There must be some deep instinct to fall in behind a powerful alpha male leadership. The dominant male. Everyone else submits. We see it in the studies of chimpanzees and gorillas and it is no less true of humans.

I had an up-close-and-personal experience of it once in relation to a man called Tim. Tim was an alpha male. Very little wisdom but instantly dominant. I had a long history of involvement with groups and interests and in a spirit of sharing took him along with me. What followed taught me a bitter lesson in subservience and human nature. At least three of these groups approached him directly and asked him to accept leadership of the group the very first time they met him!!! He knew nothing about the group and shared not one ounce of their philosophy or practice but that seemed to be completely irrelevant. They were responding to something much deeper and more primal. The alpha male testosterone-exuding dominance.

Would he make a good leader? No! A lousy leader! In fact he ended up in prison for fraud and one group got rid of him for plundering their finances. Basically he was a con man.

So why do we choose to fall in behind dominant male leaders? Well they are the classic model for selecting the ‘best’ male to breed with – the stag who fights off all the other stags the lion and his pride.

But we are not talking about breeding with our political leaders.

What other reason might there be to fall in behind a dominant male leader? Here the image of Shakespeare’s “Henry V” comes to mind. The powerful speech to the English forces on the morning of battle in France. Outnumbered he led them to victory by inflaming their spirit to follow him into battle and win triumphantly.

This is no doubt very important if what we are choosing a leader to do is to inspire us to win a war against an invader. Churchill springs to mind.

But managing a complex modern economy like that of Queensland or Australia or even one of our large councils is not at all like fighting a battle against an invader. I interviewed Moreton Bay Region Mayor Allan Sutherland yesterday and this successful and popular leader is quiet humorous and gentle. It is not personality dominance that shines through but quiet wisdom and humanity.

Good management of state or council finances needs a sensible head and integrity. Deciding on planning approvals for big property developers or big mining licenses is fraught with opportunity for graft and corruption driven by greed and a desire for power and money alone. Who thinks that concern to govern for the best welfare of the whole of our community including the ordinary people who aren’t ‘sexy’ in the power and dominance game is something we have any reason to expect dominant alpha males to do at all well?