Learn to Lead Chapter 6 Review

Personality

Personality: The sum of the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that make someone unique

• The question of “nature vs. nurture” asks whether it is inborn qualities or personal experiences that shape who we are.

• An argument for “nature” is the belief that those are born with set qualities and talents

• Those on the “nurture” side of the believe that one’s upbringing, family, friends, schooling, and experiences shape them into a leader.

• The blank state principle states that every newborn baby is born as if their mind were a blank state to which they write thoughts and experiences

• We are affected by our genes and environment

  • Leaders cannot change human nature

  • A leader can have an effect on their environment

Birth Order Theory: Contends that a person’s rank within their family can have an effect on their personality and intelligence; some accuse it of the post hoc fallacy

• Can be an easy way to begin thinking about how the environment a person grows up in can change their personality

Charisma: The sparkle in people that money can’t buy; an invisible energy with visible effects

• Charismatic leaders find it easy to recruit new followers

• Strong charisma can be counter-productive as it surrounds the leader with followers who are only too willing to flatter the leader and sweep problems under the rug.

• The Johari Window is a tool for exploring our self perception

  • Public Arena: Consists of those features of your personality that you know about yourself and that others know too

  • Blind Arena: Consists of those personality features that are unknown to you but are known to others

  • Private Arena: Consists of those personality features that are known to you but are unknown to others

  • Unknown Arena: Consists of everything in your personality that is unknown to you and unknown to others

• The MBTI merely attempts to describe our different flavors of personality.

  • Extroversion (E) involves gathering energy by spending time with others; while introversion (I) involves ideas, imagination, and inner thoughts.

  • Sensors (S) are interested in specifics and details, while intuitives (N) look at the big picture of things.

  • Thinkers (T) are calm and collected and they consider all possibilities before making decisions while feelers (F) have a strong sense of empathy and prefer to consider problems from the other person’s perspective

  • Judgers (J) value structure, order, and predictability while perceivers (P) prefer keeping their options open

• The MBTI supports a leader’s development by helping the leader understand themselves so that they may be more effective in working with others

Motivation and Behavior

Maslow’s 5 Basic Needs

1. Physiological Needs - Unless the physiological needs are met, all other needs are forgotten or even denied.

2. Safety Needs - Safety includes freedom from fear, violence, and uncertainty.

3. Love or Belonging Needs - We are motivated by a need for love or a basic connection with other people, a sense of belonging

4. Esteem Needs - We are motivated by a desire for attention, honor, appreciation, and a good reputation

5. Self-actualization Needs - “What a man can be, he must be”

• The hierarchy of needs gives leaders a framework for understanding what motivates people

• The lowest rung of the pyramid represents the most unfulfilled need of the five. All above sequentially become more fulfilled.

Classical Conditioning

Classical Conditioning: The process whereby a living thing learns to connect a stimulus to a reflex

Stimulus: A thing or event that evokes a specific functional reaction

Reflex: An action that is performed as a response to a stimulus and without conscious thought

• Positive reinforcement: Happens when a pleasant reward is used to increase the frequency of a behavior

• Negative reinforcement: Happens when an unpleasant stimulus is removed to encourage the desired behavior

• Punishment: Any stimulus that represents or stops a behavior

• Extinction: Refers to the reduction of some response that the person had previously displayed

• Classical conditioning is relevant to leaders as they can use praise to reinforce certain behaviors which helps bolster the team as a whole.

• Millgram discovered that obedience to authority is a powerful motivator. Additionally, he shows leaders that they bear some responsibility for the actions of their subordinates.

Conflict

• In any relationship, there will be conflict. The real measure of a leader is how he or she handles conflict.

Defense mechanism: A behavior people use to deal with anxiety, stress, or pressure.

• A natural reaction, sometimes even an unconscious reaction, to emotional pain; it can become a problem because it changes the way we see reality.

• Can be habit forming

Types of Defense Mechanisms

• Displacement - Occurs when someone redirects feelings about something onto something less threatening

• Projection - The act of taking one’s unacknowledged thoughts or feelings and falsely attributing them to someone else

• Rationalization - When someone devises reassuring or self-serving explanations for their behavior

• Intellectualization - A person tries to remove the emotional side of a situation and instead examines their problem in an excessively abstract way

• Denial - A mechanism in which a person fails to acknowledge facts that would be apparent to others

• Suppression - When a person knows they have anxieties or problems, but they set them aside, choosing not to even think about them.

• Withdrawal - Removing oneself from events, people, things, etc., that bring to mind painful thoughts and feelings.

• Knowing something about defensive behavior better enables the leader to spot anxiety, stress, and pressure among followers.

Conflict: A disagreement through which individuals perceive a threat to their needs, interests, or concerns.

• Leaders are interested in managing conflict because conflict destroys teamwork and therefore limits the team’s ability to succeed. Additionally, they have a duty to respond to the conflict because the leader is responsible for the team’s behavior and its success.

5 Basic Approaches to Managing Conflict

• Avoidance - When leaders recognize conflict exists but they choose not to engage the problem

• Denial - When the leader refuses to acknowledge the conflict exists

• Suppression and smoothing - A form of avoidance in which a leader suggests that conflict is not as bad as it seems and that both parties are aiming for the same goal

• Compromise - An attempt to create a win/win situation

• The Zero-Sum Game - Sees conflict in only win/lose terms

• Mediation - An attempt to resolve conflict by using a third party to facilitate a decision

Concession: When one party yields a right or a benefit in hopes that the other will yield an equivalent right or benefit.

A Process for Mediating Conflict

1. Set a positive tone

2. Be mindful of appearances

3. Allow the first person to talk

4. Allow the second person to talk

5. Summarize your understanding of the conflict

6. Begin the interview stage

7. Ask each person how the conflict can be resolved

8. Ask each individual to make a concession

9. Aim for consensus

10. Conclude

Leading in a Diverse Society

Diversity: The differences within a community

Prejudice: Pre-judging someone

Harassment: Unwelcome conduct

Retaliation: When someone seeks revenge against someone who objects to harassment or discrimination

5 Ways to Fight Hate

1. Rise Up - Inaction in the face of tolerance is almost as bad as hatred itself

2. Pull Together - Sometimes it takes just 1 brave individual to rally others who have remained quiet in the face of hatred

3. Speak Out - Leaders need the courage to act

4. Support the victims

5. Teach tolerance - Tough times give leaders an opportunity to teach tolerance