June 8, 2011 “A true self can not deceive itself” -Rorty

 Course Administration ◦ Syllabus Change

Let’s Self-Discover!

 address – I will be using your UTA address so please activate or check it.  Keep track of your own points  Don’t procrastinate on reading  Assessments are all due Friday, January 28 th Don’t forget!  Don’t procrastinate about the LAP.

The Arbinger Institute. (2002). Leadership and self-deception. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.. “I found myself speechless. How could I know I had a problem if I didn’t even what the problem was?” p. 7

To be reflective To be all about you

EMOTIONS THOUGHTS BELIEF SYSTEMS What people see What you feel What you think Generated from your value system

Young Red-necked Wallaby-allows it to blend in with its environment.

 Distraction  Camouflage  Physical deception through the alterations of appearances  Dissimulation (concealing truth, half-truths)  Slight of hand  Propaganda  Self-deception cealment. There is also

To lie to oneself, to hold beliefs outside of awareness. -Sackeim (1983)

-Robert Trivers

What’s wrong with self-deception?

DECEPTIONSELF-DECEPTION  Can be harmful to people  Has a disregard for the truth  Generally has a tone of manipulation  Leaves others feeling betrayed  Undermines another’s agency.  Can be harmful to people  Has a disregard for the truth  Involves the manipulation of oneself  Undermines one’s agency  Can become habitual with a need to be perpetuated – a need to see oneself despite the evidence

The remaining columns of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, Greece “Know Thyself” Was inscribed on the forecourt of the Temple of Apollo circa de 4 th century BC KNOW THYSELF …. (Bennis, 1989)

 It is the most difficult task any of us faces, it stay in a state of knowing ourselves.  To understand both our strengths and weaknesses.  To know what we want to do and why we want to do it.  The leader never lies to himself, especially about himself, he knows his flaws as well as his assets and deals with them directly.  Lack of awareness, whether through neglect or arrogance is a major contributor to career derailment.  -McCall, 1998, & Bennis, 1989

-Pienaar, (2009) Self deception and self awareness: making the connection

MAKING THE CONNECTION

“the need to know and the fear of knowing” -Abraham Maslow (1968)

 Currently there are well over 15,000 published articles and books on leadership.  Focus is on skills, characteristics and behaviors of successful and effective leaders.  There are fewer resources identifying and describing ineffective leadership practices.  Hogan, 2001, according to their research, believe that between 50-75% of leaders are not performing well, they are ineffective. Burke, 2006

 Blakeley, 2007, it is more important to investigate the blind spots of leaders and those in authority as it will normally have more impact.  The higher the position, the more power a person wields the more significant and the blind spot(s) will have over the people involved and on the organization.

 “Awareness should not be confused with introspection or insight; rather, ‘at its best, awareness is a continuous means for keeping up to date with one’s self…It is always there, like an underground stream, ready to be tapped into when needed, a refreshing and revitalizing experience’ “ (Polster & Polster, 1973, pp ).

 Studies have been conducted (Greenwald, 1980, Alicke, 1985, Zuckerman, 1979, Munro, 2009) that indicate people generally over-estimate their standing on most positive characteristics and engage in self-serving attributional thinking.  When information threatens people’s positive views of themselves, they will seek to ignore, discredit or minimize the significance of the threatening information (Munro, 2009).

 GET INTO GROUPS OF 4 TO 5  EACH PERSON SHARE 2 THINGS FROM YOUR ASSIGNMENT THAT YOU WOULD LIKE.  ANY SURPRISES FROM YOUR ASSIGNMENT?