Several of my previous blog topics; an orientation towards solutions, technology connects and disconnects and being of value, have gotten me thinking about a concept from a book I read in 1990, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven R. Covey. The concept that I was thinking about this week was the difference between character development and personality development.
Covey contended that much of what was going on in the self-improvement field in the 1980's was really oriented towards personality development whereas back in an earlier time in America, people such as Benjamin Franklin espoused character development. Character development's goal is to cultivate a virtuous life and be of service to others. Personality development's goal is to sell yourself to others for personal benefit. Development of both types has benefits in the short term but our spiritual growth demands we follow the basics of character development.
In many ways, the entertainment industry, "Hollywood", is the most successful industry in the United States over the past 100 years. I am not speaking in terms of financial performance here but rather in terms of cultural dominance. There are plenty of industries which have been more profitable, but the entertainment industry has successfully positioned itself on top psychologically, due to its ability to bestow celebrity. It has made celebrity the most desired attribute in our society ahead of even wealth.
Celebrity is an extrapolation of personality development as everyone knows that celebrities have a public "persona" that is different than the actual person and their private life. It is clear with a celebrity that it is the image of the person that is being sold, marketed and the image is what is really attractive to others. It is no wonder that personality development gurus such as Tony Robbins have intertwined their own celebrity with their methods of helping other's develop.
This past October, there were three fatalities during a sweat lodge ceremony being conducted by James Arthur Ray at the Angel Valley Retreat Center in Sedona, Arizona. Mr. Ray was running a "Spiritual Warrior" retreat where participants paid $9,695 per person to spend a long weekend with the self-help guru and author. Mr. Ray gained celebrity through his appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Larry King Live and the Today show. He fled to his home in California while the participants in his Warrior program were still heading to the hospital in Flagstaff. Mr. Ray has been charged with three counts of manslaughter.
I do not know Mr. Ray, what I know about his personality is that he presented himself very well and built a successful business based upon people wanting to spend time with him. What I know about his character is his reaction to illness and death during his ceremony.
I have not sought development from people who are out on the self-promotion tour. I have mostly sought to foster my development from people who live both a principled and accomplished life. I am indeed interested in principles and accomplishments rather than merely one or the other.
Shin-ichi Suzuki, whom I have mentioned in earlier blogs, believed that character was a skill (talent) to be nurtured and developed in others. While Suzuki gained world-wide recognition through the training and development of young musicians, he always saw his primary focus as developing fine human beings. In the books "Nurtured by Love" and "Ability Development from Age Zero", Suzuki writes with deep passion about how teachers and parents can work together to develop a fine character in their children. It will not surprise you that character is best developed in children when adults model values as they work towards results.
I would urge each of you reading this blog to choose to develop your character as you work towards creating results. Do this, even if there is less to show in the short term. When you work hard towards achievement with a process and discipline that respects people and honors values there will be an enduring quality to your accomplishments. You will build yourself as you build your creation and be a full person not a persona.
Showing posts with label character. Show all posts
Showing posts with label character. Show all posts
Monday, February 8, 2010
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Searching For Wisdom at the Source: Character & Talent
In the mid 1990s, I began a more rigorous and purposeful search for wisdom. My search led me in two different directions. One direction was the research being done in the areas of human effectiveness, happiness and fulfillment. I will discuss this research in another post. The other was looking at the words and work of a handful of renowned experts who were still making contributions in their 70s, 80s and 90s. I wanted to learn from people with real experiential wisdom.
My criteria for the list was three fold:
1) exceptional professional contribution in an area of interest to me.
2) age 70 or older
3) availability of writing or interviews where the person discussed both their career and "living their life".
Some of the people on my short list are:
Shinichi Suzuki creator of the Suzuki method of talent education and the Suzuki School in Matsumoto, Japan
Margaret Mead, ground-breaking Anthropologist
W. Edwards Deming, Statistician and Quality Management expert
R. Buckminster Fuller, Architect and designer
Joseph Campbell, Teacher and Mythologist
Mother Theresa of Calcutta, Founder of the Sisters of Mercy
While I will not discuss my entire list nor even everyone I've just mentioned above in this blog, I will continue to incorporate these elders into both my sense of wisdom and the wisdom in this blog on a regular basis.
In exploring options for music lessons for my children, I went from superficial to deep knowledge of Dr. Shin-ichi Suzuki. While Dr. Suzuki (now deceased) is best known for his impact on music education, his work encompassed a new view of education, a new definition of talent and a deep compassion for children and their potential. He developed a parent-child-teacher model that is hard work for the parent, but defines supportive roles for everyone involved in a child's education, that is often lacking in our education system.
Dr. Suzuki's definition of talent was remarkable along two different planes of thought. First was his perspective that talent (the ability to produce a proper and beautiful result) was not something you were "born" with but rather it was something that could be nurtured and developed.
Whether the arts, athletics or academic performance we all too often confuse what is easy to master by a specific individual with talent and what is difficult to master by an individual with lack of talent. This was part of how Dr. Suzuki developed a system which created "world class" musicians at remarkably young ages.
The second plane of thought that was enlightening was the areas to which talent education could be applied and therefore expanded what was considered to be "talent". Dr. Suzuki specifically defined character as a talent which could be nurtured and developed.
His methods not only address learning the correct way to do something but also the way to unlearn incorrect methods or behaviors. When it comes to character development, unlearning improper behavior is often the thorny sticking point. In the United States there is a huge difference between knowing what is "right" or "wrong" and rigorously applying that understanding to our own behavior. It is easy to do the "right" thing when there are no adverse consequences to doing so.
A person, who handles things well in a supportive environment, may or may not possess fine character. That which is most needed by our society though is people who do the "right" thing when it is difficult to do so. Many business and political leaders in the past decade or so have squandered their opportunity to make a difference and their reputations due to failures in their character rather than in their intellect or abilities.
South Carolina Governor, Mark Sanford and New York Governor, Elliot Spitzer both damaged their reputations and families when they seemingly had incredible opportunities to impact the future of their respective states and the possibly the nation. Whether adultery, tax evasion or accepting bribes many of our leaders have failed to develop character in the ways that they have developed other skills and talents.
The Legacy Path, choosing and creating your personal legacy, does not require perfection, but it does require acknowledging ones mistakes and learning from them. One must not distance themselves from the negative feedback or the consequences of their failures. The roots of learning and developing character come from making small mistakes and correcting them no matter how embarrassing or painful. The talent of character comes from daily practice of values within a spiritual path guided by a set of beliefs.
There is a Jesuit motto that I often use; "repetitio est mater estudiorum" or "repetition is the mother of learning". I have added my own corollary to this; "Suffering is the Father of Learning". The real question for us becomes not, will we develop character, but rather how much pain must we endure before we practice the restraint that character demands.
The exercise of restraint to facilitate more powerful and more meaningful action, the acknowledgement of one’s mistakes and failures based on an internal compass that is more sensitive than societies accepted norms and the ability to accept failure with humility and forgiveness and try again without forgetting are key parts of developing the talent of character.
As Dr. Suzuki often said when the musical talents of his students received applause and recognition. The goal of education in my school is not to produce fine musicians but rather fine human beings. Imagine how much greater the impact upon our organizations, institutions and society when those who are highly skilled in performance ability are also highly skilled in personal character.
My criteria for the list was three fold:
1) exceptional professional contribution in an area of interest to me.
2) age 70 or older
3) availability of writing or interviews where the person discussed both their career and "living their life".
Some of the people on my short list are:
Shinichi Suzuki creator of the Suzuki method of talent education and the Suzuki School in Matsumoto, Japan
Margaret Mead, ground-breaking Anthropologist
W. Edwards Deming, Statistician and Quality Management expert
R. Buckminster Fuller, Architect and designer
Joseph Campbell, Teacher and Mythologist
Mother Theresa of Calcutta, Founder of the Sisters of Mercy
While I will not discuss my entire list nor even everyone I've just mentioned above in this blog, I will continue to incorporate these elders into both my sense of wisdom and the wisdom in this blog on a regular basis.
In exploring options for music lessons for my children, I went from superficial to deep knowledge of Dr. Shin-ichi Suzuki. While Dr. Suzuki (now deceased) is best known for his impact on music education, his work encompassed a new view of education, a new definition of talent and a deep compassion for children and their potential. He developed a parent-child-teacher model that is hard work for the parent, but defines supportive roles for everyone involved in a child's education, that is often lacking in our education system.
Dr. Suzuki's definition of talent was remarkable along two different planes of thought. First was his perspective that talent (the ability to produce a proper and beautiful result) was not something you were "born" with but rather it was something that could be nurtured and developed.
Whether the arts, athletics or academic performance we all too often confuse what is easy to master by a specific individual with talent and what is difficult to master by an individual with lack of talent. This was part of how Dr. Suzuki developed a system which created "world class" musicians at remarkably young ages.
The second plane of thought that was enlightening was the areas to which talent education could be applied and therefore expanded what was considered to be "talent". Dr. Suzuki specifically defined character as a talent which could be nurtured and developed.
His methods not only address learning the correct way to do something but also the way to unlearn incorrect methods or behaviors. When it comes to character development, unlearning improper behavior is often the thorny sticking point. In the United States there is a huge difference between knowing what is "right" or "wrong" and rigorously applying that understanding to our own behavior. It is easy to do the "right" thing when there are no adverse consequences to doing so.
A person, who handles things well in a supportive environment, may or may not possess fine character. That which is most needed by our society though is people who do the "right" thing when it is difficult to do so. Many business and political leaders in the past decade or so have squandered their opportunity to make a difference and their reputations due to failures in their character rather than in their intellect or abilities.
South Carolina Governor, Mark Sanford and New York Governor, Elliot Spitzer both damaged their reputations and families when they seemingly had incredible opportunities to impact the future of their respective states and the possibly the nation. Whether adultery, tax evasion or accepting bribes many of our leaders have failed to develop character in the ways that they have developed other skills and talents.
The Legacy Path, choosing and creating your personal legacy, does not require perfection, but it does require acknowledging ones mistakes and learning from them. One must not distance themselves from the negative feedback or the consequences of their failures. The roots of learning and developing character come from making small mistakes and correcting them no matter how embarrassing or painful. The talent of character comes from daily practice of values within a spiritual path guided by a set of beliefs.
There is a Jesuit motto that I often use; "repetitio est mater estudiorum" or "repetition is the mother of learning". I have added my own corollary to this; "Suffering is the Father of Learning". The real question for us becomes not, will we develop character, but rather how much pain must we endure before we practice the restraint that character demands.
The exercise of restraint to facilitate more powerful and more meaningful action, the acknowledgement of one’s mistakes and failures based on an internal compass that is more sensitive than societies accepted norms and the ability to accept failure with humility and forgiveness and try again without forgetting are key parts of developing the talent of character.
As Dr. Suzuki often said when the musical talents of his students received applause and recognition. The goal of education in my school is not to produce fine musicians but rather fine human beings. Imagine how much greater the impact upon our organizations, institutions and society when those who are highly skilled in performance ability are also highly skilled in personal character.
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