Why Top Executives Derail; A Performative-Extended Mind and a Law of Optimal Emergence

Journal of Organisational Transformation & Social Change, Vol. 11, No. 1, April 2014, 25–49

25 Pages Posted: 2 Jul 2012 Last revised: 15 Aug 2018

Date Written: July 1, 2012

Abstract

This paper defines the mind as an ecosystem within a larger ecosystem. It uses an extended model of the mind and proposes a definition of human values as attractors emerging from ecosystems. The classical model of the Growth-curve is linked to the time and growth dependent conditions for the creation and destruction of ecosystems. The conclusion of this paper suggests a direct link between top-of-the-growth-curve processes and the loss of values. Top-executives feel a strong responsibility to their shareholders to maximize profits. To do this, they move themselves and their organizations precisely to the stage in the Growth-curve where values are at risk of being lost and derailment seems unavoidable. The combination of understanding the extended mind as an ecosystem for which the conditions to create or destroy values are related to phases of the Growth-curve might lead to an ecological explanation why many top-executives derail in situations of wealth, profit, power, and status.

Keywords: Consciousness, Extended-Mind, Attractors, Values, Ecosystem, Derailment

Suggested Citation

Robertson, Peter Paul, Why Top Executives Derail; A Performative-Extended Mind and a Law of Optimal Emergence (July 1, 2012). Journal of Organisational Transformation & Social Change, Vol. 11, No. 1, April 2014, 25–49, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2097240 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2097240

Peter Paul Robertson (Contact Author)

Nyenrode Business University ( email )

Straatweg 25
P.O. Box 130
Breukelen, 3620 AC
Netherlands

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