A Three-Layer Analysis (TLA) of Livy, History of Rome, Book 1
1. Question
Why are founders and heroes necessary when institutions are still immature, but dangerous when their heroic power is not institutionalized?
2. Abstract
Founders and heroes are necessary when institutions are still immature because they supply the starting force that converts disorder into order.
At that stage, the community does not yet have stable institutions, roles, records, approval systems, military organization, religious order, or succession design. Someone must decide, fight, integrate outsiders, create a city, build order, and give direction to the community.
However, heroic power becomes dangerous when it is not institutionalized.
If the state OS continues to depend on the judgment, military power, charisma, reputation, personal virtue, and exceptional ability of one hero, A, IA, H, and V concentrate in one person. Correction, monitoring, and succession become difficult.
Heroic power is necessary in the founding stage.
But heroic power must later be converted into institutions.
To institutionalize heroic power does not mean to erase the hero. It means to decompose the functions carried by the hero into roles, control variables, access categories, records, approval systems, correction, monitoring, and succession design.
3. Method
This study follows the structure of Three-Layer Analysis, or TLA.
In Layer 1, this study organizes the history of Roman kingship from Romulus, Numa, Tullus, Ancus, Servius, and Tarquinius as a process of state formation, institutionalization, monopolization of kingship, and deterioration of monarchy.
In Layer 2, these facts are connected to structures such as founder, king, hero, kingship, institutional maturity, exclusive access, corrective access, OS succession design, and A, IA, H, and V.
In Layer 3, this study explains why founders and heroes are necessary when institutions are immature, and why heroic power becomes dangerous when it is not institutionalized.
4. Layer 1: Fact
The history of kingship in Livy, History of Rome, Book 1, can be read as a process in which founders and heroes start the state, the state moves toward institutionalization, and then kingship deteriorates through private monopolization.
Romulus, as a founder, creates the city, gathers population, fights wars, builds relations with surrounding groups, and becomes the center of kingship.
Numa organizes religious order and ritual institutions. He connects the actions of the community to divine will and ritual order.
Tullus and Ancus expand external connections through war, integration, and urban expansion.
Servius converts population into state capacity through the census, property classification, military organization, and civic organization. This means that the state begins to move from rule by personal judgment and military power toward rule by records, classification, hierarchy, and mobilization lists.
In Layer 1, Chapter 42, “Servius’s organization of the state,” Chapter 43, “The census,” Chapter 44, “The completion ritual,” and Chapter 45, “The Temple of Diana,” are placed as a process in which the state moves toward records, classification, ritual, and institutionalization.
However, after this, Chapter 46, “The schemes of Lucius Tarquinius and Tullia,” Chapter 47, “The seizure of kingship,” Chapter 48, “The murder of Servius,” and Chapter 49, “Tarquinius Superbus,” follow.
Here, kingship, which had been moving toward institutionalization, is pulled back into private rule by ambition inside the royal house and monopolization of kingship.
Servius tried to institutionalize the state.
Tarquinius pulled kingship back into private monopoly.
This contrast is the center of this research case.
5. Layer 2: Order
In Layer 2, founders and heroes can be understood as the starting agents of the state OS when institutions are still immature.
Before institutions are established, the community does not yet have stable role division.
Who makes decisions?
Who fights?
Who makes peace?
Who organizes rituals?
Who integrates outsiders?
Who builds the city?
Who declares order?
When these functions have not yet been decomposed into institutions, one hero or king must carry many functions at the same time.
At this stage, heroic power is necessary.
Without a hero, the community does not start.
Without a hero, the community cannot respond to external enemies.
Without a hero, migrants and different groups cannot be integrated.
Without a hero, the first form of institutions cannot be created.
Without a hero, disorder cannot be converted into order.
However, the need for heroic power and permanent dependence on heroic power are different.
As the community expands, population increases, and the number of policies grows, one hero can no longer process everything. War, diplomacy, rituals, property classification, conscription, urban management, colonies, succession, trials, personnel appointment, rewards, and punishments all become more complex.
At that point, institutionalization becomes necessary.
The hero’s judgment must be decomposed into roles.
The hero’s memory must be converted into records.
The hero’s military power must be converted into military organization.
The hero’s judgment must be converted into law and procedure.
The hero’s charisma must be converted into approval systems and legitimacy.
The hero’s personnel judgment must be converted into Human Resource and Reward-Punishment Governance H.
The hero’s succession must be converted into OS succession design.
When this conversion is completed, heroic power is absorbed into institutions. The state OS no longer depends on the ability of one person. It becomes reproducible through roles, records, procedures, approval, correction, and monitoring.
6. Layer 3: Insight
Founders and heroes are necessary when institutions are still immature because they supply the starting force that converts disorder into order.
Before institutions are established, the community does not yet have stable role division. Someone must decide, fight, make peace, organize rituals, integrate outsiders, build the city, and declare order. When these functions have not yet been decomposed into institutions, one hero or king must carry many functions at the same time.
Romulus, as a founder, creates the city, gathers population, fights wars, builds relations with surrounding groups, and becomes the center of kingship.
Numa organizes religious order and ritual institutions. He connects the actions of the community to divine will and ritual order.
Tullus and Ancus expand external connections through war, integration, and urban expansion.
Servius converts population into state capacity through the census, property classification, military organization, and civic organization.
In other words, in the founding stage, the hero carries many functions that have not yet been institutionalized.
At this stage, heroic power is necessary.
Without a hero, the community does not start.
Without a hero, the community cannot respond to external enemies.
Without a hero, migrants and different groups cannot be integrated.
Without a hero, the first form of institutions cannot be created.
Without a hero, disorder cannot be converted into order.
However, the need for heroic power and continued dependence on heroic power are different.
The starting force of founders and heroes is effective when institutions are still immature. But when the community expands, the population increases, and the number of policies grows, one hero can no longer handle everything.
War, diplomacy, rituals, property classification, conscription, urban management, colonies, succession, trials, personnel appointment, rewards, and punishments become too complex for one person.
Here, institutionalization becomes necessary.
The hero’s judgment must be decomposed into roles.
The hero’s memory must be converted into records.
The hero’s military power must be converted into military organization.
The hero’s judgment must be converted into law and procedure.
The hero’s charisma must be converted into approval systems and legitimacy.
The hero’s personnel judgment must be converted into Human Resource and Reward-Punishment Governance H.
The hero’s succession must be converted into OS succession design.
When this conversion is completed, heroic power is absorbed into institutions. The state OS no longer depends on the ability of one person. It becomes reproducible through roles, records, procedures, approval, correction, and monitoring.
However, when heroic power is not institutionalized, the state OS enters a dangerous condition.
In OS Organizational Design Theory R1.30.19.02, monarchy is a structure in which A, IA, H, and V tend to concentrate in the monarch. This enables fast integrated judgment. But if the monarch’s capability, maturity, or V is low, the whole system deteriorates rapidly.
This shows the danger of heroic power that is not institutionalized.
As long as the hero has high A, the community can see reality correctly.
As long as the hero has high IA, necessary information can be gathered and commands can be sent.
As long as the hero has high H, people can be selected and rewards and punishments can be given properly.
As long as the hero has high V, decisions can follow the purpose of the community.
But if these functions are not institutionalized, the deterioration of the hero becomes the deterioration of the state OS.
If the hero’s recognition is distorted, A is distorted.
If information no longer reaches the hero, IA becomes blocked.
If the hero misuses people, H declines.
If the hero’s decision criteria shift to self-protection or honor, V declines.
At that point, the hero is no longer the starting force of the state.
The hero becomes the bottleneck of the state.
Another danger is that heroic power easily justifies exceptions.
Founders and heroes are treated as special because of their past achievements. The community tends to think, “This person is different,” “Without this person, the state would not exist,” or “This person’s judgment is special.”
When this happens, corrective access and monitoring access become weak. Dissent and advice become difficult.
In OS Organizational Design Theory, exclusive access can make decision-making faster. But if recognition distortion or information blocking occurs and correction does not work, exclusive access produces unilateral judgment, exclusion of dissent, privatization of decision criteria, and weakening of corrective actors.
In other words, when heroic power is not institutionalized, four dangers appear.
First, the hero’s judgment becomes higher than the institution.
A decision that should be checked through procedure, approval, advice, senate, assembly, ritual, or record is accepted as correct simply because it is the hero’s judgment.
Second, the hero’s success experience becomes the decision criterion V.
A method that succeeded in the founding stage is misunderstood as something that will work in the maturity stage as well. A hero who succeeded in war brings the same decision criteria into peacetime administration. A king who succeeded in expansion neglects the correction, monitoring, finance, law, and succession necessary for consolidation.
Third, personal ties and factions form around the hero.
The hero’s achievement, bloodline, house, close aides, obligations, and marriage relations enter personnel decisions and rewards and punishments. As a result, Human Resource and Reward-Punishment Governance H becomes distorted by distance from the hero, rather than by capability or role fit.
Fourth, the hero’s succession is not institutionalized.
A hero is an exceptional person. The successor does not always have the same ability. If OS succession design is immature, only the position is inherited, while the ability and mechanism to operate control variables are not inherited.
If only the position is inherited and the ability to operate A, IA, H, and V is not inherited, irreplaceability, successor failure, and functional decline occur.
For this reason, a state whose heroic power has not been institutionalized may look strong while the hero exists. However, when the hero deteriorates, runs wild, dies, or is followed by an incapable successor, the weakness appears all at once.
The history of kingship in Livy, Book 1, shows this structure step by step.
In the early stage, the starting force of kings and heroes advances city foundation, population integration, military defense, religious order, and diplomacy. Kingship is a structure that carries out state foundation, expansion, and order maintenance by the shortest route.
However, in the later stage, under Servius, the census, property classification, military organization, civic organization, and completion ritual appear. This means that the state is moving from the starting force of heroes toward institutional operation through records, classifications, hierarchies, and mobilization lists.
But after that, the schemes of Tarquinius and Tullia, the seizure of kingship, the murder of Servius, and Tarquinius Superbus follow. Here, kingship is pulled back from institutionalization into personal ambition and monopoly.
Servius tried to institutionalize the state.
Tarquinius pulled kingship back into private monopoly.
This contrast is important.
It is necessary for founders and heroes to start the state. But if their starting force cannot be converted into institutions, the state cannot escape dependence on heroes. A state that remains dependent on heroes is vulnerable to the hero’s deterioration, successor failure, private ambition, and lack of correction.
Therefore, founders and heroes are necessary when institutions are still immature. But heroic power that is not institutionalized is also dangerous.
Heroic power is the starting force of the founding stage.
But without institutionalization, it becomes a risk in the maturity stage.
A hero converts disorder into order.
But if the state continues to depend on the hero, order becomes subordinate to one person.
A hero starts the state.
But heroic power that is not institutionalized turns the state OS into an uncorrectable monopoly structure.
Therefore, founders and heroes are necessary when institutions are still immature, but dangerous when their heroic power is not institutionalized.
7. Implications for the Present
This structure also applies to modern organizations.
Founders, charismatic presidents, genius engineers, top salespeople, and crisis leaders are necessary in the founding stage or in a crisis. When institutions are immature, an organization may start through the judgment, execution power, experience, credibility, and network of one person.
However, if the functions carried by that person are not institutionalized, the organization becomes dependent on that person.
The founder’s judgment is not decomposed into roles.
The top salesperson’s intuition is not converted into a sales process.
The genius engineer’s tacit knowledge is not converted into design documents or education systems.
The crisis leader’s decision criteria are not converted into decision rules.
The president’s personnel judgment is not converted into Human Resource and Reward-Punishment Governance H.
In this condition, the organization may look strong while the heroic person exists. But if that person deteriorates, leaves, runs wild, or fails to develop a successor, the organization becomes unstable very quickly.
Therefore, what matters in modern organizations is not to deny heroes. What matters is to convert the functions carried by heroes into roles, records, procedures, approval, correction, monitoring, and succession design.
If heroic power is institutionalized, the organization gains reproducibility.
If heroic power is not institutionalized, the organization falls into person-dependence.
In the founding stage, heroes are necessary.
In the consolidation stage, the functions carried by heroes must be moved into institutions.
This is the main implication for modern organizations.
8. Conclusion
Founders and heroes are necessary when institutions are still immature because they supply the starting force that converts disorder into order.
When there are no institutions, people must act in place of institutions. It is rational for one strong subject to carry state foundation, war, city formation, external integration, religious order, and diplomatic judgment.
However, if that heroic power is not institutionalized, the state OS cannot escape dependence on one person.
The hero’s judgment must be decomposed into roles.
The hero’s memory must be converted into records.
The hero’s military power must be converted into military organization.
The hero’s judgment must be converted into law and procedure.
The hero’s charisma must be converted into approval systems and legitimacy.
The hero’s personnel judgment must be converted into Human Resource and Reward-Punishment Governance H.
The hero’s succession must be converted into OS succession design.
If this conversion is completed, heroic power is absorbed into institutions. The state OS becomes reproducible without depending on one specific person.
However, if this conversion is not completed, A, IA, H, and V concentrate in one person. Correction, monitoring, and succession become difficult. When the hero deteriorates, runs wild, dies, or is followed by an incapable successor, the state OS quickly reveals its fragility.
Therefore, founders and heroes are necessary when institutions are still immature, but dangerous when their heroic power is not institutionalized.
9. Sources
Titus Livius, History of Rome, Book 1, translated by Satoshi Iwaya, Kyoto University Press, 2008.
OS Organizational Design Theory_R1.30.19.02