I give students an assignment of writing a personal mastery paper. It is
for their careers and for their personal lives, with a core theme of
integrating the two. I read from a variety of books to give them insight
into the mental models and personal visions of others, and how others have
approached personally mastering their lives and careers.
One book I read from is "Ten Things To Do Before You Die" by Karol
Jackowski (Ave Maria Press, Notre Dame). The first thing is Have More Fun
Than ANyone Else. She offers some great ideas on how to do this. The
second thing is Get Some Insight and the third thing is Get Some Depth.
She likens Getting Some Insight to "finding your very best self" and
Getting Some Depth to "finding your very best God". Initially I was
hesitant about reading anything that was spiritual or could be taken as
religious. Especially when it comes to career and by extension I suppose
the workplace.
I've been pleasantly surprised by the response. No wild applause to be
sure but a very thoughtful, reflective group of comments seem to be the
norm for followup discussion. I'm hesitant to draw any conclusion beyond
the concrete - students in an academic setting are responding well.
Whether that cascades into the workplace in a substantive way (i.e.,
actually affecting behavior) is unknown for now.
Bill Braun
--Bill Braun <medprac@hlthsys.com>
[Host's Note: In association with Amazon.com, this book link...
10 Fun Things to Do Before You Die by Karol A Jackowski http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0877934096/learningorg
...Rick]
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>