ABSTRACT
Humans as primarily social beings are dependent on groups for survival, safety, connection, and self-affirmation through work recognition. Humans also have a propensity to deny their dependence on society, just as they ignore their own mortality. In organisational consultancy, the paradigm shift from the hierarchically structured to the flat organisation has led to the denigration of parental models of leadership and the idealisation of the peer group. The systematic subjection of all aspects of organisational life to statistical analysis and rational planning has marginalised and eradicated intuitive, emotional, and experiential knowledge. Critical and negative thoughts and experiences are subsumed under the compulsion to talk, think, feel, and act positively at work, at home, and in society. The caring professions, leaders, and organisational consultants take on the work of cleaning up or containing the mess that is generated in any society.
