Character and Wisdom Character and wisdom are pillars in resilient leaders. These pillars do not come easily and are the culmination of several other factors. Those factors are what make up the bulk of the dialogue by Robert Dees (2013) in chapters 3 and 4 of his book Resilient Leaders. Building off of his discussion of resilient leadership being selfless service over time from a basis of character and competence, he points out exactly what is needed to form that necessary character and competence (Dees, 2013).
Three Important Concepts The main concepts from this week’s reading were easily discernable and all group members came to a unanimous consensus. Character consists of the two values of integrity and courage. Wisdom
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In fact, fear is part of what creates courage. According to Dees (2013) “fear plus faith equals courage” (p. 89). It is that emphasis on faith that makes courage in a resiliency context different than traditional courage. It is through faith that fear can be overcome, otherwise fear triumphs and what results is the opposite of courage. One other important point is that courage can come in many forms including mental courage, spiritual courage, emotional courage and relational courage (Dees, 2014). No matter what the circumstances are, one should strive to choose the more difficult right instead of the easy wrong (Dees, …show more content…
Wisdom is the safeguard that can provide the appropriate amount of balance to a leader’s decision making. Wisdom acts as the bridge between character and competence and serves as a vital piece of the puzzle when it comes to resilient leadership (Dees, 2013). Smythe & Norton (2011) discuss the importance of wise decision making by saying “Leadership calls for techne and phronesis, the practical wisdom that can make a decision in a face of all that is not yet known, in the midst of a situation that is changing before one’s eyes, and in the understanding that ‘I may have already done something wrong’” (p. 2). When wise leaders step up and fill their much needed role in today’s world, society as a whole benefits (Yang,
Bravery isn't having no fear; it is accepting and welcoming your fears and getting past
An example of courage, as the judgment that something else is more important than fear, is through the character of Kak in B for Buster by Iain Lawrence. In this novel, Kak is characterized as a young, determined boy, desiring to turn himself from a comic book reading boy into a World War II hero. Planning to escape his drunken, abusive father, Kak enlists himself in the Canadian Air Force although he is underage and only sixteen years old. During his first mission, he is becomes frightened of the risk of not coming home alive, but doesn?t show his emotions because of his austere, intrepid crewmen. During this mission, Kak did not have an absence of fear, but he felt that becoming a hero like the ones in his comic book, and accomplishing his dream of fly, was more important than his fear of dying.
In John Marsden’s Tomorrow When the War Began, the quote from David Seabury “Courage and convictions are powerful weapons against an enemy that depends upon only fists and guns”, is evident throughout the novel with the character’s various successes. Conviction (willpower) is very strong in the main characters, as the stakes are high with their entire town invaded leaving very few free. This conviction is also essential for courage, which as Ellie explains in the book, can only be found amidst fear. “I guess true courage is when you're really scared but you still do it” p.25. There are various frightening moments in this book, like when the ride on mower was used like a bomb or having to rescue Lee using heavy machinery. These are all moments the characters used their will to survive to propel them to do something that they were terrified to do. The characters also face daunting themes head on despite the previous stress. This is courage, found within conviction, and it has proved to be a good weapon against those with physical weapons.
One may wonder exactly what it is that qualities a strong leader possesses. A strong leader is determined, and strong willed. They must be of good judgment, and without bias. They cannot easily be persuaded, and they are firm, yet at the same time, a good lead must also empathize with his subordinates, and have the best interest at heart for said subordinates, at all times. However, with that being said, a good leader cannot be afraid to discipline his subordinates when necessary. Unmistakably, being a leader is a very difficult feat – one which not everyone can accomplish. A leader must be an authority, a friend and a counsellor, all at once. They must be responsible, and always take into account the disadvantages of a situation. Not everyone is suitable to be a leader, whereas, just about anybody can be a good role model.
This discussion will focus on leadership as described by Robert Dees in The Resilience Trilogy, Resilient Leaders text. The points made in the book can be personally related. The three most important concepts learned from chapter 1 and 2 are tribulation, risk management, and selflessness. It is crucial for anyone is seeking to delve into leadership that everything will not happen as planned all the time. After a leader experience failure, knowing the avenues to take to regain a solid footing is also key to successful leadership. Often leaders who are unaware of available resources fold and give up. In the military profession, when someone gets knock down they get up brush themselves off and get back in the fight.
“Courage is resistance to fear, Mastery of fear, Not absence of fear. ”(184) This is a quote from the book The Boy Who Dared, written by Susan Campbell Bartoletti. The book is about A kid named Helmuth that lives in hamburg germany. The nazi party takes power and Helmuth doesn’t agree with everything the do.
To me having courage makes me feel stronger than ever. Courage is one of the things that helped me join NJROTC, and it helps me get through the days. Before I learned what courage was or even used it, I was too shy to even say my name out loud. But when I joined NROTC they helped me break my shyness. And now I see clear, I know in the future courage will help me stand up and make it to my goals in life.
The Leadership Challenge by Kouzes and Posner (2007) is the result of twenty years of research on the factors that influence and create great leadership. Through studies and stories from leaders with various backgrounds throughout the world, the practices and characteristics that create great leadership are delineated. Leadership is viewed not as a group of inherent characteristics, but as learned behavior that anyone can achieve. The goal of Kouzes and Posner’s book is to inspire and educate leaders through transformational leadership. As such, leadership is about mobilizing others to become and do extraordinary things.
Leadership is a quality which cannot be acquired by any person from the other but it can be acquired by self-determination of a person. Leadership can best be called the personality of the very highest ability-whether in ruling, thinking, imagining, innovation, warring, or religious influencing. Leadership is practiced not so much in words a it is in attitude and in actions. Their actions leave a long lasting memory in the line of history and lead up to may events that occur today. To be a leader one will need many qualities. Leaders have a purpose and strategies to accomplish that purpose. They are driven and motivated. In the end they should be able to attain good results. These innate talents help to make up a leader that will succeed and be efficient in carrying out tasks. But, the purpose of this paper is determine what truly makes a leader successful. A successful leader should be considered more on their impact rather than their accomplishments of their organizations alone for they are not sufficient in determining the key to their success .
Goleman, D., Boyatzis, R., McKee, A. (2002). Primal leadership: Realizing the power of emotional intelligence. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing.
When we think of leaders, the first thing that usually comes to mind is a person who holds significant power such as the president. While this may be true, the truth is, you do not need to be in a position of power to assume a leadership role. Everyone has the ability to become a leader. As leaders, everyone has the power to not only influence others, but inspire and motivate them as well. The purpose of this paper is to explore several leadership behaviors, specifically emotional intelligence, and how they can be applied in both my personal and professional lives. Within this paper, I will be discussing my personal definition of leadership and what leadership means to me, a self-evaluation of myself using MBTI and other leadership theories, and finally concluding with my exploration of emotional intelligence and its relation to effective leadership.
Fear influences people to make irrational decisions and take extreme measures. Often times, these actions are done to protect one’s reputation. Fear causes people to lie and manipulate to those they care about in order to escape what they are scared of most. Fear of failure has caused higher levels of anxiety, and has made society put blame on each other, rather than owning up to their mistakes. Fear can also cause one to forget one’s true identity and lose one’s values. There are two options that one can take when being faced with a fear: run away from the fear, or go through it and learn a valuable lesson in the end that will make you a stronger person. Fear is a harmful emotion that everyone has to go through in order to succeed.
Dr. Robert Anthony once stated, “Courage is simply the willingness to be afraid and act that anyway.” Can courage give you confidence and strength? For this reason, courage has helped me conquer my worst fears. For example, I used to be afraid of heights, but, after being dared to jump off a beam my fear faded away. Rikki-tikki-tavi by Rudyard Kipling is about how courage can overcome your fears.
Understanding and analyzing fear is a step to become fearless. Question until you understand something don’t go through life insecure. When you feel the sensation of fear you get scared and realize that you aren’t as brave as you thought, but you are capable of not being afraid anymore. Deconstructing fear is a way of gaining confidence. Once you become fearless life becomes limitless. Throughout life people are afraid of certain things not because they aren’t capable of doing it, but it is the fear that is the cause of their unwillingness. Results on fear are often held back by false assumptions of weakness. People live in fear, if you want to achieve success then don’t doubt yourself. Set fearlessness as an ideal as an ideal to dream about being fearless and the better you will be. Just because you try something for the first time and it doesn't come out as you expected doesn’t mean that it won't come out right the next time. Don’t give up and try until you succeed. In order to grow you have to challenge yourself. Confront your fears so that you aren’t scared
Leaders will no matter what have an influence on our world. They have missions, dreams and ambition, and with these things they are bound to go far. For leaders, what makes these dreams come true is having strong qualities such as leadership practices, values and strengths. If developed and learned how to use correctly, these are what take leaders to the next level and accomplish great things. In the following paper I will talk about leadership in our ever-changing world, explore my leadership practices, values and strengths as well as elaborate on the goals I have made to challenge myself as a leader.