A good leader takes advantage of the expertise of the people whom he /she is leading. The information Zander & Zander wrote in these chapters reminds me of a piece of ancient Kemetic (Egyptian) literature, “The Instructions of Ptah Hotep” that speaks to the very concepts they relay. Ptah Hotep stated, “No one is born wise…. Don’t be proud of your knowledge, Consult the ignorant and the wise; The limits of art are not reached, No artist’s skills are perfect; Good speech is as rare as precious stones, Yet may be found among the girls who grind the grain.” Wisdom does not know status and there are times when we must deflate our egos to make room for knowledge. I thought the “White Sheets” was an excellent move to help get those you lead to know that their opinions matter and that they can contribute even more to make sure the overall project is successful. Allowing others to take the leadership role on occasion also works to increase moral and job satisfaction. It's another way to acknowledge their expertise.
I love “Rule Number 6.” It has been my experience that people not being able to keep their egos in check have caused viable organizations, groups, teams, etc., to go down in flames. Sometimes we tend to get overly dramatic and make things catastrophic when all we really have to do is take a deep breath and watch things work themselves out.
The phrase that got my attention in chapter 7, “…being present without resistance; being present to what is happening and present to your reactions, no matter how intense. “ I think this is the most difficult for many of us to incorporate. We have been programed to conceal emotion, not to let our feeling show, but what we have really done is hide /bury them deep to the extent that we forget that it’s alright to have these feelings and reactions. I think this flows directly into ”giving way to passion” as it speaks to one being able to allow oneself to go for it, to follow that path that will allow us to contribute something of substance to the world.
A good leader takes advantage of the expertise of the people whom he /she is leading. The information Zander & Zander wrote in these chapters reminds me of a piece of ancient Kemetic (Egyptian) literature, “The Instructions of Ptah Hotep” that speaks to the very concepts they relay. Ptah Hotep stated, “No one is born wise…. Don’t be proud of your knowledge, Consult the ignorant and the wise; The limits of art are not reached, No artist’s skills are perfect; Good speech is as rare as precious stones, Yet may be found among the girls who grind the grain.” Wisdom does not know status and there are times when we must deflate our egos to make room for knowledge. 
Rosetta,
ReplyDeleteI must say, I find the way you are able to tie in other knowledge to the readings to be inspirational. I find it interesting that the truly great man knows he is limited. He is humble and thus respects the fact that greatness can be found in any walk of life.
“Wisdom does not know status and there are times when we must deflate our egos to make room for knowledge.” Should be taught to ever child and adult as there is always someone with a different perspective and even a “great” man can make mistakes.
I enjoy reading your blog!
I, too, have loved reading your blog Rosetta. You and I have never communicated directly to each other, but I have enjoyed hearing from you throughout the year during our courses. You have a perspective on things that is refreshing, unique and intelligent. I think that comes from your views that you have described here. It is obvious that you are gaining wisdom and knowledge, not because you necessarily consider yourself to be more wise or intelligent than others, but that you rather have a good sense of the "way things are" and your ego is not so huge that you have no room for more knowledge. Good luck with your journey....in the rest of the program but most especially afterwards. I won't ever forget 'hotep'! :)
ReplyDeleteGreat reflection on this week's reading, pulling from ancient wisdom literature and our modern need to be "present" in our own lives.
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