# Leaders or Managers - Who Runs America - Synthesis A By:: [[Ross Jackson]] 2025-09-24 In asking the question, 'Who runs America, leaders or managers?' there is a risk of accepting that the answer should be one of the options provided. Managers and leaders certainly contribute something significant to the running of America. Other individuals and groups also contribute. Patriotically, the citizens are the people who run America. Conspiratorially, those in interlocking positions of corporate boards are the ones pulling the strings of the operation. Revolutionarily, grassroots agitators influence the direction and tempo of change within society. This can quickly devolve into the conclusion that "everybody" or "nobody" is in control of what is happening. This brings us to the benefit of adopting a metamodern position. Modernists would look for who occupies positions of authority, and conclude that those people run America. Postmodernists would critique the hypocrisy and shallowness of the modern perspective and look for all the other individuals who facilitate leadership behind the scenes. A metamodern perspective would potentially acknowledge that there are people in charge who have limited authority and capability, that numerous individuals inform, persuade, and enact behind the scenes, and that agitation contributes, both positively and negatively, to the functioning of society. The running requires both leadership and management. Leadership can inspire society out of apathy. Management can organize and control the application of that interest toward pragmatic ends. It's essential to recognize that there are no leaders without followers. There are no managers without resources. And there is no America without a society united by something more than citizenship. Without these essential elements, we are left with people in positions of authority, in charge of nothing, directed at a mass of confused individuals.  #### Related Items [[Leadership]] [[Management]] [[Metamodernism]] [[Modernity]] [[Post-modern]] [[Society]] [[American]]