I continued to feel that something about my Fielding journey had to include leadership. This feeling was so pervasive that I assumed leadership was going to be an element of my dissertation. The thought that would cross my mind was that maybe I’d study leaders who had transformed as a result of some significant event in their life. It only seemed logical that I do a KA on leadership to help me work through these feelings.

In the course of the KA, I realized how much really bad leadership research and literature is out there. Even the highly acclaimed stuff is so poorly done as to make it useless. The stuff sells, but it is difficult or impossible to build upon. In Search of Excellence isn’t based on any research! Good to Great’s research is extremely flawed (read Rosenwig - required reading for a Harvard business school PhD).

One of our great leadership centers/institutes doesn’t have the original data upon which they’ve based their entire model and further studies! I called them, met with them, and spoke with them extensively! They can’t validate their original study upon which they’ve built their entire enterprise. The original data has conveniently been lost. They did a sloppy job of collecting data, don’t have any of the transcripts, never validated their original findings, and all of the subsequent validating studies were designed, in my opinion, to find what they wanted to find.

One day I emailed a well known and highly published author on Strategy who seemed particularly practical and wise. His writings revile against much of the literature on strategic planning. He wanted to talk so we arranged a phone call. He was interested in my dissertation and spent an hour with me sharing ideas and challenging others. Our discussion convinced me that my dissertation did not nor should it include leaders or leadership. 

In the course of our discussion I realized that I, like so many others in the U.S., had caught the leadership obsession bug. It is a nasty little infectious creature that turns our attention to the leader as the triumphant hero. It twists our brains into believing they are a prophet, priest, and king! When they speak, we bow. Is a leader important? Yes. However, we know that leaders can do almost nothing in an organization by themselves they need others who do much of the heavy lifting if the leader is to appear a success. Much of what has been written continues to portray the leader as visionary prophet. Much of what has been written “tells a good story” that you just follow the formula presented in the story, you will be a success! Sounds like Lord of the Rings. Being a good leader is so much more complex than following a simple formula.

The KA filled me with just what I needed relative to leadership and at the same time turned my mind from leadership mush into a leadership critical thinker.

 

G.H. Mead (1934) proposed that we develop two process of the self, the “me” and the “I.” Both are social constructs, real aspects of the self, independent of one another, and different from one another.  

“Me” is the socialized self. It is the self we know because it is the part of self that is in our conscious awareness. It is constructed through interaction with others. “Me” is the embodiment of our community.  

 As the conscious self, Jung (2005) would say that “Me” is the rational, linear, fact seeking, time-keeping, side of self. Jung and Campbell would also equate “Me” to the male side of self in that the male archetype, the male of mythology, is the disciplinarian who is associated with keeping both the family and the social order. Of the father archetype, Campbell states “the father gives birth to his social character” (Moyer, 1988, p. 227). 

“I” is the creative novel self that Mead finds most fully expressed in the arts. It is the unconscious self we do not know until it presents in action. Action can be an outward physical act or in the mind as a thought. Mead only gives slight clues as to how “I” is developed, such as how a societal leader senses unexpressed and unrealized patterns and structures. These patterns and structures exist within the embedded fabric of the community, but they are unrealized by the community until the leader begins to express and live those patterns better than anyone else. 

As the unconscious self, Jung would say that “I” is the holistic, intuitive, non-time side of self. Jung and Campbell would equate “I” to the female side of self in that the female archetype embodies creation and giving birth to the new.  Of the mother archetype, Campbell states “mother gives birth to his nature” (Moyer, 1988, p. 227) 

It is my desire to purse the self; more narrowly, to ask “how does the natural world such as streams, oceans, plants, and animals help to open a space in “me” for expression of “I.”

“…what seems to happen is that when person with prepared minds find themselves in beautiful settings, they are more likely to find new connections among ideas, new perspectives on issues they are dealing with …. The evidence does suggest that unusual and beautiful surroundings – stimulation, serene majestic views imbued with natural and historical suggestions – may in fact help us see situations more holistically and from novel viewpoints…. How one spends time in a beautiful natural setting seems to matter as well. Just sitting and watching is fine, but taking a leisurely walk seems to be even better. (Csikszentmihalyi, 1996, p. 136). 

Borrowing a metaphor of social life from Goffman (1959), the mind we are aware of, our conscious mind, our “me,” is like a theater house with multiple stages where acts with multiple actors are being performed simultaneously. It seems there are a limited number of these “me” stages that can be active at any given time. I hypothesize the number of stages that can be active at any given time is limited to the capacity of short-term memory, suggesting that the playhouse of consciousness possess about seven stages (Goldhaber, 2000).

“I” is taking place behind the curtain out of view the audience. Behind the curtain is a vast backstage filled with all the actors who ever stepped in front of the curtain along with all of the stage hands, props, scenery, costumes, and the like. Granted, some of the actors have grown old and weak and some of the props dusty, but they are still hanging around. The depth and breadth of this backstage resource is not fully known, but seems to house everything that has ever been presented on the stage and everything unconsciously perceived, including the underlying patterns and structures embedded in society, that have never made it in-front of the curtain.

“Me” can easily fill all of the stages and by so doing give the actors of “I” no opportunity to poke their head out of the curtain. Jung’s “tyranny of words” keeps actors of “I” confined to the backstage and unconscious regions of mind. When “I” actors are allowed to enter the stage, they generally provide what we call holistic and intuitive insights.  

Highest levels of creativity are reported when individuals are involved in “semiautomatic activity that takes up a certain amount of attention, while leaving some of it free to make connections among ideas below the threshold of conscious intentionality” (Csikszentmihalyi, 1996, p. 138).   Intentional thought, due to the structure of language, is forced to follow a linear path that includes seemingly logical elements; therefore, the outcome is somewhat predictable (Csikszentmihalyi, 1996). When the chain of “me” thought is broken there is a moment in which the stage of “me” shifts. There is a “set” change in which the scenery or backdrop is being changed, actors are moved off the stage and new ones are entering. It may be a split second or much longer, but the linear chain is broken and a portion of our mind is available for those normally kept backstage to peak through the curtain. 

It might also be useful to consider creative people establish their own environment that has patterns and settings which help to spark creativity. “…they manage to give their surroundings a personal pattern that echoes the rhythm of their thoughts and habits of action. Within this environment of their own making, they can forget the rest of the world and concentrate on pursuing the Muse (Csikszentmihalyi, 1996, pp. 127-128).

Today’s thoughts:

1)      I’ve always been interested in an experience I can best describe as follows:

a.       Life is like a hallway. The lights are on where we walk for a time, but then we come to a point at which the lights are off. We continue walking into the dimness until we come to where there is no more light. It is so dark that the path ahead cannot be seen. The light goes on after we walk a piece from the light into the darkness. When the light goes on, there’s often a sign or a feeling that we are being guided in the right path we should go. What is the experience of walking into the darkness?  What is the experience of walking after the light goes on.

b.      Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth

Then took the other as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet, knowing how way leads onto way
I doubted if I should ever come back

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence
Two roads diverged in a wood
And I took the one less traveled by
And that has made all the difference
(Robert Frost)

2)      Development of the self.

a.       “me” which is the socially constructed self (social constructivism) as proposed by G.H. Mead has been and continues to be of interest to the research community.

b.      “I” which is the inner self of novelty and creativity. I find exploration of this aspect of self worth pursuing.

3)      How nature speaks to us and gives meaning to our life.

a.       A friend of mine lost her teenage son in an unfortunate accident. That night she went into the woods outside her house to mourn. She began to call on God in dismay. Immediately above her head an owl that was sitting quietly upon the tree she was standing under began to call. It was such a shock that it instantly silenced her. It was shocking because all through her son’s life he had been fascinated by and loved owls. She told me she felt his presence and was at peace. She felt he was happy and all would be well.

b.      Another friend lost her twenty plus year old daughter after a long battle with cancer. A couple of weeks after the funeral, her family gathered at a beach home to celebrate the young girl’s life. One day she and her husband went for a walk on the beach. They walk in quiet mourning. He had not said much since her passing. As they walked, a few dolphins emerged from the water not too far from shore. They swam parallel to the beach and seemed to track the path of my friends walk. Her husband spoke and said he felt a great sense of peace. Their daughter had been going to school to become a marine biologist because she loved dolphins. He said that at the moment he saw the dolphins, he felt his daughter’s presence letting them know all was well.

c.       Another friend went hiking on the superstition mountains of AZ. After many hours, she became lost and couldn’t find the trail. She searched for hours, but became despondent. She sat on a rock not knowing what to do. Something caught her eye so she turned her head and saw a coyote about twenty feet away off to her right. The coyote and her stared at one another for a long time, neither moving. She was not frightened and felt a sense of inner peace. She looked the other direction for just a moment and turned back. The coyote was gone, but standing next to her was a park ranger. He asked if she was lost. She acknowledged that she was. He asked her to follow him and in a few moments they were back on the trail. He told her to walk down the trail and all would be fine. She walked a few steps and then turned to thank him, but he was not behind her. She stood in the silence for a moment to determine if she could see him, but could not. She was startled by the experience and worked her way off the mountain quickly. She reached her car with no time to spare as darkness engulfed the mountain.

Thinking about my dissertation today. I need to let go of the idea that my dissertation is going to be career focused. This notion is hard to let go of as that’s the direction I’ve been headed for quiet some time. The dissertation is going to nourish me, and maybe only me. I really wanted to put something together that had immediate and practical application for human development, but it doesn’t seem that is the course I am to take.

The course I am on is preparing me for whatever the next step in life is to be, something that feels more focused around development of the inner being, earth, nature, sensemaking, and empathy. This seems so ungrounded and not very useful for anyone except myself.

Is the beauty of the bird’s song intentional?… Or is it the expression of the bird, the beauty of the bird’s spirit… The Power of Myth, P. 100

 What am I? Am I the bulb that carries the light, or am I the light of which the bulb is a vehicle?… The body is a vehicle of consciousness, and if you can identify with the consciousness, you can watch this body go like an old car. There goes the fender, there goes the tire, one thing after another. The Power of Myth, P. 88 

The hero is the one who comes to participate in life courageously and decently, in the way of nature, not in the way of personal rancor, disappointment, or revenge. “The power of myth,” P. 82

To see life as a poem and yourself participating in a poem is what the myth does for you. P. 65 Question: You say that elites create myths, that shamans and artists and others who take the journey into the unknown come back to create these myths. Answer: What the shaman or seer brings forth is something that is waiting to be brought forth in everyone. So when one hears the seer’s story, one responds, “Aha! This is my story. This is something that I had always wanted to say but wasn’t able to say. P. 70-71 Myth must be kept alive. The people who can keep it alive are artist of one kind or another…. There’s an old romantic idea in German…which says that the idea of poetry of the traditional cultures come out of the folk. They do not. They come out of an elite experience, the experience of people particularly gifted, whose ears are open to the song of the universe…. P. 107 Question: In these early elementary cultures… who would have been the equivalent of the poets today? Answer: The shamans. The shaman is the person, male or female, who in his late childhood or early youth has an overwhelming psychological experience that turns him totally inward… The whole unconscious opens up, and the shaman falls into it. P. 107 Question: Who are our shamans? Who interprets unseen things for us? Answer: It is the function of the artist to do this. The artists is the one who communicates myth for today. P. 122 The shaman has been somewhere I haven’t, and he explains it to me… Also, as in the case of Black Elk, the shaman may translate some of his visions into ritual performances for his people. That’s bringing the inner experience into the outer life of the people themselves. P. 123 Quotes taken from “The Power of Myth.”