Change yourself, change the world

Learners in MA Lead come from diverse geographic, cultural and faith bases. For those who are not familiar with Proverbs, you may respond to the DQ topic 5.3 as it is posted below,or select an alternate passage of text that addresses the essence of wisdom from any religious or literary perspective. Please analyze & discuss the passage about wisdom. Also, share additional ways that we can find wisdom and how this relates to using it in practicing leadership.  (Mays, 2018, para. 1)

Change yourself, change the world. – Buddha

I decided to write my DQ on a Buddhist quote iterated by Mathieu Ricard, a Tibetan Buddhist monk who said that in order to transform the world, one must first transform themselves: “Change yourself, change the world.” To me, one of the biggest requirements for one to assume a leadership role is to have knowledge or wisdom, to be able to contribute some type of expertise or skill which can benefit the group. A central responsibility as a leader is to facilitate a group towards achieving a common goal and to uplift others in the process. Ricard emphasizes that “to remove the suffering of sentient beings… the main path, the path of achieving enlightenment (is) to gain the capacity to help others.” In the context of leadership, this means we cannot lead effectively as leaders if we don’t continue to invest in our own self-development. Self-development equates to wisdom by gaining a deeper understanding of the environment we lead navigate in, self-reflection, sensitivity to other followers or the group’s overall morale are all examples of behaviours leaders must continue to master for their group to be successful. Part of what also makes a wise leader is knowing the limitations they have as people and developing strategies or enlisting the aid of followers to help you overcome these limitations. It may take the form of requesting a follower to play devil’s advocate during group meetings to challenge a leader’s logic or decision making process for decisions regarding the group or asking followers to give honest feedback periodically to a leader’s preformance. To become effective leaders and impact others, we must continue to develop as individuals and share our growth or “enlightenments” with followers.

References

UBCinterdisciplinary. (2010, May 20). Mathieu Ricard – (1 of 12) [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7cgFQ1Sqcc

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Hi Ruiz,

The title of your post caught my attention immediately. What a profound reflection! It reminds me of a Remi quote (Sierra, 2018):

It is essential as leaders to acknowledge change starts within. We frequently forget this important lesson about wisdom. In leadership, this principle may also apply to our relationships. We constantly waste too much energy at an emotional level trying to change others, especially behaviours and mindset we do not tolerate. Your reflection has made me pause and reflect on this important truth (Sierra, 2018).

Another important reflection comes from Gandhi:

This wisdom principle is directly related to Transformational Servant Leadership.  Leading by example can impact follower’s behaviour and attitudes. According to Yaffe & Kark, R. (2011) states that role modelling of a contribution to the collective is a major means by which effective leaders encourage followers to do the same (Sierra, 2018).

References

Sierra, I. (2018, October, 25). RE: Change yourself, change the world. [Blog Post]. Retrieved from https://learn.twu.ca/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=35141

Yaffe, T., & Kark, R. (2011). Leading by example: The case of leader OCB. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96(4), 806–826. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0022464

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Hi Ingrid, 

I appreciate you sharing your motivational quotes! I’d like to share two quotes that I also find inspirational pertaining to wisdom, both by Galilei Galileo: “The Bible shows the way to go to heaven, not the way the heavens go” & that “the laws of nature were written by the hand of God in the language of mathematics.”

One of the biggest reasons I love learning about new scientific breakthroughs in fields such as psychology or physics is because I believe that the more we understand about people or the laws that govern our physical world, the closer we come to understanding God. The more we understand how our universe works, the deeper we can appreciate the miracles of God’s work. I first came to realize this when I was taking courses in biopsychology and neuroscience during my undergrad that there’s a logical order in how our brains functioned that couldn’t possibly have come from random occurrence. This sparked my interest in superficially exploring scientific discoveries and papers published from other notable scientists such as Galileo, Einstein, Da Vinci, and Alan Turing. There’s an order in how our universe works which is why we, as imperfect human beings, are able to make sense of it. Leaders gifted with the skills and understanding of leading and inspiring others should also  stay  current with the world around them. One of a leader’s responsibilities is to lead groups from the unknown to the known so having a better understanding of the environment will aid in this process.  The world is changing at a faster rate than ever before which will inevitably introduce new problems that will shake industries or traditional ways of thinking. Adopting the mentality of being lifelong learners will better equip leaders and organizations to adapt to these changes. From doing so, learners will be able to  evolve as the world evolves, better appreciate God’s work, and may inspire a deeper connection with God from seeing his work manifest in our physical world.

Reference:

“AZ Quotes.” (n.d.). Galileo Galilei Quotes [Digital image]. Retrieved October 26, 2018, from https://www.azquotes.com/author/5284-Galileo_Galilei

“BrainyQuote.” (n.d.). The Bible shows the way to go to heaven, not the way the heavens go [Digital image]. Retrieved October 26, 2018, from https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/galileo_galilei_381320