{"id":294,"date":"2018-11-29T14:12:10","date_gmt":"2018-11-29T14:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/leadinnovation\/?p=294"},"modified":"2018-11-29T14:12:10","modified_gmt":"2018-11-29T14:12:10","slug":"unit-10-light-from-many-lamps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/leadinnovation\/2018\/11\/29\/unit-10-light-from-many-lamps\/","title":{"rendered":"Unit 10 – Light from Many Lamps"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oliver Wendell Holmes was one of the most notable \u00a0judges of all time. He was often called \u201cThe Dissenter\u201d because he challenged so many ideologies and thoughts regarding law and the constitution (Fuller, 2000). \u00a0\u00a0He was a man who had great faith in the future even though at time, things seemed bleak. For instance, he viewed the law as \u201c<\/span>the story of a nation\u2019s development \u2026in order to know what it is, we must know what it has been, and what it tends to become (Fuller, 2000). He believed it was important to embrace challenges, learn from the past, but to look forward with hope. <\/span><\/p>\n

In 1913, during a time of political and social unrest, he gave an inspiring speech at the Harvard Law Association that has been widely quoted because of this message of hope (Watson, pg. 302). In it, he said:<\/span><\/p>\n

We must search behind the popular discontent to find its cause. We must attack our problems with courage and with faith. We must look ahead – plan and build for a better world – blaze new trails of brotherhood and understanding. (Watson, p. 303) <\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He felt that the best philosophy for life and leadership was to \u201cthink with courage, look forward with hope, act with faith and confidence in the future of mankind\u201d (Watson pg. 303). <\/span><\/p>\n

Holmes embodied the transformational servant leadership trait of inspiring a shared vision (Northouse, pg. 176). He was able to visualize a better future and communicate hope to others. \u00a0Even at the end of his lifetime, through wars and discontent, his best advice to others was, \u201cbeyond the vision of battling races, I catch a gleaming hope of peace\u201d (Watson, pg. 304). A leader must have a vision, and hold strongly to it, even through times of great uncertainty. <\/span><\/p>\n

Another leadership trait that Holmes embodied was that of adaptive leadership. Adaptive leadership is a process by which a leader enables people to face and deal with changes. It is the \u201cpractise of mobilizing people to tackle tough challenges and thrive\u201d (Northouse, pg. 258). \u00a0In doing so, adaptive leaders mobilize, motivate, organize, orient, and focus the attention of others. It is a process that not only fosters organizational change, but challenges and changes people\u2019s values (Northouse, pg. 258).<\/span><\/p>\n

Holmes says that we \u201cmust attack our problems with courage and faith\u201d (Watson, pg. 303). Northouse outlines the work of an adaptive leader as they create a stable environment for courage to rise in people as they work through their value challenges and reach towards the common vision (pg. 260). They have a broad perspective of the issues at hand, and all the nuances of relationships and systems that are at play in an organization (pg. 262). Then, they assess the situation to determine which challenges are strictly technical and can be changed by their own expertise or another’s expertise. They hone in on those adaptive challenges that are not clear cut and easy to identify, \u00a0are value based and challenge people\u2019s priorities (pg. 263). They begin to create an environment for people to start identifying their values, recognize a need for change, all while keeping a pulse on how people are doing without pushing too hard. They push people hard enough to create distress, but not so far as to create frustration (pg. 265, 266). Once values have been identified and a need for change has been identified, then an adaptive leader gives the work back to the people so that they can be part of the solution for the future (pg. 269). Through the process of working through their values, an adaptive leader has grown courage in the hearts of the followers so that they really do have a hope of fulfilling the vision. <\/span><\/p>\n

The adaptive leadership model can be very transformative as leaders work to instill change in people, and help them grow. The ultimate goal is not only organizational change, but to develop people to be resilient in the face of change, as they really identify and clarify their values. With a team of people who have a solid foundation and an understanding of their values, great progress can be made. Innovation and creativity can flow and an organization will thrive. <\/span><\/p>\n

In my experience, I have had to engage the principles of adaptive leadership several times. It can be hard and challenging work as you see people struggle through the dissonance of their values, experiences, and forthcoming change. Sometimes, people don\u2019t make it through the entire process and relationships are broken. However, once through it, one can see the richness and value of the process. There just needs to be much patience on the part of the leader, and the followers need to have trust in the leader to know the end result will be better. I would be curious to know if any others have had to engage in such a process and if it has been a positive or negative experience. <\/span><\/p>\n

References:<\/span><\/p>\n

Fuller, E, (2000).<\/span> Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. United States Jurist<\/span><\/i>. Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved from \u00a0<\/span>https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/biography\/Oliver-Wendell-Holmes-Jr<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Northouse, P. (2019). <\/span>Leadership: Theory and practice (8th ed)<\/span><\/i>. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.<\/span><\/p>\n

Watson, L.E. (1951). <\/span>Light from Many Lamps<\/span><\/i>. New York: Simon and Schuster.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oliver Wendell Holmes was one of the most notable \u00a0judges of all time. He was often called \u201cThe Dissenter\u201d because he challenged so many ideologies and thoughts regarding law and the constitution (Fuller, 2000). \u00a0\u00a0He was a man who had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":344,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,42],"tags":[28],"class_list":["post-294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ldrs500","category-unit-10","tag-light-from-many-lamps","clearfix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/leadinnovation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/leadinnovation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/leadinnovation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/leadinnovation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/344"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/leadinnovation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=294"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/leadinnovation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":295,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/leadinnovation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294\/revisions\/295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/leadinnovation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/leadinnovation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/leadinnovation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}