In the last chapter, Bennis is talking about knowing what is inside of us. This chapter focuses on learning through what is (mostly) outside of us. "Clearly, to become a true leader, one must know the world as well as one knows one's self."
He lists specific experiences that facilitate this knowing:
- Broad and continuing education
- Idiosyncratic families (not to be confused with dysfunctional, right? Although, you can learn a lot..)
- Extensive travel and/or exile (exile! Who is that committed to learning leadership?!)
- A rich private life
- Key associations with mentors and groups
He talks about two principal modes of conventional learning:
- maintenance learning - "the acquisition of fixed outlooks, methods and rules for dealing with known and recurring situations...It is the type of learning designed to maintain an existing system or established way of life." I think this is a really important definition because it is the axis around which 'management' turns... maintaining repetitive systems. If only all of life was predictable and controllable!
- shock learning - occurs when events overwhelm people. "Learning by shock often follows a period of overconfidence in solutions created solely with expert knowledge or technical competence perpetuated beyond the conditions for which they were appropriate."
Ultimately, Bennis suggests, these two types of learning are reactive. They involve being told what to know instead of discovering on your own what you believe. He calls this higher-level learning innovative learning.
He says there are three main aspects of innovative learning:
- Anticipation - being active and imaginative rather than passive and habitual
- (Second hand) - learning by listening to others (i.e. observation, listening, getting feedback)
- Participation - shaping events, rather than being shaped by them (we'll discuss this idea when we get to the EQ Skill #6 - Conscientiousness (Citizenship)
"Innovative learning is the primary means of exercising our autonomy, a means of understanding and working within the prevailing context in a positive way. It is a dialogue that begins with curiosity and is fueled by knowledge, leading to understanding. It is inclusive, unlimited, and unending, knowing and dynamic. It allows us to change the way things are." (p. 73)
I would love to hear your reactions to these three types of learning and perhaps your own experiences with one or more of them. Which of these should be a part of a learning initiative? How will each help Ebco become and stay competitive in the commercial contracting market?
Friday, November 25, 2016
Wednesday, November 23, 2016
On Becoming a Leader (Chapter 3. pp. 49 - 66)
We are getting some outlines of Warren Bennis's philosophy on leadership. Here are some thought-provoking ideas he shared in Chapter 3. Feel free to react to any of these statements (or others that you found interesting). What did these ideas make you think about?
"People begin to become leaders at that moment when they decide for themselves how to be." (p. 49)
"Know thyself, then, means separating who you are and who you want to be from what the world thinks you are and wants you to be." (p. 50)
"Self-knowledge, self-invention are lifetime processes." (p. 51)
"...All of us can find tangible and intangible rewards in self-knowledge and self-control, because if you go on doing what you've always done, you'll go on getting what you've always got." (p. 51)
"No one can teach you how to become yourself, to take charge, to express yourself, except you." (p. 51)
4 Lessons of Self-Knowledge:
1) You are your own best teacher.
2) Accept responsibility. Blame no one.
3) You can learn anything you want to learn.
4) True understanding comes from reflecting on your experience.
"Unless you have the appetite to absorb new and potentially unsettling things, you don't learn... It's a kind of fearlessness and optimism and confidence, and you're not afraid of failure." (p. 56)
"Nothing is truly yours until you understand it - not even yourself." (p. 57)
"...Paying close attention to the signals from others that remain unaltered throughout your life." (p. 58)
"Leaders learn from others, but they are not made by others." (p. 59)
"Leaders begin, then, by backing themselves, inspiring themselves, trusting themselves, and ultimately inspire others by being trustworthy." (p. 60)
"While we cannot change our height or bone structure, we can change our minds... While there is neurobiological evidence that part of the brain is hardwired prior to birth, it is increasingly clear that the brain is also plastic in nature, able to absorb and collate experiences that cause the brain itself to change." (p. 63)
"Socrates said, 'The unexamined life is not worth living." (p. 64)
"That is why true learning begins with unlearning - and why unlearning is one of the recurring themes of our story." (p. 65)
And ending on a powerful note: "You make your life your own by understanding it." (p. 66)
I truly hope that this quality space we've creating through Vision & Voice will be an opportunity to do just that!
"People begin to become leaders at that moment when they decide for themselves how to be." (p. 49)
"Know thyself, then, means separating who you are and who you want to be from what the world thinks you are and wants you to be." (p. 50)
"Self-knowledge, self-invention are lifetime processes." (p. 51)
"...All of us can find tangible and intangible rewards in self-knowledge and self-control, because if you go on doing what you've always done, you'll go on getting what you've always got." (p. 51)
"No one can teach you how to become yourself, to take charge, to express yourself, except you." (p. 51)
4 Lessons of Self-Knowledge:
1) You are your own best teacher.
2) Accept responsibility. Blame no one.
3) You can learn anything you want to learn.
4) True understanding comes from reflecting on your experience.
"Unless you have the appetite to absorb new and potentially unsettling things, you don't learn... It's a kind of fearlessness and optimism and confidence, and you're not afraid of failure." (p. 56)
"Nothing is truly yours until you understand it - not even yourself." (p. 57)
"...Paying close attention to the signals from others that remain unaltered throughout your life." (p. 58)
"Leaders learn from others, but they are not made by others." (p. 59)
"Leaders begin, then, by backing themselves, inspiring themselves, trusting themselves, and ultimately inspire others by being trustworthy." (p. 60)
"While we cannot change our height or bone structure, we can change our minds... While there is neurobiological evidence that part of the brain is hardwired prior to birth, it is increasingly clear that the brain is also plastic in nature, able to absorb and collate experiences that cause the brain itself to change." (p. 63)
"Socrates said, 'The unexamined life is not worth living." (p. 64)
"That is why true learning begins with unlearning - and why unlearning is one of the recurring themes of our story." (p. 65)
And ending on a powerful note: "You make your life your own by understanding it." (p. 66)
I truly hope that this quality space we've creating through Vision & Voice will be an opportunity to do just that!
Friday, November 18, 2016
4 PILLARS
Under these 4 pillars reside 18 emotional intelligence skills that we will examine in Vision & Voice
We have already studied 2 of them:
EQ Skill #1 - Emotional Self-Awareness
EQ Skill #2 - Accurate Self-Assessment
Why are we carving out quality space to think and talk about these pillars of self- and interpersonal- leadership? Here are some thoughts:
- You cannot lead others if you do not lead yourself
- So you can reach your own professional development goals
- To know your boundaries (Make better decisions, be more focused, know what to say no to)
- To maintain your energy (physical/mental/emotional/spiritual) so you can give your best every day
Any other ideas?
Wednesday, November 16, 2016
Accurate Self-Assessment VV#6
Hey All ~ thanks so much for an engaging time yesterday. Loved that ya'll were good sports about putting your artist talents on display. Next week will be song & dance, so get ready! (jk)
In Chapter 3 of On Becoming a Leader, Warren Bennis is going to elaborate for us on 'knowing thyself' which is a phrase taken from Greek philosophy and I'll post on that in a few days after you've had a chance to read it yourselves. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Know_thyself)
While some ways of 'knowing ourselves' must be revealed from God (PURPOSE), there are a lot of things we can do to discover more about our PERSONALITY, PERFORMANCE and the PERCEPTIONS of others. I've updated the Model of Knowing Self to include some other ways that we often try to define ourselves: POSSESSIONS, PARTICULARS and PEDIGREE.
Next time, we're going to talk in detail about knowing self through PERSONALITY. We will take an in depth look at the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator assessment - the world's most popular personality assessment.
Life Stories – think back on the situations that have shaped your life so far. Observe yourself in those situations as a reporter might. What do you see? Why do you think you felt the way you did? How did you act? Why did you act that way? What impact did you have on others in that situation because of how you were feeling and acting? What does this story tell you about yourself? What changes would you like to make based on this reflection? (Bennis also talks about this in Chapter 3).
·
Assessments - Take as many psychometric assessments as you can get your hands on
and then cross-reference them to identify patterns of strengths (or
functions/responsibilities to avoid)
·
Occupations Research – look into various occupations on O*Net website
(www.onetonline.org) which lines out the tasks, tools, technology,
knowledge, skills, abilities, work activities and work context related to a
wide variety of jobs. See which
descriptions seem to be most appealing or exciting to you and identify why that
job cluster or specific job description is appealing to you.
·
Hire a career or life coach - work with a professional that can help you to
continue to explore your unique design through other means and tools (www.thumbtack.com).
·
Ongoing Study - Go through a self-paced career development workbook, read books, attend developmental workshops, conference, seminars.
·
Trigger words – what words catch your attention, stoke your curiosity and you seem
to resonate with them. For instance, Organize? Structure? Completion? Create?
Develop? Your attraction to these words can be clues to your design.
·
Frustration & Friction – what are those ongoing sources of frustration
& friction in your job or life? These can be an indication that you are not
aligned.
Dream
- how do you envision your best and authentic self operating in the world (do
not let finances, time, relationships or other constraints block your creativity)
·
Pray over spiritual/holy literature to inform you of your PURPOSE and identity
according to your faith beliefs.
Friday, November 11, 2016
On Becoming a Leader: Chapter 2 "Understanding the Basics" (pp. 33 - 48)
One liberating idea we discussed in the time reflecting on foundations of leadership is that each leader is unique. Bennis supports that assertion, but in this chapter shares with us some commonalities he has recognized among leaders:
1) A guiding vision - "The leader has a clear idea of what he or she wants to do." Don't panic. You may be saying to yourself, "Yikes, I have no idea of where I am going." That's ok. That is what this next year is about, remember? Carving out quality space to think about who you are, where you are going and why you are going there. You also might have a flicker of an idea, or a full-fledged proposal waiting to be dropped on John's desk...or the desk of a venture capitalist. For clarity on vision, reflect deeply on the "where am I going" question.
2) Passion - "The underlying passions for the promises of life and a particular passion for a vocation, profession or course of action." What stirs you? What creates "flow" for you? https://www.ted.com/talks/mihaly_csikszentmihalyi_on_flow?language=en
3) Integrity - (One of ELI's Core Competencies) Bennis defines integrity as self-knowledge, candor and maturity. You might have a different definition of integrity. Bennis suggests that, "Until you truly know yourself, strengths and weaknesses, know what you want to do and why you want to do it, you cannot succeed in any but the most superficial sense of the word." Wow, what a statement. Candor is what helps us to be honest with ourself (accurate self-assessment)
Bennis also mentions Curiosity (growth mindset) & Daring (initiative) plus a learning from Adversity (resilience/adaptability) as common traits among leaders.
Bennis recognizes the deficiencies of most leadership training courses - most teach skills in a prescriptive way (methodologies). He laments that courses cannot teach character or vision. "Developing character and vision is the way leaders invent themselves." What we are doing together in our meetings and readings is to raise our awareness of what it means to be a leader, but the hard work is left to you, making it manifest is within yourselves, in your relationships, in your teams.
This is going to be an ongoing theme, so get this stuck in your mind: "True understanding derives from engagement and from the full deployment of ourselves."
(p. 41)
Feel free to comment on any of these ideas or others that we ignited as you read these pages! Raise a question, refute an idea, propose a solution, confess a need - whatever will help you process these great ideas about leadership!
1) A guiding vision - "The leader has a clear idea of what he or she wants to do." Don't panic. You may be saying to yourself, "Yikes, I have no idea of where I am going." That's ok. That is what this next year is about, remember? Carving out quality space to think about who you are, where you are going and why you are going there. You also might have a flicker of an idea, or a full-fledged proposal waiting to be dropped on John's desk...or the desk of a venture capitalist. For clarity on vision, reflect deeply on the "where am I going" question.
2) Passion - "The underlying passions for the promises of life and a particular passion for a vocation, profession or course of action." What stirs you? What creates "flow" for you? https://www.ted.com/talks/mihaly_csikszentmihalyi_on_flow?language=en
3) Integrity - (One of ELI's Core Competencies) Bennis defines integrity as self-knowledge, candor and maturity. You might have a different definition of integrity. Bennis suggests that, "Until you truly know yourself, strengths and weaknesses, know what you want to do and why you want to do it, you cannot succeed in any but the most superficial sense of the word." Wow, what a statement. Candor is what helps us to be honest with ourself (accurate self-assessment)
Bennis also mentions Curiosity (growth mindset) & Daring (initiative) plus a learning from Adversity (resilience/adaptability) as common traits among leaders.
Bennis recognizes the deficiencies of most leadership training courses - most teach skills in a prescriptive way (methodologies). He laments that courses cannot teach character or vision. "Developing character and vision is the way leaders invent themselves." What we are doing together in our meetings and readings is to raise our awareness of what it means to be a leader, but the hard work is left to you, making it manifest is within yourselves, in your relationships, in your teams.
This is going to be an ongoing theme, so get this stuck in your mind: "True understanding derives from engagement and from the full deployment of ourselves."
(p. 41)
Feel free to comment on any of these ideas or others that we ignited as you read these pages! Raise a question, refute an idea, propose a solution, confess a need - whatever will help you process these great ideas about leadership!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)