Clint Gault's Reflections

What? What is holding you back from making that next major step in life? Is it the fear of failure or just a fear of the unknown of the future? Chapter one of Manifesto for a moral revolution by Jacqueline Novogratz describes purpose in our lives and how we can utilize found purpose to start something that we may not know what comes next. To take that leap of faith into the unknown to build a new extension of yourself is one of bravery but also of necessity if you are to become a more well-rounded individual and leader. Gandhi once said that "the future depends on what we do in the present", so if we focus on the present the future becomes more attainable. So What? Novogratz says that "When we look back on our lives, we construct sense-making narratives of who we are and how we’ve chosen to spend our time. But when we look forward, the path ahead can feel overwhelmingly elusive." (Novogratz, 2020) This means we are always worried about the future but when the future...

 What?     How can leaders change the perspectives of groups of team members of different backgrounds to avoid tension and conflict? When groups of individuals are comprised of different social identity groups there can be both beneficial and detrimental effects on the overall group in terms of performance. When groups within an organization are divided based on groups of different attributes such as race, nationality, or gender that can be described as an organizational faultline. Organizational faultlines can lead to "us vs. team" ideals which create barriers to creativity and frequent, quality communication. Us vs. them distinctions can also cause less commitment to the task with the overall group in favor of a commitment to one's sub-group. So What? As a leader, it is important to manage and direct a group to become efficient and effective in reaching a common goal or objective. When leaders are capable of managing interpersonal processes and are aware of social ident...

 What? Case One of Leading across Differences by Kelly Hannum describes a situation between a black female staff worker/student (Maria) and a white student (Mark) at a South African University in which there was an argument/confrontation between the two that led to the firing of Maria. A year later the dean tells one of her friends that he made a mistake in firing her and wished to apologize, presuming he either didn't want to fire her or realized it was the wrong thing to do at the moment. So What? This story revolves around social identity in which they deal with bias, stereotyping, and categorization of a group of people that leads to unfair treatment of others. Social identity is defined by Henry Tajfel as "the individual's knowledge that he belongs to a certain social group together with some emotional and value significance to him of this group membership." (Tajfel, 1972). Social identity provides the basis for understanding how a particular group might act or r...