tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-178035062024-03-19T01:48:08.725-07:00Pursuing Leadership by DennyDenny Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13976548371874726977noreply@blogger.comBlogger451125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17803506.post-23191980673323672842024-02-02T12:05:00.000-08:002024-02-02T12:34:11.132-08:00Irwin - The Alhambra<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdZP5F_bQ1yulFj0H3lRNGLwZAeVgkooEfX3dLn3a6DFBYztqQ7kA14c4pAOVjxfQrvruGMfYt6S99IHUPAXgWxIce97kIPTjrzvlcsS-IACtgNLGNWFqUBkCNnBJp1smQj5A6kHKe5FdbS0e0i1q_px3L0hbsqXXDDpEZP04sdLn45Q3522lz0g/s947/Irwin%20-%20Alhambra.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="947" data-original-width="600" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdZP5F_bQ1yulFj0H3lRNGLwZAeVgkooEfX3dLn3a6DFBYztqQ7kA14c4pAOVjxfQrvruGMfYt6S99IHUPAXgWxIce97kIPTjrzvlcsS-IACtgNLGNWFqUBkCNnBJp1smQj5A6kHKe5FdbS0e0i1q_px3L0hbsqXXDDpEZP04sdLn45Q3522lz0g/w127-h200/Irwin%20-%20Alhambra.jpeg" width="127" /></a></div>A great complement to <i><a href="https://pursuingleadership.blogspot.com/2024/01/menocal-ornament-of-world.html" target="_blank">Ornament of the World</a></i>, Robert Irwin's <i><a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674060333" target="_blank">The Alhambra</a> </i>(2004, 2005) delves into the history, mystery, and extraordinary artistry of one of the most significant buildings in the world. Built in the 14th century (1334-91) in the latter days of the Nasrid caliphs, the Alhambra has come to be recognized as the quintessential example of Moorish art and architecture, although the height of the Moors in Spain was during the much earlier period of the 8th to the 10th centuries. Irwin's book is actually a travel guide and is probably read by tourists preparing for a visit, but it has enough historical depth to make reading it worthwhile whether touring or simply wanting to know more about Moorish architecture.<p></p><p>The Alhambra offers perspective on ambition, decline, and remorse about what could have been. In Irwin's final pages of text he bemoans, "The Alhambra serves as an icon of exile and loss" (locator 2022). The early presence of Moors in Spain brought religious tolerance, prosperity, and stimulated art and culture distinctive in Europe but in its final years all this would vanish, all but the Alhambra.</p><p>The Alhambra palace (actually 6 palaces) is sectioned into three areas; the Mexuar for public business, the Court of the Myrtles for private administrative use, and the Court of the Lions which included private apartments for the king (Emir) and his concubines. The uses of the palaces, barracks, mosque, and small town are sometimes disputed, and the reality is that it's impossible to determine the historic use of some areas in the palace. By contrast to many historic buildings that were erected to assert authority and power, the Alhambra was more scaled to the private use and comforts of Nasrids. But historic events did take place there, including a visit by Christopher Columbus to Ferdinand and Isabella years after Christians defeated the Moors. Columbus, with his Jewish Arabic-speaking interpreter by his side, appealed for resources to sail to the east by going west on his 1492 expedition. Why an Arabic-speaking Jew? Because Columbus assumed that those he would encounter in the east would speak Arabic. The preservation, and subsequent renovation, of the Alhambra was as much a victory statement of Reconquista as it was a commitment to great architecture.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIK-GU8kDNruLdCfv95-gfOxlB1gxSIsRSJiQwx1AcN8kE0oVMkClo5FkHk8lq3kTx03AEwymsPBiSTAtBGsT72WZSh4qVH_0z_PPeHF7uBOMabS2MnExnIDfLHoGb2XR_uL9dCC4pnMY46TDM5nQFc6V3YyPa1NDjZ625sPfhDbail0G3_4VXJA/s1024/Patio-de-los-Leones-1024x1024.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIK-GU8kDNruLdCfv95-gfOxlB1gxSIsRSJiQwx1AcN8kE0oVMkClo5FkHk8lq3kTx03AEwymsPBiSTAtBGsT72WZSh4qVH_0z_PPeHF7uBOMabS2MnExnIDfLHoGb2XR_uL9dCC4pnMY46TDM5nQFc6V3YyPa1NDjZ625sPfhDbail0G3_4VXJA/w200-h200/Patio-de-los-Leones-1024x1024.jpeg" width="200" /></a></div><p></p><p>The phrase 'La Ghalib ila Allah' ('No victor but God') is found throughout the Alhambra, displayed in fabrics as well as incorporated into the permanent decoration of walls. The pleasures of life, a veritable heaven on earth, are reflected in arresting vistas, proportion of buildings and arches, landscape, and pools and fountains. The hammams (baths) in the Alhambra are both beautiful and functional, allowing for ablution in preparation for prayer as well as for cleanliness. The Hall of the Ambassadors is the most impressive room, clearly intended as a chamber for reception of visitors, and is sheltered by a ceiling of twelve-sided stars in seven levels, reflecting the seven heavens. The Court of the Lions is a sunken garden of low plants (or "Riyad") and is considered one of the most beautiful buildings in the world. This garden and others served as extensions of the buildings, with the buildings simply framing the beauty of the gardens, which might have served as meditative spaces for Muslims to study and pray (madrassa). All the Alhambra buildings reflect a harmony of space that suggests the infusion of mathematical principles in design, although no evidence confirms such a scientific approach.</p><p>Music was also an important element of the Alhambra, with music itself being highly mathematical and proportional. The 'ud, an instrument popular today throughout the middle east with Marcel Khalifa its undisputed contemporary master, is proportioned to match the relationship of the spheres. Ibn Khaldun declared that the meaning of music "is that existence is shared by all existent things" (locator 1219) and that vocal music reflected the apex of cultural development. The predictable mathematical relationship in music are reminiscent of the symmetrical tessellation found in abstract decorations in textiles, carpets, tiles, and other adornments, with arabesques depicting leaf and tendrils and atauriques depicting vegetation such as palmette, pinecone, and palm leaves.</p><p>The perspective of the Moors, and the Alhambra their personification, for some Spaniards is that the Moors undermined their unique cultural identity. For Arabs and Muslims, the Alhambra stands for all that has been lost in the centuries after the decline of the Moors in Spain, the Ottomans in the Middle East, and persecution in far eastern places such as India. I've come to understand this through Marcel Khalifa's sculpted portrayal in the music of "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzo-yj5QOX0" target="_blank">Concerto al Andalus</a>" and in the mournful playing and singing that I previously thought was Spanish but now recognize as a blend of Spanish and Muslim/Arab cultures.<br /></p>Denny Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13976548371874726977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17803506.post-12190535209974920362024-01-08T12:58:00.000-08:002024-01-09T10:16:39.050-08:00Menocal - Ornament of the WorldIn the closing chapter of <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Ornament-World-Christians-Tolerance-Medieval/dp/0316168718" target="_blank">Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews, and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain</a> </i>(2002), author Maria Rosa Menocal commented, "Andalusian stories allow us to glimpse one long and extraordinary chapter of our history in which the three major monotheistic faiths struggled, successfully and unsuccessfully, with the question of tolerance of one another" (epilogue). Indeed, the middle of the 8th century until approximately 300 years later was a brilliant moment in time when Jews, Christians, and Muslims mingled faith with art of various sorts and created a degree of shared prosperity that was unusual for the time and even today.<div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2DOJKjSb9OQn5r9qIfUlM5yyVjh7okqc3f6nBN5RtfNzNCnTtzvJA0t40FTjLZfcoRTOsH38UjndJNRMj_JlepMP31PUyOZ3IefJLAtW-a0YRH728CKG7_oMcPdr3KrFeB2harcpI6B-cWnfcY3CRSBon4cyADG_3Nw1ny8QFVFqLHiahyphenhyphenpaRYQ/s1050/ornament_of_the_world_ta.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1050" data-original-width="1050" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2DOJKjSb9OQn5r9qIfUlM5yyVjh7okqc3f6nBN5RtfNzNCnTtzvJA0t40FTjLZfcoRTOsH38UjndJNRMj_JlepMP31PUyOZ3IefJLAtW-a0YRH728CKG7_oMcPdr3KrFeB2harcpI6B-cWnfcY3CRSBon4cyADG_3Nw1ny8QFVFqLHiahyphenhyphenpaRYQ/w200-h200/ornament_of_the_world_ta.jpeg" width="200" /></a></div>Committed to asserting control of the "House of Islam," the Abbasids murdered all but one of the Umayyad ruling family in Damascus in the year 750. The lone survivor, Abd al-Rahman, fled Syria, traveling through northern Africa, and landing in southern Spain. Exiled from his home and all that he knew, al-Rahman assembled loyalists to Islam and took Cordoba by force in 756. He then rapidly transformed Cordoba into a flourishing economy with diverse cultures and religions, embracing and benefiting all. By the 10th century, following a succession of the al-Rahman heirs, Cordoba was recognized as "the ornament of the world," from which the title of Menocal's book is taken.</div><div><br /></div>The Umayyad view of Islam embraced the dhimmi, believers in one God and adherents of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim prophetic teaching. The view mandated the protection of Jews and Christians, even though conversion to Islam was also seen as possible and desirable. In fact, the term "Mozarab" was adopted as the term for converts who embraced Islam and Arab ways of living. The Mozarab dressed like Arabs and even adopted Arabic as their language, joining in the polity of "people of the book." The Umayyad were committed to transmitting essential knowledge from generation to generation and did so by translating essential historical texts and amassing impressive libraries. Jews were employed as viziers and intellectuals, creating greater prosperity than Jews in Europe had ever achieved, largely because they embraced their Umayyad sponsors and enthusiastically embraced cultural assimilation and Arabization.<div><br /></div><div>Some of the internal chapters of <i>Ornament of the World</i> are primarily focused on literature and poetry. In these chapters, Menocal described the fluidity and fusion of languages across cultural groups with Jews and Christians speaking and writing in Arabic or dialects combining their cultural languages with Arabic and Spanish. One of the most profound examples of this fusion was for Jews whose native language expanded to transcend its previous use in religious observance, giving rise to a new period of literary and poetic expression in Hebrew.</div><div><br /></div><div>Even after the height of Islamic influence in Spain, Arab scholar Ibn Khaldun's prolific writing in mid-14th century was heavily influenced by the legacy of al-Andalus. Fleeing politically stifling Fez (Morocco), Ibn Khaldun first settled in Granada and then Seville, immediately recognized as a renowned scholar in both. His <i>Maqaddimah</i>, or "Introduction to History," contributed to a new view of history that recorded the rise, decline, and fall of great societies, a pattern that was so evident in al-Andalus. As an example, he would have seen that even the architecture of the largest Gothic cathedral in the world, built on the foundation of the former Great Mosque of Seville, was adorned with Arabic language and profuse arabesques. Observing the influence of Islamic and Arab culture must have seemed ironic as well as tragic, something historians now view as cultural appropriation of a past great Islamic society overcome by Christian domination. This domination eventually led to the Edict of Expulsion in 1492, when Jews and Muslims were forced to convert to Christianity or leave the place where they had previously tolerated each others' religions as they contributed to a golden age of knowledge and art.</div><div><br /></div><div>Menocal lauded Cervantes' story of Don Quixote, first published in 1605 but based on stories from the golden age of al-Andalus, as a masterpiece reflecting the tragedy of cultural decline. Book burning and vilification of others were symbolized in the windmills of Don Quixote's mind, depicting a time when reality could no longer be discerned from the conflagration of disinformation. The story of <i>Man of la Mancha</i> reflected the loss of an age of possibility with the Alhambra in Granada as its iconic representation, a palace so splendid, so unique in its "Stylistic openness, the capacity to look around, assimilate, and reshape promiscuously,... as a key part of the Umayyad aesthetic" (locator 3883).</div><div><br /></div><div>Why did this golden age of tolerance and creativity end so quickly? One explanation that historians have opined is that the Black Death (bubonic plague) of the Middle Ages, killing 20% of the total population, drove cultural and religious groups away from each other. Driven by fear, and the crumbling infrastructure of social mores and shared humanity, groups that had found common cause disintegrated into warring factions. Scapegoating of the "other" was central to destroying the bond of humanity and tolerance itself was characterized as traitorous. What remained after the Black Death was a hollowed-out system void of religious tolerance and compassion. Whether the result of the Black Death or a slide toward Christian orthodoxy and accompanying persecution of other faiths, Spain in the post-Moor era failed to accept the more difficult path of cultivating the uneasy embrace of contradiction and difference. In essence, the Spanish Inquisition became the instrument of purifying a culture from 500 years of nurturing tolerance and co-existence.</div><div><br /></div><div>The question lingering in my mind is if Ibn Khaldun's depiction of decline and fall of great societies is underway in the present day? And the pivotal leadership question is if leaders will take the creative path of fostering tolerance across difference or will they choose the easier, and profoundly destructive, path of denying diverse human experience and culture in the pursuit of cultural purification and domination?</div><div><div><br /></div></div>Denny Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13976548371874726977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17803506.post-44492763324918966082023-12-24T05:43:00.000-08:002023-12-24T05:43:41.258-08:00Being presentOne of the most important elements of leadership is presence - personifying a purpose and relating it to others. If we let our emotional intelligence judge for us, it's actually something that is relatively easy to discern. Look at anyone who aspires to or is engaged in leadership and ask yourself, "Is what I'm observing authentic and compelling?"<br /><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivTn-NVs1H_wmfDFxi4dM9YCn_SekvBGmtsrSBRjFMVKsf5r1k_iqmVSQ50hnEtXyPuAmPunNhMUV4CIyvThsV8Kvbg01Tz30Pi6fgHOC6EEIeU5xs0XUVKJgEj_TRmdTAbBXwnWxqFY3VG2P0r_UZkzxFOHNVYeglI02UFH_cvUJ9cIdVuiXmfQ/s1800/Yo-Yo%20Ma.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1800" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivTn-NVs1H_wmfDFxi4dM9YCn_SekvBGmtsrSBRjFMVKsf5r1k_iqmVSQ50hnEtXyPuAmPunNhMUV4CIyvThsV8Kvbg01Tz30Pi6fgHOC6EEIeU5xs0XUVKJgEj_TRmdTAbBXwnWxqFY3VG2P0r_UZkzxFOHNVYeglI02UFH_cvUJ9cIdVuiXmfQ/w213-h320/Yo-Yo%20Ma.jpeg" width="213" /></a></div><br /></div><div>David Marchese, a writer for the NY Times, asked the famous musician and humanitarian, Yo-Yo Ma, about how he thought about the settings where he plays. His response is instructive for any form of engagement with others, and especially for those who seek to offer leadership.</div><div><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;">As a performer, my job is to make the listener the most important person in the room. The only way to avoid burnout is to care about where you are. Being present. Caring. You're working with living material. That goes back to memory. The living material is only living if it is memorable. Not only that it's memorable but that you pass it on. That is what I'm thinking about with every single interaction. Whether it's a kid, someone on the street, in a concert hall or with you, David. It's the same thing: How to be present. Because if you're not?</div></blockquote>Denny Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13976548371874726977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17803506.post-35460651975667490712023-12-17T17:39:00.000-08:002024-01-04T16:16:25.893-08:00Rosling - Factfulness<p>How can I more accurately interpret both mainstream and social media reports that are often biased or outright misrepresentations of truth? I picked up Hans Rosling's <i><a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250107817/factfulness">Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World - and Why Things are Better Than You Think </a></i>(2018) with the hope that it might offer perspective that I could use and share with others. While Rosling's assertions are not revelatory, they were useful and offer an opportunity to be more critical interpreting what we read and hear.</p><p>When searching for understanding about issues of concern to me, I know to be cautious about social media, checking the origin of information I read and seeking alternative sources to confirm reports that are shared or receive numerous "likes." However, I frequently complain about journalists who do not present fair and unbiased views. Rosling places the responsibility clearly on us, recognizing that journalists or activists for any cause should automatically be assumed to advocate a particular view. If bias is assumed from almost every source, then the only place to turn is critical examination that will improve my ability to sort through hyperbole and disinformation that distracts from real concerns.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2jBogU4QYNWLbiCK4VxbVPjd1IygEdjrQvBxifRyLMbatiJ9JDVl3Yt1YgZuH_3QvmCnol_Zx1ie0JLggL1nS5TZOn0KMbbb-UGaO4vw_wFvV7qmTt-D3r56fVv4Of3McOztwhFooOPaXGlg8S93pWVWZNAqehtns7LX-Jj_ZM52WVSEphubIhQ/s1500/Rosling%20-%20Factfulness.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="971" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2jBogU4QYNWLbiCK4VxbVPjd1IygEdjrQvBxifRyLMbatiJ9JDVl3Yt1YgZuH_3QvmCnol_Zx1ie0JLggL1nS5TZOn0KMbbb-UGaO4vw_wFvV7qmTt-D3r56fVv4Of3McOztwhFooOPaXGlg8S93pWVWZNAqehtns7LX-Jj_ZM52WVSEphubIhQ/s320/Rosling%20-%20Factfulness.jpg" width="207" /></a></div><br />Based on deep analyses of a variety of topics, and quizzing/speaking to audiences in various workforce sectors across the world (including the World Economic Forum, World Health Organization, UNICEF, and others), Rosling found that the most common misconceptions about current conditions in the world result from hasty decisions made without critical examination. And these decisions involve <a href="https://www.gapminder.org/factfulness/" target="_blank">ten significant errors of interpretation</a>:<p></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><i>Gap </i>- dividing everything into distinct and conflicting groups, when most people and situations fall somewhere in the middle of a continuum</li><li><i>Negativity </i>- tending to notice bad more than good, exacerbated by glorifying the past, selective reporting of the present, and feeling it's cruel to view things as improving</li><li><i>Straight line</i> - assuming a unidirectional and inevitable path with just one outcome </li><li><i>Fear </i>- attending to the most dramatic and unlikely dangers while ignoring other things that could be riskier</li><li><i>Size </i>- focusing on immediate problems rather than larger dynamics that could cause more harm</li><li><i>Generalization </i>- mistakenly grouping people and things together that are fundamentally different</li><li><i>Destiny </i>- believing that people, countries, religions, or cultures have a predetermined fate</li><li><i>Singularity </i>- measuring human progress by one, or a few, indicators rather than the complicated intersection of many factors</li><li><i>Blame </i>- fixing responsibility on a clear or simple reason, exaggerating its importance and neglecting other explanations</li><li><i>Urgency </i>- jumping to action when danger appears imminent, while it rarely is as immediate or devastating as we envision</li></ul><div>Rosling provided lots of examples and proof of how our lives are captured by the interpretation errors above, and he provided tips for how to avoid the mistakes and come to a more factful understanding of the world. Each of the above is influenced by the reality of a world that is divided into roughly four broad divisions of prosperity, with the U.S.A. and Europe mostly at level 4, the majority of the world in the middle (2 and 3), and a few countries at level 1 - all growing toward level 4. The other influence is that the world has both bad and good things going on; under these circumstances, a "possibilist" perspective rather than either a defeatest or naively optimistic view is warranted.</div><div><br /></div><div>The achievement that Rosling claimed at the beginning of his book was the most revolutionary of his lifetime is that "Over the past twenty years, the proportion of the global population living in extreme poverty has halved" (p. 6). Indeed, this is such a foundational change that it impacts almost everything else in our world. However, some of the disasters referenced as possible threats in <i>Factfulness </i>are now part of our more disrupted world. First, the COVID 19 pandemic that shut down the world and second, two wars now raging in 2023. On top of these, anti-democratic forces are present in the U.S.A. and around the world that threaten the very foundations of modern life. Acknowledging positive changes in our world, as well as understanding potential threats, requires even greater discipline as we seek factfulness in our daily lives.</div><p></p>Denny Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13976548371874726977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17803506.post-89528368028814710402023-12-02T08:28:00.000-08:002023-12-02T10:19:13.785-08:00Graeber & Wengrow - The Dawn of Everything<p>What would happen if we examined the emergence of culture from a completely different point of view than most of our history books tell us? What if inequality isn't a natural human condition and, instead, is the result of the imposition of western misinterpretations designed to justify the way of life that "advanced" cultures have adopted? What if reinterpretation of the historical record started with indigenous peoples and not the elites of world culture?</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm_8EcGuEilzc-1GKCr8DlMUNQaa95VaRJeaugBiYR_xChl0wtP7VtWpN6w2fnJxgK6-NIobZOemLJUtULgtYiMdBOsXmPnaz5QBLRHTmpeNHjIMDjDUIiiv36X0m729a1JHwc0sgUCZGTvIiS35yyqnPeg-O7T3CKkAfzzldU2XhyphenhyphenmA8wUp_KdA/s1000/Graeber%20and%20Wengrow%20-%20Book%20cover.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="667" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm_8EcGuEilzc-1GKCr8DlMUNQaa95VaRJeaugBiYR_xChl0wtP7VtWpN6w2fnJxgK6-NIobZOemLJUtULgtYiMdBOsXmPnaz5QBLRHTmpeNHjIMDjDUIiiv36X0m729a1JHwc0sgUCZGTvIiS35yyqnPeg-O7T3CKkAfzzldU2XhyphenhyphenmA8wUp_KdA/w133-h200/Graeber%20and%20Wengrow%20-%20Book%20cover.jpeg" width="133" /></a></div>These are questions woven throughout Graeber & Wengrow's <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Dawn-Everything-New-History-Humanity/dp/B08TYBMHGV/ref=sr_1_1?adgrpid=1330409636892464&hvadid=83150841243986&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=102568&hvnetw=o&hvqmt=e&hvtargid=kwd-83150953629531%3Aloc-190&hydadcr=22562_13494426&keywords=the+dawn+of+everything&qid=1701529741&sr=8-1" target="_blank">The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity</a></i> (2021). The impact of reading this deep dive into archeological and anthropological research was mind-boggling. I appreciated the level of detail in the interior chapters, although it was sometimes overwhelming. Upon review of the sections I highlighted while reading, I found that Chapters 1, 2, and 12 beautifully captured the core purposes of the entire book, and that was to propose the possibility that history has been shaped in ways to support current political and economic systems, systems that have created inequity, abuse, and violence. Further, Graeber & Wengrow ask the reader to explore the potential that the conditions observed so widely in the contemporary world were not inevitable and that change, even now, is possible.<p></p><p>Chapter 1 began with reflection on the impact of Hobbe's <i>Leviathan</i>, "in many ways the founding text of modern political theory" and its assertion of "humans being the selfish creatures they are... 'solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short'" (p. 2). This original state (reinforced by Torah and Old Testament Bible stories of original sin, and accompanying isolation, competition, deprivation, and war) was envisioned as being correctable through the "Enlightenment" advocated among European philosophers and intellectuals of the 18th century. What's fascinating is that Enlightenment thought related to individual liberty and political equality actually came from early European exposure to Native Americans and their communities, which were unusual in "qualities of mutual care, love and above all happiness" (p. 20). While some of the early voyagers to "Turtle Island" characterized Native Americans as "noble savages," others saw that they were freer societies than those of Europe.</p><p>Enlightenment thinkers were especially impressed with the discourse, debate, and reason of Kandiaronk of the Wendat tribe during his visit to France. Kandiaronk declared as a result of his visit, "What kind of human, what species of creature, must Europeans be, that they have to be forced to do good, and only refrain from evil because of fear of punishment?" (p. 53). Kandiaronk also observed that forcing people to behave would be unnecessary but for the presence of "money, property rights and the resultant pursuit of material self-interest" (p. 54). The French saloniste of the 1750s recognized the conflict between commitments to freedom and equality versus the regime of private property ownership, which brought Rousseau to question how Europeans had turned wealth into domination and power, allowing the winners to tell others what to do, to exploit them, and care so little about their human condition.</p><p>Countering the prevailing theorizing about the formation of states, <i>The Dawn of Everything</i> proposed that small communities either existed on their own or broke away from organized despotic abusers and abuses in numerous examples. Now proven untrue, previous cultural anthropologists viewed state formation as an inevitable linear evolution from bands to tribes to chiefdoms to states based on advances in technology such as agriculture. Instead of a linear progression, organized communities emerged through a process of what 1930s anthropologist Gregory Bates coined as "schismogenesis," where self-governing communities formed to differentiate themselves from the abuses of classism, monarchy, and militarism. The new understanding of what constituted organized community was most evident in the North American example of the urban center <a href="https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/cahokia-mounds-state-historic-site-world-heritage-site.htm" target="_blank">Cahokia</a>, which already existed when Europeans arrived in North America. Cahokia included three elementary freedoms - "to move away, to disobey, and to build new social worlds" (p. 469). This and other Native American examples demonstrated that is is possible to avoid the evolutionists' view of organized states and this view was embraced by Enlightenment thinkers.</p><p>The analysis included in <i>The Dawn of Everything</i> showed that the rise of "states" such as Egypt and the Maya depended on confusing the two functions of care and domination. This confusion was central to how humans eventually lost their ability to see another way of living in community as even possible. As the cultures that we commonly view as most significant began forming, charismatic figures created expanded systems of care around themselves (sometimes focusing on preparation for a presumed afterlife), which grew into the ability to dominate through threat of life or livelihood which was enforced either through a systematized administration or military mobilization. These tools of despotic states are not present in examples such as <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Minoan-civilization" target="_blank">Minoan Crete</a>, where women's influence was much more prominent and equality more common. Relegating these examples to the margins of history, rather than recognizing them as legitimate human aspiration, extinguished them as demonstrations of communities embracing greater equity, caring for each other, and preserving the natural world.</p><p>Graeber & Wengrow proposed that by continuing to reduce humanity to simple, barbarian-like depictions, social scientists might actually have impoverished history - "and as a consequence, to impoverish our sense of possibility" (p. 21) in the modern day. The evidence was right under our noses, but maybe that's the point. How Native Americans lived was a threat to notions of property ownership, accumulation of wealth, and domination through control of information and threat of life.</p>Denny Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13976548371874726977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17803506.post-63946810799705841012023-10-12T13:08:00.010-07:002023-10-13T06:04:48.370-07:00Desmond - Poverty, by America<p> Matthew <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/675683/poverty-by-america-by-matthew-desmond/" target="_blank">Desmond's </a><i><a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/675683/poverty-by-america-by-matthew-desmond/" target="_blank">Poverty, by America</a> </i>(2023) references <a href="https://pursuingleadership.blogspot.com/2022/02/mcghee-sum-of-us.html" target="_blank">McGhee's </a><i><a href="https://pursuingleadership.blogspot.com/2022/02/mcghee-sum-of-us.html" target="_blank">The Sum of Us</a> </i>(2021) and repeats the critique that systemic racism and classism undermine opportunity among oppressed classes. Where McGhee focuses more on how this oppressive classism costs everyone, not just those put down by it, Desmond addresses ways that America created this system and how privileged segments of Americans are served by perpetuating it.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiolw632v-nTbU8wioSm1f2Z1schAnUU9wHOGOiSRQBVourjH7Xbfig89qoqNHQQ0C0ZU5Zew9IEMmDCPg7pjSRughyUBGxtl9bE6wOSlSNZHUeo_8H9AudG5jFkyfvGm00xZlVCJJ4YahSFyKP4Pz7VehU4e3k3D0RESweXjbBZnkQT0nySqWDzg/s1500/Desmond%20-%20Poverty%20by%20America.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="993" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiolw632v-nTbU8wioSm1f2Z1schAnUU9wHOGOiSRQBVourjH7Xbfig89qoqNHQQ0C0ZU5Zew9IEMmDCPg7pjSRughyUBGxtl9bE6wOSlSNZHUeo_8H9AudG5jFkyfvGm00xZlVCJJ4YahSFyKP4Pz7VehU4e3k3D0RESweXjbBZnkQT0nySqWDzg/w213-h320/Desmond%20-%20Poverty%20by%20America.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>The earlier chapters review why America has not been successful in addressing wealth inequality, including disenfranchisement of workers, poor people paying more for what little they get, and reliance on welfare as a nod to addressing poverty. The later chapters move to ways that America might actually move forward in creating a fairer economy.<p></p><p>Desmond poses the shared dilemma, "We are much richer than citizens of other countries, including other wealthy ones, and we're much richer than our forebearers. And yet, the dominant mood among the American middle and upper classes is one of fret and worry" (p. 103). The complaint of Americans who can be judged by most standards as being comfortable is that they work nonstop. In addition, having worked so hard for their living then translates to expecting products that are readily available and cheap. Herein is the problem, fast and cheap is only possible when supply lines erupt and collapse based on demand and when all the working class can expect is poverty-inducing compensation for their time. Heaped on top of fast and cheap is that as accumulated wealth increases, the wealthy are ever more able to withdraw from reliance on public goods and services. Increases in wealth then result in declining willingness for the wealthy to support and fund public services which leads to deteriorating quality of service - a destructive downward spiral. Whether it's resources outside one's immediate neighborhood like schools or public parks and recreation, or mass transit, it's always a fight to gain support in wealthier enclaves.</p><p>How did we get here? Desmond identified the major driver of sustained poverty coming from the biggest tax cut in U.S. history, the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 of the Reagan Presidency. Of course, the tax reduction benefit went primarily to wealthier citizens and even the more progressive policies pushed by those in this group tend to "pose no real threat to their affluence" (p. 115). Working class whites see how progressive moves weren't intended to help them and they soon become resentful about elites and the institutions that they support.</p><p>How do we get out of this cycle? First, we should cease exploiting working-class citizens. Second, we must stop subsidizing affluence over alleviating poverty. Third, we should stop allowing privileged communities to isolate themselves from the broader world. The things that can make a difference include making sure that low-income Americans can easily access assistance for which they qualify, ensuring that safe and affordable housing is available to all, that all children have a crack at security and success, and driving down the "agonizing correlates of poverty, like violence, and despair" (p. 124).</p><p>Poverty in America is systemic and begins with tackling tax cheaters, estimated as a loss of $1 trillion annually. Along with plugging tax evasion, policies should be enacted that demonstrate goodwill and avoid stoking suspicion that kindles resentment. A successful and popular policy that resulted in a 50% reduction among those who live in poverty in the 1960s was the Social Security amendment of 1965. This program is constantly threatened by conservatives who label it as social welfare, but most Americans know that they invested in it and deserve to benefit from it. Poverty in America is also personal and each individual can help by adopting "poverty abolitionist" habits of shopping and investing with a commitment to human dignity - and let others know you've chosen to change. The compelling reality is that the U.S. has a lot of economic vitality, in fact it is abundant, and this reality must be asserted to counter those who insist on maintaining focus on competition for scarce resources of various sorts. There is enough to go around if unequal access is addressed!</p>Denny Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13976548371874726977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17803506.post-91025981922951152742023-09-14T07:03:00.003-07:002023-09-14T10:34:13.338-07:00hooks - The Will to ChangeKeith Edwards' referral called me to read hooks' <i><a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Will-to-Change/bell-hooks/9780743456081" target="_blank">The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity and Love</a>.</i> hooks' writing is insightful, engaging, and compassionate while still recognizing the peril that male domination presents. hooks admonishes men and women to draw together in combatting a mutual adversary - patriarchy and the toxic masculinity that emerges from it. And of men, hooks says, "To know love, men must be able to let go the will to dominate. They must be able to choose life over death" (Loc 92).<div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhydXOrEfGcssr7hwUtTDeFXz_JRrfmaKBNQsDaZupOoMu3sy_lN69tKpFBsIPUGnVQoW75sOacw95jJdHomWEWPCaxPe5YQRjwATHxSFyVE7rfvLMt10dr1BIZizWS6ewC09FvI4C7gSrBpMFKXItjF51gX6egnNBiGdJJpeOPUi083CgX3Fz9CA/s900/hooks%20-%20the%20will%20to%20change.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="579" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhydXOrEfGcssr7hwUtTDeFXz_JRrfmaKBNQsDaZupOoMu3sy_lN69tKpFBsIPUGnVQoW75sOacw95jJdHomWEWPCaxPe5YQRjwATHxSFyVE7rfvLMt10dr1BIZizWS6ewC09FvI4C7gSrBpMFKXItjF51gX6egnNBiGdJJpeOPUi083CgX3Fz9CA/w129-h200/hooks%20-%20the%20will%20to%20change.jpeg" width="129" /></a></div>"Patriarchy is a political-social system that insists that males are inherently dominating, superior to everything and everyone deemed weak, especially females, and endowed with the right to dominate and rule over the weak and to maintain that dominance through various forms of psychological terrorism and violence" (p. 17). One of the most powerful foundations of patriarchy is emotional stoicism, which results in men believing that they cannot feel if they want to be manly. Should they feel even a shadow of emotion, they extinguish it and certainly don't let other men know. Both men's and women's silence about what they experience in families, often void of emotion and connection, maintains the patriarchal culture without question. By contrast to the silence, hooks advocated as early as 1984 that both men and women should join as comrades in the struggle.</div><div><br /></div><div>The perpetuation of patriarchy is fostered in many ways and the dynamics are notably more powerful during the adolescent years for boys. During this liminal period of not being a child but not being an adult, feeling out of control is common. It is during this period that boys are told to "be a man" when they feel pain or when they face disappointment, thus starting down the path toward denial and stuffing down their feelings. This disembodiment of emotion and feeling is tantamount to lying as young men take on the role of male chauvinists and sexists. Chauvinism claims male superiority which is known in the deeper selves of most men and women to be destructive and untrue.</div><div><br /></div><div>Having learned their lessons well, boys move into adulthood struggling to establish authentic emotional connections with men or women. The beginning of the tragedy of men's and women's life partnerships is that, if not changed, relationships with women are frozen in time. Appearing to be almost a compensation for lack of capacity in relationships, patriarchal culture then places the most value on what men do, the work they perform. To reverse the pattern, hooks proposed love and defined it as "the will to nurture one's own and another's spiritual and emotional growth" in ways that "combine care, commitment, knowledge, responsibility, respect, and trust" (p. 65). hooks' response to changing masculinity that diminishes and threatens is to love men out of their lethargy - support them in taking off the imposed mask to release them to a fuller way of being.<br /></div>Denny Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13976548371874726977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17803506.post-16647644748172440182023-09-13T11:05:00.007-07:002024-01-05T11:05:46.824-08:00Edwards - Unmasking: Toward Authentic Masculinity<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6U_MCjobKQtlcfRKj6FBDCdPrDHjDdZRO6C4_t6MZoi2N2-sHDDtJ7MscTHf5sdUHYW-wf9aBc0NbL7eHqR8saOV2hvouziZgIu9W2clbgKC1-mPg5EzZf9m-xwXBudErjix3fC3ARsMPuRJMcY-q3-GWq4W_4V4CXfHfMHgFwYxxxikSmbx3oQ/s1000/Edwards%20-%20Unmasking.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="647" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6U_MCjobKQtlcfRKj6FBDCdPrDHjDdZRO6C4_t6MZoi2N2-sHDDtJ7MscTHf5sdUHYW-wf9aBc0NbL7eHqR8saOV2hvouziZgIu9W2clbgKC1-mPg5EzZf9m-xwXBudErjix3fC3ARsMPuRJMcY-q3-GWq4W_4V4CXfHfMHgFwYxxxikSmbx3oQ/w129-h200/Edwards%20-%20Unmasking.jpeg" width="129" /></a></div>I downloaded <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Unmasking-Authentic-Masculinity-Keith-Edwards-ebook/dp/B0C4WXS92J" target="_blank">Unmasking: Toward Authentic Masculinity</a> </i>(Edwards, 2023) essentially because I had become acquainted with Keith Edwards from his interviews for "Student Affairs Now." My immediate impression of Keith was that he was an attentive listener who demonstrated great curiosity. The impression was no doubt derived from the skills he refined through the research methodology behind his book - progressive interviews with a sample of young men who shared their stories of coming to understand their masculinity in unique ways.<p></p><p><i>Unmasking...</i> referenced bell hooks', <i><a href="https://pursuingleadership.blogspot.com/2023/09/hooks-will-to-change.html" target="_blank">The Will to Change</a></i>, which caused me to read it as well, although after reading Keith's book. hooks provided important philosophical background that Keith characterized by saying, "For many centuries and millennia, men as a group, often with many other dominant identities, have been controlling and utilizing political power, scientific discoveries, business development, and more for their benefit" (p. 9). While these systemic conditions have benefited men, "the same patriarchal system granting men these privileges also harms men through the gender expectations it places on them" (p. 10). The purpose and process of Keith's research was to listen and to give his subjects, and men who are reading his book, permission to explore who they were expected to be in comparison to who they really are or wanted to be.</p><p>Germain to, and confirmation of, my life experience is that masking has been enforced over time as a way of protecting male privilege while simultaneously putting men in a strait jacket of expectation. Men either conform, uncomfortably accommodate, or resist the masculine images that they hardly notice - unnoticed because the messages are like the air we breathe. Men who conform either naturally or uncomfortably project what they believe are masculine images of dominance in presence and presentation, often including "Breaking the rules... by showing independence from social norms, irreverence for authority, and indifference to the impact on others" (p. 72). Conforming to a rule breaking and uncaring image can be seen in behavior patterns from elementary school on through higher education, contributing to boys and men achieving less in studies and in fact being represented in lower proportion to women by the time they could be entering college. Even in the cases where boys and men do things outside the typical masculine image (e.g., playing piano or violin, painting, dancing, or cooking), the only way to escape derision is to excel in competitive ways, beating one's peers.</p><p>Conformity to masculine stereotypes results in harm to others and to self, including oppression of women, hierarchies of masculinity, relationship avoidance, and a general lack of well-being. Perhaps one of the most tragic consequences of masking is what Keith terms as "manestesia," the inability for men to share with and be vulnerable even with good friends. Keith offers numerous insights on identity development, intersectional identities, and the costs and benefits of unmasking. He also offers a way out of masking and moving toward openness to authentic being, which include focusing on the success strategies of 1. Well-being, 2, Strengths, 3. Be grateful, 4. Practice mindfulness and meditation, 5. Be kind, and 6. Foster relationships. Keith's admission that "I am harshest with men who remind me of previous versions of myself..." through "blaming and shaming" (p. 162) was particularly helpful because behind these judgments is the desire to be the good male who doesn't hurt himself or others. The lesson is that standing apart in judgment does little to invite other men into unmasking with you.</p><p>For an introduction to Edward's <i>Unmasking</i>, see his interview on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tc_kvAxN51U" target="_blank">Student Affairs Now</a>. Sudent affairs staff are essential to <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/opinion/views/2024/01/05/addressing-male-gender-gap-higher-ed-opinion?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=3148510a46-DNU_2021_COPY_02&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-3148510a46-198574017&mc_cid=3148510a46&mc_eid=c88ef0b734" target="_blank">help male students explore issues of identity</a>, especially since enrollment and retention among men has declined in recent years.</p>Denny Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13976548371874726977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17803506.post-41018409548007085462023-08-07T10:55:00.002-07:002023-08-07T14:55:53.165-07:00The Singing Revolution<p>I've posted previously about the many benefits of music training and listening. <i><a href="https://pursuingleadership.blogspot.com/2019/12/john-mauceri-is-protege-of-leonard.html" target="_blank">For the Love of Music</a></i> (Mauceri, 2019) and <i><a href="https://pursuingleadership.blogspot.com/2016/09/experimentalism-and-empiricism-part-one.html" target="_blank">Experimentalism and Empiricism</a></i> are examples. Neither of these posts specifically call out music as a revolutionary act although both of them imply the potential.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsvs7AbRpFERnF4LVNpIWReiJwUsG_aech3qdUP4Lm-JalA10DH6QDPDrYzFnXfcAtKNv2K7zHfbTHuQTOqM0FfrC0RvVtXj83n3r2w-ahcJDYleGCHMaJRC1Up40nn8c4WZNnG_4QkItr5uGSibDYpB-DYLtsVbyNzcpYNJ2xjxRgbVkoHE9krA/s905/The%20Singing%20Revolution_poster.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="905" data-original-width="611" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsvs7AbRpFERnF4LVNpIWReiJwUsG_aech3qdUP4Lm-JalA10DH6QDPDrYzFnXfcAtKNv2K7zHfbTHuQTOqM0FfrC0RvVtXj83n3r2w-ahcJDYleGCHMaJRC1Up40nn8c4WZNnG_4QkItr5uGSibDYpB-DYLtsVbyNzcpYNJ2xjxRgbVkoHE9krA/s320/The%20Singing%20Revolution_poster.jpeg" width="216" /></a></div>A good friend, Kathy Beardsley, offered a wonderful travel post from Bob and her exploration of Estonia this last summer in which she referenced "<a href="https://singingrevolution.com/" target="_blank">The Singing Revolution</a>." Kathy's dedication to learning from travel and sharing with others is a wonderful example of <a href="https://pursuingleadership.blogspot.com/2023/07/traveling-with-critical-perspective.html" style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank">Traveling with a Critical Perspective</a>, a view I've grown to embrace<i>.</i> The Singing Revolution is a documentary about the role of music as Estonia cast off the USSR's military and attempted cultural control of the Estonian people. This documentary has so many lessons to inform both individual and group leadership. The first lesson is that natural characteristics of groups are often times the most effective in mobilizing shared purpose. In the case of Estonia, singing in groups had long been something that drew them together. The second lesson is that music can symbolize, and often gives voice to, shared yearning that otherwise would remain invisible. An annual gathering of singers while Estonia was still controlled by the USSR turned into a spontaneous realization of the loss of freedom when a single individual road past the assembly flying the outlawed Estonian flag. The third lesson is that joining together in common cause is unstoppable. Once the singing revolution gained momentum, the crowds swelled to as many as 300,000 singers in one event. Although the USSR saw the threat and considered military action, they knew the number of peacefully protesting singers was too great a force.<p></p><p>Coincidentally to Kathy's post about the Singing Revolution, we attended a concert at Chicago's Ravinia Festival that was curated by Marin Alsop. The "Breaking Barriers" concert series at Ravinia featured young female composers with the crowd warmly applauding the new, fresh, and innovative artistry of both composers and performing artists. As a follow-up to the concert, the local FM station WFMT interviewed Alsop and her friend and colleague Jude Kelly on "<a href="https://www.wfmt.com/2023/07/27/marin-alsop-jude-kelly-breaking-barriers-panel/" target="_blank">Leadership and Purpose</a>." During the interview, Alsop commented "courage is important in leadership, but accountability is, too." Her belief is that conducting requires a balance for who she's leading, holding them accountable for doing their best, while providing room for all artists to be themselves. Kelly also commented on a British architect she admired who advocated "Always build toward the light" - in other words, always travel towards something that has got hope inside.</p><p>The Singing Revolution, Breaking Barriers, and joining together in the exploration of our humanity through music are powerful forces and perhaps unstoppable in many other places than just Estonia.<br /></p>Denny Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13976548371874726977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17803506.post-3989226674705049962023-07-22T12:31:00.002-07:002023-07-22T12:31:46.517-07:00Chiaroscuro of LeadershipOne of the things I've grown to understand over decades of studying leadership is that recognizing the chiaroscuro of leadership is essential. It may seem odd to use the term chiaroscuro but it captures the problem beautifully. Chiaroscuro involves highlighting contrasts of light and dark, a technique used by artists such as Leonardo da Vinci and Caravaggio. At an earlier point in studying leadership, I was inclined to see only positive engagement (bringing light) as leadership and attributed examples of negative engagement (bringing darkness) to the destructive imposition of authority and power. Years later I came to accept both the dark and light of leadership and the necessity to accept that both exist and that some acts of leadership can actually involve both. Further, the reality of our world is that the darkness of humanity frequently is what calls forth light-giving leadership.<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq27oLwMfxwbmkUkJaS9G7ZqlIU3IDpRhMRHw6Pfkki2Ym1WQm0rNwXlz1cj9ybdMvVytegpTKZVy0eENQ20MY-pkWXI1nTqXB5kO7vFu7RLJG_nqKFXW3UuDDUzZW3DpkLZkTyyGj4_9_UEY7RVWZkJoNuVdY-sD3J7KS7YT5KECDWQuA1cV1rA/s4000/Chiaroscuro%20image.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2667" data-original-width="4000" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq27oLwMfxwbmkUkJaS9G7ZqlIU3IDpRhMRHw6Pfkki2Ym1WQm0rNwXlz1cj9ybdMvVytegpTKZVy0eENQ20MY-pkWXI1nTqXB5kO7vFu7RLJG_nqKFXW3UuDDUzZW3DpkLZkTyyGj4_9_UEY7RVWZkJoNuVdY-sD3J7KS7YT5KECDWQuA1cV1rA/w200-h133/Chiaroscuro%20image.jpeg" width="200" /></a></div><br /></div><div>Six quotes that might be useful in exploring the importance of chiaroscuro in leadership:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>"Our community will work toward change that will result in this tragedy being a 'distant and unimaginable past'" - Boulder, Colorado, mayor's statement after mass murder, March 23, 2021.</li><li>"We will lead not by the example of power but by the power of our examples" - Joseph R. Biden Presidential Inaugural Address, January 20, 2021.</li><li>"Muddied water left to stand becomes clear" - non attributable.</li><li>"May your heart be pure and your will firm" - Jamil Karam, Eid greeting, 2021.</li><li>"Hallelujah, whatever" - Van Jones, Juneteenth coverage, 2023.</li><li>"Faith is not bound by what I don't know but what I do know" - Van Jones' guest during Juneteenth coverage, 2023.</li></ul><div>How do these fit together to inform our understanding of both negative and positive in leadership? In the first example from the Boulder mass murder at a grocery store, the mayor proclaimed to the community that they had been challenged, and must respond to, the heinous act by working together to address all sources of potential violence - creating a distant and unimaginable past. In the second example, following the incredible January 6 attack on the Capital of the United States and all is institutions and safeguards, President Biden declared that wielding power remedies little but that acting in faithful and concerted unity can restore when all else seems to have collapsed. The unattributable quote reflects that easily discernible solutions to complex problems are elusive (muddied waters) but that left to settle, pathways toward resolution can emerge. The fourth quote was offered as an Eid greeting by a former Qatar colleague and admonishes that we can make a difference when our hearts (e.g. motivation, intent, purpose) are examined and clarified, which then allows for the will to remain resolute. During discussion on air covering the 2023 Juneteenth celebrations around the U.S., Van Jones characterized the day as confirming a common African American belief - "Hallelujah, whatever!" The meaning here was that, although the journey of African Americans across generations of enslavement to Jim Crow to the present has been extraordinarily difficult, celebration of the journey and progress that has been made is essential. And, finally, an artist Van Jones was interviewing described his ambivalence regarding faith over his lifetime by saying that "Faith is not bound by what I don't know but what I do know." This last quotation guides me to confirm the faith I have, letting go of doubts that will surely persist throughout life, as well as leaning into what we know about light-giving leadership instead of being confounded by what we don't know.</div></div><div><br /></div><div>Purposeful and courageous response to trauma, perseverance in the face of significant problems, examination of one's own purposes, celebrating all gains as they are achieved, and relying on what we know rather than what we question - these seem to cover some essential elements in the chiaroscuro of leadership.</div>Denny Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13976548371874726977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17803506.post-44834662944968961602023-07-17T10:30:00.005-07:002023-09-13T10:35:20.382-07:00Komives & Owen - A Research Agenda for Leadership Learning<p>Staying on top of trends and innovations in leadership research can be challenging. The recently released <i><a href="https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/usd/a-research-agenda-for-leadership-learning-and-development-through-higher-education-9781800887770.html" target="_blank">A Research Agenda for Leadership Learning & Development through Higher Education</a></i> (Komives & Owen (Eds.), 2023) was conceived to help leadership educators and scholars stay up with current and emerging research ideas.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXpxr8ZrP2IW5_JEEjic6gXlI8hcwdZ_G0Jv4ef07KYU6nn4i7jb0JOfT9zYSvLhpIj48bdPsTbNbDMSrfH6OJi9OyyGWg_OesivqEPWEjTFscLSN605SC_8Y51fawbXi-e4D1VnMlc3fjRKPam3a-33Gdl7xHctvyttZOCKzpvWWUx3YjOm4Axw/s315/9781800887770.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="315" data-original-width="200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXpxr8ZrP2IW5_JEEjic6gXlI8hcwdZ_G0Jv4ef07KYU6nn4i7jb0JOfT9zYSvLhpIj48bdPsTbNbDMSrfH6OJi9OyyGWg_OesivqEPWEjTFscLSN605SC_8Y51fawbXi-e4D1VnMlc3fjRKPam3a-33Gdl7xHctvyttZOCKzpvWWUx3YjOm4Axw/w127-h200/9781800887770.jpeg" width="127" /></a></div><br />As a contributing co-author with Aoi Yamanaka for the chapter on "International perspectives in leadership learning," I highly recommend the book for several reasons. The first reason is that Komives and Owen are extraordinary in the breadth of their contacts and awareness in leadership research and have used their deep knowledge to inform the entire project. The second reason is the insight gained from the writing process; Komives & Own enlisted all contributing authors in the review and critique of each others' drafts which led to improving the sharpness, integration, and substance of the broader collection of chapters. The third reason is that our chapter (Roberts & Yamanaka) was revelatory in the exploration of truly internationally-informed leadership research and was a cross-cultural and cross-generational project of its own. I deeply enjoyed writing the chapter and hope that readers will embrace our assertion of the importance of "international context" and that it leads to fundamental changes in the way that researchers approach their work.<p></p>Denny Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13976548371874726977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17803506.post-30393730348403628832023-07-17T08:16:00.006-07:002024-01-15T09:40:04.690-08:00Traveling with a "critical perspective"<p>I'm a student affairs "lifer" and can't let go of the calling I accepted to pursue a student affairs in higher education career in 1973 (50+ years ago!). That calling was to contribute to the learning and development of students and colleague faculty and staff and it was a commitment to a critical perspective that involved doing research, applying practice to theory and back to practice, and being reflective in everything I did by writing, presenting, or engaging with others.</p><p>My fifty-year career took me to several higher education settings in different states and concluded with work abroad, first in a visiting faculty role in Luxembourg, and second in Qatar where working for Qatar Foundation opened an entirely different world to me. The cumulative impact of career and life experiences calls me to stay current in philosophical and theoretical orientation, regardless of whether or not I'm full-time employed. One of the theoretical lenses I've grown to appreciate and has garnered considerable attention in contemporary writing is <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/313875849_Leadership_Theory_Cultivating_Critical_Perspectives" target="_blank">John Dugan's "critical perspective</a>."</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjst22Vqctx20bFNwmayWeYuj7h2tWhsIZID_eVS871jP6jox0Rvw1K8wbbPHXuY0JUhpr9ZkZLYRKS7c6khH3BS6qrGnVtn5eZxqwyKAoHylSBqbDOQpkHRfYBaR6gbELELR5xy9rMwk3OvDtuLULAnAhMnPRicEjLQfJFp3zkjz9IvODblhxaVQ/s612/World%20map.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="344" data-original-width="612" height="113" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjst22Vqctx20bFNwmayWeYuj7h2tWhsIZID_eVS871jP6jox0Rvw1K8wbbPHXuY0JUhpr9ZkZLYRKS7c6khH3BS6qrGnVtn5eZxqwyKAoHylSBqbDOQpkHRfYBaR6gbELELR5xy9rMwk3OvDtuLULAnAhMnPRicEjLQfJFp3zkjz9IvODblhxaVQ/w200-h113/World%20map.jpeg" width="200" /></a></div>At this point in my life everything is fused so maybe that is why applying a critical perspective to not only work-related but also life-informing experiences has become paramount. What does that mean for travel? It means that I feel a responsibility to reflect on, and show appreciation for, the places I've been and continue to explore. This commitment has become more urgent for me recently as I view the travels that many are taking around the world. In very interesting ways, "<a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-weekend-essay/the-case-against-travel" target="_blank">The Case Against Travel</a>" in the <i>New Yorker</i> raises questions similar to my own.<div><br /></div><div>As I've observed the rush to travel after the pandemic, fueled by improving financial means of privileged Americans, I decided to respond to those who post about or share their travel experiences only when they demonstrate a commitment to appreciative and critical learning. This is challenging and has required constant monitoring of what motivates my decisions. I am sure I've missed travelers who are committed to inquiry and understanding and I'm sorry for having missed them. Three wonderful examples of critical perspectives in travel are Kathy Beardsley, Keith Edwards, and Patrick Love. In these examples, documentation and posts about travel are like a public journal, including reflection and appreciation for the places visited, taking the posts beyond "been there, done that" to what people and places reflect about history, art and architecture, and the broader view of human striving.<p></p><p>Particularly in the age of social media, and specifically during a time when Facebook has been abandoned by youth and adopted by "boomers" and older Millennials, I've grown very cautious about what I say or post, knowing that negative emotional consequences may be an unintended outcome for some of those who hear or view my updates. The negative impact of being left out or marginalized in youth has been documented but not much is being said about the impact for mid-life and older adults. Every celebration of travel, places I've been or things I've done, has increasingly included consideration for who has the passport, time, resources, and physical ability to engage in international travel. The spirit of why I share, and the inclusive intent of my sharing, has become central in my considerations.</p><p>What kinds of travel can be not only enjoyable but have the broader outcome of connecting across culture, understanding history, and examining my own privilege as a white, heterosexual, mainly fully abled, male American? To check my own authenticity, I looked back over my blog of the last eighteen years to see if my view of travel has changed and what types of experiences had the most profound impact. To be sure, a few of my blogposts have been just "been there, done that" but most have included a lot of reflection and appreciation for what I observed. What's interesting about the reflections that <a href="https://pursuingleadership.blogspot.com/2005/" target="_blank">began in 2005</a>, <a href="https://pursuingleadership.blogspot.com/2005/" target="_blank">accelerated in 2007</a>, and continue to the present is that they started not as tourism but as intentional learning. And the most powerful learning in travel was almost always the result of encounters with cultural informants in settings that were very different from my own life experiences. Realizing this has caused me to perceive a possible answer to a <a href="https://pursuingleadership.blogspot.com/2023/07/a-research-agenda-for-leadership.html" target="_blank">question that Aoi Yamanaka and I recently raised in a chapter on international context in leadership research</a>. We asked what experiences can be most useful in stimulating deeper learning about international leadership? As I reviewed my blogposts, my travel started with seeking to learn and that has shaped all my subsequent experiences, which gradually included increasingly distant and diverse cultures. Perhaps this is an insight about how international travel might be introduced to anyone - before even receiving a passport, how important is it for there to be intentional consideration of "why am I doing this and what do I anticipate being the outcome for myself, my learning, and the way I live in the world?</p><p>Some examples of reflection and appreciation in travel using the elements of Dugan's critical perspective taking include: compositional diversity (Who's traveling and who is encountered in travel?); historical legacy of inclusion and exclusion (Whose stories are honored and whose are silenced?); organizational/structural aspects (What do the palatial residences of monarchs and edifices of religious institutions tell us about equity?); behavioral climate (Who is welcomed and given attention?); and, psychological climate (Whose identity and being is celebrated and what does it mean for travelers today?). If these were used in preparing for travel and as a framework for reflecting on what we encounter in travel, I suspect that outcomes of travel might be immeasurably enhanced.</p></div>Denny Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13976548371874726977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17803506.post-63118448657045668292023-07-12T11:59:00.000-07:002023-07-12T11:59:02.000-07:00Hawken - Drawdown<i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Drawdown-Comprehensive-Proposed-Reverse-Warming/dp/0143130447/ref=sr_1_1?hvadid=598915568586&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9021486&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=16291135219804105947&hvtargid=kwd-309730459855&hydadcr=22563_13531175&keywords=drawdown+by+paul+hawken&qid=1689187267&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming</a> </i>(Hawken, 2017) is a well-documented encyclopedia of scientific ideas rather than a story to be read. It is a compilation of various authors' insights on alternatives to fossil fuel use, including various other natural resource reductions, and how each can plausibly lead us out of the current threatening environmental tailspin.<div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaoQsm_ZOCDuoAeD6QmMMQrhzLqoxbPrFzQ1bfOJqLe_KcxU3OxNAiDaSJodGouOoyOvEga32FhpZ2x5FKbV4-4ujarC2HmRtBNB5R0VneZWaY-neDdijKBqESJGqFfMLRg3zB6uGOytH4R73T6ienXXLMehVFKMDJl2J0FSUvpDA0X8jLgZ33JQ/s425/Hawken%20-%20Drawdown.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="425" data-original-width="332" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaoQsm_ZOCDuoAeD6QmMMQrhzLqoxbPrFzQ1bfOJqLe_KcxU3OxNAiDaSJodGouOoyOvEga32FhpZ2x5FKbV4-4ujarC2HmRtBNB5R0VneZWaY-neDdijKBqESJGqFfMLRg3zB6uGOytH4R73T6ienXXLMehVFKMDJl2J0FSUvpDA0X8jLgZ33JQ/s320/Hawken%20-%20Drawdown.jpg" width="250" /></a></div>The solutions that are included could all result in "regenerative economic outcomes that create security, produce jobs, improve health, save money, facilitate mobility, eliminate hunger, prevent pollution, restore soil, clean rivers, and more" (p. x). The premise of the entire <br />book is that atmospheric transformation that is descending upon us requires reimagining almost everything we do. But reimagining is not some far-fetched impossible scenario - it is doable and as citizens of the Earth we have a responsibility to act.</div><div><br /></div><div>An important principle of the combination of solutions is that each is still emerging, which will result in some strategies being immediately viable while others will improve in potential over time. The book is too extensive to list all the possibilities but options that are included and analyzed are wind turbines, microgrids, geothermal, solar farms, rooftop solar, wave & tidal, biomass, and nuclear. And these solutions can be used in concert by using one source when another is less or not available, providing the opportunity to consistently maintain the necessary levels of power.</div><div><br /></div><div>Two of the current challenges that require attention are storage and distribution of power. Strategies to store power for when power cannot be generated, such as solar power at night, are essential and will require cooperation across the globe. In order to do this, grid adaptability and storage during peak production must be solved.</div><div><br /></div><div>As a future treasured resource, which will surely be revised over time, Hawken's book concludes with a summary of the net costs and savings of each of the environmental solutions covered in the book. The bottom line of examining the costs is that repair is less costly than where we are presently headed in coping with environmental degradation and the resulting shortages, disasters, and irrevocable consequences we face. And the concluding sentence - "What it takes to reverse global warming is one person after another remembering who we truly are" (p. 217).</div>Denny Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13976548371874726977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17803506.post-22177756125901812312023-06-01T08:44:00.002-07:002023-06-17T10:30:51.258-07:00Hamid - The Problem of DemocracyThe problem of dealing with unsavory characters is a challenge across a variety of situations. Think of dealing with a "pesky" neighbor, the business that failed to repair your car or a public official whose views are repugnant. In international diplomacy, dictators and despots perpetrate abuse of their citizens. In each of these examples, are there ways to maintain relationships that over the longer haul can result in positive change?<div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1u9oTarUfTLXTAz1U_p6noZ6GfuLo0_NvzQoWDFXNmn4MogTk-1BVjxT5St3347YpuBlYQjXyOw4h6dSSyZiSLVGer1PoHGUBGELc1YFdwoD9YvpKrUW2mZprRLFcl-vQsmaEhPlrVOw-D-Ltz_N3YH48B-iAUwc9kVGBJDq8KjXtYi8TsYI/s760/0197579469.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_SX500_.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="760" data-original-width="500" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1u9oTarUfTLXTAz1U_p6noZ6GfuLo0_NvzQoWDFXNmn4MogTk-1BVjxT5St3347YpuBlYQjXyOw4h6dSSyZiSLVGer1PoHGUBGELc1YFdwoD9YvpKrUW2mZprRLFcl-vQsmaEhPlrVOw-D-Ltz_N3YH48B-iAUwc9kVGBJDq8KjXtYi8TsYI/w132-h200/0197579469.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_SX500_.jpg" width="132" /></a></div>Shadi Hamid's <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Problem-Democracy-America-Middle-East/dp/0197579469" target="_blank">The Problem of Democracy: America, the Middle East, and the Rise and Fall of an Idea</a> </i>(2022) explores the difficult issue of the contamination of democracy promotion versus the values of the liberal, Western, world. Hamid's view is that American politicians have fused the two by advancing a particular type of democracy, one that embraces among other things gender inclusion, equal rights, and free market economic principles. The result of the U.S.A. fusing democracy promotion with liberal ideology is hypocrisy in action and ineffective diplomacy that results in the world not trusting America's expression and advocacy for either. America has regularly aided unsavory governments and their leaders in order to achieve advances in liberalism or beneficial business and commodity bargains. On the flip side, America has abandoned grass roots democratic movements when it was not prepared to deal with the disruption and chaos that is a natural by-product of governmental transition.</div><div><br /></div><div>Hamid's focus is primarily the Middle East (African countries in the north that border the Mediterranean, to the Saudi peninsula, and across to Iran). What these countries have in common is the influence of Islam. The bottom line is that American politicians are profoundly skeptical of Islam due to the perception that it is fundamentally anti-democratic. However, the precepts of Islam advocate fairness, equality, education, and advancement through diligent work. To be sure, Islamists come in many different guises, sometimes contradicting the values for which they presumably stand. But could this not be said about democracies around the world, including the U.S.A.?</div><div><br /></div><div>The problem of democracy promotion then requires, quoting Roger Scruton's essay, "Limits of Democracy," the "ability or willingness to be unhappy but still obliging when one's adversary wins an election." Hamid's conclusion after reviewing presumed democracy promotion efforts in the Middle East is that liberalism must be separated by observing democratic minimalism "with its emphasis on the preferences of majorities or pluralities through regular elections and the rotation of power, over liberalism, which prioritizes individual freedoms, personal autonomy, and social progressivism" (locator 170 in Kindle). Democratic minimalism involves placing the foundations of legitimate government at the center of American foreign policy rather than any other liberalizing outcomes. The approach would require abandoning the advocacy of individual freedoms in favor of the collective obligations of free expression and participation in electing one's government.</div><div><br /></div><div>The disruption that results in formerly undemocratic cultures from expressions of dissent is often avoided at all costs when the American government is involved. This has been part of America's Middle East foreign policy for generations and is largely the result of its protection of Israel. Pushing Arab regimes, many partially or entirely Islamic, to make peace with Israel significantly undermines the prospect of democracy because embracing Israel is only possible when an autocrat imposes it against the will of its citizens. American's commitment to security over democratization was graphically demonstrated during the "Arab Spring" of 2011-13 when Egypt erupted in mass demonstrations and protests. A more contemporary Middle East example is the fact that at the same time "Saudi Arabia and the UAE were becoming more repressive at home and promoting regression abroad, they were attracting more, rather than less, American support" (locator 752).</div><div><br /></div><div>The bottom line of democratic advocacy in the Middle East is that it presently, and likely forever, will require the acceptance of Islam as central to its people and governments. As Hamid indicates, "one can think that Islamists are bad and <i>still </i>prioritize their participation in the democratic process" (locator 2871). The discomfort with Islamists must be countered in these circumstances with a fuller and more persistent commitment to democratic minimalism that welcomes participation by the Muslim Brotherhood, which has been vilified over the years. With the Muslim Brotherhood's founding partially a reaction to Israel's occupation of the holy land, America's unqualified advocacy for Israel is a potential, but not necessarily a determinant, obstacle. The Botherhood's adoption in 2004 of its "Reform initiative" as a commitment to a constitutional and democratic system within a framework of Islamic principles is a building block on which U.S. foreign policy could be centered.</div><div><br /></div><div>If the U.S.A. were to commit to true democratization in the Middle East, it first must accept uncertainty and secondly commit to a reasoned response to actions that could possibly threaten U.S. security and economic interests. Uncertainty related to Israel would be one of the greatest challenges for American diplomats and politicians, including the potential for the regional order and architecture being fundamentally changed. However, Hamid asserted that prioritizing Arab democracy could be actualized by publicly guaranteeing Israel defense protection if attacked while shifting to a Middle Eastern policy of placing democracy as the first and foremost priority, abandoning the folly of the "stability first" policy it presently imposes through a hypocritical mix of liberal ideology coupled with democracy promotion.</div>Denny Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13976548371874726977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17803506.post-60244619501952227042023-02-18T10:13:00.019-08:002023-06-18T05:41:13.553-07:00Genius and Leadership - Mahler, Bernstein, and Tar<p>Look up "genius" online or, as I first did this morning, in our 1937 Webster's New English dictionary. The <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/genius" target="_blank">online Webster's</a> includes a range of uses for the word including the benign examples of "strong leaning or inclination," a "strongly marked capacity," or "a person endowed with extraordinary mental superiority." The 1937 Webster's starts with reference to persons who have some aspect of deity. I've only personally known two certified geniuses in my lifetime, although I suspect there have been many more. I know that I do not qualify and that I've been intimidated by "genius" in some examples and empowered in others. The fact of it is, genius can count as a result of the privilege we grant those who have it, how it can inspire great things, or how it can destroy relationships, institutions, and governments (remember the declaration of "<a href="https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2018/07/12/trump-speaks-after-nato-summit-stable-genius-newday-vpx.cnn" target="_blank">stable genius</a>?").</p><p>Genius is certified in terms of intellectual capability in the IQ test but, based on the definitions available to us, goes far beyond that to the realms of science, business, philosophy, the arts and more. The ability to influence through <i>exceptional insight or creativity</i> and the genius associated with <i>mobilizing people and ideas</i> are beautifully reflected in music. The 2023 Academy award nominations of the movie <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C3%A1r" target="_blank">Tar</a> stimulated me to look more deeply into genius and the musicians who have demonstrated it. I was not a fan of Tar and was relieved when it received no Oscars. Why? I believe it <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/jan/20/classical-music-tar-cate-blanchett-todd-field" target="_blank">portrays genius and its resulting power in a very bad light</a>, let alone the near <a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2023-01-11/marin-alsop-tar-cate-blanchett-conductor-statement-interview" target="_blank">slanderous parallels</a> between the movie's main character and Marin Alsop, a noted female conductor who sponsors female musicians and happens to be married to a woman with whom she has children. Lydia Tar's malign grooming and power-wielding mirror what men do in various sectors every day and, other than novelty and a not-so-sensational revelation that sexism and exploitation come in many guises, what motivated the creation of her fictional character? Finally, regardless of the accolades for Cate Blanchett's acting, the scenes where she conducts are abysmal at best. The director should have known how bad Blanchett was and should have done something about it.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJTYtw_Y8Y393qnH4s8hWI08jJg_Qi9lDjTWdAP-X3B7eE7OUtyXeZV9dN9BJmtM8faIpFPtikb4bZevQR1qv8dlPKO2EtFtoz7go08oK97xzMQdIzUl3U1MC1dcFT6p-KW6fi6uknj6YXcXulGA1-4EtHLAKxHkDu5n3pkNMMT4uaxGZNxlo/s500/s-l500.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="448" data-original-width="500" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJTYtw_Y8Y393qnH4s8hWI08jJg_Qi9lDjTWdAP-X3B7eE7OUtyXeZV9dN9BJmtM8faIpFPtikb4bZevQR1qv8dlPKO2EtFtoz7go08oK97xzMQdIzUl3U1MC1dcFT6p-KW6fi6uknj6YXcXulGA1-4EtHLAKxHkDu5n3pkNMMT4uaxGZNxlo/w200-h179/s-l500.jpeg" width="200" /></a></div><br />Nevertheless, Tar stimulated reflection for me into the references in the script to Alsop, Bernstein, and Mahler. The lineage here is fascinating and it is direct. <a href="https://pursuingleadership.blogspot.com/2009/09/mahler-attraction-repulsion-and-courted.html" target="_blank">Mahler</a> was a conducting sensation in the late 19th and early 20th century who garnered rave reviews from the moment he directed Beethoven's 9th by memory in his debut in Vienna. His flamboyance (genius) as a conductor was <a href="https://pursuingleadership.blogspot.com/2011/09/oppenheimer-die-philharmoniker.html" target="_blank">controversial enough</a>, and rising anti-Semitism incendiary enough, for Mahler to leave Vienna for a respite period of conducting in the U.S.A. He returned to Vienna in 1911 and died at the age of only 51. Mahler's compositions were not as popular as his conducting during his lifetime but were retained through proteges such as Bruno Walter and <a href="https://mahlerfoundation.org/mahler/contemporaries/leonard-bernstein/" target="_blank">revived substantially</a> by <a href="http://pursuingleadership.blogspot.com/2018/08/bernstein-100-years.html" target="_blank">Leonard Bernstein</a> in the 1960s.<div><br /></div><div>The use of <a href="https://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/2016/07/07/throwback-thursday-mahler-kennedys/" target="_blank">Mahler's Symphony #2 for John F. Kennedy's funeral</a> in 1963 and <a href="https://bernstein.classical.org/features/june-1968-remembering-robert-f-kennedy/" target="_blank">Mahler's Symphony #5 Adagietto for Robert F. Kennedy's funeral</a> in 1968, as well as the <a href="https://www.yourclassical.org/episode/2018/08/23/bernstein-and-the-power-of-mahler" target="_blank">score draped across his chest</a> at his own burial in 1990, were indicative of Bernstein's affinity to Mahler's compositions. Bernstein's use of <a href="https://leonardbernstein.com/about/humanitarian/an-artists-response-to-violence" target="_blank">Mahler's compositions during American tragedy</a> have become routine to ceremonies of remembrance. Bernstein also came to great public recognition first from his conducting but then through his televised "Young People's Concerts" and popular acclaim in "West Side Story." However, Bernstein's substance as a composer has not always been recognized. Here again, a devoted protege, Marin Alsop, specializes in conducting Bernstein, seeking to renew his prominence as a composer. The fictional character, Lydia Tar, claims to also be a protege of Bernstein, placing herself as a peer to Alsop.<p></p><p>What is this lineage about and what does the choice of the music at the center of the film imply? The choice of Mahler's Symphony #5 and the Adagietto movement are likely indicative of the struggle between artistic death and life for Lydia Tar and perhaps even her struggle with relationships. But maybe there's more. <a href="https://decider.com/2023/01/31/tar-movie-ending-explained/" target="_blank">Interpretations of the ending</a> of Tar indicate that perhaps the puzzle image that appears repeatedly conveys that there is a puzzle that the director never intended to reveal. A protege of Leonard Bernstein, <a href="https://johnmauceri.com/" target="_blank">John Mauceri</a><a href="https://pursuingleadership.blogspot.com/2019/12/john-mauceri-is-protege-of-leonard.html" target="_blank">, author of <i>For the Love of Music</i></a>, was the <a href="https://johnmauceri.com/news/tar/" target="_blank">music advisor for "Tar"</a> and surely knew all of the details about Bernstein's affinity to Mahler in general and the 5th Symphony in particular. On the broader topic of music, Mauceri would likely have wanted viewers of Tar to connect with and feel the Mahler #5 and he would also have wanted each individual to discern their own interpretations of what they heard.</p><p>My study of musicologists' view of the 5th is that it was the point at which Mahler turned away from "programs" in his music to the broader philosophical questions that he pursued for the rest of his compositions. The 5th itself reflects a massive pivot from the funeral march at the beginning, to searching and yearning in the 2nd and 3rd movements, to finding and professing his love for Alma in the Adagietto, and finally to the triumph and ecstatic celebration in the final movement. The Adagietto is perplexing in itself because it includes moments of lush romanticism but also includes anguish, exaggerated by repeated appoggiaturas, perhaps a reflection of the ambivalence in the troubled relationship Gustav was to have with his <a href="https://pursuingleadership.blogspot.com/2015/08/arthur-malevolent-muse-life-of-alma.html" target="_blank">malevolent muse, Alma.</a> The anguish of the Adagietto might also be understood by considering the thematic quotations in Mahler's Ruckert Lieder, <i><a href="https://telescoper.wordpress.com/2011/01/03/ich-bin-der-welt-abhanden-gekommen/" target="_blank">Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen'</a></i>. This particular text and Mahler's setting of it is about the deep satisfaction found in solitude, especially of a type that births creation. Might Mahler have been declaring the need for solitude while simultaneously yearning for the connective ecstacy that love provides? </p><p>Returning to the idea of genius, Mahler and Bernstein reflect the height of genius, if for no other reason than their prominence in public notoriety and recognition, partially recognized in their own time but more substantially after their deaths. Mahler and Bernstein struggled with demons that likely drove them to offer their creative best and they both attempted to engage with others as they did. They both had impact in their own times as they exercised artistic and human leadership. I believe that the fictional Lydia Tar, with humble background who was drawn to Bernstein's genius, sought to advance herself rather than truly to advance art and the human spirit. After all, the beginning and conclusion of the film are about Lydia's work with publishers on her autobiography, <i>Tar on Tar</i>. Perhaps Lydia Tar began with a commitment to her art but became captivated by her own advancement, abused power in the process, and these brought her cataclysmic downfall. For me, the Mahler #5 was symbolic of the demons with which Lydia Tar struggled and the Adagietto represented the see-saw of ecstatic love and anguish over love that could not be satiated as long as Lydia was unable to be true to herself.</p><p>True genius in leadership is about something beyond oneself and, if it is not, the dark and deep spiral of destruction that was Lydia Tar's life will be the end that one is likely to meet. This is the transcending message I take from Tar; for all the flaws in the story and the acting, this is a crucial message to take away about genius and leadership.</p></div>Denny Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13976548371874726977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17803506.post-38155908296589705932023-02-06T17:27:00.010-08:002023-02-07T06:14:18.847-08:00Jamail & Rushworth (Eds.) - We are the Middle of Forever: Indigenous Voices from Turtle Island on the Changing Earth<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE34eDoMeLIa5YG_Bmaqa8eexOjslXs6a6cmRdXx2vgYcoysQva3sa0sK2fnvW4zSw_epkNk5Tq0FwyoUgCmzvot8Z_VGAbsrhYwNLRLR_GTrGdvrnSTnJFmPZv3OXRzKnKUiZI4HaL1DZXWiZ4TDy3ypUPjB6gy6cZ2dmwjKvMjGW6ilRusk/s360/we_are_the_middle_of_forever_final.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="240" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE34eDoMeLIa5YG_Bmaqa8eexOjslXs6a6cmRdXx2vgYcoysQva3sa0sK2fnvW4zSw_epkNk5Tq0FwyoUgCmzvot8Z_VGAbsrhYwNLRLR_GTrGdvrnSTnJFmPZv3OXRzKnKUiZI4HaL1DZXWiZ4TDy3ypUPjB6gy6cZ2dmwjKvMjGW6ilRusk/w133-h200/we_are_the_middle_of_forever_final.jpeg" width="133" /></a></div>We can never destroy the Earth is a message that rings loud and clear in Jamail & Rushworth’s (Eds.) <i><a href="https://thenewpress.com/books/we-are-middle-of-forever" target="_blank">We are the Middle of Forever</a></i> (2022). However, that’s not a good message. Instead, it is a statement of the ultimate reality of human existence on Earth – regardless if we destroy the environment and our own survivability on Earth, the Earth has and will continue to replenish itself after untold catastrophic transitions over the millennia. This collection of interviews with indigenous Natives of North America tells us that we can do something about environmental destruction but that we must enter the conversation about saving the natural environment with humility. The lesson of humility is critical across all types of leadership but it is particularly relevant in the context of the environment.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">These interviews of Native persons from various tribal backgrounds and experiences include highly educated faculty and researchers, community advocates, grass-roots organizers, and more. Each interview is labeled for its focus and includes areas such as strength, sense of permanence, living from the heart, awareness, trust, kinship, and more, all of which contribute to a set of disciplines for saving Mother Earth. The interview summaries begin with a description of each individual and then proceed through the exploration of ideas that each individual views as essential to respecting nature and the Earth. To be honest, I struggled with the first chapters and felt myself frequently asking, “What’s the point?” As the book builds momentum and connections are made across chapters, the ultimate purpose and prospect of each is revealed.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">“Turtle Island” is North America, the name reflecting the separation of the continent from other landmasses around the world. When invaders and settlers began coming to its shores, attacking, torturing, and killing natives into submission, grandmothers warned against complying with the invader’s human and resource views, “No, this is not the right way to relate to the Mother, and there will be consequences” (p. xi). Later in the Longest Walk of 1978, Phillip Deere reminded all of the grandmothers’ wisdom when he said, “We are going to continue to walk, and walk and walk until we find freedom for all the Native people. And I will remind you, you may not be an Indian, but you better join us. Your life is at stake. Your survival depends on this” (p. xvii).</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The “sense of permanence” interview of Gregg Castro (Salinan/Ohlone) asserted that reliance on science alone reinforces a view of the superiority of humans when, in reality, all creatures have rights and have a role to play in protecting the Earth as a living, breathing, changing place. The work of dismantling human arrogance must start with fixing ourselves and reversing the relatively recent obsession of civilization with possession, the assumption of ownership, and the resulting greed it engenders. Fixing ourselves of course is dependent on awareness, which is a very strong emphasis among Native peoples. Lacking awareness results in our not seeing ourselves in the context of systems, the world, and across time. The interview of Lyla June Johnston (Navajo and Cheyenne) on trust further exposed the perversity of the colonizers who came to Turtle Island with self-perception so low that they sought to dominate the frontier through white supremacy, sometimes even misappropriating the messages of Christ and his teachings of love to justify the slaughter of innocent native men, women, and children. This slaughter occurred sometimes as extermination and in other cases took the form of children being stolen from their families and assimilated in boarding schools away from the influences of their intergenerational tribes.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The bottom line revealed by Shannon Rivers (Akimel O’otham) in “balance” was that “Mother Earth will balance herself. Whether or not we get to see that balance, and whether or not it will happen in our lifetimes, we don’t know” (p. 156). The antidote to obsessive individualism and destructive accumulation for personal gain is Indigenous values, wisdom, and sustainable ways of living (Nelson on “dispelling delusion with alchemy”). The Anishinaabe tribal grandmothers’ seven teachings include love, bravery, respect, humility, truth, wisdom, and generosity. These seven teachings are mirrored in many Indigenous belief systems and represent a fundamental rebalancing of all living things on Turtle Island.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Melina Laboucan-Massimo (Lubicon Cree) said that “The climate crisis is the direct result of the Western capitalist industrial complex, coupled with patriarchy and all the other ‘isms’ that exist which separate humans from Mother Earth” (p. 302). Averting the crisis through Indigenous wisdom and practice would revive the sacred loop of ‘healing justice’ that opens the way to “unpack and decolonize, in trauma-informed ways” (p. 314). In straight-forward and meaningful terms, Laboucan-Massimo encourages practices of community ritual, singing and dancing and advises, “You say a morning prayer, ‘Thank you for another day of life. Thank you for keeping me pure during the night. Help me to be a good human being’” (p. 332).</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></div><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p>Denny Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13976548371874726977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17803506.post-69969431954800088702022-11-07T10:39:00.009-08:002022-11-07T14:00:26.222-08:00Tomes - The Piano - A History of 100 Pieces<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzYml3HZXW_Lu8m3DODnaC9_BoZC39Zo4XZ824YqUnCjEdnr51d3EUL3YyWdwUFOBfL5Nw_kfqOSFiAFwS8dtjgmC7UCVMp94iY44kcIgcckRW0JGGUUl3ebw0iRWGQdbFjIdLvZOLrsxqIcHMQ9lKztK29FDyIsM3MnUCvHF4CuydhHQbL24/s461/Tomes%20-%20The%20Piano.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="461" data-original-width="298" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzYml3HZXW_Lu8m3DODnaC9_BoZC39Zo4XZ824YqUnCjEdnr51d3EUL3YyWdwUFOBfL5Nw_kfqOSFiAFwS8dtjgmC7UCVMp94iY44kcIgcckRW0JGGUUl3ebw0iRWGQdbFjIdLvZOLrsxqIcHMQ9lKztK29FDyIsM3MnUCvHF4CuydhHQbL24/w129-h200/Tomes%20-%20The%20Piano.jpeg" width="129" /></a></div><span face="Calibri, sans-serif">Being able to hear great music enriches everyone's life. Actually playing it takes life's pleasures to a very different level. Having started piano lessons at age 5 and continuing throughout my life has been a profound gift and reading about the 100 best pieces across 200 years of composition reinforced it. Susan Tomes captures the essence of the journey in the closing paragraphs of her final chapter of </span><a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300267051/the-piano/" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" target="_blank"><i>The Piano - A History of 100 pieces</i> (2021/22)</a><span face="Calibri, sans-serif">:</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;">“The concert pianist is part of an intense triangle between composer, performer, and listener. Take away the audience, however, and the pianist playing alone at home is still part of an intense conversation with the composer… Composer and pianist may never meet, or even live in the same historical era, but their hopes are invested in one another. That is a rewarding relationship which for many pianists is one of the most enduring in their lives.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;">What does this have to do with leadership? Deeper leadership strives to create something of shared value and benefit and the greatest hope a leader has is that there will be some lasting impact, or legacy. Music is one of the most profound metaphors for, and examples of, deeper leadership because the listener, or indeed the musician performing, has complete choice as to whether they will engage. Only if stuck in an elevator for a few minutes listening to corporate mood music are we forced to listen. The rest of what we hear or play is choice. Thus, the composer knows that to communicate s/he must create something that is either so pleasurable that we want to hear it or a message so compelling that we can’t not hear it.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;">Susan Tomes’ <i>The Piano – A History in 100 Pieces </i>(2021/22) covers two hundred years of piano music. Readers who will most enjoy the book have played, or at least heard, a breadth of compositions across this repertoire. I was delighted that many of the pieces that I regularly play were referenced and further explained by her.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;">The keyboards that pre-dated the piano (piano forte) were strung and played in very different ways – plucking a string by depressing a key rather than a hammer striking a string (this is why the piano is classified as a percussion instrument). The shift to hammered piano resulted in much greater range in volume, the ability to sustain the ringing of a string, as well as more complicated compositions in general. It is for this reason that I mostly play compositions from the Classical era forward and I favor Romantic, late Romantic, and early 20<sup>th</sup> century music.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;">Beethoven (1770-1827) dominated both playing and composing in the early 19<sup>th</sup> century. Although of common birth he declared “’My nobility is here and here,’ striking his head and his heart” (locator 1016). This view took the status of musicians to a new level, equating it with the inherited privilege by birth granted to the titled nobility of the day. The nobility of Beethoven’s music includes simplicity as well as improvisations that border on “controlled hysteria” (locator 1091). One of his compositions, the “Moonlight Sonata” moves from a quiet, somber, and controlled movement to one of exuberance and then a last movement of frantic runs at a tempo that some might consider hysterical. Chopin (1810-1849) was a prolific composer focusing almost entirely on the piano with 200+ compositions for solo piano. These vary across pieces that can be played by a novice all the way up to some of the most challenging pieces in the piano repertoire. Some of my most pleasurable moments at the piano are with Chopin’s Nocturnes, the Fantasie-Impromptu, and the Etude in E.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;">Early 20<sup>th</sup> century music is really my home and is the period of music I most often play on a daily basis. Each of the following composers capture the evolution of musical ideas over time and culture. Norwegian pianist and composer Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) incorporated folk tunes into his only piano concerto, one of the most loved of the repertoire. Grieg and Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) were part of a Scandinavian movement that celebrated nature and revived mythical stories to help shape the national identities of Norway and Finland. The melodic lines in Gabriel Faure’s (1845-1924) music often incorporated mediaeval purity, inspiring his students to include graceful lines into the emerging “Impressionism” common among French composers. Claude Debussy (1862-1918) and Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) incorporated Faure’s purity of melody as they explored greater complexity, often informed by the precision of math in both melody and harmonic tone. Ravel even incorporated American jazz elements after he fell in love with the complex chords and “blue notes” prominently used by George Gershwin (1898-1937) and jazz greats such as Duke Ellington. Russian Romanticism reached its peak in Sergei Rachmaninoff’s (1873-1943) compositions, with the chromaticism that is so evident in “Impressionism” creating some of the most beautiful melodies ever written. Rachmaninoff’s permanent departure after the Russian Revolution likely increased his influence in Europe and in America where lush melodies in movie themes became the vogue of the 1930s and 40s.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;">Tomes laments in her concluding chapter that “Many people now get their exposure to classical music through film and television” (locator 5565) or in stadium concerts of popular performers. On the positive side she goes on to say that “piano music is in a phase of democratisation, opening itself to influences and philosophies which have particular meaning for our era” (locator 5648), a trend that proves that all music, and especially piano music, must incorporate a wide range of ideas and influences. In essence, this range reflects a collective human treasure that is constantly changing, modulating, and incorporating new cultures and ideas. Music in general, and piano repertoire in particular, personify leadership as we have now come to understand it in the 21<sup>st</sup> century – an interpersonal encounter that seeks to engage others, and through building relationships, seeks to honor various human experiences and conditions in creating a more understandable, connected and beautiful world.<o:p></o:p></p>Denny Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13976548371874726977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17803506.post-1779320199966217572022-09-06T07:27:00.006-07:002022-09-06T07:49:33.652-07:00Reyes - The Purpose Gap<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqSIh6fFbBlo2A1olNr3SEleXtnLm-MqNsxQnMM-ya_a952Ik8x3884MBJ2ViS68cLkGbWlAIcW-VpT0Lkgev3rCEkLmYgZ69r79H5EHmzz6nsB8MMpO15aKd_qk0OLgR_y4C71LG6PNP2SMpvg6y-oaNErYzu_JQ2VjqPRuafi-NnoXqF6Mk/s325/GUEST_c7a79228-1c26-4678-b5f1-2f68c6980230.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="325" data-original-width="325" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqSIh6fFbBlo2A1olNr3SEleXtnLm-MqNsxQnMM-ya_a952Ik8x3884MBJ2ViS68cLkGbWlAIcW-VpT0Lkgev3rCEkLmYgZ69r79H5EHmzz6nsB8MMpO15aKd_qk0OLgR_y4C71LG6PNP2SMpvg6y-oaNErYzu_JQ2VjqPRuafi-NnoXqF6Mk/w200-h200/GUEST_c7a79228-1c26-4678-b5f1-2f68c6980230.jpeg" width="200" /></a></div>I felt as if I was overhearing an intimate conversation among friends and allies while reading Reyes' <i><a href="https://www.wjkbooks.com/Products/0664266703/the-purpose-gap.aspx" target="_blank">The Purpose Gap: Empowering Communities of Color to Find Meaning and Thrive</a> </i>(2021). Patrick Reyes clearly informs the reader that this book is for Black, Brown, and other minoritized individuals and groups that have not had "the resources and opportunities to fulfill their purposes in life" (Acknowledgements). As a reader who has not experienced the debilitating forces of discrimination beyond its corrosive impact on society, the book was helpful as a way to understand what needs to change and it also helped me to accept the limits that liberal advocates of inclusion should consider.<br /><p></p><p><br />I have written about purpose and calling in life and I admit that I never realized the privilege bias in my own thinking - I wrote as if all one must do is discern purpose, continually hone it for good, develop the capacity to act on it, and stay the course. No, calling to vocation is not available to all people in the same ways and Reyes' writing helped me to understand how I missed the mark on this. The "purpose gap" is proposed as both an individual and community concern for only in a supportive community can everyone discover their potential, with "everyone" being key. Reyes is not talking about individual and exceptional stars who break the bonds of racism. His analysis is about systemic conditions that are deliberately designed to hold entire groups of people back, and these conditions will not change without dramatic transformation.</p><p>As a youth raised in a Latinx community in California, Reyes asserts "purpose is defined, stolen, or withheld before we ever enter the world" (p. 2) prohibiting youth from achieving what they were born to do. The barriers are erected by the "inheritors of wealth" who also guard the bridges to opportunity that would otherwise be available. Reyes indicates that some of the barriers include internalized racism and imposter syndrome, but the greatest challenge is the lack of resources to pursue one's purpose. Grounded in his faith perspective, Reyes soberly recognized that we live in a society that decided who it could and would love and that "parents of color must teach our children they are loved despite a world that is not doing its best" (p. 24). Reyes goes on to say that to assume that the "American Dream" is achievable for all is nothing bot colonial piety.</p><p><i>The Purpose Gap</i> admonishes those in Black and Brown communities to begin the journey by rewriting and retelling their story of purpose, drawing on the wisdom of their ancestors. He takes on Joseph Campbell's "hero's journey" by declaring it as a linear and individual story that denies the reality of minoritized communities. Instead, Reyes says, "I reserve my vocation, my life, and my purpose for my community. For my community first called me to life when the world tried to take it" (p. 46). In order to redefine the space of calling, design thinking could be used to answer four questions: What is? What if? What wows? and, What works? Design justice emerges from these questions by guaranteeing the distribution of shared benefits and burdens among various groups and peoples.</p><p>Reyes identifies community centers, libraries, parks and extended family networks as places that foster meaning and purpose for minoritized groups. Referencing the importance of faith organizations, he says that "The church not only has a call, vocation, and purpose. More importantly, it has the means and power to act on its purpose" (p. 62) and has a special responsibility in closing the purpose gap. To do this, the church must move from recognizing that stars exist to seeing that they must exist in constellations - places where the conditions for purpose and success are available to all. In these constellation places, leadership is also different. Instead of an individual act, leadership comes from tireless learners, pursuing "new angles, perspectives, viewpoints, and wisdom with excessive curiosity" (p. 109). Leadership must also foster specialists, those with wisdom and salient knowledge (e.g., intuition), and spirit workers to activate and sustain a community where constellations of stars are possible. On this final point, Reyes notes, "Closing the purpose gap is not just about changing the material world. It requires us to connect with and find healing with the spirits that guide our journey" (p. 166). In another passage he advocates hope in this work by saying, "I do want to say to this broken world, 'I see your violence, and I will raise you hope and love'" (p. 174).</p><p>In closing, Reyes offered three practices to help close the purpose gap for individuals and communities: 1) tell a new story, 2) design for purpose on our terms, and 3) know that it's about today!</p>Denny Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13976548371874726977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17803506.post-10601566360850926212022-09-05T08:46:00.008-07:002022-10-19T06:39:14.038-07:00Bremmer - The Power of CrisisIan Bremmer's latest book, <i><a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Power-of-Crisis/Ian-Bremmer/9781982167509" target="_blank">The Power of Crisis: How Three Threats and Our Response will Change the World </a></i>(2022), is short and very much to the point. The world community has work to do and we should do it quickly before the crises we now face get beyond our ability to address them. The hopeful part of his warning is that crisis tends to call the greatest ingenuity and most creativity from the human spirit so we can address our shared problems, but it is a matter of awareness of the risks and the will to do something about it.<div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS_Hpr6XCLieryPd-XmF5-WKeJM-XB_ebdSF-ljxhMuPUTzU1Cm-sTYxKA523amB_1MP7R2awuw0FBj9vrNwsqM5lceDE6YI1Q6kDyJPSs0VOx9s0plU5lfAnvUCxC3EmYBnGsdS2GocLFSswFXb_0RXdAPaEWqg2ZjHuKZ7ipExtHKzFxLLc/s2125/the-power-of-crisis-9781982167509_hr.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2125" data-original-width="1400" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS_Hpr6XCLieryPd-XmF5-WKeJM-XB_ebdSF-ljxhMuPUTzU1Cm-sTYxKA523amB_1MP7R2awuw0FBj9vrNwsqM5lceDE6YI1Q6kDyJPSs0VOx9s0plU5lfAnvUCxC3EmYBnGsdS2GocLFSswFXb_0RXdAPaEWqg2ZjHuKZ7ipExtHKzFxLLc/w132-h200/the-power-of-crisis-9781982167509_hr.jpg" width="132" /></a></div>Bremmer used the recent pandemic of 2020 and beyond to extract the lessons that we need to collectively learn. The three crises he says are eminent are shaking off the effects (economic, political, and social) of COVID-19, climate change, and the impact of new technologies that are changing our daily lives. The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated graphically that we have both a civil war within the U.S.A. (polarization around science, common welfare, and politics) and the risk of a new cold war between the U.S.A. and China. In fact, COVID-19 pushed the world into a geopolitical recession where political groups withdrew from engaging with one another and across national borders. The impending crises of climate and technology will require new international systems of engagement that are designed to address today's and tomorrow's challenges.</div><div><br /></div><div>With all that globalism promised, it has been a miserable failure. Specifically, the anticipated leveling of opportunity and economies was not only unfulfilled but wealth and resource inequality increased in the face of rising commercial exchange across borders. The wealth gaps in the U.S.A. have contributed significantly to the acrimony and divisiveness of political decision making, with those who are wealthy manipulating less-resourced groups against each other. The evidence of who controls political discourse is clearly evident in the $14 billion spent on elections for the two houses of Congress in 2020, a figure double that of 2016. One of the most inflammatory dimensions of politics in the U.S.A. is structural racism, a pervasive dynamic that many assert doesn't even exist.</div><div><br /></div><div>Bremmer asserted that Xi Jinping, not U.S.A. Presidents and politicians, has placed U.S.A.-China relations on a more precarious path. The most frightening aspect of this is that the world has never experienced a time when its largest economy (soon to be China) was directed by an authoritarian government. The problem is that, for all the frailties of authoritarianism, it creates more cohesion and immediate functionality than messy democracy. At present, the balance of power between the U.S.A. and China is unclear, a situation in which inadvertent or purposeful conflict is much more likely to occur. Conflict could arise from governmental subsidies to businesses that lower production costs, from the theft of intellectual and innovation property, or it could arise from the growing threat China is signaling in relation to Hong Kong, and even more so in relation to Taiwan. The most likely battle between the U.S.A. and China is in relation to the future of technology - communications, machine learning, surveillance, and artificial intelligence.</div><div><br /></div><div>The lessons that the COVID-19 pandemic taught the world include: invest in national and local readiness, share information, and share burdens and their resolution. The economic damage of the pandemic was widespread and deep, but it also sped up the transition from a 20th century to a 21st century economy. This is particularly applicable in relation to digital age companies.</div><div><br /></div><div>For possible answers to the dysfunction of both the politics of the U.S.A. and China, Bremmer recommended looking at Europe's leadership on climate, technology, and provision of citizen safety nets. The work undertaken across European borders has been more effective than many other areas of the world, including even within the 50 Unites States. Climate and political refugees have flooded into many European countries and accommodating them has not been easy. However, by contrast to the U.S.A., political leaders recognize that refugees will create public unrest wherever they land and that constant effort to shape public perception in positive ways is essential. Climate and human migration will be challenging but Bremmer predicts that artificial intelligence is the greatest potential disrupter - "The greatest risk that AI presents is the possibility that one country will develop an insurmountable lead in its development, an achievement that would allow it monopolistic control over the world order" (p. 159).</div><div><br /></div><div>The solution to the crises we presently face is for the U.S.A. and China to recognize that they must avoid economic and political stalemate, parking the differences that are real in order to find solutions that protect the whole of humanity. The technology challenge can be managed by creating a World Data Organization composed of European, Asian, and other allies that will by necessity bring China to the table. The resolution of our joint climate and technology challenges may emerge from a type of "Goldilocks crisis" that demonstrates the viability of multiple forms of government and focuses on practical solutions based on complex social engagement, cooperation, and coordination.</div>Denny Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13976548371874726977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17803506.post-48481986034132997582022-07-27T08:21:00.001-07:002022-07-27T10:40:33.211-07:00Herman - The Viking Heart<span style="font-family: inherit;">Partially motivated by a search to discover his own roots, Arthur Herman painstakingly documents the Viking Age to provide a more complete picture of who the Vikings were in <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Viking-Heart-Scandinavians-Conquered-World/dp/1328595900/ref=sr_1_1?gclid=Cj0KCQjwxIOXBhCrARIsAL1QFCaOxyLlBOTP1FPedKPwpIzH3bBNFw_S7lchFvGmHPCYm4a7bpmGoHEaAsSvEALw_wcB&hvadid=241903525198&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9021748&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=14035212789693110627&hvtargid=kwd-353973531101&hydadcr=22531_10344312&keywords=viking+heart&qid=1658932727&sr=8-1" target="_blank">The Viking Heart: How Scandinavians Conquered the World</a> </i>(2021). By going back as well as recounting the more contemporary impact of Scandinavian immigrants in America, Herman provides a much more complete characterization of a people and period of time that is often portrayed only for its brutality.</span><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Vikings, originally knows as Norsemen, were a people with a particular "frame of mind, a way of life, a way of doing things and making things, including making things happen in the face of the worst adversity" (Preface). Herman asserts in the book title as well as text that this particular way of being was distinctive and survives to this day, evident in a much larger portion of our collective genetic mix and human history than most people realize.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Vikings, originally meaning "people of the Vik" or sea voyagers, traveled widely throughout Europe and into the Mediterranean, spreading ideas about astronomy, medicine, mathematics, physics, and instruments wherever they went. Coming from the current lands of Norway, Denmark, and Sweden, Vikings first sailed to England in the year 793 when they began their summer raids. Large Norse expeditions began staying over the winter in Ireland by the 840s and York became the capital of the Viking kingdom by 876. By 878 over half of England was under Viking domination, with the Orkney and Shetland Islands, Scotland and Ireland essentially being Norwegian colonies. During the period 780 to 950 Vikings from Norway and Denmark penetrated all of Europe and those from Sweden pushed as fas as the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">The seafaring exploits of the Vikings revolutionized ship design and navigational capability, allowing them to travel faster and farther than any other sailors of the day. Mobility and pursuit of resources quickly turned from piracy and raiding to trade and settlement, resulting in Vikings establishing villages, turning to agriculture and fishing, and intermingling with Saxon tribal groups throughout England. As the number of villages increased, Vikings established "The Thing" as a political institution for landowners to address concerns that affected the entire community and elect their kings. The Althing of Iceland is derived from this self-governing entity and constitutes the oldest continuous democracy in the world.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Vikings embraced many cultures and languages but men were privileged in all. While women were recognized as playing an important part in Viking villages, they were certainly not recognized as equals. Viking ships also supplied slaves to central Europe who were captured from Slavic tribes widely dispersed from Kiev in Ukraine to Prague in Bohemia. "The wealth and prosperity of the golden age of Islam were made possible in large part by the human labor supplied by Viking slave traders" (p. 49). The trade resulted in Vikings amassing hoards of silver, including eighty-four thousand silver coins eventually discovered in Sweden.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">The concept of leadership in Viking days included the leader being one with his subordinates and loyalty terminating only at the point of death. There were no limits to the loyalty expected and given to the most revered among them. The brutality and sacrifice of the early Viking "berserkers" (from which we adopted "going berserk") would eventually merge with the spread of Christianity and by 1000 CE Vikings moved to a spiritual journey rather than a physical one. The myth of seeking a placed in Valhalla, a place where the bravest warriors go when they are killed in battle, was replaced by a Norse-informed religion that viewed the relationship between humans and gods as reciprocal. In this transactional view, "what seems to be decline and destruction is ultimately a source of renewal" (p. 112), a view adopted in Nietzsche's "myth of the eternal return." The progression of Christianity was slow and included the incorporation of previous images and borrowed traditions of paganism. Eventually, Christianity embraced compassion and moral obligation and the "Viking ideal of loyalty and service to community took on a new dimension: one of service to Christ and others as a Christian duty" (p. 122).</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><i>The Viking Heart </i>traces the evolution of Viking character from 793 until the days of William the Conqueror (born 1027 or 1028 to September 9, 1087) when Norman's transformed the Viking "aristocracy of the brave" into the "dynastic rulers and cultural transmitters" who "laid the foundations for the unity of the medieval West" (p. 161). These foundations served the descendants of the Vikings well for almost another 1000 years.</div><div><br /></div><div>Viking myth permeates many of today's most popular books and films - J.R.R Tolkien's <i>Lord of the Rings</i>, George Lucas' <i>Star Wars</i>, and J.K. Rowling's <i>Harry Potter</i> all celebrate the superheroes and fantasies of these ancient stories. The "...dazzling qualities of the Viking Heart - indomitable courage, fierce loyalty, national pride and power, plus a religious zeal and a charismatic ambition" (p. 216) are qualities that inspire many among us. The unfortunate part is that not all recognize the accompanying depth of commitment to community, equity, and helping one's neighbor that a Viking heart would embrace. Bravery, fierceness, and dominance divorced from the commitment to common welfare have inspired some of the hate and aggression that is seen among white supremacy groups today.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>The Viking Heart</i> is a long but interesting read. I have only summarized the early history portion of the book and for those who want more on how the Viking heart impacted more contemporary times, the rest of the book will be of great interest. Related to leadership, it was clear that much of the philosophy and many of the images of Vikings are celebrated in the heroic versions of leadership that popular media often portray.</div>Denny Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13976548371874726977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17803506.post-53848680045189983452022-07-22T12:41:00.007-07:002022-07-22T13:42:52.377-07:00Popelka - Experience, Inc.<style class="WebKit-mso-list-quirks-style">
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</style><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhht533VOS2QC0dw3UhrV81LsunTezjSGIFwtR_b2iLMEZvs0NEU9z9bEtZEUCBPW5hYmwus1BQsBg1q4AcEykNK8As2uvmugYDIsgh92kcFAHyyw_7uzlTu3bVXluItGXCR7Gm_jl927BrZ2XeU0wVb25DFpZI6tlBHjawQRnwcwbyAoaO0rI/s523/WSJFlat_Cover-438w.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="440" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhht533VOS2QC0dw3UhrV81LsunTezjSGIFwtR_b2iLMEZvs0NEU9z9bEtZEUCBPW5hYmwus1BQsBg1q4AcEykNK8As2uvmugYDIsgh92kcFAHyyw_7uzlTu3bVXluItGXCR7Gm_jl927BrZ2XeU0wVb25DFpZI6tlBHjawQRnwcwbyAoaO0rI/w269-h320/WSJFlat_Cover-438w.png" width="269" /></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;">Jill Popelka, former SAP executive and advocate for improving the experience of work, offers compelling evidence that organizations of all sorts need to change. The specific change is that they should prioritize employee experience in order to foster motivation, commitment, and innovation and all of these contribute to the bottom lines of productivity, profitability, and sustainability.</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.jillpopelka.com" target="_blank"><i>Experience, Inc. </i>(Popelka, 2022)</a> is relevant to all types of organizations, although the author is coming from over 25 years as a technology executive. Think schools, not-for-profits, community, churches, and for-profit businesses. None can escape the reality of 2022, a time when post-pandemic recovery is underway but with the new twist of employees being empowered to demand better compensation and working conditions. Even organizations that rely on volunteers would do well to heed Popelka’s advice; perhaps these settings require even greater focus on experience – the experience of being involved, contributing, and spending time in ways that bring meaning to one’s life.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p>What do employees (e.g., workers, volunteers, contributors) want?</p><style class="WebKit-mso-list-quirks-style">
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</style><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]-->Purpose: to find meaning in their work<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]-->Agency: to have some say over how, when, and where they work<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]-->Belonging: to feel part of a community, even if they are remote, freelance, or part-time; to be part of a diverse community.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]-->Recognition: to be acknowledged for their contributions, in multiple forms, on a regular basis (p. 12).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;">It's not about simply going through the motions of employee responsiveness. These conditions must be based on a sincere belief in people and in their desire to both advance themselves and contribute to something greater than themselves.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;">Agency and autonomy are core to ongoing growth and innovation and, therefore, deserve special attention. Popelka references Dr. Autumn Krauss to explain the primary challenge – “Marketing has got it all segmented down to a sample size of one… we shouldn’t be surprised that employees come to work wanting an individualized experience, specifically catered to them” (p. 54). Agency allows workers to figure out what is important to them and propose ways to achieve what they most want. Agency and autonomy require cultivation, especially among new members of any community. 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</style>Denny Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13976548371874726977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17803506.post-20377437599518392512022-05-10T07:28:00.000-07:002022-05-10T07:28:14.657-07:00Pink - Power of Regret<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilro_91SFOrBYy1SFJx0ymG10vr7D3wuBXbUSWAw6CV9OtCRmtQPJahnzLt9qrWJxeqrX-wJXJpFKVlN67cGriQ7n4jQadGn_ctWzD8ynpJGqzOCHdPwqd3t1IyZ6CbbMu_8hTCetDoXb4t666ySnhKqWiiWOyhcQmame6xwBhdHJJKZKIMaU/s275/Pink%20-%20Power%20of%20Regret2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a><img border="0" data-original-height="275" data-original-width="183" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilro_91SFOrBYy1SFJx0ymG10vr7D3wuBXbUSWAw6CV9OtCRmtQPJahnzLt9qrWJxeqrX-wJXJpFKVlN67cGriQ7n4jQadGn_ctWzD8ynpJGqzOCHdPwqd3t1IyZ6CbbMu_8hTCetDoXb4t666ySnhKqWiiWOyhcQmame6xwBhdHJJKZKIMaU/w133-h200/Pink%20-%20Power%20of%20Regret2.jpeg" width="133" /></div><span style="font-family: inherit;">Daniel H. Pink’s 2022 book, <i><a href="https://www.danpink.com/the-power-of-regret/" target="_blank">The Power of Regret: How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward</a></i>, reframes an emotional struggle many of us have throughout life. We look at things we did, and regret having done something we now see as destructive or even morally reprehensible. Or we look at things we didn’t do and bemoan the lost opportunity or different future we could have had.</span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Pink starts his analysis of regret by debunking the commonly professed “I have no regrets.” Of course, we have regrets and to not have them is to not feel, to not live. Regrets are what make it possible to connect with others – all of us wish that we hadn’t done some things or had done other things that we passed up. He goes on to explain how regrets make us better and identifies the core regrets with which we generally struggle. Then he closes with advice on how to deal with regret.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; text-align: right;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This book is not just an opinion piece; it is based on a worldwide regret survey that included both a tabulated survey and open-ended responses of what people around the world regretted. Before launching into his own research, Pink summarizes seventy years of previous research with two conclusions: 1) regret makes us human, and 2) regret makes us better. And regret is a uniquely human capability because we have the ability to travel across time in our memories and we can imagine different experiences that didn’t actually happen. We can see this easily in a common regret expressed in Pink’s survey – people wish that they had taken their educations more seriously, which they believe would have led to different life outcomes. In addition to mental time travel and imagining other outcomes, humans have the ability to compare their own experiences with others and they are inclined to place blame, either on themselves or others. An example in work is that we can regret following a parent’s advice in career choice, therefore blaming them when we’re stuck in a career or workplace that we dislike.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The four core categories of regret that research defined are; foundation regrets (failures to be responsible, conscientious, or prudent), boldness regrets (chances we didn’t take), moral regrets (behaving poorly, or compromising our goodness), and connection regrets (neglecting people who contribute to our wholeness). Pink provides numerous examples of each category and then offers strategies that are applicable to varying degrees across all four. The strategies are: 1) undo it, 2) "at least it," and then heal through 3) self-disclosing, 4) self-compassion, and self-distancing. Owning up to “regret, when handled correctly, offers three broad benefits. It can sharpen our decision-making skills. It can elevate our performance on a range of tasks. And it can strengthen our sense of meaning and connectedness” (p. 42).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This book is short and has some core wisdom to it. While it doesn’t really break boundaries it is the reframing that helps – reframing that allows us to accept the things in our past that sometimes nag us, learning from them, and choosing to do better in the future. Pink’s book is worth a quick read for anyone in leadership, since leadership regrets are common for those who have attempted anything of note, or perhaps taken on a challenge that could have made a lot of difference in our lives.</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>Denny Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13976548371874726977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17803506.post-72079736579852646382022-04-11T06:34:00.006-07:002022-04-11T09:24:58.477-07:00Loebel - America's Medicis: The Rockefellers and Their Astonishing Cultural Legacy<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Medici legacy in Florence, Italy, stands across the ages as one of the most amazing periods of arts sponsorship known to history. The Rockefeller family may be recognized as equivalent to the Medicis as history provides a bit more distance on their contribution to art in the 20<sup>th</sup> century. The equivalence of the two families and how they preserved, celebrated, and educated around the arts is the subject of Suzanne Loebel’s <i><a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/americas-medicis-suzanne-loebl?variant=39350365814818" target="_blank">America’s Medicis: The Rockefellers and Their Astonishing Cultural Legacy </a></i>(2010).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzzM8ytOTtjXrYiDyS1ryYYENKEO-USaoAZvDlWbAIUZwa0j0N5i_1kAyHyXauzHk3HAtKIbKjmFHQ9FXQIE3CZ_tMHWOXlR1yybqGgykElo5CCDz6tsGaVMWtqZ9DejYXjd_dwNDyvJIYo_SqB6eOoiYB9bkv02obncCVB_AE3FdDBNKDYk0/s500/Loebel%20-%20America's%20Medicis.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="329" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzzM8ytOTtjXrYiDyS1ryYYENKEO-USaoAZvDlWbAIUZwa0j0N5i_1kAyHyXauzHk3HAtKIbKjmFHQ9FXQIE3CZ_tMHWOXlR1yybqGgykElo5CCDz6tsGaVMWtqZ9DejYXjd_dwNDyvJIYo_SqB6eOoiYB9bkv02obncCVB_AE3FdDBNKDYk0/w132-h200/Loebel%20-%20America's%20Medicis.jpeg" width="132" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;">In her introduction, Loeble remarks “the Rockefellers’ most important contribution was to teach America that art and its enjoyment, message, and healing power did not belong to a rarefied elite, but could be loved, understood, and even owned by all” (Introduction). Their advocacy ranged across different eras and places (e.g., Asian, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Palestine, American folk art, and Mexico), embraced diverse cultures, and included not only the visual arts of print and painting but impacted architecture as well. Examples of major collections include the Cloisters (NYC), Museum of Modern Art (NYC), the Oriental Institute (University of Chicago), the pristine island of Acadia National Park (Maine), and buildings such as Riverside Church (NYC), Rockefeller Center (NYC), Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (NYC), the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Mall (Albany, NY), and Kykuit (family mansion in Mount Pleasant, NY, now open as a sculpture garden and museum). </span><div><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">John D. Rockefeller, Sr. became the founding patriarch at age 16, forced to assume the “head of household” responsibilities when his father abandoned the family. Senior founded Standard Oil Company with a partner. Timed perfectly to take advantage of rising fuel demand in the late 19<sup>th</sup> century, he amassed a fortune that would be the base for the generations of Rockefellers to follow. Religion was central in Senior’s life, a staunch Baptist who taught Bible classes throughout his adult life and, along with his wife, Aby, believed in education, aiding the poor, and adhering to principles of thrift and humility. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">John D. Rockefeller, Jr. adhered to the business advice and dictates of his father but rebelled to some degree against his mother’s conservative religious views. The rebellion did not stand in the way of Junior’s loyalty being expressed in the establishment of the University of Chicago as a Baptist university or the building of Riverside church in NYC. One of Junior’s greatest skills was identifying mentors and loyal collaborators who helped him achieve his ambitions. Frederick T. Gates became one of his greatest supporters and stewards of Rockefeller’s wealth. Regardless of the family’s commitment to philanthropy, the Rockefellers were included among the “robber barons” who were despised by many in the heady days of growing industrialization.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Senior and Junior sought to democratize art by bringing it to broad numbers of citizens. This inclination toward opening the arts to all is somewhat in contrast to the fact that both were enthusiasts of free and unrestricted trade and opposed unions. Their beliefs were immortalized in Junior’s personal creed, which was inscribed on the staircase leading to the Rockefeller Center ice skating rink:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">I believe in the supreme worth of the individual and in his right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">I believe that every right implies a responsibility; every opportunity, an obligation; every possession, a duty.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">I believe in the dignity of labor, whether with head or hand; that the world owes no man a living but that it owes every man an opportunity to make a living.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Loebel’s book includes extensive detail on the collections of Senior, Junior, and other subsequent Rockefeller family members. Large portions of the family’s personal collections were donated to the museums that they either created or supported.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">These Rockefeller collections are now on my new “bucket list” to see in the coming years. Clearly, a couple of weeks of touring Rockefeller museums would be an incredible treat. And, it would provide the opportunity to think about art as a catalyst for change, particularly art that is open and available to all, regardless of individual taste, preferences, and interpretation. After all, art is the visualization and symbolization of human experience. Exploring others’ views through art is a primary way by which we can build the bridges and relationships that we need for a thriving and sustainable world.</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p></div>Denny Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13976548371874726977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17803506.post-71202840924318123332022-02-10T07:24:00.013-08:002022-02-11T06:31:29.225-08:00McGhee - The Sum of Us<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiqkuPCsLmNRgcWH8WOFa5BAhmDzgqRZ-cSK_GoE04DVP6J2bbchw1ZDqRgDb5SaIftO_1QXZeVe49_LUlafOYn2NfSjSNtYQ1HCyqf_254mpOx6De01_oNj-TZsvfpKdxDYPox5oo85gXJkh-AA2ASWrmrbeHvyNVSVPJphvIXRq88-Q2aCBw=s225" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiqkuPCsLmNRgcWH8WOFa5BAhmDzgqRZ-cSK_GoE04DVP6J2bbchw1ZDqRgDb5SaIftO_1QXZeVe49_LUlafOYn2NfSjSNtYQ1HCyqf_254mpOx6De01_oNj-TZsvfpKdxDYPox5oo85gXJkh-AA2ASWrmrbeHvyNVSVPJphvIXRq88-Q2aCBw=s16000" /></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span><a href="https://heathermcghee.com" target="_blank">Heather McGhee’s </a></span><i><a href="https://heathermcghee.com" target="_blank">The Sum of Us</a>: What Racism Costs </i><span><i>Everyone</i></span><i> and How We Can Prosper Together </i><span>(2021) not only captures the collective cost of racism to everyone, black/white or privileged/middle income, but also sums up several other author’s contributions to understanding racism and what must be done to eradicate it from the U.S.A. Other books I’ve read that seem to have led me to McGhee’s book include: <a href="https://pursuingleadership.blogspot.com/2018/04/coates-we-were-eight-years-in-power.html" target="_blank">Coates’ </a></span><i><a href="https://pursuingleadership.blogspot.com/2018/04/coates-we-were-eight-years-in-power.html" target="_blank">We Were Eight Years in Power</a>, </i><span><a href="https://pursuingleadership.blogspot.com/2019/11/kendi-how-to-be-antiracist_8.html" target="_blank">Kindi's </a><i><a href="https://pursuingleadership.blogspot.com/2019/11/kendi-how-to-be-antiracist_8.html" target="_blank">How to Be an Anti-Racist</a>, </i><a href="https://pursuingleadership.blogspot.com/2020/12/jones-white-too-long-legacy-of-white.html" target="_blank">Jones’ </a></span><i><a href="https://pursuingleadership.blogspot.com/2020/12/jones-white-too-long-legacy-of-white.html" target="_blank">White Too Long</a>, </i><a href="https://pursuingleadership.blogspot.com/2017/02/wear-reclaiming-hope.html" target="_blank"><span>Wear’s </span><i>Reclaiming Hope</i></a><span>, </span><a href="https://pursuingleadership.blogspot.com/2021/08/wilkerson-caste-origins-of-our.html" target="_blank"><span>Wilkerson's</span><i> Caste</i></a><span>, and <a href="https://pursuingleadership.blogspot.com/2017/09/kruglanski-psychology-of-closed.html" target="_blank">Kruglanski’s </a></span><i><a href="https://pursuingleadership.blogspot.com/2017/09/kruglanski-psychology-of-closed.html" target="_blank">The Psychology of Closed-Mindedness</a>.</i></span><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br /></i></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Two things stand out as prominent in <i>The Sum of Us </i>that weren’t there, or I did not fully recognize, in other author’s books: 1) that the negative cost of racism is broadly shared and 2) by highlighting this summative impact, we might actually reap a solidarity dividend that will help us to make progress in challenging it.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A tension with which I struggle is the philosophical stance of abundance versus that of scarcity. On a very personal basis, I recognize that most of the things that keep me from living the life I want to live are rooted in a scarcity view – fear of missing out, jealousy, regret. McGhee calls it the “zero-sum” game, a worldview that assumes that beating losers is the only way to acquire what one wants. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">McGhee’s analysis delves into economics, and particularly governmental policy related to it, and its impact on who has been able to accumulate wealth in the U.S.A. America and the “American Dream” evolved from a starving and scrappy colony that took land away from indigenous people and enforced slave labor to achieve its objective of wealth creation among a few landholders. As early as 1857, a white southerner, Hinton Rowan Helper, wrote that a crisis was on the horizon, one based on southern oligarchs’ refusal to support education and enterprise, a refusal that would result in southern whites being poorer in the long run.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Helper’s prescient observation emerged more profoundly as post-Civil War “Jim Crow” unfolded with white supremacy used to unite whites across class and against people of color. After desegregation was mandated by federal law, the combination of “separate but equal” policy and the closing of shared community resources such as swimming pools and other recreation resources were denied to people of color, which in effect denied them to white people with lesser means as well. The creation of a racial hierarchy was conceived and activated as a way of sowing discontent among those without power, pitting less educated and lower class whites against people of color. In essence, the racial hierarchy created a last-place aversion of low-income whites that allowed them to feel superior to at least people of other color and culture.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Governmental spending in the middle of the 20<sup>th</sup> century grew the American middle class. However, blanket policy was enacted that perpetuated inequality. The U.S.A. “deliberately created a white middle class through racially restricted government investments in home ownership and infrastructure and retirement security” (p. 11). The investment was in; low interest loans to encourage home buying, infrastructure such as roads and public utilities, education, and more. And isn’t it odd that once people of color attempted to access governmental investment, politicians decided that the project was too expensive? The conservative tropes to justify this withdrawal of access included “makers versus takers,” “taxpayers versus welfare exploiters,” and the now familiar “they’re coming after your job, your safety, your way of life” (p. 14).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Both spending and public opinion saw a marked shift during the Reagan era, a period of rising antigovernment conservatism. Although the Reagan movement claimed to be about conservatism, McGhee asserted that the shift was more about blunting “the government’s ability to challenge concentrated wealth and corporate power” (p. 47). In sum, “Racism then, works against non-wealthy white Americans in two ways… it lowers their support for government action that could help them” (p. 50)… and results in racialized political polarization that forces a choice between class and racial interests.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>The Sum of Us</i> describes how racism, discrimination, and segregation negatively impact youth during their educations as well as how it denies wealth and the opportunity to live in safe and diverse communities to adults and families. It also includes hopeful evidence of successful solidarity initiatives that challenged the hierarchy of race and class. For example, significant cross-racial coalition building was an important part of the rise of unions in mid-20<sup>th</sup> century, a movement that improved the lives of workers of all backgrounds and races. More recent grassroots organizations have tapped the solidarity dividend to make progress on other important shared concerns. These include “<a href="https://greaterthanfear.us" target="_blank">Greater than Fear</a>” that confronted the emergence of the “Tea Party” in Minnesota in 2018, “<a href="https://climatejusticealliance.org/just-transition/" target="_blank">Just Transition</a>” that activated coalitions of concerned citizens to tackle environmental degradation, and the “<a href="https://healourcommunities.org" target="_blank">Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation</a>” model and its <a href="https://healourcommunities.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/TRHTImplementationGuide.pdf" target="_blank">TRHT Implementation Guidebook</a> used in fourteen communities in 2017 to document and address the impact of racism. McGhee closes with a futuristic proposal to address wealth inequality by providing a “race-conscious housing effort to close the Black-white gap in home ownership” (p. 259).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">McGhee’s book is not long but it is deep, offering summation and real possibilities for action for those who are serious about confronting and reversing the negative impact of racism on everyone. Abandoning the “zero sum” mentality and seeking a solidarity dividend through multi-racial coalitions of every day citizens are two factors that could bring us all to a new and better place.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria;"><o:p></o:p></span></p></div>Denny Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13976548371874726977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17803506.post-86587693416366687722022-01-09T12:45:00.007-08:002022-01-11T06:19:41.460-08:00El Akkad - What Strange Paradise<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi75HxYb8JFwNTmiiUHcncHhY_ToiKc9mo4Kdy51-LeR-JZkefYv4go8JrZjLmjivOAkzQU83iZmod-d1b_tIGPJ0w-Mqicfdl0CC9JguUfjLQ_XrPwYCZKjXT29AR_3YoR7zuZweUD5fmAh4GNXEIg1qmTJkjd3XV7yYXrIJ9zS5Db-UFdSqA=s1020" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="574" data-original-width="1020" height="113" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi75HxYb8JFwNTmiiUHcncHhY_ToiKc9mo4Kdy51-LeR-JZkefYv4go8JrZjLmjivOAkzQU83iZmod-d1b_tIGPJ0w-Mqicfdl0CC9JguUfjLQ_XrPwYCZKjXT29AR_3YoR7zuZweUD5fmAh4GNXEIg1qmTJkjd3XV7yYXrIJ9zS5Db-UFdSqA=w200-h113" width="200" /></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;">Most of my reading is non-fiction but I chose to read <a href="https://www.prhspeakers.com/speaker/omar-el-akkad" target="_blank">Omar El Akkad</a>’s <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/617062/what-strange-paradise-by-omar-el-akkad/" target="_blank"><i>What Strange Paradise </i>(2021)</a> after participating in our local library’s Zoom discussion with him. I immediately connected with Omar because he spent some of his youth in Qatar. I didn’t realize that the content of his book would directly relate to <a href="https://pursuingleadership.blogspot.com/2021/12/khanna-move-forces-uprooting-us.html" target="_blank">Paraq Khanna’s <i>Move</i></a>, which I read immediately before <i>What Strange Paradise</i>.<o:p></o:p></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The story is about a refugee, one like those we have often seen in newspaper coverage over the last decade. Amir, a young boy who followed his uncle (actually his mother’s partner) aboard a small boat across the Mediterranean, is on a journey to somewhere that will allow him to escape the devastation of his home by war and economic collapse. The detail of where the boy is from, which is Syria, or other details of location are less important than how Amir’s experience reflects so many children who actively seek, or are taken on, harrowing journeys to unknown places in order to pursue a dream that they are not sure really exists. These children, their families and loved ones, are desperate and willing to do practically anything to MOVE to anyplace other than where they presently are. These are the political, economic, and cultural refugees of our world who want little more than a chance.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Most of the story of <i>What Strange Paradise</i> is set on a resort island where fleeing refugee boats often wash up on shore, thus temporarily disturbing the tourists who otherwise enjoy the pleasures of beautiful water and luxurious surroundings. Local authorities, with one being particularly pernicious, clean up the beach after bodies, clothing, and refuse washes up on the shore. They also track down any “invaders” who are seeking to transit through the resort on the way to a permanent location in displaced refugee communities. The rhythm of the book is unusual because each successive chapter is titled “Before” or “After” which vacillates between the time before and during the Mediterranean crossing and the after of the temporary respite at, and eventual escape from, the resort. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>What Strange Paradise </i>is a quick read that initially did not capture my attention (I later went back to read the first four chapters for context). I’ve purposefully not provided detail because it’s important that readers discover the story as it unfolds. One spoiler alert is that there are those who help Amir, not always with fully positive impact, but their desire to cause him less harm is clear. Sadly, many of those who are privileged to live in places that are secure, prosperous, and open simply have no idea how bad life can be within threatened or refugee communities. That kind of privilege can result in our being no more than tourists on a luxurious vacation. As El Akkad describes the tourists on the island – “these people and their concerns belong to a different world, a different ordering of the world. A fantasy.” This book offers the opportunity for a sober awakening of why refugees of various sorts want to MOVE and the challenges they face on their journeys.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p></o:p></p>Denny Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13976548371874726977noreply@blogger.com0