Leadership, Success and Commitment

“Success became more of a function of personality, of public lubricate the processes of human interaction. This personality ethic essentially took two paths: one was human and public relations techniques, and the other was positive mental attitude" (18).

“Personal leadership is not a singular experience. It is rather, the ongoing process of keeping your vision and values before you and aligning your life to be congruent with those most important things” (132).

“Keeping a commitment or a promise is a major deposit; breaking one is a major withdrawal” (192).

Really seeking to understand another person is probably one of the most important deposits you can make, and it is the key to every other deposit” (190).

Columbia: the definition of success?

            The word success is always been a subjective concept. For my parents, success was an Ivy League law school and the respect of those around you. In high school, success was excelling in policy debate and acing one of Mr. Kemp’s AP Statistics tests. But now I’ve come to realize, all of these interpretations only address the surface of what success can really mean. Covey says, “Success became more a function of personality, of public lubricate the processes of human interaction. This ethic essentially took two paths: one was human and public relations techniques, and the other was positive mental attitude’ (18).  We often dismiss success for being a cause of personality and who we are. A reoccurring theme in our class, ‘who we are’ is a question all of us have been asking and discovering throughout college. Covey discusses how this question is rooted in what we determine what is successful or not.

Agreeably a leader to the Western hip-hop
 subculture, Tupac embraced his fundamental values and
virtues through music. Consequently
fans and listeners followed.

            In terms of finding success, leadership is another quality many yearn to attain. With excellent leadership usually follows success and respect from others. During my college application process, a common essay topic was, “Give an example of an instance where you became a leader.” Just one instance?, I thought. It seemed to me, the ideas of true “leadership is not a singular experience. It is rather, the ongoing process of keeping your vision and values before you aligning your life to be congruent with those most important things” (132).   As most would agree, leadership and success are both formative of each other. Covey explains leadership is an innate quality that one displays through defending personal values and implementing them in various situations of life. To do so, one must keep in mind how their values relate to those around them as well. By relating to the values of other, we are conditioned to also adopt other's principles into our own. Covey calls this a social paradigm in which we "have acknowledged the tremendous power of conditioning in our lives, to say that we are determined by it" (67). Meaning, even unconsciously, we have no control over how others influence or shape our values and beliefs. In my opinion, a leader should be able to self-aware of other principles and then evolve them into personal projections. Some confuse leadership to be imposing or asserting personal views on others. Covey explains rather, by upholding fundamental values “congruent with deeper values in daily life”, others will consequentially follow or emulate (132). Another key factor in becoming an leader, is to really understand people. By “really seeking to understand another person is probably one of the most important deposits you can make, and it is the key to every other deposit” (190). For most, this is the bright line between compassion and apathy. A true leader takes consideration of the values of others while also keeping in mind their own virtues.