Unequal Justice emerges and thrives in this climate. The Caribbean was doomed … with this Bad Community Ethos; (Community Ethos = the fundamental character or spirit of a culture; the underlying sentiment that informs the beliefs, customs, or practices of a group or society; dominant assumptions of a people or period).

Also, consider this sample of other previous commentaries related to the eco-system of piracy, independently and correlated to the dread of hypocrisy. These experiences are noted in regards to Caribbean society and other communities. See the sample list here::

In a previous entry of this 6-part series for May 2020 – Good Leadership #2: Caring builds trust; trust builds caring – it was stressed how important “Trust” is:

Trust is very important for forging Good Leadership. Subjects must feel that they can trust their leaders, that the leaders care and would only have their best interest at heart. So actions of caring and trust are inter-related.

Trust is definitely the opposite of hypocrisy.

As we measure against this proven formula for Good Leadership we see that many of the flaws in the Caribbean past were due to a hypocritical foundation that only made bad times worse. There was no way to look at the institution of slavery and see any good that could come from it – merits and demerits be damned. Then the situation worsened with the Pirates of the Caribbean attempting to exploit the economic gains for themselves.

The “buck stopped with the colonial leaders”. Who were they?

The English colonial organization structures were based on the system of “Lords Proprietors” – see Appendices below. The flaws and frailties of Nassau, Bahamas were dramatized in the premium TV series Black Sails – see the VIDEO Trailer here:

VIDEO – Black Sails | Official Trailer | STARZ – https://youtu.be/rT2Y5jjBNpQ

STARZ
Posted August 11, 2014 – The Golden Age of Piracy. New Providence is a lawless island, controlled by history’s most notorious pirate captains. The most feared – CAPTAIN FLINT.

Watch Black Sails now on the STARZ app: http://starz.tv/WatchSTARZYT

Subscribe now for more Black Sails clips: http://bit.ly/1kalhP0

Like Black Sails on Facebook: http://bit.ly/BlackSailsFacebookYT

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1715. The Golden Age of Piracy. New Providence Island [(Nassau)] is lawless territory, controlled by notorious pirate captains. The most feared—Captain Flint. Driven by ulterior motives, Flint hunts the ultimate prize. But first he must overcome rival captains, the local smuggling kingpin, and a young sailor new to his crew—John Silver.

Like STARZ on Facebook: http://starz.tv/STARZFacebookYT
Follow STARZ on Twitter: http://starz.tv/STARZTwitterYT
Follow STARZ on Instagram: http://starz.tv/STARZInstagramYT 

• Category: Entertainment

A lot of this drama was set in Nassau, but Jamaica – think Port Royal – also proliferated with pirates. So there are lessons from this drama for us here in the full Caribbean. These lessons apply right up to this moment in our handling of today’s crises; think Coronavirus-COVID-19. Is there blatant hypocrisies today? Are we mandating one sets of rules for one group of people while ignoring those rules for others – think Black versus White, think rich versus poor, urban versus rural, tourists versus natives, etc..

In summary, the good and bad experiences of Caribbean leadership over the centuries are well documented. We see that the mandate for Good Leadership is uncompromising. We must strive for this at all times, otherwise subjects defy the laws of their leaders. (Many condemned Pirates of the Caribbean were belligerent and cursing the powers-that-be right up to their last words before execution). Bad people feel justified for their bad actions against good people because of the unreconciled hypocrisy. No doubt, we must dissuade organizational hypocrisy, institutional oppression and tolerated discrimination.

Yes, elevating Caribbean society means elevating the Caribbean character; we must start with the man in the mirror.

We hereby urge all Caribbean stakeholders – leaders and followers – to lean-in to this Go Lean roadmap. This is how we will make our homeland a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

About the Book
The book Go Lean…Caribbean serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), for the elevation of Caribbean society – for all member-states. This CU/Go Lean roadmap has these 3 prime directives:

• Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.
• Establishment of a security apparatus to ensure public safety and protect the resultant economic engines.
• Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines, including a separation-of-powers between the member-states and CU federal agencies.

The Go Lean book provides 370-pages of turn-by-turn instructions on “how” to adopt new community ethos, plus the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to execute so as to reboot, reform and transform the societal engines of Caribbean society.

Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

Who We Are
The movement behind the Go Lean book – a non-partisan, apolitical, religiously-neutral Community Development Foundation chartered for the purpose of empowering and re-booting economic engines – stresses that reforming and transforming the Caribbean societal engines must be a regional pursuit. This was an early motivation for the roadmap, as pronounced in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 11 – 13):

xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.

xii. Whereas the legacy in recent times in individual states may be that of ineffectual governance with no redress to higher authority, the accedence of this Federation will ensure accountability and escalation of the human and civil rights of the people for good governance, justice assurances, due process and the rule of law. As such, any threats of a “failed state” status for any member state must enact emergency measures on behalf of the Federation to protect the human, civil and property rights of the citizens, residents, allies, trading partners, and visitors of the affected member state and the Federation as a whole.

xvi. Whereas security of our homeland is inextricably linked to prosperity of the homeland, the economic and security interest of the region needs to be aligned under the same governance. Since economic crimes, including piracy and other forms of terrorism, can imperil the functioning of the wheels of commerce for all the citizenry, the accedence of this Federation must equip the security apparatus with the tools and techniques for predictive and proactive interdictions.

xxiv.  Whereas a free market economy can be induced and spurred for continuous progress, the Federation must install the controls to better manage aspects of the economy: jobs, inflation, savings rate, investments and other economic principles. Thereby attracting direct foreign investment because of the stability and vibrancy of our economy.

Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.

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Appendix A – Lord Proprietor

A lord proprietor is a person granted a royal charter for the establishment and government of an English colony in the 17th century. The plural of the term is “lords proprietors” or “lords proprietary”.

Origin
In the beginning of the European colonial era, trade companies such as the East India Company were the most common method used to settle new land.^[1] This changed following Maryland’s Royal Grant in 1632, when King Charles I  granted George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore proprietary rights to an area east of the Potomac River in exchange for a share of the income derived there.^[2][3] Going forward, proprietary colonies became the most common way to settle areas with British subjects. The land was licensed or granted to a proprietor who held expanse power. These powers were commonly written into the land charters by using the “Bishop Durham clause” which recreated the powers and responsibilities once given to the County Palatine of Durham in England.^[4][2] Through this clause, the lord proprietor was given the power to create courts and laws, establish governing bodies and churches, and appoint all governing officials.^[2]

Governance of proprietary colonies
Each proprietary colony had a unique system of governance reflecting the geographic challenges of the area as well as the personality of the lord proprietor. The colonies of Maryland and New York, based on English law and administration practices, were run effectively. However, other colonies such as Carolina were mismanaged.^[5] The colonies of West and East Jersey as well as Pennsylvania were distinct in their diversion from the traditional monarchial system that ruled most colonies of the time.^[5] This was due to the large number of Quakers in these areas who shared many views with the lords proprietary.^[5]

Effective governance of proprietary colonies relied on the appointment of a governor. The lord proprietor made the governor the head of the province’s military, judicial, and administrative functions. This was typically conducted using a commission established by the lord proprietor. The lord proprietor typically instructed the governor what to do.^[6] Only through these instructions could legislation be made.^[5]

…

Source: Retrieved May 23, 2020 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_proprietor.

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Appendix B – Bahama Islands History; Arrival of the English

…
In 1670, King Charles II granted the islands to the Lords Proprietors of the Carolinas in North America. They rented the islands from the king with rights of trading, tax, appointing governors, and administering the country from their base on New Providence.^[22][17] Piracy and attacks from hostile foreign powers were a constant threat. In 1684, Spanish corsair Juan de Alcon raided the capital Charles Town (later renamed Nassau),^[23] and in 1703, a joint Franco-Spanish expedition briefly occupied Nassau during the War of the Spanish Succession.^[24][25]

Appendix B – Bahama Islands History; Arrival of the English

…
In 1670, King Charles II granted the islands to the Lords Proprietors of the Carolinas in North America. They rented the islands from the king with rights of trading, tax, appointing governors, and administering the country from their base on New Providence.^[22][17] Piracy and attacks from hostile foreign powers were a constant threat. In 1684, Spanish corsair Juan de Alcon raided the capital Charles Town (later renamed Nassau),^[23] and in 1703, a joint Franco-Spanish expedition briefly occupied Nassau during the War of the Spanish Succession.^[24][25]
18th century
During proprietary rule, The Bahamas became a haven for pirates, including Blackbeard (circa 1680–1718).^[26] To put an end to the ‘Pirates’ republic‘ and restore orderly government, Great Britain made The Bahamas a crown colony in 1718 under the royal governorship of Woodes Rogers.^[17] After a difficult struggle, he succeeded in suppressing piracy.^[27]

Source: Retrieved May 23, 2020 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bahamas#Arrival_of_the_English