The philosophy of the wise and free mind, the disciplined spirit, and the world made whole by both.
This is Rational Virtuism:
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Making Decisions is the Essence of Leadership
““When you come right down to it, leadership is, of course, being exerted all the time in the capacity of boosting morale, confidence and all that, but leadership is most noticeable when tough decisions finally have to be made. This is the time when you get conflicting advice and urgent advice of every kind. Now this is the kind of leadership that’s often concealed from the public.… But making decisions is of the essence in leadership—that is, handling large problems whether or not you are at war or at peace. When you make these decisions it is not done with any reaching for the dramatic. It is almost everyday and commonplace. You reach a conclusion based upon the facts as you see them, the evaluations of the several factors as you see them, the relationship of one fact to another, and, above all, your convictions as to the capacity of different individuals to fit into these different places. You come to a decision after you’ve taken all these things into consideration. Then you decide and say, ‘That’s what we’ll do.’” General Dwight D. Eisenhower
— American Generalship: Character Is Everything: The Art of Command by Edgar Puryear
Adaptive Situational Awareness
“A leader is only as effective as their capability to recognize and understand their surroundings, whether it is a crisis, a team, or a project. I always begin with promoting adaptive situational awareness, meaning a leader has to have systems that provide them accurate and timely information, is accepting of bad news, and is willing to pivot in light of changing circumstances. In so many cases in homeland security or crisis management, it is the failure to capture fully the magnitude or the situation that leads to consequences that could have been avoided.” Juliette Kayyem, Senior Belfer Lecturer in International Security at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government,
Self-Leadership
Without mature self-leadership competencies, leaders face an increasingly unsustainable environment. The stress of growing job complexity, difficult decisions, limited time, information overload, the high stakes of negative consequences (this list goes on for a while) combined with the attention required to maintain family, friends, church, hobbies (this list also goes on) can be impossible to manage. UNLESS you understand that self-leadership comes before all other levels of leadership (direct-, organizational-, strategic-) and have ingrained the self-leadership disciplines you need to sustain the leadership environment.
Self-Leadership is a continual cognitive discipline that strengthens the spiritual core and builds mental, physical, and emotional wellness to maximize performance and happiness* to reach personal and organizational objectives.
*The Stoics defined happiness (eudaimonia) more deeply as “flourishing” and “living in agreement with your purpose (nature).” Contrast with “hapless”
It’s about what you show them
[Your subordinates] will take queue from you: You show loyalty they learn loyalty; you show them it’s about the work it will be about the work; you show them some other kind of game then that’s the game they’ll play….there will come a day when you will have to decide if it’s about you or about the work. Lieutenant Daniels, The Wire