Have you ever watched one of those documentaries on Discovery or National Geographic where you see water filling a barren land, transforming it into a place of greenery and beauty? If you haven’t I suggest you watch a documentary of the Okavango Delta or the Amazon, where water is the lifeblood of the ecosystems. Think about it, the Amazon has been doing its thing for millennia. Look at these amazing facts (Wiki Article):

• The Amazon, which has the largest drainage basin in the world, about 7,050,000 square kilometres (2,720,000 sq mi), accounts for approximately one-fifth of the world’s total river flow
• The width of the Amazon varies between 1.6 and 10 kilometres (0.99 and 6.2 mi) at low stage, but expands during the wet season to 48 kilometres (30 mi) or more. The river enters the Atlantic Ocean in a broad estuary about 240 kilometres (150 mi) wide.
• Water testing done in 2009 by Amica Ressearch has shown the water level to be at a 7.5, one of the cleanest water sources in the world.
• More than one-third of all species in the world live in the Amazon Rainforest,^[18] a giant tropical forest and river basin with an area that stretches more than 5,400,000 square kilometres (2,080,000 sq mi). It is the richest tropical forest in the world in terms of biodiversity. There are over 2,100 species of fish currently recognized in the Amazon Basin, with more being discovered every year

Amazing to think that at its source, at its most basic level water is the focal point for all living creatures within the Amazon river. It defines the very existence of the creatures that live in it. Look at this amazing Nasa photo of the Amazon basin flowing into the sea:

I used the word anonymous in the blog title because we as humans take water for granted for the most part yet we would not be able to survive without it. Isn’t that just amazing and ironic? We live these high tech, socially complicated lives, yet at the basic level we cannot survive without water. Apart from its obvious nutritional value, water is used in almost every other facet of our lives. Manufacturing would not happen without water – how else would we cool and heat things. How much of our technology depends on water being used at some point during its existence? Have you ever taken a moment to admire water, to look at its qualities and wonder? I mean here is this transparent liquid, in seemingly abundant quantities, which can do so much for me. It can clean me, quench my thirst and it can bring me calmness and peace. Who can argue that a stream of water flowing over a bed of rocks can have such a calming influence?

I love nature, I really do, and it would be a really sad day if we lost all the natural beauty around us just because we do not look after our water resources.

I ask this because on a personal level I do not like it at all if someone tries to shove their value-system down my throat. So my question is, do value systems in organisations have a place? Value systems are generally apparent in two ways, as a silent agreement or as a tangible written thing. I prefer the silent agreement for several reasons, but firstly because as John Maxwell says, leaders are influencers and people will naturally follow someone with influence. Following someone in this way means that you willingly and consciously agree with the value system of that particular leader or influencer. You do not have to write these values down. The problem I have with making a value system into a written and tangible thing is that most leaders suck. Yes they suck and even if they think they are perfect in the way they believe to live up to those values, invariable they will suck, because they are inherently human with the inherent capacity to fail on the same values they expect others to adopt .