Transcript Self Awareness

June 8, 2011
“A true self can not deceive itself”
-Rorty
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Course Administration
◦ Syllabus Change
Let’s Self-Discover!
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Email 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 28th
Don’t forget!
Don’t procrastinate about the LAP.
“I found myself speechless. How could I know I
had a problem if I didn’t even what the problem
was?” p. 7
The Arbinger Institute. (2002). Leadership and self-deception.
San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc..
To be reflective
To be all about you
What people
see
What you feel
EMOTIONS
What you think
THOUGHTS
Generated from
your value system
BELIEF SYSTEMS
Young Red-necked Wallaby-allows
it to blend in with its environment.
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Distraction
Camouflage
Physical deception through the alterations of
appearances
Dissimulation (concealing truth, half-truths)
Slight of hand
Propaganda
Self-deception cealment. There is also
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deception
To lie to oneself, to hold beliefs outside of awareness.
-Sackeim (1983)
-Robert Trivers
What’s wrong with self-deception?
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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.
DECEPTION
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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
SELF-DECEPTION
KNOW THYSELF …. (Bennis, 1989)
“Know Thyself”
Was inscribed on the
forecourt of the Temple
of Apollo circa de 4th
century BC
The remaining columns of the Temple of Apollo
at Delphi, Greece
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Columns_of_the_Temple_of_Apollo_at_Delphi,_Greece.jpeg
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It is the most difficult task any of us faces, it stay in a
state of knowing ourselves.
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To understand both our strengths and weaknesses.
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To know what we want to do and why we want to do
it.
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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)
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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
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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.
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“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. 211-212).
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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).
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GET INTO GROUPS OF 4 TO 5
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EACH PERSON SHARE 2 THINGS
FROM YOUR ASSIGNMENT THAT
YOU WOULD LIKE.
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ANY SURPRISES FROM YOUR
ASSIGNMENT?