Chapter 1 of the Obolensky text begins with a reflective exercise. Create a reflection blog that responds to the questions asked in this exercise.
Has your own attitude to leaders changed in your life, and if so how?
If we take as a starting point in the attitude to those in authority/leaders as held by your grandparents, and then look at those attitudes held by your parents, and then by you, and then by the younger generation, is there a changing trend? If so, what is it?
Why do you think that this has occurred?
Additionally, while we live in a world with more information about leadership and leadership practices why is it that we have an apparent gap in the quality of our leaders and how do you think we can close this gap?
Some of the people I look up to within the history books are Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, Assata Shakur and Angela Davis. Their attitudes towards change for the sake of progress have always been very liberating to me. There are few of us who practice our rights (particularly the freedom of speech) as liberally as we should. I believe we should, as a nation, protest more often, taking our issues up to the courthouse or White House steps if necessary.
I gained this appreciation and understanding for my rights from my grandmother, who was quite an activist herself. Growing up in Philadelphia, she was involved in the progression of equality even as she provided for her six younger siblings without her father's aid. She was forced to drop out of high school to do so, but educated herself through voracious reading. Obolensky realizes that knowledge has increased, along with uncertainty. My grandmother's passion for societal change grew with the books she read by people with whom she completely disagreed with. As many of the writers of the forties and fifties came from different backgrounds and experiences than she did, she realized that some were completely disillusioned with the plight of people like her, and their reasoning for such differences was sometimes clouded in pseudoscience and ignorance. As Obolensky notes, what one knows is nearly irrelevant in comparison to what they do (2014). Strategies that leaders encompass, like teaching, coaching, involving, explaining and congratulating show that information sharing is far more valuable than mere information collection. While maintaining decent employment as a typist, she wrote lengthy manuscripts and speeches for others to present at progressive marches and gatherings in the sixties.
My mother, however, was more of a square. She was also a great writer, journaling for her high school paper and writing poetry. However, growing up within a stable (read: sheltered) middle-class household, she did not feel the pull of activism as much as her mother, who'd be raised in the post-WWII era which was unkind to minorities and conservatives of the roles of women. As Obolensky notes in Complex Adaptive Leadership, “the more we know, the less certain things become” (p. 16). My mother went on to join the military, which strengthened her conservative nature and lack of understanding towards the complexities of societal duress. The military lifestyle taught her a structure of listening to the person shouting, and because she never advanced to a relevant leadership position, she'd become accustomed to others telling her what to do instead of being creative and self-led (Snowden & Boone, 2007).
Obolensky refers to our society as living in a large period of discontinuity, saying, "we have changed the context within which we lead faster than we can change our assumptions about what leadership is" (p. 19). Sheltered from adversity, raised as an only child and prohibited from self-guidance, it was difficult for my mother to understand negotiation, compassion, creativity and determination. I believe the first time my mother faced adversity was being a mother. As a leader of the home, she exuded legitimate and coercive power. She was a "because I say so" type, and the use of explanation (and apology) was limited (Messina, 2008). However, my grandmother welded personal power more effectively. As someone who raised here siblings from her mother's death when she was twelve, and raising my mother, she had almost 40 years of experience as a caretaker, a budget planner and coach. She excelled at inspiring action. She was impressed by questioning and celebrated innovation. Even as a child, I felt a need to learn about the experiences of others, to protect their right to speak out (even against me) and celebrate them because sharing opinions, thoughts and experiences essentially makes everyone both a teacher and a learner.
This difference in strategy is much like the apparent gap in the quality of our leaders. Leaders of the past are expectant on order following, strict adherence to policy without questioning, and swift ramifications for anything seen as out of the ordinary. To bring attention to oneself, even by improving a process, is to be "showy," which also warrants consequence, even as informal as criticism. I believe there is a jealously in someone seen as an underling finding a better way to do things, particularly when the "leader" has not thought of it, which is why there is a dearth in true leaders. Since my childhood, I have been able to have leaders as well as managers, and I decided quite quickly after realizing the difference that I would prefer to be a leader, and a practitioner of wu-wei. Wu-wei is "active inaction," which essentially means to train, support, retrain, celebrate, and back off of supervisees. I allow my emerging leaders (not followers) to brainstorm and build effective ways of doing their work after I teach them the most effective way for me to do my own. As long as the work gets done well, I do not mind how it is done! In the global workplace, we have a lot of people who "manage" people but who cannot see themselves listening and considering the ideas of others.
Obolensky (2014) notes Lau Tzu’s definition of leadership:
Some of the people I look up to within the history books are Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, Assata Shakur and Angela Davis. Their attitudes towards change for the sake of progress have always been very liberating to me. There are few of us who practice our rights (particularly the freedom of speech) as liberally as we should. I believe we should, as a nation, protest more often, taking our issues up to the courthouse or White House steps if necessary.
I gained this appreciation and understanding for my rights from my grandmother, who was quite an activist herself. Growing up in Philadelphia, she was involved in the progression of equality even as she provided for her six younger siblings without her father's aid. She was forced to drop out of high school to do so, but educated herself through voracious reading. Obolensky realizes that knowledge has increased, along with uncertainty. My grandmother's passion for societal change grew with the books she read by people with whom she completely disagreed with. As many of the writers of the forties and fifties came from different backgrounds and experiences than she did, she realized that some were completely disillusioned with the plight of people like her, and their reasoning for such differences was sometimes clouded in pseudoscience and ignorance. As Obolensky notes, what one knows is nearly irrelevant in comparison to what they do (2014). Strategies that leaders encompass, like teaching, coaching, involving, explaining and congratulating show that information sharing is far more valuable than mere information collection. While maintaining decent employment as a typist, she wrote lengthy manuscripts and speeches for others to present at progressive marches and gatherings in the sixties.
My mother, however, was more of a square. She was also a great writer, journaling for her high school paper and writing poetry. However, growing up within a stable (read: sheltered) middle-class household, she did not feel the pull of activism as much as her mother, who'd be raised in the post-WWII era which was unkind to minorities and conservatives of the roles of women. As Obolensky notes in Complex Adaptive Leadership, “the more we know, the less certain things become” (p. 16). My mother went on to join the military, which strengthened her conservative nature and lack of understanding towards the complexities of societal duress. The military lifestyle taught her a structure of listening to the person shouting, and because she never advanced to a relevant leadership position, she'd become accustomed to others telling her what to do instead of being creative and self-led (Snowden & Boone, 2007).
Obolensky refers to our society as living in a large period of discontinuity, saying, "we have changed the context within which we lead faster than we can change our assumptions about what leadership is" (p. 19). Sheltered from adversity, raised as an only child and prohibited from self-guidance, it was difficult for my mother to understand negotiation, compassion, creativity and determination. I believe the first time my mother faced adversity was being a mother. As a leader of the home, she exuded legitimate and coercive power. She was a "because I say so" type, and the use of explanation (and apology) was limited (Messina, 2008). However, my grandmother welded personal power more effectively. As someone who raised here siblings from her mother's death when she was twelve, and raising my mother, she had almost 40 years of experience as a caretaker, a budget planner and coach. She excelled at inspiring action. She was impressed by questioning and celebrated innovation. Even as a child, I felt a need to learn about the experiences of others, to protect their right to speak out (even against me) and celebrate them because sharing opinions, thoughts and experiences essentially makes everyone both a teacher and a learner.
Obolensky (2014) notes Lau Tzu’s definition of leadership:
The worst leader is one that lies and is despised; not much better is one that leads using oppression and fear; a little better is the leader who is visible, loved and respected; however, the best leader is one whom the people hardly knows exists, leaving them happy to say, once the aim is achieved, ‘We did it ourselves’ (p. 6).
References
Messina, James J. (2008). Eliminating Intimidation. Livestrong. Accessed at http://www.livestrong.com/article/14742-eliminating-intimidation/
Obolensky, N. (2014). Complex adaptive leadership embracing paradox and uncertainty. Farnham, Surrey: Gower.
Messina, James J. (2008). Eliminating Intimidation. Livestrong. Accessed at http://www.livestrong.com/article/14742-eliminating-intimidation/
Obolensky, N. (2014). Complex adaptive leadership embracing paradox and uncertainty. Farnham, Surrey: Gower.
Snowden, D. J., & Boone, M. E. (2007). A Leader's Framework for Decision Making(cover story). Harvard Business Review, 85(11), 68-76.
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