First off, I
would like to say I admire Dr. Sharpe’s decision to speak to as a class rather
than utilize his status to draw a crowd. Dr. Sharpe presented several points
which were to me as well as several ideas I had already formulated but he did
so in novel ways. Amongst my favorite of his quotes was his directive to “think
scientifically without being trapped by it.” Although this is a concept that
has been a central component of my life for some time, I had never been able to
put it into words. His remark is reminiscent of how Steve Jobs was described in
his biography: at the crossroads of the humanities and science.
Far too
often, I have see people and institutions fail because they don’t realize how
limited, or “in the box” their thinking is. Dr. Sharpe expounded on this point
saying “human interaction is spontaneous” and “people tend to oversimplify
things.” I agree with Dr. Sharpe’s message and have studied it in my Cross
Cultural Communications class where we read an article describing different
thought processes. At one point the article stated, Far-Easterner wisdom is
full of contradictions which Westerners all but despise. The relation to what
Dr. Sharpe was presenting in a thought along the lines of: people like things
to be simple, great people can accept the contradictions of life and succeed.
Additionally,
I found most of his stories in the later parts of his speech interesting but
they held little relevance for me and provided few takeaways. His advice on how
to be a leader was much more fruitful. I appreciate his well-rounded approach to
leaders citing a knowledge of the social sciences and history specifically
biographies. Further, never had I heard a speaker make note of the importance
of personal observation of leadership. Past speakers have always told me to
look to the past for answers about leadership. If had to select one take away,
that would be it.
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