Unit 2 Understanding Your Life Story as a Journey to Leadership
Overview
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In this second unit, we take a deeper look at the significance of our lives. We examine some of the key events in our lives and consider how they have shaped us into who we are today. This is an important step in our journey to self-awareness.
As humans, we all have fears, worries, and angst. We are prone to slip up, make mistakes, and we may experience a lapse in judgement or behaviour from time to time. What happens when we lose our way, particularly as leaders? Do our past mistakes define our lives or can we use these as opportunities to grow and develop?
We are shaped by our experiences, which can include challenges, tragedy, and trauma. While difficult, these events and experiences can be transformative. We call these crucibles. There is great value in reflecting on past crucibles to discern their meaning and the impact they have had on us.
Topics
This unit is divided into the following topics:
- Is my life significant?
- Reframing your life story
- Losing your way
- Crucibles
Learning Outcomes
When you have completed this unit, you should be able to:
- Analyze the impact of your life story on your leadership journey
- Reframe key life events as personal growth and leadership development opportunities
- Analyze how leaders can lose their way and evaluate the impact this has on others
- Explain the concept of crucibles
- Examine the importance of communicating concisely and clearly as a leader
Activity Checklist
Here is a checklist of learning activities you will benefit from in completing this unit. You may find it useful for planning your work.
Learning Activities
- Reflection: Is My Life Significant (30 minutes)
- Watch How to Live a Life of Significance
- Watch The Butterfly Effect: How Your Life Matters
- Respond to the reflection prompts in your learning journal
- Watch How to Live a Life of Significance
- Reframing Your Own Story (60 minutes)
- Watch The Story of Your Life
- Interview a family member or close friend
- Reflect on the learning journal prompts
- Watch The Story of Your Life
- Unit Readings (90 minutes)
- Read True North, Chapter 3
- Reflect on the case study questions: Mark Zuckerberg: Leading Without a Moral Compass
- Read True North, Chapter 3
- Goals and Fears (30 minutes)
- Consider the Goals and Fears table
- Reflect on the prompts and questions and record your thoughts in your learning journal
- Consider the Goals and Fears table
- Unit Readings and Reflections (45 minutes)
- Read True North, Chapter 2
- Respond to the reflection prompts in your learning journal
- Create a word cloud with the key words and ideas from your reading and reflections
- Reflect on your own crucibles in your learning journal
- Read True North, Chapter 2
Assessment
In this course you demonstrate your understanding of the course learning outcomes in various ways. Please see the Assessment section in Moodle for assignment details and due dates.
2.1 Is My Life Significant?
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In Unit 1, you prepared a chronological record that documented your experiences. All of these experiences (the good and the bad) make up your life story. In this unit, you will reflect on your life story, the significance of your life, and how your life events have shaped you into who you are today. These reflections will help you come to a deeper sense of self-awareness—an important step in your leadership journey.
There have been times in my life that I’ve thought “maybe I don’t matter that much”. I haven’t won big, splashy awards and I’m not the CEO of a big company. But I’ve come to realize, that as a person created in God’s image, my life IS significant. I do matter and I do have a purpose, established by God himself. That’s a pretty amazing feeling!
How do we measure significance? We could measure significance by fame or wealth, though most of us won’t achieve great levels of either. Perhaps a more realistic and meaningful measure of significance is belonging and purpose (we’ll talk more about purpose in Unit 7). A sense of belonging comes from relationships defined by mutual care. When people feel valued by others, they rate their lives as more meaningful. Purpose comes in all shapes and sizes. One person’s purpose may be to discover a cure for cancer or eradicating poverty, while another person’s purpose might be more local—to be a good parent, colleague, or friend.
Think about some of the people that Jesus spent time with during his life on earth… Jesus tended to associate with the average, everyday person. In fact, he tended to associate mostly with those that no one else would associate with (beggars, sinners, prostitutes, trouble-makers, thieves, and lepers). Was Jesus’s life significant? You bet it was!
One of the things that impacts me most from the Bible is that God comforts us so that we can comfort others.
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.
– 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 (New International Version)
Activity: Reflection: Is my life significant?
Watch the following videos:
Watch: How to Live a Life of Significance
Watch: The Butterfly Effect: How Your Life Matters
Respond to the following prompts in your learning journal:
- How do you measure life significance? Why is it important for leaders to consider this question?
- Do you think the way you measure significance aligns with how others in your social network measure the significance of their lives? In what ways are they similar? In what ways are they different?
- Do you think it’s important for us to think about the significance of our lives? Why or why not?
- Where do you find inspiration to lead in your own life story?
Note that these learning activities are ungraded, but are designed to help you succeed in your assessments in this course.
2.2 Reframing Your Life Story
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“To be a person is to have a story to tell.”
– Isak Dinesen
Stories matter. Storytelling is central to human existence and common to every known culture. People connect through stories.
In Unit 1, you created your chronological record. This is central to your life story because it captures all of your major milestones, events, and experiences to date. Together, these have shaped you into who you are today. But have you taken the time to really reflect and think about how your experiences have shaped you?
Our reality is shaped by the stories we create about our lives. Sometimes we overlook the parts of our life stories that are difficult or painful. As you re-examine your story, you may re-discover neglected (yet important) parts of your life story. In doing so, you might see yourself in a different light and discover strengths and abilities you didn’t know you had!
Activity: Reframing Your Own Story
- Interview a family member, close friend, or mentor about a key life event that shaped their life. Ask them to explain the significance of the event and how it shaped them into who they are today. Ask them if they would go back and change the situation if they could.
Reflect on the following learning journal prompts:
- What did you learn about yourself through the creation of your chronological record?
- Choose 2-4 key life events or career developments. How have these events shaped you, your choices, or your values?
- What is the impact of your life story on your leadership?
- What is the significance of reframing certain parts of our life story?
- Why is it important to communicate our life story to others? How can sharing stories help us understand each other better?
2.3 Losing Your Way
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Leaders who lose their way are not necessarily bad people. Few people go into leadership roles to cheat or do bad things, yet we all have the capacity for actions we deeply regret unless we stay grounded (George, 2011). All leaders are prone to losing their way at one point or another. It is normal to want rewards and acceptance from others. However, understanding how our strengths might become weaknesses is a powerful antidote to losing our way.
Five common, recognizable patterns of destructive behaviours that can tempt developing leaders include:
- Being an imposter
- Rationalizing
- Glory seeking
- Playing the loner
- Being a shooting star
We can often see these traits in others, though the challenge is to recognize them in ourselves.
It’s important to remember that being an authentic leader is not about being perfect; and perfectionism is not the same as striving for excellence or self-improvement. Striving for excellence and self-improvement are healthy goals that can lead to personal growth.
Losing our way is not necessarily fatal—learning from our imperfections determines whether we are in fact losing or finding our way.
Activity: Unit Readings and Case Study
- Read True North, Chapter 3
After reading Mark Zuckerberg: Leading Without a Moral Compass in True North (Chapter 3, pp. 60-62), consider the following questions and record your responses and thoughts in your learning journal.
- What were some of Zuckerberg’s strengths?
- What were some of Zuckerberg’s weaknesses?
- What do you think might have caused Zuckerberg to lose sight of his True North?
- What are some of the impacts of Zuckerberg’s decisions and leadership?
Activity: Goals and Fears (30 minutes)
The table below illustrates some common goals and associated fears that young leaders often face:
Healthy Versus Unhealthy Responses to Normal Goals and Fears
| Normal Goal | Natural Fear | Destructive Response | Healthy Response |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wanting respect and rewards from authority | Making mistakes and having one’s lack of skill or knowledge exposed | Imposter (work on developing your self-awareness) | Self-authored leader |
| Wanting things to go well | Getting blamed and suffering consequences | Rationalizer (work on living your values) | Straight shooter |
| Enjoying shared successes | Not being rewarded enough | Glory seeker (work on finding your sweet spot) | “We”-focused leader |
| Thriving in interdependent relationships | Becoming dependent on others | Loner (work on building your support team) | Team leader |
| Wanting to capitalize on successes for advancement | Falling behind others | Shooting star (work on integrating your life) | Rising star |
(Craig, George & Snook, 2015)
Reflect on the following prompts and questions and record your thoughts in your learning journal:
- Think about an experience where you had a goal similar to the normal goals listed in the table above. What fears did you experience?
- What was your response? Is there anything you would change in your response that might have changed the outcome?
- How might the destructive responses listed below contribute to a leader losing their way?
- In what ways might the healthy responses listed contribute to a leader’s growth and development?
Questions to Consider
After completing the activities above, consider the following questions:
- How can leaders lose their way? What is the impact on others?
- Is it possible for leaders to get back on track after they’ve lost their way?
- What might need to happen in order for leaders to find their True North after losing their way?
References
- Craig, N., George, B., & Snook, S. (2015). The discover your true north fieldbook. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
- George, B. (2011, June 6). Why leaders lose their way. Harvard Business School.
2.4 Crucibles
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“The crucible is an essential element in the process of becoming a leader.”
– Warren Bennis
A crucible is a transformative experience through which an individual comes to a new or altered sense of identity. Through it, they gain a clearer vision of who they are, the role they play, and their place in the world (Bennis & Thomas, 2002).
Going through a crucible may leave you feeling battered and bruised, like a boat washed up on the shore after a storm. While often painful, crucibles don’t necessarily have to be negative events. Any event or period of your life that forces deep self-reflection, and causes you to question your more basic assumptions, values, and worldview, has the potential to qualify as a crucible.
Identifying, reflecting, and writing about your crucibles is an important process in discovering your True North. Good leaders understand that the way they respond to life’s crucibles can help them grow and develop.
The words in the word cloud below can describe one’s crucible. What story do they tell?
Figure 1: Word Cloud on key points about crucibles
God tells us explicitly in John 16:33 that:
“In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Wow this really puts things into perspective! We will have trouble. We will face hard times. But it’s what we do with these hard times that matters.
Activity: Unit Readings and Reflections (45 minutes)
- Read True North, Chapter 2 (Crucibles). As you are reading this chapter, jot down the key words and points about crucibles and respond to these reflection prompts in your learning journal:
- What is a crucible?
- What can crucibles do to us?
- What can help us through a crucible?
- What are some positive outcomes of crucibles?
- Create a word cloud with the key words or ideas from your reading and your reflections with WordItOut.
“A word cloud is an image made of words that together resemble a cloudy shape. The size of a word shows how important it is e.g. how often it appears in a text — its frequency. People typically use word clouds to easily produce a summary of large documents (reports, speeches), to create art on a topic (gifts, displays) or to visualise data (tables, surveys)” (WordItOut, n.d.)
See sample word cloud above.
Reflect on your own crucibles by responding to the following prompts in your learning journal:
- List three to five potential crucibles from your own life.
- What lessons did you take away from these experiences?
- What did you learn about yourself?
- What resources did you call upon to help get you through your crucibles?
- How have these experiences shaped you and your views about the world?
- How do you tend to respond to adversity?
References
- Bennis, W. & Thomas, R. (2002, September). Crucibles of Leadership.Harvard Business Review.
- WordItOut. (n.d.) About word clouds
Unit Summary
In this unit, you learned about the significance of your life story on your leadership. You had an opportunity to examine and reframe some of the key events in your own life and consider how these events have shaped you into who you are today.
You read about leaders who had lost their way and how they grew from these experiences. We now know that our past mistakes, while part of our life story, do not define our lives. We can actually use these experiences to grow and develop in our leadership.
Crucibles, which can include challenges, tragedy, and trauma, can be transformative. It is important to reflect on these experiences in order to discern their meaning and recognise the impact they have had on who we are today.
In Unit 3, we will introduce the concept of authentic leadership, focussing specifically on self-awareness and self-leadership.
Checking your Learning
Before you move on to the next unit, you may want to check to make sure that you are able to:
- Analyze the impact of your life story on your leadership journey
- Reframe key life events as personal growth and leadership development opportunities
- Analyze how leaders can lose their way and evaluate the impact this has on others
- Explain the concept of crucibles
- Examine the importance of communicating concisely and clearly as a leader