All governmental organizations and NGOs are founded by well-meaning actors with good intentions. However, corruption inevitably sets in as the “good intentions” are gradually eclipsed by the inevitable organizational impulse to survive and self-perpetuate. Institutions, like organisms, seek survival for themselves and their descendants. They survive, reproduce, replace, predate, evolve, alter, consume and grow. And when a sufficient number of institutions coexist, they function like an ecosystem.
“Ship, shipmate, self. I’ve always found this refrain from the Navy to be powerful… On any high-performing team I’ve been a part of, putting mission first, and team before self, was always key to collective success. The worst behaviors in organizations, in my experience, are those that get this approach backwards. When the collective mentality of any organization is self and self-preservation first, it’s a sure sign of pending doom.” – Chris Fussell in Fortune Magazine.
“When an institution serves itself rather than its mission, it often destroys what it ostensibly seeks to defend.” – Jim Schaffer
In the article “The Damaging Impact of Self=Preservation and How To Reverse it” they looked at self preservation and leadership this way: “Self-preservation runs opposed to the qualities of leaders worth following. Through behaviors and actions promoting the mentality of self-interest, leaders disempower or overpower those they lead instead of encouraging, equipping and empowering their success. The ugly byproduct of the self-interested leader is a culture of resentment held deeply across the organization that limits the oxygen of growth and advancement for others.“
“When an institution serves itself rather than its mission, it often destroys what it ostensibly seeks to defend.”