The First Bonk
Episode 1 - Explanation of Concepts Series
A Short Explanation
In this series I’d like to explore and attempt to explain some basic concepts that I feel we have lost the real meaning of during recent history. On a daily basis you will hear descriptions, thoughts and opinions from almost everywhere but are we actually communicating with each other clearly, or just misunderstanding each other? Are we making the right choices because we are informed, are we listening to the right people?
The Beginning
As with all good explanations, it pays to start at the beginning. So let’s do that, starting with the concepts of tribalism and leadership. These words are bandied around all day every day, but what do they actually mean in real life? How will we explain these ideas without getting drawn into a morass of political minefields (and bad metaphors)? Well, luckily I’ve arranged for us to travel back in time and view the actual beginning of these concepts during the time of the Cavemen, or Cave Persons, or Persons of Cave Origin. So let’s get on with the story and see what happens.
Morning Bonk
Bonk the Caveman yawned and reached for his mighty club, it was good to start the day on your own comfortable cave floor alongside your club. Bonk’s wife Oof sat up and started the business of whatever it was she did all day - something to do with the children Bonk imagined.
Bonk scratched everywhere that needed scratching and left the cave to get on with the day’s business - which was the same as every other day’s business - hitting animals over the head for food.
Most days Bonk would simply find a small furry thing to hit, use his mighty club to Bonk! it over the head and then sit around scratching and looking into the middle distance until the children had gone quiet, then go back to the cave for some oof with Oof.
Today however there were no small furry things around. So Bonk hunted and hunted until he came across a Massive Mouth thing. Bonk realised that one Bonk! would never be enough to kill the Massive Mouth thing. So Bonk sat, and Bonk thought.
After a short while Bonk noticed another small group of hunters approaching. They were not part of his family and therefore could not be trusted. They also looked like they were going to attack the Mass Mouth and steal Bonk’s hunt. Unable to prevent them on his own, Bonk watched while the disorganised rabble attacked the Mass Mouth - some of them weaponless and just shouting at it, some of them hitting its feet with their clubs pointlessly and most of them just being flung around and injured by the Mass Mouth’s long nose.
Once the group were all tired and injured, Bonk approached them. He explained how the headBonk! is the most effective way to kill and explained that if they all worked together they could bring down the Mamouth. The others were not sure, but were tired and had been completely unsuccessful, so they agreed to share the meat if Bonk’s plan worked.
Some time later, after many headBonks! the Mamouth had fallen and our heroes sat to reflect on their achievements.
Bonk knew that he had had a good plan but without the group would not have been able to defeat the Mamouth. The hunting group understood that without Bonk’s ideas they could not have defeated the Mamouth. Together, with an intelligent plan they had achieved something they could not have achieved separately.
This is the birth of our first concept - Leadership. Not all effective people can be leaders but leaders should all be effective. Do they explain their plan well? Do they execute their plan well? Does the plan result in the correct outcome? Do a majority of their plans result in the correct outcome? Is the outcome good for the whole group?
In the aftermamouth (yes, I’m going with that) of the fight, Bonk and the hunting group sat and discussed what had happened. They agreed that due to the surprising lack of small furry things these days, that hunting these ‘Mammoths’ was going to happen more often if they were to survive. They also agreed that it would be impossible to hunt them in a small group or without a good plan.
A deal was done and much spitting and scratching followed. Bonk and the group decided to work together while hunting in future. This would result in more successful hunts, more meat for everyone and less injuries which would leave more opportunities for oof with the womenfolk. The Mammoth tribe was born.
Tribalism is our second concept. A tribe is a group who have common interests at heart and can work together to produce better outcomes than a smaller group could do. Tribalism doesn’t mean you hate your neighbours tribe (although you might) but it does mean you’ll look after your tribe and help them succeed above any others.
Post Bonk Clarity
What have we actually learned here? When we look at our leaders and why we vote for them, can we say that - regardless of party affiliation - they are effective in their plans? Can we say that they have a record of success that predates their elevation to office? Can we say that they have the best interests of the entire tribe at heart?
Personally I don’t think we can. I know that there are leaders in the Western world that have been voted into office with no work experience in the private sector at all, how can we measure their effectiveness? If someone has never had to lead a team, or manage a business how do we know they will be a good leader? There are leaders in the West who have been voted into office (by some people) because they ‘look good’ - something thats just a measure of how lucky your genes are.
Why do we pick these leaders? We do it for two reasons as far as I can see. The first is that we’ve forgotten what leadership actually is and what it demands, and the second is a lack of available options.
If you ask me to choose between a bowler hat and a top hat, then I will choose whichever I look best in (top hat if you’re asking). I won’t answer ‘no hat’ or ‘balaclava’. This false dichotomy is the biggest problem in politics at the moment, we choose our leaders based on the idea of ‘red or blue’ usually. In fact in some countries choosing the colour becomes a family tradition that lasts over generations, while the underlying politicians, policies and zeitgeist changes completely.
We need to remember what real leadership is.
Then we need to choose better leaders.
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