Month: October 2016

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Ethics: Do you have enough?

It seems a lot of the shaking that is happening in 2016 has been bringing up some good things. Just this morning I’ve run into a great infographic laying out the hierarchy of profit and then I came upon Seth Godin’s recent thoughts on Ethics. His thoughts, the infographic, and other items I’m noticing in my news feed all seem to be pointing to a dissatisfaction in business for profit and more towards empathy.

Perhaps profit and market share and the rest could merely be tools in service of the ability to make things better, to treat people ever more fairly, to do work that we’re more proud of each day.

Read Seth Godin’s full post here

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Wait and Hope

This quote seems a little depressing, but I wanted to post it because I think what he’s touching on is the fact that if you haven’t experienced exhilaration then you can’t empathize with grief or vise versa. Being in a current state of Waiting and Hoping, I feel I’m experiencing both pain and joy at the same moment. (In my attempt to practice becoming more self-aware, my introspection is becoming too philosophical at the moment).

“There is neither happiness nor misery in the world; there is only the comparison of one state with another, nothing more. He who has felt the deepest grief is best able to experience supreme happiness. We must have felt what it is to die, that we may appreciate the enjoyments of life.”

“Live, then, and be happy, beloved children of my heart, and never forget, that until the day God will deign to reveal the future to man, all human wisdom is contained in these two words, ‘Wait and Hope’.”

– Alexandre Dumas

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Self-Awareness and Leadership

I had to write a quick response today to the question:

Why do you believe a leader needs to be reasonably self-aware if they are going to be a good leader?

What do you think of my response:

When I envision a leader who is not self-aware, I think of an individual dealing with insecurity then attempting to hide it with pride and arrogance. There are several reasons a leader must be self-aware, but I will discuss the one most important to me: If you are unable to read what’s going on with yourself, how will you read your subordinates and lead them well? A leader with no self-awareness would end up making choices on whims versus logic and would demoralize everyone who works for them. Beyond having a high employee turn over rate, this type of leader would end up costing the organization money and time due to them working on ego boosting projects while avoiding rather than delegating other projects. They would not be capable of delegating due to their lack of personal skills as well as not being able to recognize the skills of their subordinates. 

Further Reading: