No room for neckties
[1]
[1]
When I think of leadership, I often think of an evil dictator or a belligerent boss whose neck-tie has choked the heart and soul out of his being over time." Leadership" is a word that has been abused by many powerful people, such as Hitler and Joseph Stalin. Bet being a leader in today's world can mean many things. There are spiritual leaders, political leaders, economic leaders, corporate leaders, educational leaders and various other types of leaders. These so-called leaders play roles in society, which presumably have a positive impact, yet that's not always the case. Statistics, as well as observations, show that spiritual leaders in the Catholic church often abuse children. Political leaders corrupt the system. Economic leaders lack ethical concerns for the general public. And some teachers are in it only for their paycheck. After examining these examples, it is safe to assume that leaders have various definitions of what exactly leadership is. However, my vision of leadership resembles Larry Temple's definition, "The will to excel with integrity and the spirit that nothing is impossible." [2]
I also agree with Temple when he says leadership 'determines the quality of culture'. When I look outside of myself, at myself, and imagine what type of leader I want to become in my own culture, I envision the inscription on the temple of Appollo at Delphi (Ascribed to the Seven Wise Men in Plato's Protagoras.) Know Thyself,
In Sooth I know not why I am so sad;
It wearies me; you say it wearies you;
But how I caught it, found it, or came by it,
What stuff 'tis made of, where it is born,
I am to learn;
And such a want-wit sadness makes of me,
[3]
What I have learned at the University of Texas, thus far, has served my leadership vision well. Aside from cultural diversity, the most important thing I've learned at UT is how to think outside of mere deductive reasoning and how to use methods of thinking within the realms of social science, philosophy and humanities. Not that these fields of study don't involve logic, but there is more to arriving at a clear understanding of "truth" than applying simple logic. As Tweedledee says in Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, "If it [truth] was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic."[4] Logic only gets us so far. To truly understand life's complexities, we must learn compassion and respect for others views. We must consider the soul as separate from our minds and bodies, yet we must also consider the world as a whole, in which we are a part of everything in it. When I consider this, I find myself evolving a clearer vision of the world and my place in it as a leader and the sacrifices I am willing to make within it.
I like to think of myself as being empathetic towards others and their experiences in this sometimes tragic and absurd world. But I admit I tend to be rather picky when it comes to people I allow into my personal life. At times, I've been so focused on my academic goals of becoming a leader that I have neglected spending time with those I love. My motto has been to succeed at any cost. Hence, time becomes a huge factor and I become stuck between academic achievements, and being compassionate towards those I care about. My dilemma then becomes a real-world game of time management and sacrifice, which usually means sacrificing time spent with others in favor of spending time on my ultimate goal of becoming a lawyer. Being under such pressure often results in lack of communication, such as filtration of thoughts or sentiments expressed by someone I'm supposed to be listening to. Thus, I had previously made it a policy not to get overly involved or too close to anyone. But that recently changed when I met Amanda.
This Friday, I was on my way to lunch with the young lady who recently won my heart. As I was leaving, I received a phone call. My first thought when I heard the voice from Brackenridge Hospital was to hang up on the bill collector. But my intuition told me I should listen this time. The voice, of whose name I cannot recall, went on that Amanda had been in a car wreck and was Star-flighted into the trauma center. She stated Amanda was stable, yet they were still working on her to make sure there was no internal damage. As I went into the emergency room prepared for a gruesome scene, I was not prepared for the kind of emotions I felt when I saw the magnitude of her injuries and pain. There was fresh blood coming from her nose and lips, a bruise over her eye, a piece of her car's dash embedded in her knee. Her ankle was fractured and compressed into her foot, resulting in severe damage to her tendons. Her sobs of agony crushed my heart. I was looking at a miracle that could have just as easily been a tragedy. In spite of all circumstances, including a six car pile up and a head on collision, she was alive. As she recalled her sensations and memories associated with the noises and confusion which came from the "jaws of life", I suddenly realized the preciousness of life. She recalled fading in and out of consciousness and the fear she felt as the helicopter lifted her away to the trauma center. My vision, as a leader, was to be compassionate and be there for her selflessly around the clock as she wanted. And I did my best to oblige while putting her interests above mine.
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[1]Photo from Facebook
[2] Larry Temple, BBA '57; President, ex-students association 1997-1998. Source: http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~bump/379N/frameset.html
[3] Know Thyself (course anthology), p 70
[4] Carroll, Lewis. The Annotated Alice: The Definitive Edition. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc, 2000. 181
[5] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJpuJWxwJaU&feature=related
[6] Photo: Myself
[7]http://www.sivanandadlshq.org/teachings/ahimsa.htm
[8]Richard Posner, The Problems of Jurisprudence 460-69 (1990). Copyright 1990 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College.
[9]Photo: Myself
It wearies me; you say it wearies you;
But how I caught it, found it, or came by it,
What stuff 'tis made of, where it is born,
I am to learn;
And such a want-wit sadness makes of me,
[3]
What I have learned at the University of Texas, thus far, has served my leadership vision well. Aside from cultural diversity, the most important thing I've learned at UT is how to think outside of mere deductive reasoning and how to use methods of thinking within the realms of social science, philosophy and humanities. Not that these fields of study don't involve logic, but there is more to arriving at a clear understanding of "truth" than applying simple logic. As Tweedledee says in Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, "If it [truth] was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic."[4] Logic only gets us so far. To truly understand life's complexities, we must learn compassion and respect for others views. We must consider the soul as separate from our minds and bodies, yet we must also consider the world as a whole, in which we are a part of everything in it. When I consider this, I find myself evolving a clearer vision of the world and my place in it as a leader and the sacrifices I am willing to make within it.
[5] Sacrifice--by Elton John
I like to think of myself as being empathetic towards others and their experiences in this sometimes tragic and absurd world. But I admit I tend to be rather picky when it comes to people I allow into my personal life. At times, I've been so focused on my academic goals of becoming a leader that I have neglected spending time with those I love. My motto has been to succeed at any cost. Hence, time becomes a huge factor and I become stuck between academic achievements, and being compassionate towards those I care about. My dilemma then becomes a real-world game of time management and sacrifice, which usually means sacrificing time spent with others in favor of spending time on my ultimate goal of becoming a lawyer. Being under such pressure often results in lack of communication, such as filtration of thoughts or sentiments expressed by someone I'm supposed to be listening to. Thus, I had previously made it a policy not to get overly involved or too close to anyone. But that recently changed when I met Amanda.
This Friday, I was on my way to lunch with the young lady who recently won my heart. As I was leaving, I received a phone call. My first thought when I heard the voice from Brackenridge Hospital was to hang up on the bill collector. But my intuition told me I should listen this time. The voice, of whose name I cannot recall, went on that Amanda had been in a car wreck and was Star-flighted into the trauma center. She stated Amanda was stable, yet they were still working on her to make sure there was no internal damage. As I went into the emergency room prepared for a gruesome scene, I was not prepared for the kind of emotions I felt when I saw the magnitude of her injuries and pain. There was fresh blood coming from her nose and lips, a bruise over her eye, a piece of her car's dash embedded in her knee. Her ankle was fractured and compressed into her foot, resulting in severe damage to her tendons. Her sobs of agony crushed my heart. I was looking at a miracle that could have just as easily been a tragedy. In spite of all circumstances, including a six car pile up and a head on collision, she was alive. As she recalled her sensations and memories associated with the noises and confusion which came from the "jaws of life", I suddenly realized the preciousness of life. She recalled fading in and out of consciousness and the fear she felt as the helicopter lifted her away to the trauma center. My vision, as a leader, was to be compassionate and be there for her selflessly around the clock as she wanted. And I did my best to oblige while putting her interests above mine.
[6]
Sacrifice, compassion and ahimsa
My dilemma then became, there was no dilemma. My P2 paper was due, yet someone I cared about was badly hurt and wanted me by her side. At this point, I began to understand the true meaning of my leadership vision. My vision consists of compassion, empathy and Ahimsa. I did not worry about my scholastic duties. I dared to trust my intuition that my compassionate professor would understand. So I waited until the due date, which also coincided with Amanda's release from the hospital, to send a facebook message citing course material that supported my reasoning for having not focused on completing my P2. I referenced the Ahimsa readings in the course anthology, "To fail to relieve another's pain, or even neglect to go to that person in distress is a sort of Himsa."[7]Of course, my professor granted an extension for my assignment. This example of compassion from an educational leader also embraces my leadership vision. It would have been easy to deny my proposition. An ordinary professor might say, "The University of Texas is a fine institution and it would cease to be if deadlines weren't followed by the rule book". After all, the course schedule states P2 is due on March 31st before midnight. The language couldn't be clearer.
When I envision becoming a lawyer and tackling the language of the law, I consider what kind of lawyer I want to be. If I have a client who is facing a lot of time for some terrible crime, my job would be to represent him or her with as much compassion and sympathy as possible--no matter what their factual or financial situation may be. Under our system, one is entitled to a fair trial on equal grounds. But it doesn't take a genius to tell us that's not always the case and a lot of people are wrongly convicted of crime for lack of finances, which smacks the face of justice. Our legal system lacks compassion and sympathy towards minorities and people of low socio-economic status. The logic is, if they commit a crime, they get what they paid for from the legal system--nothing.
But I argue society can no longer afford this sort of prejudicial and mechanical reasoning. According to the pragmatist law theory of Richard Posner we should look at law,
without illusions, with a full awareness of the limitations of human reason, with a sense of the "localness" of human knowledge, the difficulty of translations between cultures, the unattainability of "truth," the consequent importance of keeping diverse paths of inquiry open, the dependence of inquiry on culture and social institutions, and above all the insistence that social thought and action be evaluated as instruments to human goals rather than as ends in themselves. [8]
Leadership is not only the ability to 'say what you mean and mean what you say', it is also the capacity to practice what you teach and teach what you practice. That is, to apply all arts of thinking and not just the mechanical application of deductive logic. In my quest to manage time effectively, I have become more aware of the culturally rich world around me, and I have become comfortable with the sacrifices I make as 'instruments to human goals', rather than as ends themselves. Through this perspective, I've attained a tremendous amount of knowledge from a class I initially signed up for because of pick-a-prof.com's favorable grade distribution. I will take what I've learned from E 379 with me into the future, using my vision of compassion and sacrifice to become the best attorney I can be.
I realize compassion and justice aren't quite the same thing. But my point is that compassion can bring about what's fair if we apply it to our daily lives. Compassion creates a more harmonious world where we strive to make every choice be the best one it can be for the world in which we live. Compassion (to suffer with) means sacrifice. To sacrifice for others is to be a leader. Making choices that benefit someone else over myself is a key component to my vision of leadership. To sacrifice is to make time for someone who has literally made time for me, even if it means turning in my P2 a bit late.
Amanda making "Time"
[9]
[1]Photo from Facebook
[2] Larry Temple, BBA '57; President, ex-students association 1997-1998. Source: http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~bump/379N/frameset.html
[3] Know Thyself (course anthology), p 70
[4] Carroll, Lewis. The Annotated Alice: The Definitive Edition. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc, 2000. 181
[5] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJpuJWxwJaU&feature=related
[6] Photo: Myself
[7]http://www.sivanandadlshq.org/teachings/ahimsa.htm
[8]Richard Posner, The Problems of Jurisprudence 460-69 (1990). Copyright 1990 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College.
[9]Photo: Myself
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