Week 9: Eagle Focus
Expand Your View
It would be great if leading well was as simple as knowing your personality type and establishing relationships. Unfortunately, getting to know yourself (your personality) as you did in the first two sessions is only the beginning.
Effective leaders value the diversity of personalities that exist around them and seek to understand each one. They know that understanding those with whom they live and work with is the first step toward making a difference in those they love, live with, and lead.
When thinking about our personalities, there are two myths that can make it difficult to lead. Remember, a myth is a widely held but false belief or idea (Source: Oxford Languages).
The Two Myths Are:
Myth One: Everyone views the world from the same perspective that I do.
Myth Two: Others view me the same way I view myself.
In our upcoming session, we will be taking a closer look at Myth One: Everyone views the world from the same perspective that I do. It is important to understand that we each have our own unique perspective of our environment and situations that occur around us.
Example
Here is an example of how a difference in perspective can challenge a leader:
Let’s compare a Leading Lion with a Tranquil Turtle. The Lion’s view on what it takes to display effective leadership involves assertiveness that borders on being aggressive at times. The Turtle holds the opposite perspective of successful leadership. He or she attempts to provide a peaceful environment that borders on being overly passive at times.
The first step in developing long-lasting, healthy relationships is to gain an awareness that everyone has a unique perspective or view of people, situations, problems, and leadership.
As we prepare for this discussion for the next two sessions, please read the Make A Difference book, chapters two through five.
Remember to use your Eagle Teams Digital Notebook to document your thoughts and insights.
