Leadership & philosophy

YOUTH TIME SUMMER SCHOOL SIENNA ITALY

JUNE 24 2014

& PHILOSOPHY

Leadership & philosophy

What we shall talk about…

How we could become better leadersmeaning useful people to our

communities offering things to our teams for mutual

benefit

Or the

poet leader Pattern in history

Everybody talks about them. Why?

3 parts + 1 conclusion

Part IClassical leadership

Part II Classical philosophy and leadership

Part III Modern philosophy and leadership

Part IV So what?

leadership is an art poetry is an art

is leadership also poetry?

Lets suppose we do accept the classical leadership matrix, don’t we?

Part IClassical leadership

1 2

3 4

INSIDE YOU OUTSIDE YOU

MANAGE YOU MANAGE OTHERS

1INSIDE YOU OUTSIDE YOU

MANAGE YOU MANAGE OTHERS

1. Know thyself

Know thyself means separating who you are and who you want to be, from what the world thinks you are and wants you to be

Know thyself

Self- knowledge, self invention are lifetime processes …[…]…

Noone can teach you how to become yourself except you.

Know thyself

• You are your own best teacher

• Accept responsibility, blame noone

• You can learn anything you want to learn

• True understanding comes from reflecting on your experience

Clear?

2. how to learnII systems

• Maintenance learning (maintain an existing system)

• Shock learning (occurs when events overwhelm people) eg crises

2OUTSIDE YOU

2. We have the Innovative learning

• Anticipation (being active and imaginative rather that passive and habitual)

• Learning by listening to others

• Participation (shaping events, rather than being shaped by them) learning by action

Clear?

3

MANAGE YOU

3. Your values

• Conflicts and resolutions

Conflicts and resolutions

Conflicts • Blind trust vs suspicion • Independence vs depend.• Initiative vs imitation• Industry vs inferiority • Identity vs confusion• Intimacy vs isolation• Generosity vs selfishness• Illusion vs delusion

Resolutions HopeAutonomyPurposeCompetenceIntegrityEmpathyMaturityWisdom

Your values

• Conflicts and resolutions

• Test and measure yourself

What do you want?How can YOU best expresses YOU

the first test is knowing what you want, knowing your abilities and capacities, and recognizing the differences between the two.

What do you want?How can YOU best expresses YOU

the second test is

knowing what drives you, knowing what gives you satisfaction

and knowing the differences between the two.

What do you want?How can YOU best expresses YOU

the third test is knowing what your values and priorities are, knowing

what the values and priorities of your organization are and measuring the differences

between the two.

What do you want?How can YOU best expresses YOU

the fourth test is- having measured the differences between what you want and what you are able to do, and between what drives you and what satisfies you, and between

what your values are and what the organisation’s values are….

The question:

Are you able and willing

to overcome those differences?

Your values

• Conflicts & resolutions

• Test & measures • Desire to

succeed • A true sense of

mastery of the task at hand

• Strategic thinking• Synthesis

The means of self- expression are the steps to leadership

• Reflection leading to resolution• Resolution leading to perspective• Perspective leading to point of view• Point of view leading to tests and measures • tests and measures leading to desire• Desire leading to mastery • Mastery leading to strategic thinking• Strategic thinking leading to full self expression• The synthesis of full- expression= leadership

The synthesis of full- self- expression= leadership

4

MANAGE OTHERS

4. You and others

• Moving through chaos

• Getting people on your side

Getting people on your side

• Constancy. Even if the leader is being surprised, he stays on the course

• Congruity. They practice what they teach

• Reliability. They are ready to support anyone

• Integrity. They honor their commitments and promises

You and others• Moving through

chaos • Getting people on

your side • Integrity is the basis

of trust • Adopt to changes • Opportunity=

empowerment• meaning=

engagement• Learning= leading

1 2

3 4

Lets put everything in a slide

The modern leadership matrix

Know thyselfInnovative

learning

the synthesis of full-

self-expression= leadership

Learning= leading

INSIDE YOU OUTSIDE YOU

MANAGE YOU MANAGE OTHERS

Part II Classical philosophy and

leadership

The modern leadership matrix

Know thyselfInnovative

learning

the synthesis of full-

self-expression= leadership

Learning= leading

INSIDE YOU OUTSIDE YOU

MANAGE YOU MANAGE OTHERS

Lets connect them

Alexander’s relation to Aristotle’s teaching,

and also that he rejected some of them

Parthenon as a societal art expression

Plato’s philosophical dialogues

Socrates Know Thyself

The modern leadership matrixKnow thyself, then, means separating who you are and who you want to be from what the world thinks you are and wants you to be.

Innovative learningAnticipation (being active and imaginative

rather that passive and habitual)Learning by listening to othersParticipation (shaping events, rather than

being shaped by them)

full- expression= leadershipReflection leading to resolutionResolution leading to perspectivePerspective leading to point of viewPoint of view leading to tests and measures tests and measures leading to desireDesire leading to mastery Mastery leading to strategic thinkingStrategic thinking leading to full self expressionThe synthesis of full- expression= leadership

You and others

Moving through chaos Getting people on your side Integrity is the basis of trust Adopt to changes Opportunity= empowermentmeaning= engagementLearning= leading

Self enhancement- Emotional awareness

Emotional intelligence (EI) is the ability to monitor one's own and other people's emotions, to discriminate between different emotions and label them appropriately, and to use emotional information to guide thinking and behavior.

In social psychology, self-assessment is the process of looking at oneself in order to assess aspects that are important to one's identity. It is one of the motives that drive self-evaluation, along with self verification and self enhancement.

How deep?

Do you think they were philosophers and not

practitioners?

Several anecdotes suggest that Thales was not solely a thinker but was also involved in business and politics. One story recounts that he bought all the olive presses in Miletus after predicting the weather and a good harvest for a particular year. In another version of the same story, Aristotle explains that Thales reserved presses ahead of time at a discount only to rent them out at a high price when demand peaked, following his predictions of a particularly good harvest. This first version of the story would constitute the first creation and use of futures, whereas the second version would be the first creation and use of options. Aristotle explains that Thales' objective in doing this was not to enrich himself but to prove to his fellow Milesians that philosophy could be useful, contrary to what they thought.

Lets return to the story

WHY HIM?????

He was the wisest because he knew that he knew

nothing

Died by drinking hemlock

Accused for blasphemy and corrupting youth

Democratic Athens killed the most famous philosopher ever?

Does Socrates

SELF ACCEPTANCE of death, remind you of anyone

else?

Didn’t they both decide to die ?

(We are not going to discuss about that now, because we are now talking about leadership)

Philosophy is a dialogue / study

about the Question of death

• Do you know any famous death in Greece? (except Socrates) ?

• What was the philosophers relation to that?

• What is the leaders’ relation to that?

Lycurgus, Empedocles

Lycurgus, EmpedoclesLycurgus was exiled to death

Empedocles jumped into Etna, IT

How realistic is….

…To KNOW that you are going to die And not to be afraid of it.

How did this realization of death was translated by ancient Greek leaders?

Any stories to share?

So realistic that led to sarcasm and cynicism

Self awareness that was creating people

that were not afraid to die….

If not what do you need to do not to be afraid of dying?

PAUSE

We are discussing about philosophy and

Sparta??Where is Athens?

Some facts about this misperception

Socrates, Plato & Aristotle admired the Spartan system

In fact Aristotle was exiled twice from Athens

But we know that Athens has Parthenon, Sparta had nothing to compare to that

Doric Ionian Corinthian Are you sure?

In terms of aesthetics, Parthenon is a Doric style temple(*why so much about Parthenon??)

Quite impressive, isnt it?

Ancient Greeks actually had a complete educational system

that supported self awareness

Both religious (faith) and educational (logos)

Who Am I?

• Where am I going? • Why I am alive?• Why do we die?• Does God exist?• What the f* am I doing

here???????????• What is worth living

for?

Birth of philosophy, logos etc

Ulysses

Art & expression

Emotional awareness & poets

Emotional intelligence (EI) is the ability to monitor one's own and other people's emotions, to discriminate between different emotions and label them appropriately, and to use emotional information to guide thinking and behavior.

=

Emotions = drama

Dramatic question being asked to the spectator

-Real time -

Theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music, and dance. Elements of design and stagecraft are used to enhance the physicality, presence and immediacy of the experience.The specific place of the performance is also named by the word "theatre" as derived from the Ancient Greek θέατρον (théatron, "a place for viewing"), itself from θεάομαι (theáomai, "to see", "to watch", "to observe").

That what theater really is!!!!

Drama learning process1. A Hero Acts> Actor <action 2. Lives his drama< dro <drastic 3. Meets truth <tragic – agony to

spectator 4. Reaches Consciousness = self

awareness = katharsis 5. Question of Life & Death values

come into surface 6. So spectator LEARNS while he

FEELS

Place= theater, tragedy Music - dance= more action

The Hero – King • Acts> Actor

<action • Lives a drama<

dro <drastic • Meets truth

<tragic • Reaches

Consciousness = self awareness

SpectatorQuestion of Life & Death values So spectator LEARNS while he FEELSReaches Consciousness = self awareness

Place= theater, tragedy Music - dance= more action

So that is how

Know Thyself

really WAS

happening

The Hero – King

• Lives a drama< dro <drastic

• Meets truth <tragic

• Reaches Consciousness = self awareness

• Through the POET

POET

YOU

How you want to live How you want to express that?

How do you live How do you express YOU?

Idiots are out of Greek “Polis”

Man is by nature a political animal. He who is unable to live in society, or who has no need because he is sufficient for himself, must be either a beast or a god.

Aristotle participating in social life was obligatory eg. Check term IDIOT describing selfish persons

Ancient Greeks, Social & Organizational awareness

“We Greeks believe that a man who takes no part in public affairs is not merely lazy, but good for nothing” Thucydides

One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors. Plato

“For as man is the best of all animals when he has reached his full development, so he is worst of all when divorced from law and justice.” Aristotle

Everybody talks about them. Why?

Ex- wrestler, burned his plays when 21 y.o.

real name Aristocles

His top student, left Academy after failed to succeed his

teacher, to Lesvos and Vergina

Created a new poetical form, philosophical dialogue & gave

us the world of IDEAS

Created modern science with observation and experiment, studied nature & everything

They created the PHILOSOPHY LEGO for us to play today!!!

Man is by nature a political animal.

law and justice in societies

One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.

Man is by nature a political animal.

law and justice

One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.

Man is by nature a political animal.

law and justice

One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.

How can you set your self into action?

Through – what else- stories of course

eg Hercules labours

Iliad & Odyssey

Heroes, myths are eternal patterns

Archetypes to inspire real people OR

educational tool for youth to memorize easier?

Thermopyles, Greece

Man is by nature a political animal.

law and justice

One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.

Got it. Next?

Relationship management & Influencewhose influence was more than of Hellenistic Age?

Alexander’s Importance of education

Στον πατέρα μου οφείλω το ζην, στον δάσκαλο μου το ευζην

I owe my living to my father, but I owe my good life to my teacher.

Alexander’s bio notes

• He had Achilles as a hero

• His teacher was Aristotle

• He never lost a battle• He built Alexandria’s

almost everywhere• He was cosmopolitan

AGAINST elitish Aristotle beliefs

• He died in Babylon, summer 323 BC, 32 y.o. leaving no successor

Openness or Cosmopolitanism I am not an Athenian

but a citizen of the world- Socrates

Man is by nature a political animal.

law and justice

One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.

What do they have in common?

1. Know thyself2. Innovative

learning3. full-

expression= leadership

4. Global influence

A complete theory for life and death that affected their actions in daily life.melancholic people that expressed through art, in order to ignore death, with beauty & harmony.

*beauty and harmony?why so much about Parthenon??

This why it is considered important

What have we learned from that?

We need

Heroes – doers

Poets – doers

The classical philosophy model was a model that gave a full reply to

life & death questions

Through its art and expression

So? Did any modern poets realized this?

Part III Modern philosophy and

leadership

Lets see some modern examples of leaders through stories of

course

is the poet leader

pattern being repeated?

Story no1.

French Revolution 1789

Who were the philosophers of 1789?

Originating in the 17th century Francis Bacon, Baruch Spinoza, John Locke

  Pierre Bayle, Voltaire, Francis Hutcheson,

David Hume and  Isaac Newton 

In France, Enlightenment Encyclopédie by Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert 

with contributions by hundreds of leading intellectuals who were

called philosophes, notably Voltaire, Rousseau and Montesquieu 

Robespierre execution, 1794

Only a genius like Shakespeare could find the words to do Napoleon justice. Shakespeare has Cassius describe Julius Caesar. The words could apply to Napoleon.

Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world

Like a Colossus, and we petty menWalk under his huge legs, and peep

aboutTo find ourselves dishonorable graves.

— Julius Caesar, Act I, scene ii

2nd story

Russian revolution, 1917

• Poet Marx• Hero Lenin/Stalin

Gulag Museum in Moscow

3rd story

German Reich, 1933

Ubermensch & Nietzsche’s nihilism

“God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. Yet his shadow still looms. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?”

Nietzsche, The Gay Science, Section 125, tr. Walter Kaufmann

Conclusions?

All ideologies tend to generate totalitarian personalities

The rest is a matter of values and interest

Any non violent examples of philosophers -revolutionists?

Back to Jesus- Socrates model

Differences?

Logic

Faith

Logic VS Faith

Guess who won!!!

Church did!!!

Did people became better?

no F way

and they still have the same questions

1966

Part IV So what?

2009

Are there no “good” examples?

“For classical learning I have ever

been a zealous

advocate”

Thomas Jefferso

n

Thomas Jefferson"[As to] the extent to which classical learning should be carried in our country... The utilities we derive from the remains of the Greek and Latin languages are, first, as models of pure taste in writing. To these we are certainly indebted for the rational and chaste style of modern composition which so much distinguishes the nations to whom these languages are familiar... Second. Among the values of classical learning, I estimate the luxury of reading the Greek and Roman authors in all the beauties of their originals. And why should not this innocent and elegant luxury take its preeminent stand ahead of all those addressed merely to the sense?... Third. A third value is in the stores of real science deposited and transmitted us in these languages, to wit: in history, ethics, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, natural history, etc.“

Thomas Jefferson to John Brazier, 1819. ME 15:208

US Founding Fathers

Decline process

Decline process

What can make us better?

?

Leadership and change

Aesthetics revolution

Beauty & values

• “…happiness is an activity and a complete utilization of virtue, not conditionally but absolutely.”

Aristotle

So who and WHERE

are the poets today??

THANK YOU BUT