I think of my education as an opportunity to prepare for the real world. Practically speaking, we are in the real world, therefore, what is the real purpose? As my elder’s would say, “you must understand were you been to know where you are going”, and that’s concept of inner work, to determine what path to travel in life. Some people believe their path is already laid out, you just have to see it. While others think to do what you can now and somehow it all come together. My thoughts are that every person in the world has a purpose and question “Will they every find it or not”?
My thoughts expressed above has once changed, similar to literature on the purpose of higher education. Such occurrences or experiences have caused me to pause and evaluate ways to align with how I perceive myself. Schultz (2008) reflected in her research the purpose of higher education is to change one’s capital, as in chains their physical, economic, financial, social, cultural, human and/or intellectual capital (p. 69). Schultz (2008) touched on literature acknowledging aim of colleges, including Harvard (1636), William and Mary (1693), and Yale (1701) was originally to educate the clergy. Columbia University's objectives in 1754 included the study of nature in relation to God, while Cambridge University was originally created to train clerks to serve the King of England (p. 68). When Bill George elaborated on what kind of inner work is needed for authentic leaders, I felt he was generally speaking of gaining self-awareness that I found interesting to react by saying “we all start somewhere, and usually it starts with our societal interactions”.
I have read in popular media that the most influential childhood ages are between 3-7 years old. According to Piaget's theory of cognitive development, at the pre-operational stage (2-7), children gain knowledge through imaginary play (Ghazi, Khan, Shahzada, & Ullah. 2014, p. 71).. They try to use their senses and acquire opinion of other people (Ghazi et. al, 2014, p. 71), in addition to objective morality where the child’s sense of right and wrong (and the amount of guilt that comes with it) is determined by the amount of damage that has been done, not the intent or the motivation behind the action (Hurley, n.d, para. 5).
At ages 2-7, we start going down a path to become more self-aware but not ready to internalize the moral perspective. I learned at an early age, its not always good to follow the crowd. I almost got caught up enjoying something only because my friends enjoyed it. Every year, the 4th graders put on the Nutcracker, a annual even. Children are selected to be dance performers such as like bakers, arabian dancers, candy canes, sugar plum fairies etc. I was picked to be an arabian dancer like my friends, putting work into the moves, only to find out after a few rehearsals, they just wanted the role because of the outfits. I decided from then on any decisions I make to be committed to the entire role, not just a piece of it. I continued to grow, still following some of my friends but learning to internally process the reason for my participation, rather I ended up doing it or not.
As I grew, I learned to communicate outwardly, leaning on my intuition, because during a high school field trip, following my peers off the bus in a line, I felt a sudden urge to stop, and when I did a bus moved right in front of me. I thought for a second, wow that could have gone differently as I happened to be moving from behind my bus view mirror before stopping. The teacher at the time was caught up in a conversation not looking my way, therefore, I was on my own. Just like an authentic leader, attributes and components focus on self awareness, self-efficacy. I’m a fan of borrowed experiences and what I mean by that is, I can take someones word about a situation to assess my decision without a physical experience. Borrowed experiences to me is honest feedback.
I believe honest feedback can come from close family, friends or strangers. I rather feedback from a close family and friends because they know you longer, but I have noticed that I can tell a strange more, because you don’t have worry about them perceiving you differently being you just met them. Usually I exchange numbers with a few strangers depending on the conversation but as soon as we converse a few times after, then I don’t hear from them anymore.
I typically recall stories with strangers that are significant because of shared experiences with family I would bring them up in a story, as if we do know each other. When I express too much I offer some relational transparency, expressing real motives.
Furthermore, I'm becoming more self-aware to be more authentic, exhibiting attributes of an authentic leader. It’s natural for me to gravitate to other leadership approaches but I feel more connected at this stage of my life to be more authentic, understanding my next steps in this life journey. I have practiced approaches such as mediating to incorporate the inner work of internalizing moral perspective, balanced processing and self-awareness to enhanced my leadership abilities to be more transparent. Putting my inner work as a priority is easily said then done. It’s important to be consistent, and I lack the consistency at times because it’s encouraged in our society to show the work, rather than the inner work.
Ghazi, S. R., Khan, U. A., Shahzada, G., & Ullah, K. (2014). Formal operational stage of piaget's cognitive development theory: An implication in learning mathematics. Journal of Educational Research, 17(2), 71-84. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/docview/1786828918?accountid=27203
Hurley, A. (n.d.). Cognitive Development: Overview - Saylor. Retrieved September 25, 2016, from http://www.saylor.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/psych406-5.3.pdf
Schultz, J. L. (2008). Purpose of college: Integrative literature review. Research & Teaching in Developmental Education, 24(2), 68-76. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/docview/217770583?accountid=27203
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