Democracy works if there is a significant middle class

By Paul Bridle, International Leadership Specialist

In a recent speech given by Madeline Albright she was telling her experiences of being Secretary of State under the Clinton administration. Whilst giving a very interesting insight to the thinking behind foreign policy and the dealings with the world leaders, she made this comment about democracy. “For democracy to work a country has to have a significant middle class”.

The more you consider this statement, the more obvious it becomes. If a country does not have a middle class, then there is no balance between the very rich and the very poor. We can sight a number of examples in the world at the moment of countries that are struggling as a result. The Philippines is a typical example.

In fact it can be argued that a form of dictatorship is needed if there is no significant middle class. Singapore had a very successful benevolent dictatorship that turned the country around and built a strong economy and once there was a good middle class, democracy was able to find its place in their society.

Can there be a parallel between this and the type of leadership in organisations? In other words, do organisations need a level of an equivalent to a middle class for leadership to be more consensual? Does the level of the equivalent to a middle class decide the style of leadership needed?

To answer this we need to consider what the equivalent to a middle class would be? Is it middle management? Is it white or blue collar workers? Is it technical people? Is it people with a level of education?

It obviously would depend on the nature of the business and to an extent the culture of the country. For example, there would be a vast difference between a manufacturing business compared to a computer design business or a retail chain. Equally, there may be a great difference between a manufacturing business in United States and China.

So what does the organisation need? Arguably a level of education must be a determining factor to the style of leadership needed? However, there are different forms of education. There is the education that one receives from schooling and even university. There is also the education that one receives in terms of life skills and community awareness.

Take Apple or Google as an example. Both of these organisations have highly educated people who as well as having a good education, are also very aware of modern trends and the way the world is developing. Leading an organisation of these type of people is very different to leading an organisation such as Ford or Chrysler. Although there are a lot of similarities between Apple and Ford of Chrysler in that they both design a product for the mass market and it needs to be reinvented and improved on to keep the customer interested and buying more.

The difference is that employees in Apple love what they do, can see the impact of their work on the world and recognise that trends will change and they need to be part of making the change rather than reacting to it. Ford and Chrysler people don’t seem to have that wider realisation or understanding. Are they educated? Absolutely. There are some highly educated engineers and designers but there isn’t the wider understanding of global trends, the impact of what is happening in the world and how that means they have to change in response.

Apple staff know that Microsoft dominate the market and for them to compete they need to do more. They know that an equivalent to the iPod will eventually come on the market and so they have sought to develop new products that keep them ahead of the game.