Category: Unit 2

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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.