The energy in a pyramid usually flows from the top down. From CEO to managers to laborers. From pope to priest to laymen. The big pyramid is made up of many smaller pyramids, which in turn are built of many still smaller pyramids.
In my corporate consulting work, I had the opportunity to observe many different small pyramids: project teams and departments within a corporation. When a competent person heads a pyramid, the pyramid below him works well. Even though there are some lazy, evil, or bone-headed people in the group, the good hard-working people can carry them and push the overall effort into success. But when an incompetent person takes the top slot, the good hard-working people are thwarted by mismanagement, and the lazy evil people run amok and dominate the scene, and the overall effort fails.
But what if the energy in a pyramid were to run from the bottom up? Like in a truly representative democracy. What if the leader listens to his base and responds to them and acts in their best interests? Does this then prevent or minimize the damage caused by incompentents? Or is that the definition of an incompetent: one who stops the energy from flowing upward?
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