LEADERSHIP READINGS
“ Men acquire a particular quality by
experience to meet their clients’ needs. So they worked extra hard to develop a book full of data before an upcoming constantly acting a particular way. meeting intended to sell a new project. They spent so much time with the data We become just by performing just and the ideas in that book that they fell actions, temperate by performing in love with it, which led them to defend their point of view in the meeting. temperate actions, brave by performing The client didn’t feel heard, and so the meeting went poorly. When the client brave actions. didn’t accept their proposal, the young Aristotle team resolved to work even harder the next time. This was, of course, exactly seeds out of a pomegranate in a less than optimal way. the wrong lesson to learn. Specifically, the host asked her, “Could you stop yourA senior partner at that same firm told me that one self from telling them how to do it better?” Stewart of his primary jobs is to help younger consultants learn answered no, and she went on to say that because she when and how to stop loving their book. Preparation can has helped the person learn something valuable, “they be a symptom of insecurity. When you work to prepare will love me forever.” as a way of reducing your anxiety, you risk over preparVallerand’s research shows that obsessive passion often ing and becoming locked into a script you’ve fallen in stems from contingent self-esteem. When you work be- love with. cause you feel compelled to get someone’s approval or Sometimes you feel the need to prepare simply because love, you risk the downsides of obsessive passion: burnout of your lack of experience and confidence with the event and bad behavior. you are about to face. But sometimes you feel the need to Maybe Stewart was just joking.The show is light-hearted, prepare because you are genuinely unprepared. after all. But one of the symptoms of obsession cloaked by Disentangling vice from virtue requires discipline, passion is being so driven to succeed that you make choic- discretion, curiosity and self-awareness. Balance, coles that are not in synch with your own moral values. You laboration, creativity, excellence, fairness, passion and lose control of yourself and do things you regret, like using preparation aren’t always excuses for vice. Sometimes poor language on National Public Radio. Stewart continued they are simply healthy behaviors and traits to be encouron the show to say that those she has helped learn proper aged. But when you say – or hear someone else say – that pomegranate preparation will love her forever “…because I something is being done in the name of one of these seven have solved a problem, a lifelong problem of how to get the admirable aims, it’s smart to check to make sure no vice (bleep) oh, excuse me…the seeds out of a pomegranate.” lurks inside the virtue. Her appearance on the show is only a thin slice of behavior and it’s in a jovial context, but a few years ago Jake Breeden is the author of TipStewart spent five months in Federal Prison for obstrucping Sacred Cows - Kick the Bad Work tion of justice. So it’s not a stretch to make the case that Habits that Masquerade as Virtues. at least some times she’s provided an example of the sort He is founder of BreedenIdeas of passion for success that can hide dangerous, destruc(www.breedenideas.com), and a global tive obsession.You could see the electronic anklet Stewart faculty member of Duke Corporate wore after she left prison, and the live audience at Wait, Education. He has taught leaders at Wait, Don’t Tell Me could hear her foul language. But some Starbucks, Cisco, Google, IBM, Deloitte vices are less observable. The insecurity that hides inside and Bloomberg in 27 countries. He the urge to prepare, for example, is often never noticed. A lives in Chapel Hill, NC. team of junior consultants worried they didn’t have the
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