Summary

Topic 1 Understanding Self & Others

A Leaders Guide to Why People Behave the Way They Do
Effective leaders understand why the people they are trying to influence behave the way they do,
effective leaders mental models of leadership go beyond giving orders and assuming compliance
for monetary rewards. When we are born, we begin a three to six months process of becoming
simply, aware of our individuality, that we are separate, that we are no longer totally encased in
the identity of another human being. Depending on our developing personality and its holism we
tend to develop strategies to influencing others. Leaders must take into account all of this levels
of similarity and dissimilarity, whether one is opening a new plant overseas or trying to motivate
an underperforming employee to do better. The REB model includes several elements: events
and our perceptions of them, values and assumptions we have about the way the world should
be, conclusion or judgment about the present situation, feeling and behavior. When we observe
something, we immediately compare that event with our personal set of Values, Assumptions,
Beliefs, and Expectations (VABEs) about the way the world should be. If there is a gap between
what we observe and what we except, we have a problem. if there is no gap, things are as they
should be or the way other people should behave.
Managing Oneself
Very few people take advantage of their main strengths. Challenges us to ask ourselves
following questions: what are my strengths?; how do I perform?; what are my values?; where do
I belong?; and what should I contribute?. That one should know the strengths and the only way
to know the strengths is by doing feedback analysis. Dont try to change yourself. Instead one
should try to improve the skills he has and should accept the projects that suit your way of
working. One can achieve great heights if he is able to do this and can distinguish himself from
the ordinary worker and become an outstanding performer. The successful career today are not
planned in advance, they are developed when people are prepared for the opportunities because
they have asked these questions and assessed their unique abilities and characteristics. This
article actually challenges the people to take the responsibility of managing their future not only
in the office but also out of the office. It is important to take responsibility for relationships. Very
few people achieve results by working themselves but most of the people achieve it by working
with others. The last part of this article explains the importance of planning the second half of
ones life. One should plan it before entering it. Three ways of doing it: first is to actually start a
second career by changing organization or moving into different line of work, second is to
develop a parallel career and the third is to become social entrepreneur. The path you follow
depends largely on the work in the first half of your life.