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Lessons from Obolensky

 

Obolensky Asks Questions

In chapter 1, Obolensky (2010) asks three reflective questions and if I were able to respond, I’d say a number of things related to leadership over time.

I strive to learn from those around me, but that doesn’t always end up being the case. Most of the time I’m open to other’s knowledge about subjects and some of that rubs off on me. As is the case with leaders, I’ve had a lot of them, and some were great and others not so much. But my attitude has changed about the leaders in my life. I’ve learned to understand which ones I can align with, which has improved my overall career experience. My attitude towards leaders has changed directly because of my understanding of how leaders have impacted my life. I want to be around empowering and transformational leaders, but also those that use situational awareness and are authentic. These attributes are what I find that influences me to be more successful.  

I’d like to tell you a story about my grandparents, who were from the greatest generation and my dad is a baby boomer, which makes me a Gen-X’er. The differences in authority/leaders from each of those generational groups is as different as night is from day. I believe that society normals have changed so radically from the shirt and tie dinners around the table to long hair hippies to plaid shirt wearing grunge rock that along with it, leadership has changed, as well. It had to change, because using the top-down management structure from the early 19th century doesn’t work well in our technologically advanced world of today. There was less push back towards the leaders of this time and their authority over my grandparents when they were young. Such leaders call for sacrifice in the pursuit of moral principles and higher goals, validating such altruism by looking beyond the present moment to frame a future worth striving for (Goodwin, pg. 235). As my dad grew up, the revolt towards authority was everywhere as younger people pushed back against rules and order. Now, we see during my life certain pockets of society calling for the change or end of authority as we know it, while other groups call for control over reproductive and/or religious rights. There is certainly a trend in the attitude of leadership throughout the last several generations. That trend is to change, and I believe this has occurred for several reasons. Whether leaders and their followers know it, the constant in the last few years has been change. The earth is moving at thousands of miles per second through our universe and the same can be said about our communication. Because humans need to communicate and because it is happening so quickly, we must adapt to the environment by closing the gap between quality leaders. This is accomplished by providing more leadership training, either through degree programs, continuing education or workplace-based training. The emphasis needs to be on both the employer and employee or student because both sides will come out winners in the end.

In summary, society’s role in our ability to advance as a species will no doubt be tied to our communication with one another and other lifeforms, foreign or unknown. I would like to think that the experiment we’re performing on ourselves to find the best leaders will bring us to the conclusion that treating each other respectfully is the start to any leadership plan.

References

Goodwin, D.K. (2018). Leadership: In Turbulent Times. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.

Obolensky, N. (2010). Complex adaptive leadership: Embracing paradox and uncertainty. Burlington, Vt: Gower Pub. Limited.

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