Howdy ya’ll! Happy start to our fourth week together (this
semester is flying…)!
So as I understand it, we have three tasks for our blog
posts:
1.
Explain our post’s relevance to the week’s topic
area(s)
2.
Explain why our post is interesting or
noteworthy, and
3.
Pose a question that compels each other to
comment or think more deeply…
Here goes!
While each of the three weeks we’ve been together had
informative and engaging aspects to it I am choosing to focus this blog post on
Week 2: Playing To Your Strengths and Achieving “Flow.” For a few reasons,
really... First, this is my last
semester at Heinz but my first time
discussing personality/leadership/management styles in a classroom setting. For
a program that prides itself on group work I assumed this would have come up
much sooner. Second, I have taken two personality tests (Myers-Briggs, and the
other I’ll share later) in the past and am consistently fascinated (read:
creeped out) by their accuracy. Lastly, I had never heard the word “flow” used
in a scientific or work context before and I wanted to know more. I hope this
paragraph satisfies the relevance requirement.
So why is this post interesting or noteworthy? I think
that’s up to you to decided. I’ll tell you why I think Week 2 was noteworthy,
though. The importance of understanding yourself and always seeking to learn
more about who you are cannot be
overstated.
“He
who knows others is wise; he who knows himself is enlightened.”
-Lao Tzu
“Know thyself.”
-Ancient Greek Aphorism
“All I can do is be me, whoever that is.”
-Bob Dylan
In my opinion, you could memorize every word of every
reading we’ve done for class but until you have a sense of self you can’t do
anything useful or innovative with that information. The following TED talk
really opened my eyes to the importance self awareness and vulnerability. It is only
20 minutes and well worth your time! Just call it proactive
procrastinating.
TED Talk: The power of vulnerability: http://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability?language=en
The concept of flow in the workplace was new to me. As an
athlete, I’ve been in the zone many times before. To me it was a, “I know it
when I’m in it” type of thing. I wasn’t really wrapping my head around the
whole concept of consciously getting yourself to that state. So, I did what any
Heinzer would do. Googled it. Here are some articles I liked:
For a basic overview: What is Flow? http://psychology.about.com/od/PositivePsychology/a/flow.htm
A TED Talk by the expert, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: http://www.ted.com/talks/mihaly_csikszentmihalyi_on_flow?language=en
In conclusion my question to you… is not a question, but more
a call to action. In undergrad I took the True Colors Personality Quiz. The
results I got were insanely accurate. More so than Myers-Briggs for me. I urge
you all to take it! Seriously, I liked it so much the results have been hanging
next to my bed for three years and I wrote my entrance essay to Heinz about it.
True Colors Personality Quiz: http://www.nfty.org/_kd/Items/actions.cfm?action=Show&item_id=12954&destination=ShowItem
P.S. If the link to the True Colors Personality Quiz doesn’t
work Google: “True Colors Personality Quiz” and click the first link (it’s a pdf).
