Month: October 2018

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Rank, Talk, Write – Response to Georgeena

Georgeena found an interesting article on critical thinking that relates to wisdom and integrity. She defined critical thinking then drew links to Northouse’s core traits of leadership including self-confidence, intelligence, determination, integrity, and sociability (Northouse, 2017: p.23-25). Northouse’s leadership traits are significantly interconnected with wisdom, excellence, and integrity.

Undoubtedly, acquiring the ability to make quality judgments through the medium of critical thinking increases wisdom because an individual is learning through others’ store of knowledge and experience. In addition, it requires that an individual embody self-confidence whereby he or she does not cling tightly to long-held beliefs that the ego may try to protect. Critical thinking forces leaders to be open-minded, recognizing that others may have a better understanding. However, others must trust the leader to share their perspective; this requires that the leader displays sociability. Critical thinking requires relentless determination to discover the truth of the matter. Furthermore, humility and intelligence to understand that one’s perception of the world is inevitably skewed. As the Socrates stated, “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing” (Lodhi, 2018). Evidently, true wisdom is found by being radically open-minded and recognizing that unlocking the knowledge in others is the key to excellence. Enduring success cannot be maintained unless a leader has his or her decisions rooted in integrity. In every decision, integrity must be the backbone. Ultimately, by becoming a better decision-maker, the discipline of excellence becomes reachable for a leader.

I thoroughly enjoyed Georgeena’s post as it inspired me to make connections between Northouse’s core leadership traits and critical thinking that I would not have made otherwise. I will take these newfound connections and weave them into my critical thinking assignment. Looking forward to reading more posts Georgeena!

Christina

Lodhi, A. (2018, June 2). Socrates on Wisdom. Medium. Retrieved from https://medium.com/indian-thoughts/the-only-true-wisdom-is-in-knowing-you-know-nothing-5789c8994cc6

Northouse, P. G. (2017). Leadership: theory and practice (8th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

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Light from Many Lamps – Response to Dizzybutterfly

Dizzybutterfly reflected on the profound insights of John Burroughs in his writing, “The Secret of Happiness is Something to Do” (Watson, 1951: p. 3). The basic premise that the book conveys is that the spark of life exists when our hearts are on fire lit by our passions. Passion is the engine that spurs our life in a meaningful direction, filling us with purpose and a zest for life.

I loved how Dizzybutterfly made the connection between Burroughs’ writing with servant leadership whereby an individual desires to share their passion with others, leading to emergent leadership and mentorship. If famous figures did not follow their passions, and therefore engage in mentoring others, the world would never have reaped the fruits of their labour. For example, Steve Jobs had Bill Campbell as a mentor and Bill Gates had Warren Buffet as a mentor (Rashid, 2017). After a mentee achieves excellence, emergent leadership characteristics come out, and they wish to give back through the act of mentoring. For example, Steve Jobs eventually mentored Mark Zuckerberg. Servant leaders wish to see their followers grow, accomplish their aspirations, and ultimately reach their full potential (Northouse, 2017: p.236). Servant leaders, such as the leaders named, are focused on empowering and adding value to the community at large. They likely would not have been as effective nor revolutionize society if following their passion wasn’t at the forefront.

I also enjoyed how Dizzybutterfly made it personal by sharing the desire to mentor and to develop others at this point in his/her career. Since I recently began my career, I am at the opposite side of the spectrum as I am looking for mentors that I can learn from. However, I have hopes of eventually experiencing emergent leadership and thus mentoring others that share my passion (once I have achieved excellence). Not only must I share my knowledge and experience that I have collected over the years but also demonstrate servant leadership qualities in all aspects of the mentorship. I want to inspire others to become servant leaders, embodying strong moral ethics by putting the needs of others first. Thank you Dizzybutterfly for this inspiring blog!

Christina

 

Northouse, P. G. (2017). Leadership: theory and practice (8th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Rashid, B. (May, 2017). 3 Reasons all Great Leaders have Mentors (and Mentees). Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianrashid/2017/05/02/3-reasons-all-great-leaders-have-mentors-and-mentees/#7f5a698113f9

Watson, L. E. (1951). Light from Many Lamps. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.

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Light from Many Lamps – Response to Matt Squirell

Matt eloquently articulated Wolfe’s conclusion on happiness whereby true happiness is found through serving something greater than oneself. The premise is that people should shift to an outward focus rather than an inward focus. Wolfe argues that this is how one discovers true peace and happiness.

I like how Matt drew the connection between self-awareness and how it dovetails with humility. One must be aware of one’s own beliefs, character, and interests, before understanding humility. Self-awareness demands an individual to understand that the ego is attempting to protect the personal identity and does not serve as a function to bring happiness. The ego fights for the need to be right. Humility and the ego cannot live in harmony, as humility requires selflessness. “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom” (Proverbs 11:2). As this verse states, humility brings wisdom, and with wisdom a deep understanding that happiness is only found in service and looking outward. Humility does not mean that one has low self-confidence or self worth, but rather it allows others to be the centre of attention. Humility allows an individual to be grateful towards the work, accomplishments, and characteristics of another human being. In the process, true happiness is found because “Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself” (Watson, 1951: p.15).

Humility is the paradox of leadership as it was not a trait that was traditionally associated with leadership. Humility and confidence can exist together because they communicate both vulnerability and strength to followers. I found this blog post to be very enlightening and enjoyed Matt’s insights. Looking forward to reading more posts Matt!

Christina

 

Watson, L.E. (1951). Light from Many Lamps. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.

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Rank, Talk, Write – Unit 3

Critical thinking entails analyzing, reasoning, conceptualizing, investigating, and evaluating an argument to bring an individual closest to the truth of the matter (Feldman, 2009: p.10). Critical thinking requires an individual to be neutral and radically open-minded to new ideas and perspectives. Open-mindedness recognizes and respects that others may see things differently and may have a better understanding. While making decisions, it is crucial to use critical thinking and remain analytical without allowing egotism to intervene. A leader must let go of the attachment to the need of being right and take others’ perspectives into consideration that may see blind spots (Dalio, 2017: 187).

(1) Critical Thinking Strategies

Feldman identifies four critical thinking strategies to make better decisions: an open-minded attitude to engage in honest self-reflection, a relentless evaluation of facts and perspectives, a deep respect for differing perspectives and points of view, and a commitment to persevering to reach a knowledgeable decision (Feldman, 2009: p. 27-33).

(2) Positive Outcomes

The Feldman (2009) notes a number of positive outcomes that result from effective critical thinking including: recognizing personal biases and needs for self-improvement, earning respect from all organizational hierarchical levels, discovering the best possible solutions for posed problems, providing persuasive arguments to justify your position, embodying greater insights about the motivations of others, offering better products and services to suit customers’ needs, recognizing and stay focused on key issues, and creating impact through communication (p.10).

(3) Deceptive Reasoning Techniques

The Feldman (2009) identifies deceptive reasoning techniques that distort the critical reasoning process such as: relying on irrelevant facts, oversimplifying the problem, omitting uncomfortable facts, asserting a position from a place of ignorance, utilizing cause and effect fallacy, discrediting an individual with a contradictory perspective, appealing to a large group of people, using circular reasoning, misrepresenting a conclusion of another and then attacking it, and drawing weak links between two conclusions and then criticizing it (p.12 -15).

(4) Emotional Manipulation

The author also discusses ways to detect emotional manipulation whereby a writer will use emotion to sway and manipulate the reader to adopt a certain perspective using tactics such as “inflammatory words, pressure tactics, appeals to sentiments, and ridicule” (Feldman, 2009: p. 16, 17).

This was an invaluable lesson that I can use in both my personal and professional life. It is a timeless reminder to avoid being close-minded through human natures’ egotistical and sociocentric tendencies. Instead, critical thinking involves truly listening, respecting, and understanding others’ perspectives with the goal to come to an informed decision. This lead me to the question:

What is an example in your personal or professional life where you were a strong critical thinker and brought out positive change?

 

Christina

 

Dalio, R. (2017). Principles. New York: NY. Simon & Schuster.

Feldman, D. A. (2009). Critical Thinking : Make Strategic Decisions with Confidence (Vol. 2nd ed). Rochester, NY. Axzo Press. Retrieved from https://ezproxy.student.twu.ca/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=383336&site=eds-live

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Light of Many Lamps – Part 1

I chose to read the short story about the philosopher Seneca called “True happiness is to rest satisfied with what we have” (Watson, 1951: p.8). This story has a simple message that we all need to be reminded of: being grateful leads to true happiness. Considering it is thanksgiving weekend, this story was very timely as I am reflecting on all the blessings and people in my life that I am grateful for. It is easy to get caught up in the rat race or the “keeping up with the Jones’” mentality; always trying to find the next thing that will hopefully bring happiness. However, Seneca argues that people look for happiness as if it is a destination; searching and searching without prevail. He articulates this by stating, “ True happiness… to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future…” (Watson, 1951: p.8). The timeless message that is still relevant centuries later reminds us that happiness is a state of mind. Happiness is an outlook on life; it is the destination. We have no time but the present, and nothing added in the future will unlock the key to happiness.

As a leader, sometimes it is easy to have my heart set on the next goal, objective, or quarter. I fall into the pattern where I think, “if only I could make x amount of dollars or get my organization to x position…” Evidently, it becomes never-ending as I keep reaching and striving. Leaders are obsessed with growth and helping others reach their full potential; however, this can have its drawbacks. Sometimes, it never truly leaves leaders satisfied because before they have even accomplished one particular goal, they are looking for the next target. Leaders must learn to appreciate and be thankful for every moment but also look to the future for improvement. A balance must be sought between the two spheres of a growth mentality and a thankful mentality.

This is relevant in my life because growth and never-ending self-improvement give me value. Stagnation or accepting the happy status quo is not an option for me. As a result, being grateful for the present, without continuously looking for a new goal to tackle, is a challenge for me. In the professional realm, I must appreciate the talent my organization has and not simply look for new talent that could have better skills. But, instead, I need to celebrate and be grateful for those that have transformed the business. As I seek to carry out the vision for my life (to mentor and empower women), I may become frustrated and unsatisfied by the results or lack there of. It will be my goal to be both grateful for how far I have come with my service as well as thankful that I get to continue to grow and inspire other women. Seneca encapsulates eloquently that happiness begins with being grateful for everything that we have in our life. I am very thankful that I got the opportunity to read this message this thanksgiving.

Christina

 

Watson, L.E. (1951). Light from Many Lamps. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.

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Blog Post 4

I found that the personal assessments were very insightful into my leadership skills. I do believe that they align with my self-conception of myself because I see myself as being a futuristic, conceptual person. In addition, I believe that I have developed social judgment skills because I naturally socially adapt to a situation by taking both individual and social perspectives into consideration while leading (Northouse, 2018: p.50). Communicating the vision to followers is key. Therefore, emotional intelligence is a critical component of effective leadership. I would consider myself to be fairly emotional intelligent and the personal assessments confirmed this self-conception. If I relate this to the behavioural approach to leadership, I would fall under relationship behaviour because I value reinforcing and developing relationships with my employees (Northouse, 2018: p.75).

It was enlightening to see that one of my weaknesses is the technical side. As I seek to be a more effective well-rounded leader, this is definitely an avenue that will need further development. It will be challenging to become better at noticing details of the technical side of projects. A critical component to the skills approach is problem –solving, whereby leaders need to be creative as they solve complex or ill-defined problems (Northouse, 2018: p.48). The problem solving skills that I believe that I need to work on include problem definition, constraint analysis, planning, forecasting, and wisdom. My strengths related to problem-solving are those that are related to brainstorming and working with ideas and concepts, such as creative thinking, visioning, and idea evaluation (Northouse, 2018: p. 48). In my past experiences, I usually assigned others to tasks that would compensate for my weaknesses. However, this assignment made me realize the importance of increasing my competency with regards to the technical side. If I were to apply this to the behavioural approach, my weakness would be tasks behaviours related to initiating structure and production orientation (Northouse, 2018: p.74, 75). I found this exercise to be enlightening because it provided insights into how I can become a more effective leader.

Christina

 

Northouse, P. G. (2018). Leadership: theory and practice (Eighth ed.). Thousand Oaks. Sage Publications.

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Response to Jessica Laugsawatzky

Jessica articulated the definition of leadership effectively and related it to the powerful opportunities that we have everyday to influence others. I valued how she built her response by relating it to her past experiences with good leadership and contrasting it with power-driven leaders. When she points out her personal experience, it made me think of my own experiences with various styles of leadership.

While completing my undergrad, I worked as a server for a restaurant with poor leadership. The owner and a couple managers looked at workers as a means to an end; a tool that may be exposed of when needed. As a result of feeling underappreciated, good quality employees only stayed for a couple months. Turnover was enormous. In addition, moral was low and it created an overall toxic work environment. In contrast, I have also worked for a wonderful company where I felt very appreciated. It was almost as if I were part of a family and that the leader truly cared about me. This leadership style made me want to produce better work, and go above and beyond for the company. I felt that the leader truly put me first. I was unaware of what was so different about this leader until learning about servant leadership, so I really valued this activity.

I came to the leadership journey because of my deep passion for personal growth and helping others along the journey of personal growth. I think it is rewarding to have influenced and helped another individual be their best self. While I was working in the toxic environment, I had a personality clash with another server. One day, she was upset that her life was directionless. So I sat down with her and pointed out her strengths and recommended a couple books that might change her perspective. A couple of months later, she messaged me to say thank you because she had made some big changes in her life. I found this very rewarding and it inspired me to become a better leader in my own sphere of influence.

Looking forward to reading more posts from Jessica!

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Response to Jgarland

I was impacted by Jgarland’s post about Dr. Ken Blanchard. Jgarland briefly summarizes Blanchard’s main points on how leaders build trust amongst followers. Blanchard’s work is a reminder that simple actions such as listening, praising others, and being punctual, all have an impact on trust. These are behaviours that we engage in every day but, collectively, have enormous influence on our ability to lead. After reading this, I thought of trust as a bank account whereby there are debits and credit; trust can either increase or decrease with every action.

The second point that Jgarland expands on is the power of kindness. Blanchard states that leaders should lead by grace; grace trumps results. Sometimes, as leaders, we lose perspective of the larger picture because we become fixated on an intended result (i.e. profit maximization). When this occurs, people get hurt in the process as they feel as though they are being used as a means to an end. Blanchard drives home that both leaders and followers are greater than their performance.

I was very challenged by this post and by this leader. I will integrate Blanchard’s principles into my professional as well as my personal life. Furthermore, I plan to read other work by Blanchard because his philosophies resonate with my beliefs. Thank you Jgarland for introducing us to this extraordinary leader!

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Follow the Leader

Tony Robbins

According to Northouse (2018), he defines leadership as “a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal” (p.5). An opinion leader that I admire is Tony Robbins. His humility and compassion for people of all backgrounds, regardless of his enormous influence in he world, is refreshing. Robbins treats everyone equally with utmost respect and inspires change by calling people to serve a higher purpose. Robbins is primarily focused on giving back to others and creating an extraordinary impact in the world. He is a philanthropist, New York Times bestselling author, and motivational speaker. He primarily focuses on empowering leaders of today to create a better tomorrow. I follow Tony Robbins on both Instagram and Facebook (see below for URLs).

Beliefs on Leadership

Tony Robbins embodies servant leadership philosophies, which I find very admirable. The foundation of his success can be attributed to a commitment early on in his life whereby he chose to serve others first. According to Northouse’s exhaustive list of characters of a servant leader (2018), I believe that Robbins embodies: listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, building community, and commitment to the growth of followers (p. 230). However, the two concepts that I will expand on are: giving back and continuous growth.

Robbins strongly advocates that an individual must find a higher purpose to serve that is greater than oneself. Robbins discovered his mission to alleviate world hunger over one thanksgiving where his mom did not have enough money to put a meal on the table. He was deeply impacted by this incident because a kindly neighbour dropped off a meal for thanksgiving. From that point on, he made it his mission to ensure that no kid goes hungry. Currently, Robbins has provided over 250 million meals and has made it his goal to feed over 1 billion hungry people around the globe within the next 7 years. Robbins believes that true fulfillment is only found by contribution and giving (Robbins, 2017: p.168). Robbins uses the quote by Winston Churchill in his book Unshakeable (2017); “You make a living by what you get. You make a life by what you give” (p.168). Many leaders seek power or wealth for fulfillment and end up miserable, so Robbins strongly affirms, “success without fulfillment is the ultimate failure” (Robbins, 2017: p.168).

The second principle that Robbins explicitly advocates is continuous growth. He believes that whether it is relationships or businesses, everything must grow or it dies (Robbins, 2017: p.167). He states that it is progress, not money or status, which bring us happiness. Evidently, Robbins embodies the principle of servant leadership whereby the leader facilitates people to grow in their personal and professional lives (Northouse, 2017: p. 230).

I believe that leadership not only comes from providing goals and a plan of action for followers but also from emotionally connecting with them. People need to trust that a leader holds him or herself to a higher moral and ethical standard. They need to feel that their leader is looking out for their best interest, grounded in strong values. In addition, I strongly support Robbins’ stance on true fulfillment that leadership comes from serving a higher purpose. As a leader, I need to challenge myself to look for more ways that serve the people that I am leading. I also need to remind myself that, as a servant leader, I need to help people grow professionally as well as personally. Since I am incredibly goal-oriented, focusing on helping people with their personal growth is not something top-of-mind for me. However, it is inspiring to see someone, who impacts thousands of lives, still prioritizing followers’ growth.

Values and Ethics

In order to be a good leader, I firmly believe that an individual must have good character. Ultimately, good character reinforces trust, and trust is the foundation of leadership. Followers need to trust that their leader has their best interests at heart and will not lead them astray. They have to believe and trust in the vision. Even when things go wrong, the ethics (or character) of a leader including intelligence, self-confidence, determination, integrity, and sociability, will keep followers committed to a goal (Northouse, 2018: p. 23). The ethics of a leader focuses on his or her virtuousness. A leader’s ethical core, implicitly or explicitly, impacts every decision a leader makes (Northouse, 2018: p. 336). As a result, if a leader does not have his or her ethics rooted in strong morals, the leadership will begin to corrode as followers begin to sense the inconsistencies and lack of integrity.

I believe that Robbins’ possesses all of the leadership key traits and principles that Northouse outlined. Robbins respects others’ perspectives, backgrounds, and unique wants and desires. He wants to serve others and help them to live an extraordinary life, having the most impact in the world. He helps build community by helping people realize that we are all on similar journeys in life and we must support and help each other. I personally value a leader who has empathy and compassion for others yet remains self-confident and self-assured in his/her ability to accomplish a goal (Northouse, 2018: p. 37). Above all else, I value Robbins’ as a leader because he sets a high moral standard for himself and abides by universal principles of justice (Northhouse, 2018: p. 338). Robbins’ travels around the world to speaking engagements and respects the viewpoints of each culture he encounters. He lives by moral standards that I respect and wish to emulate.

Advice

I think Robbins has an enormous platform that is recognized worldwide. He could use this platform to challenge more people to serve a higher purpose. Personal development not only consists of physical and emotional health but also spiritual health. If he negates this aspect, the “self” or a person’s wellbeing is not whole. Robbins is a powerful leader with huge influence, so he could challenge more people to pursue their faith and spirituality. Currently, he touches on this briefly in his books but he could have an extraordinary impact in regards to this area of personal development. Therefore, he could have massive reach across the globe due to his multiple mediums including books, seminars, and social media platforms.

Robbins, T. (2017). Unshakeable. New York. Simon & Schuster.

Northouse, P. G. (2018). Leadership: theory and practice (Eighth ed.). Thousand Oaks. Sage Publications.

https://www.facebook.com/TonyRobbins/

https://www.instagram.com/tonyrobbins/