An Ancient Picture of Modern Society

In the ancient book of Isaiah, we see a picture of what happens when leadership fails. In this passage, it is God removing those who should be leading society. It mentions people that typically were the pillars of society at the time. People who contributed to, and led society with competence and courage, in justice and righteousness.

(ESV Global Study Bible)

Looking past some of the archaic roles, this passage seems to reflect what is busy happening to our world at the moment. In some cases competent people of character who should be in leadership are simply not stepping up. Some who have been in leadership are stepping down. It seems that the majority of people in society are rejecting the very leaders who actually could potentially solve some of our greatest problems. In a democracy we get the leadership that most people want. You could say we get the leadership that the majority deserves.

Complex problems require sophisticated thinking

The problems our world faces at the moment are complex, and complex problems require people who are able to think through these problems, come up with solutions, and then lead society towards implementing those solutions.

Shallow thinking produces weak leadership

The challenge is that most people in society seem to prefer not thinking very hard about anything. They prefer to read three lines rather than an essay, let alone a book; or to watch a 3 minute video about the latest trend, rather than a well structured hour long video that engages in some depth with an important and complex topic. In this society it becomes nearly impossible for a leader who may be able to lead that society towards a solution, to get the traction needed to even get the opportunity to have a proper conversation about these solutions.

The people that do get traction are those who know how to create content that riles emotions, triggers an endorphin release, and delivers it in small fragments. They become our leaders.

In a world like this, it should not surprise us that our societies seem to produce leaders of decreasing quality, and we should not be surprised when those leaders actually gain power. We should also then not be surprised to find that those very same leaders that gain their position of power through the conscious or subconscious vote of “most people” are then very quickly mistrusted by those very same people who make up the society that have moved them into leadership.

Small business trust 7x higher than government

Here are some interesting numbers from Gallup's 2025 research regarding some of the institutions we expect to be providing leadership for our societies:

People were asked: “Please tell me how much confidence you, yourself, have in each [institution] — a great deal, quite a lot, some or very little?”

For Congress, which represents elected government officials, the percentage of people that answered “Great deal / Quite a lot,” was 10%.

Big business got 15%.

The church / Organised religion got 36%

Small business got 70%

(https://news.gallup.com/poll/1597/confidence-institutions.aspx)

I think no-one is surprised by the low level of confidence we have in our governments or in big businesses.

I am disappointed, but not surprised by the low response for church and organised religion. I am part of an amazing local church, in whose leadership I have a very high level of trust. I think we have some of the best churches in the world here in South Africa, with leaders who truly seek to love God with all their hearts and souls and strength (or at least with most of it … we are all human after all), and love the people in their communities – maybe not quite as they love themselves – but they truly do love them and are seeking to bring positive change and contribution to these communities. However, we also, unfortunately, have some real charlatans who are in church leadership just because it enables them to somehow swindle their congregations out of money, or because it feeds their over-inflated egos and gives them a power trip – or a combination of both. Christian practices and teaching here are also often mixed with occultic practices. These types of issues lead to a low level of trust in the church.

But I find the response to small business hugely encouraging. It is not surprising because small businesses succeed only when people choose to use their services. Small businesses typically cannot survive long if they are not trusted. They are often known entities in the communities they operate in, and their owners are frequently involved in other local initiatives.

Small businesses entrepreneurs: Counter-culture to our leadership deficit

70% of people trust small businesses.

I work with small business leaders all the time. I find that most of them think deeply about issues related to their business, their people, and their society. Many of them are readers – not of tweets, but of books and long form essays and articles. Many of them listen regularly to long-form podcasts, or watch long videos from people who do not try to gloss over complex issues, and who present various viewpoints on these issues. To survive as a small business, the leader must understand their society enough to bring products and services to that society that are really needed.

So going back to what I started out with – this challenge that we have of society producing leaders that take us in a self-reinforcing loop of self destruction: I believe that small business leaders are an antidote to that. You do not become and survive as a small business leader because you are good at tweeting. You build a small business because you deliver, every day, consistently, for a long time, goods and services that your society needs.

If you are a small business leader, this level of trust is not only an encouragement but also a challenge. The fact that you represent one of the most trusted institutions in society gives you the power to influence it. We allow ourselves to be influenced by those we trust. As Spider-Man's uncle said, “With great power comes great responsibility.”

I believe that we, as small business entrepreneurs, hold an important part of the future of Africa in our hands.

Let us use that wisely.

To your success

Ashton

Grow Your Business

5-2-50 is a Movement of Christian small business founders dedicated to creating a million good jobs by growing 25 000 small businesses of at least 5 people, that have been running for at least 5 years, to 50 people or more, to ZAR 10 million NPAT, and to Free the Founder from the day to day grind of the business.
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To achieve this, we need founders, facilitators, coordinators, creators, influencers and church leaders.

If this excites you, see how you can get involved: https://www.5-2-50.co.za/​