Intellectual Perseverance and Leadership
Intellectual
perseverance, the relentless pursuit of insights and deep understanding
regardless of the obstacles placed in our way, is critical to anyone who is
attempting to develop a true understanding about anything in life. There is
much misleading information out there that can lead a person astray, and there
is much resistance to truly rational thinking. While it would be far easier to
simply take someone else’s word for the truth without question, or accept what
is considered as common wisdom, doing so would be a failure in our pursuit of true
understanding and knowledge. As we pursue our understanding of leadership, and
attempt to exercise our new skills, we will certainly need intellectual
perseverance.
At
first glance the subject of leadership may seem simple, but one only needs to
look at the large number of leadership failures that have been displayed in the
world, both in history and today, to understand the complexities involved in
truly effective leadership. I have been a casual student of leadership for many
years, and have received awards for providing leadership to others, but I still
face numerous challenges when trying to lead others.
Former
President Dwight D. Eisenhower was once quoted as defining leadership as "…the art of getting someone else to do something you
want done—because he wants to do it." (Butt, Jr., 2008). How we go about learning
this art is very important. Intellectual
perseverance will be important in developing a further understanding of
leadership, and putting that new knowledge to work to influence others to
achieve the goals of our organization.
When
reading the definition of intellectual perseverance I am reminded of the number
of times that I have faced challenges to ideas that I have presented to
organizations. While I always take considerable time to think things through
before presenting ideas, and try to anticipate any resistance that may come up,
I am sometimes astounded at the reasons people come up with for why they think my ideas
will not work. Many of these reasons are nothing more than fallacies of
reasoning due to the egocentrism of the person resisting change. When reading
through a list of fallacies I recognize many that have been used against my
ideas, and I also recognize some that I have employed myself.
Overcoming
irrational resistance to new ideas can be very daunting, and requires
considerable perseverance in many cases. I take heart in the fact that even the
greatest minds have seen irrational resistance. Albert Einstein (n.d.) once
stated “"Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocre
minds. The latter cannot understand it when a [person] does not thoughtlessly
submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses their
intelligence." Obviously, Einstein saw the need to demonstrate his
intellectual perseverance in the face of difficulties, obstacles, and
frustrations. We need to be aware of the fact that irrational resistance to new
ideas will always be an obstacle, so we must always be willing to exercise our
intellectual perseverance.
In
closing, I leave you with another quote from Einstein that should provide
inspiration to those who may be intimidated by all of this critical thinking
material. He once said “It's not that I'm so smart, it's just
that I stay with problems longer.” In that statement we see the essence
of intellectual perseverance.
References
Butt, Jr., H. (September 28, 2008). Eisenhower on leadership.
The High Calling. Retrieved October,
18, 2012, from http://www.thehighcalling.org/audio/leadership/eisenhower-leadership
Einstein, A. (n.d). Albert Einstein quotes. Albert Einstein Site Online. Retrieved
October, 18, 2012, from http://www.alberteinsteinsite.com/quotes/einsteinquotes.html
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