Orrin, Now that I have read all of the comments that have been posted so far and replied to two of them (hopefully my responses have been helpful), I will make comments of my own. My comments will be in three parts. First I will speak (write?) about a general analysis from fictional characters. Second I will use actual persons as examples, and third I will speak (again write?) from personal experience. 1. In the Star Wars saga the Empire was rife with destructive leaders. The ultimate embodiment of this was Palpatine himself. Through his use of the dark side of the force, he was able to exercise iron fisted control over far flung enterprises which otherwise would have been impossible and would have mostly collapsed under their own weight. Eventually, however, even the seeming unlimited power of the dark side was overextended and Palpatine was killed by his own protegee, Darth Vader a.k.a. Anakin Skywalker. On the other side of the coin was the light side of the force embodied in the Jedi Knights. Here we see constructive leadership embodied. Individual initiative was promoted, and even those who disagreed with the council were not cut off from fellowship. 2. In reality the only Being ever to exist Who had the power, the knowledge and the wisdom to excercise total control over His domain is, of course, God Himself. He alone could exercise total and continual control over even the smallest portion of creation. He could, of course, exercise total and continual control over ALL of creation, if He wished. Now comes the astounding part: He did not so wish. I repeat: HE DID NOT SO WISH! Athough the sovereignty of God is a very real and present truth and fact of the universe, due to the infinite mercy and wisdom of God, the free will of man is just as real and present as the sovereignty of God. The only Being in the universe Who could have successfully excercised what for all others is destructive leadership and have the results of constructive leadership has chosen to exercise constructive leadership. This speaks volumes in example for the rest of us. The flip side of this is the kingdom of Satan. Now we all know from reading the last chapters of the last book, i.e. Revelation, that Satan will in the end lose, and that big time. Yet even now, though it may appear that he is winning in the present conflicts of the world, I am sure that if we could see the score from God's point of view we would see that Satan is on the losing side even in the present age. 3. Finally I will speak from personal experience. Years ago I was terminated from a job on very questionable circumstances. I don't need to say more. What I will say is that not soon after that, the manager who was responsible for my termination was himself terminated because "he couldn't get along with people." (Sounds like he could have used the top five books, but actually they probably wouldn't have helped him.) Up until about six years ago, I had worked for a company for nearly sixteen years. I understand that before I worked there the company was privately owned and it was basically an S type business with enough good people in upper management positions to be nearly a B type business. From what I heard from those who had been with the company for years the leadership was largely constructive at that time. The owner of the company decided it was time for him to retire and he sold it to a larger corperation involved in a similar industry. For most of the time that I worked for the company, it was largely a constructive leadership environment. There was a large amount of freedom and many decisions were made at the lowest levels of responsibility. The company grew at a modest rate and morale was above average. A couple of years before I left the company, the parent corporation decided that the directions and needs of the parent corporation and the company at which I was employed were becoming too divergent. As a result of this the parent corporation sold the company for which I worked to a larger corporation which was in the same field as the company for which I worked and which wanted to expand into the geographical area in which I worked. Almost immediately upon the transfer of power the atmosphere of the plant changed. A destructive dictatorial manner of "leadership" was instituted. Personal freedoms were reduced to practically nil. Employees were quitting in droves. Nearly six years ago I decided to end my own association with the company. I understand that not long after I left the two supervisors who were immediately above me before I left were teminated on trumped up charges. I am glad I left when I did. The place where I now work is by far the best environment in which I have ever worked. Most decisions are made by the people who are nearest to the situation and communication is open and nearly constant. Sure there are occasional mixups, missed communications and problems, after all we are all human, but these problems are always at a minimum. I hope that I have satisfactorily completed the assignment, Orrin. Even more, I hope that my thoughts and experiences will be a help to others who read this blog. Sorry that this is so long, I had no idea how long it was until I previewed it before posting. DaveC