Articles – Lead2Transform

Destructive Narcissism – The Cycle Of Decline, Part II

Mark McCloskey — Mon, 28 Dec 2015 10:15:42 +0000

In our last blog, we discussed the beginning of the cycle of decline for a narcissist. Today, we will continue down that path. As a reminder, our discussion started with healthy self-assurance and well-founded confidence that moves to overconfidence and superiority; then from superiority to grandiosity; and finally to emotional isolation. What happens when the downward spiral hits emotional isolation? Read on!

4 - From emotional isolation to defensiveness and/or aggression.

It’s not only lonely at the top. It’s slippery and dangerous as well. The grandiose and isolated destructive narcissist lives in a world full of enemies and disloyal followers ready to challenge their authority or deliver disconfirming messages about their leadership performance.

The destructive narcissist’s only option—as least as they see it—is hyper-vigilance, and as necessary, aggression.

Wary and distrustful, they go on the defensive, and “circle the wagons,” guarding against any perceived or real threat to their superiority. They keep most people at arm’s length. They are deaf to complaints. They reject counsel. Increasingly hypersensitive to criticism, they become paranoid of enemies. They harbor grudges against those who dare to dissent.

If need be, they are perfectly willing to “crack a few eggs to make an omelet,” and do whatever is necessary to defend their power and status.

5 - From aggression and/or defensiveness to control and domination.

Viewing the world through the lens of emotional insecurity, the destructive narcissist feels compelled to drive away the stronger people from the organization, and seek out more and more dependent and deferential followers. They are now “forced” to work with those they are confident they can impress, dominate and control. They gravitate to one-up-one-down relationships with competent but compliant subordinates who fuel their esteem and grandiosity.

After a narcissist enters the control and domination phase, the negative transformation from constructive to destructive narcissist is complete. The appropriately self-confident, assertive, creative, visionary constructive narcissist has become a defensive, grandiose person more interested in pursuing a self-serving agenda and controlling others, than in developing people and serving the organization.

Still energetic, creative and visionary, but now a true believer only in themselves, isolated and resistant to feedback, they are a now a hazard to the welfare and progress of the organization.

They resist input and counsel. They not only ignore critics, they silence them. Risk prone and relying solely on their own judgment, they need to “raise the stakes” to keep things interesting. They begin making unilateral and spontaneous strategic decisions and vigorously defend their leadership performance, even if it flies in the face of the facts. Over time—and it may take years—without the feedback to make adjustments to stay effective, the destructive narcissist loses credibility as they fail to deliver on promises and live up to expectations.

A Final Point of Clarification.

A point of clarification is in order. I have compared and contrasted constructive and destructive narcissism to highlight the distinctive elements of each, and to keep us from throwing out the proverbial baby out with the bathwater. Not all narcissism is bad, and in fact there is such a thing as a healthy dose of narcissism. But narcissism is healthy only to the degree that it is embedded in the attitudes and behaviors associated with emotional maturity. And here is where it can, understandably, get a bit murky. The question of whether a narcissist is of the constructive or destructive sort is more accurately stated as a question of where the individual leader resides along a spectrum ranging from constructive to destructive attitudes and behaviors. Most narcissists establish an emotional center of gravity that situates them more or less on either the constructive or destructive end of the spectrum, hence the designation of an individual as a constructive or destructive narcissist. But some constructive narcissists can drift in and out of the dark patterns of destructive narcissism. And correspondingly,

it is entirely possible that some destructive narcissists now and then manifest some elements of constructive narcissism, even though their emotional center of gravity and the trajectory of their leadership is located in destructive narcissism.

CONSTRUCTIVE AND DESTRUCTIVE NARCISSISTS SUMMARY

There is often a fine between noble aspiration and raw ambition, vision and grandiosity, self-confidence and arrogance. A fine line, perhaps, but the line is not invisible. The following descriptors can help the organization determine if a leader has crossed over the line into destructive narcissistic territory.

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The Path To Destructive Narcissism: The Cycle Of Decline

Mark McCloskey — Mon, 14 Dec 2015 20:13:41 +0000

In our discussions on leadership, it is impossible not to discuss narcissism and its effect on others. This week, we will discuss how a person enters the downward cycle away from constructive narcissism. How often do you see these patterns in your leadership circle, and how do you protect yourself from adopting unhealthy patterns?

Constructive narcissists are typically visionaries, energetic, hard charging and assertive. They take on significant and challenging endeavors. So far so good. But, if they fall into the patterns of destructive narcissism, they will leave a wake of relational and organizational destruction behind them. Thankfully, emotionally mature individuals stay on the constructive side of narcissism throughout their leadership tenure.

Things can quickly deteriorate if a leader’s narcissistic tendencies are not anchored in emotional maturity.

Though “mileage may vary” given the individual leader and his or her leadership context, the cycle of decline from constructive to destructive narcissism goes something like this.

1 - From healthy self-assurance and well-founded confidence to overconfidence and superiority.

The constructive narcissistic leader’s vision, energy and self-assurance may lead to remarkable achievements and great success for the organization, which in turn expands their confidence. Healthy and growing confidence leads to more achievement, which in turn leads to even more confidence. Apart from a sufficient fund of emotional maturity, especially emotional realism, the leaders elevated confidence can easily drift into overconfidence. If success continues, the constructive narcissist’s self-assurance can morph into an attitude of superiority.

2 - From superiority to grandiosity.

Overconfidence mixed with more success fuels a sense of indispensability. Self-assurance becomes self-promotion, and eventually drifts into grandiosity. Minus the constraint of emotional realism, the constructive narcissist now sees himself or herself as “special,” above others. They begin to believe their press clippings. They regard their judgment as all wise and their leadership as beyond critique. More and more followers agree, adding to the leader’s growing sense of superiority.

3 - From grandiosity to emotional isolation.

The once-constructive narcissist has now reached new heights of success. They find themselves alone at the top, breathing the rarified air, now not merely alone, but isolated

They have few if any peers. But they find this splendid isolation to their liking as it “protects” them from the relationships and feedback that might challenge their emerging grandiosity and bring them back (down in their estimation) to the real world.

In our next discussion, we will see the downward spiral as it plummets into defensiveness and finally criticism. Check back to learn how you can identify and help those on the path to destructive narcissism.

Goldilocks, Porcupines & Chameleons – Part 2B: The Porcupine Leader

Mark McCloskey — Mon, 27 Jul 2015 14:25:42 +0000

In our last post, we discussed the challenges working with leaders who are prickly, unapproachable and highly defensive, earning them the tile of a porcupine leader. The porcupine leader is rightly termed a fundamentalist. I am NOT using the term to refer to the 20th century Protestant movement that emphasizes adherence to the basic, “fundamental” beliefs of the Bible. I am using it in a broader, generic sense to describe the person (or organization) that operates from a “too tight” and “too large” inner core, and so is

ideologically driven, rigid and uncompromising on a wide range of matters

on which good-hearted and reasonable people are willing to dialogue and perhaps compromise, or at a minimum, “agree to disagree.” In this sense, fundamentalists are found from left to right along the political, cultural and religious spectrum.

Porcupine leaders are typically passionate and uncompromising people who are

utterly convinced of the “rightness” of their perspective and the “wrongness” of opposing viewpoints.

Because the porcupine embraces most everything as a non-negotiable, they make no distinction between opinions and convictions, passing tastes and core beliefs. Personal preferences are vigorously defended as timeless principles.

Consequently, the porcupine lives in a black and white world, and of course they are quick to let the rest of the world know what is “black” and what is “white.”

They are self-appointed prophets, delivering from their privileged, final vantage point the ultimate perspective on matters large and small.

In the porcupine’s world, others are either friend—those in accord with the porcupine’s inner core—or enemy—everyone else. If the porcupine perceives that their inner core is threatened—and this is most of the time—they assume an “aggressively defensive” posture. Like their namesake, if you must approach them—and it’s best not to—you must do so with great caution. Because if you’re not a “friend” you might get one of the porcupine’s thirty thousand quills in your face for your opinion.

Porcupines make demands and shun dialogue.

Porcupine leaders are brimming with conviction but lacking in insight — the porcupine would rather be “right” than effective. They are full of passion, but devoid of grace — the porcupine would rather impose their will on others than address their needs.

Not surprisingly, this severity and rigidity make the porcupine unpleasant company, an impossible partner and in most cases—with the exception of a crisis or legitimate external threat where porcupine behavior might be temporarily appropriate—an ineffective leader.

In contrast, and what we uncover in our book, The Art of Virtue-Based Transformational Leadership,

is the opposite of a porcupine leader: the transformational leader.

Transformational leaders possess the qualities that allow them to be effective leaders through:

• Serving the best and highest interests of others
• Creating and sustaining healthy organization by imparting hope
• Preparing the next generations of leaders
• Engaging their followers
• Shining in situations where reform is required
• Acting as effective agents of change

Notice the stark contrast between those prickly, ridged and uncompromising porcupine leaders to tranformational leaders! The world hungers for transformational leaders. What are you doing today to demonstrate leadership that will make a lasting change?

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Goldilocks, Porcupines & Chameleons – Part 2: The Porcupine Leader

Mark McCloskey — Tue, 14 Jul 2015 14:59:43 +0000

We have been talking about the “just right” leadership style of being in The Goldilocks Zone.

When the inner core and outer ring are in the Goldilocks Zone, leaders are able to effectively express beliefs and core values, making them easy to follow.

But what happens when the inner core and outer ring lose their “just right” vital connection?

One inevitably overwhelms the other and the leader wanders from the Goldilocks zone. This undermines the leader’s effectiveness, and over time the effectiveness of the organization.

When the inner core overwhelms the outer ring, the result is the porcupine leader.

The porcupine.

The word porcupine comes from the Middle French meaning “thorny pig.” The porcupine is a rodent with black to brownish-yellow fur and strong, short legs. It lives a solitary life for the most part, though it may den with other porcupines in the winter. Of course the most recognizable feature of the porcupine is its quills. A porcupine may have as many as 30,000 quills on all parts of its body except its stomach. The quills are hairs with barbed tips on the ends. The longest quills are on its rear. While the porcupine is not an aggressive animal, it is dangerous when provoked. When a predator approaches, it will turn its back and raise the longer quills on its rump and lash out with its tail. If the quills hit another animal, they become embedded in its skin. The body heat of the injured animal makes the barbs expand and they become even more deeply embedded. If the quills hit the animal in a vital organ, the wound may prove fatal.

The porcupine leader.

The porcupine leader is so-named for some obvious reasons. They tend to be prickly, unapproachable, and highly defensive.

What’s going on here?

The porcupine leader’s inner core is overpopulated with a wide assortment of non-negotiables—inviolable principles, essential beliefs, dozens of core values and a wide array of convictions, opinions, preferences, stylistic tastes, in fact, most anything and everything—such that it prohibits the proper functioning of the outer ring.

The inner core is so expansive and dominant that it swallows up the outer ring, leaving little if any room for the wise application of timeless principles, new learning, creativity and contextual flexibility.

Minus the attitudes and behaviors that support sustained effectiveness—discerning the needs of individuals, reading the situation, listening to others, revising one’s perspective, and learning new behaviors—

the porcupine leader is incapable of responding to the unique demands of a given situation.

If we didn’t know better, we might think the porcupine is a person of deep conviction, a “value-driven” leader. This would be a fitting description if, and if is the operative word, the porcupine’s expression of values and convictions remained vitally connected to his or her outer core—exercising wisdom and discernment to get a read on the demands of effectiveness in a particular situation. But, losing this connection, the porcupine takes a rigid and defensive posture toward the world. They are not focused on the challenge of making a timely application of timeless principles. Rather, the porcupine is intent on defending their inner core at all costs, and imposing it on the outer world.

What kinds of leaders do you have in your life? What kind of a leader are you?

Looking ahead.

We will further explore porcupine leaders the next installment and then learn about a chameleons leadership style. I hope you will read along!

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The Roots Of Emotional Malfunctioning

Mark McCloskey — Wed, 05 Nov 2014 14:33:43 +0000

It took only one generation for Adam and Eve’s emotional brokenness to infect the lives of their children. The story of their first son, Cain, and his younger brother Abel highlight the tragic consequences of the fall on the emotional life of humanity. You can read the story of Cain and Abel in Genesis 4:1-16. I draw five points from their story, each illustrates how the fall has affected our capacity to function in an emotionally mature manner.

First, due to the fall, instead of embracing reality and operating out of sense of emotional realism, we prefer to fake reality beginning first with ourselves and then moving on to others and the rest of life.

Lacking the emotional strength to confront the truth about life, and ourselves we pretend reality is something it is not, preferably something better suited to our self-centeredness and grandiosity. The inevitable outcome is that we exchange humility—an accurate and authentic view of our self, with pride—a skewed, typically overestimated sense of our importance and ability. However we choose to reframe reality, our perceptual clarity is skewed. Such was the case with Cain. Cain simply could not deal with reality, in this case the fact that God had honored Abel’s sacrifice and not his. He thought himself superior to Abel—though in actuality, he was not, and thus entitled to the attention and validation his brother received from God. Operating from this emotionally unrealistic stance, Cain felt entitled to put Abel down, literally, in order to lift himself up.

Second, due to the fall, instead of recognizing and regulating our emotional life, we live in ignorance of the contours of our emotional landscape, unaware of how our emotions impact others and us.

If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up?”

Third, due to the fall, instead of bouncing back after disappointments and the negative emotions associated with adversity, we are instead overcome by them, and give ourselves over to them.

This was the case for Cain. He was profoundly disappointed by the fact that God preferred his brother’s sacrifice to his own. As Cain read the situation, there could be no positive outcomes. Even though God revealed to Cain the way out of his predicament,

If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up?”

Cain saw no “redemptive sequence” which could transform God’s preference of Abel’s sacrifice into a blessing for him. The situation was hopeless as far as Cain was concerned. There would be no bouncing back. He lost his spiritual and relational equilibrium and never recovered. Instead, sin “mastered” him, and he lost the battle for his inner, emotional landscape to his coefficients of adversity. His “emotional melting point” was low, and the crucible container of his emotional life melted, spewing out a toxic mixture of despair and rage aimed at his innocent brother.

Fourth, due to the fall, instead of resonating with others and responding to their needs and concerns, we live in self-centered isolation, preoccupied with our own emotions and needs and unconcerned with what others are feeling or experiencing. Cain lived a selfish, and so a small and defensive life. His emotional deficits rendered him unable to cope with his brother’s “success,” and left him profoundly incapable of focusing on his brother’s welfare. While the biblical text does not give us information on Cain’s relationship with his brother, it is obvious that Cain had no positive relational connection, no genuine caring for Abel.

Cain was so consumed by his own negative emotions, so preoccupied with what he perceived as the divine slight against him, that he could not see beyond his own negative emotions to consider Abel—his feelings, his concerns, and his welfare.

Was Abel humbly grateful to God? Did he love Cain? Was he fearful of Cain? Was he sad for Cain because of his jealousy? We can only speculate. But, needless to say, Cain didn’t resonate with Abel or respond in a constructive and appropriate manner to the situation.

And fifth, due to the fall, instead of taking responsibility for our life, the situations we find ourselves in—or get ourselves into, and the consequences associated with these situations, we blame others for our predicaments and problems.

Cain was the sole author of his emotional predicament and the tragedy it caused. He alone bore responsibility for his jealously and rage. And God held him fully responsible. “If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.”He failed to “master” sin, and true to God’s warning, sin mastered him. God, again, gave Cain the opportunity to take responsibility for his actions after Cain killed Abel. “Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” But, Cain, again, refused to take responsibility for the murderous consequences of his un-mastered emotional life. He responded to God’s inquiry, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”

You know the rest of the story. God banished Cain him from the Garden to live the remainder of his days East of Eden in the land of Nod. Cain’s story is our story. To this day, the human race resides with Cain, East of Eden, coping with an inner, emotional landscape filled with dread, isolation and fear. While few of us go to the extreme of Cain, nevertheless, we struggle with the same despair, anger, disappointment and self-centeredness. Like Cain, we live in a perpetual state of self-imposed emotional warfare. We battle the negative emotions that threaten daily to rob us of our humanity, and tempt us daily to deny the humanity of others.

East of Eden, we can’t, we won’t and we don’t function as we were designed to function, and as we, on our best days, desperately desire to function. We engage others not out of a desire to connect and serve, but out of self-centered defensiveness and self-serving aggression. We long to live and relate as Emotionally Mature adults. But we lack the inner strength. Emotionally weak, we weaken the community by imposing our selfish needs and emotional deficits on others. Instead of serving others, we dominate them. Instead of giving to others, we take from them.

Where does this leave us? In a sad and self-destructive state to be sure, but not without hope.

While we are deeply fallen and profoundly broken, yet we are marvelously designed in God’s image and greatly loved by Him.

We still bear the image of our Creator. But the image of God in us has been compromised by the fall, skewed, warped, tainted, resulting in our distorted emotional life. Our emotional isolation and the negative emotions that flow from it—anger, jealousy, grandiosity, self-centeredness, etc., is a symptom of our spiritual isolation from God. We are disconnected from the source of our identity, joy and emotional strength. We simply can’t function in the emotional arena as we were designed to function. Our capacity to function in accordance with our original design as emotionally mature, other-oriented adults is dramatically diminished.

And so, we have a problem, a serious and desperate problem that we incapable of solving on our own. We are emotional prisoners of the fall. But God has not abandoned us in the land of Nod. He loves us and is deeply committed to restoring us to function substantially according to our original design.

God invites us to a life-long process of emotional restoration.

He seeks to repair our emotional landscape, and to give us the emotional strength and insight we need to successful manage our emotions, and live and contribute to the life of the community as healthy adults.

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Leading With Purpose

Mark McCloskey — Mon, 20 Oct 2014 18:06:57 +0000

In classical Greek literature,faith is akin to fidelity, which signifies an honored agreement or bond of trust.

Fidelity is faithful and lasting devotion to one’s duties and obligations, sacred loyalty to one’s commitments. Faith is that which binds people together to a special purpose, a larger story, which calls upon each person to risk and sacrifice on behalf of one’s friends, community, organization or nation.

Hope is an expectation of a future good mingled with the understanding that this good is never guaranteed and that the obstacles are many to its fulfillment. It is steadfast confidence mixed with a realistic sense of contingency. Hope is manifested in the tension between an inadequate or unacceptable today, where expectations are yet to be realized, and the anticipation of a better “tomorrow,” when these expectations will be substantially fulfilled.

It is simply impossible to lead well over time without faith and hope.

Organizations and communities expect their leaders to take them somewhere, to have an end in mind, something of great value that is yet to be attained and worthy of the energy and commitment, even sacrifice of all. They expect leaders to have a profound sense of personal meaning, and so to make a meaningful difference in the life of the organization, its members and the world at larger. In other words,

we expect leaders to infuse the organization with faith and hope; forward movement—momentum—tied to a sense of overarching purpose.

The research agrees, suggesting a positive correlation between a leader’s effectiveness and his or her participation in a larger, meaningful story—a meta-narrative rich in faith and hope. Grounded in a larger, “master story” with explanatory power, the leader possesses the necessary contextual reference point from which to make sense of the past and present of the organization in light of its future, and so to the keep the community on course to fulfill its destiny, even in spite of discouragement and delay.

As a result, leaders possessing faith and hope stand ready and able to infuse the community with a clear focus and an appropriate level of confidence as they proceed on the difficult journey to a better place.

The leader informed by faith acknowledges that there is an important story beyond their individual story to which they and others owe allegiance. Building on this fidelity, leaders set the moral trajectory of the organization by connecting its daily life to a larger, transcendent purpose, thereby fostering a collective sense of special purpose that propels the organization forward in pursuit of its “good.”

Faithful leaders infuse the organization with a moral purpose, a good and compelling reason, the “why,” which prompts others to sacrifice, collaborate and to go the proverbial “extra mile” in service of the organization’s larger purpose. Informed by hope, leaders know that the journey, while difficult, is worth the effort, and that the best days of the organization are yet ahead.

Leaders informed by faith and hope, know who they are, why they are here, and where they are going. They locate their lives in a larger story that is “going somewhere;” a story with a coherent narrative and forward movement. Leaders informed and shaped by this sense of larger purpose are capable of staying focused and staying the course each day and over the decades

What is your larger story? Are you infusing your organization or community with faith and hope?

Resources. The Art of Virtue-Based Transformational Leadership provides a discussion on the importance of transcendent purpose, faith and hope to one’s leadership. The book is available on this website. Leadership in a Changing World: Virtue and Effective Leadership in the 21st Century, by this author, provides a more thorough exploration of the relevance of purpose, faith and hope to leadership effectiveness. The book, published by Palgrave-McMillan, will come out December 2014 and you will be able to purchase it on Amazon.com in both hardback and e-book formats. Dan Taylor’s book Tell Me a Story provides a powerful discussion on the role that story plays in our personal lives and leadership. This book is also available on Amazon.com.

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Purpose Fuels Resilience

Mark McCloskey — Tue, 14 Oct 2014 13:17:09 +0000

Resilience is derived from the Latin term resilire, meaning

“to bounce or spring back.”

A resilient material resumes its former shape after being pressed, bent or stretched out of shape, much like a bungee cord or rubber band.

Emotional resilience is the strength to rebound from loss or failure.

Some individuals possess the strength and durability to absorb the stress, shocks and pressures of daily life, to endure in hard times, to be stretched momentarily out of shape by loss and adversity, but then to regain one’s emotional equilibrium. Others don’t. What sets these individuals apart from those, who sadly, fail to “bounce back?”

Research indicates that the quality of our larger, life-story and its script is the critical factor in resilience, and not the nature or severity of the adversity or negative experience.

A clear and compelling purpose—a larger transcendent story—provides the emotional scripting to properly interpret and respond to adverse and even tragic circumstances. Hungarian psychology professor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s study of paraplegic accident victims revealed that adults who learned how to master new, negative experiences felt they possessed a clear purpose they had previously lacked. They turned a profoundly negative experience “from a source of entropy to an occasion for inner order.”

Healthy and constructive life-stories possess at least two critical features.

First, a good story is rich with emotional resources.

It provides us with insight and perspective by telling us why we are in the world, and what we are supposed to do. It strengthens and fortifies us by giving us a significant role to play, and a script to prompt our response to daily circumstance, especially negative circumstances.

Second, a good story features a “redemptive sequence” theme.

The redemptive sequence theme presumes that life is full of negative events and adversity, but these events are embedded with transformative potential, which is realized as one follows the script. The script calls for the individual to internalize the redemptive sequence theme by

(1) embracing the fact that life is difficult,

(2) having hope that the seeds of positive outcomes, including personal growth and the transformation of one’s character are embedded in adversity, and

(3) recognizing that resilience—bouncing back from setbacks—is central to the redemptive sequence script.

It is a requirement if positive outcomes are to be realized, the necessary means by which adversity is transformed into something constructive and beneficial to oneself and others.

Resilient people are able to cope with negative emotions, but without the dulling effect of “coping by denial.” Prompted by a constructive redemptive sequence script, they are infused with the will to endure adversity, and supplied the emotional resources to bounce back. Less resilient people typically lack a redemptive sequence story and the emotional scripting it provides. When faced with failure or adversity, they become easily upset and emotionally overwhelmed. They focus their limited and diminishing emotional energy on devising and implementing coping strategies, which shield a fragile and vulnerable self from painful realities. They become self-absorbed and withdraw into a protective shell to shield them from adversity. They live a small and defensive life, with little or no capacity for taking on life in all its fullness, opportunity and challenge.

Resilient people practice what Salvatore Maddi, UC Irvine professor of psychology and director of the Hardiness Institute of Newport Beach, calls “transformational coping.”

Transformational coping is focused on cultivating a learning response versus a controlling response to stress, adversity and failure. Resilient people—Maddi calls them “stress hardy”—are not primarily concerned with controlling life so as to avoid negative outcomes. People who need to control things tend to see failure as disaster. Maddi counsels that if we seek to control life and avoid stress, we will reduce our life to the size of postage stamp.

In contrast, emotionally resilient people view adversity in a broader context as an occasion for learning.

Setbacks are life lessons designed to teach us how to do better next time. So, emotionally hardy people don’t put a lot of effort into avoiding stressful circumstances. Rather, they see adversity and even failure as normative, as a prompt to deep learning. Consequently, they stay positive and productive in harsh and negative circumstances.

Are you part of a redemptive life story, which addresses why you are in the world and what you are supposed to do?

Resources. The Art of Virtue-Based Transformational Leadership provides a discussion on the importance of transcendent purpose, faith and hope to one’s leadership. The book is available on this website. Leadership in a Changing World: Virtue and Effective Leadership in the 21st Century, by this author, provides a more thorough exploration of the relevance of purpose, faith and hope to leadership effectiveness. The book, published by Palgrave-McMillan, will come out December 2014 and you will be able to purchase it on Amazon.com in both hardback and e-book formats. A link will also be provided on this website. Dan Taylor’s book Tell Me a Story provides a powerful discussion on the role that story plays in our personal lives and leadership. This book is also available on Amazon.com.

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The Power Of Divine Purpose

Mark McCloskey — Wed, 08 Oct 2014 21:17:59 +0000

The pioneering research of Harvard sociologist Gordon Allport established a connection between our instinctive spiritual questing and the energy released through the Zeigarnik effect.

Echoing Zeigarnik, Allport found that goals that are never quite fulfilled are the ones best able to direct attention, guide current striving and maintain unity and integration in the individual.

Spiritual goals, according to Allport, pack the most Zeigarnik punch. Allport wrote,

“Because religious accomplishment is always incomplete, its cementing character in the personal life is therefore all the greater.”

We are designed to live at our best and fullest,

with the clearest focus and highest sustained energy level as we participate in a big, unfinished task, in a story that is perpetually in motion, never complete but always unfolding, a story in which we are significant actors playing a vital role.

God invites each of us into just such a story—

His story, the ancient, cosmic story in which the human race is graciously offered important parts to play in partnership with Jesus and others of His followers. The divine meta-narrative includes the creation of the world, the tragic fall of humanity into sin, the redemption of the world and reversal of the fall in the death and resurrection of Christ, the cosmic battle between the risen Christ and the enemies of God, and the consummation of this present age and the final victory of Jesus at His return.

God is daily at work to move the story forward in accord with His eternal plan.

The Psalmist wrote,

“But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations” (Psalm 33:11).

Over, under and behind history, God is moving history toward that Great Day when the story will reach completion, and all things will be summed up in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:3-14).

Until that Day, Jesus is powerfully working to move the story line forward, to unfold the plot decade by decade, day by day, moment by moment, life by life, transforming individuals, communities, and eventually the entire world according to His eternal purpose.

The master story of God at work in the world packs the ultimate Zeigarnik effect. C. S. Lewis noted the spiritual and emotional power of the Zeigarnik effect (though he didn’t call it this).

“It was when I was happiest that I longed most…The sweetest thing in all my life has been the longing…to find the place where all the beauty came from.”

This grand, cosmic story draws us in and sustains our interest as it locates us in the larger, unfinished story of God at work in the world to transform a fallen humanity and establish his eternal Kingdom.

The larger, unfinished story locates our personal story in its movement and plot, with a clear but always unfinished script, full of twists and turns, movement and tension.

While the Bible clearly reveals the plot of the meta-narrative and its ending—Jesus wins—nevertheless,

the particulars of each individual story are revealed only day by day,

like the cliff hanger plot energized by the Zeigarnik effect. Theologian and writer J. I. Packer summed up the power of the biblical story to capture our attention and sustain our interest.

What makes life worthwhile is having a big enough objective, something which catches the imagination and lays hold of our allegiance…what higher, more exalted, and more compelling goal can there be than to know God.”

The biblical story keeps us engaged and energized over a lifetime. It won’t let us go until our part in the larger story reaches a conclusion—which will only happen at the end of our life. And, of course the story flows into a sequel.

This life is just the introductory chapter, with remaining chapters to be written throughout eternity in the life to come.

Are you connected on a daily basis to divine purpose?

Resources: The Art of Virtue-Based Transformational Leadership provides a discussion on the importance of transcendent purpose, faith and hope to one’s leadership. The book is available on this website. Leadership in a Changing World: Virtue and Effective Leadership in the 21st Century, by this author, provides a more thorough exploration of the relevance of purpose, faith and hope to leadership effectiveness. The book, published by Palgrave-McMillan, will come out December 2014 and you will be able to purchase it on Amazon.com in both hardback and e-book formats. Dan Taylor’s book Tell Me a Story provides a powerful discussion on the role that story plays in our personal lives and leadership. This book is also available on Amazon.com.

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The Zeigarnik Effect: Why Purpose Sustains Interest

Mark McCloskey — Mon, 29 Sep 2014 16:24:55 +0000

The inherent power of purpose to focus and energize us on any given day and over a lifetime is explained, at least in part (I don’t think we can fully explain it) by a phenomenon called the Zeigarnik Effect.

The Zeigarnik Effect states that people remember uncompleted or interrupted tasks better than completed ones.

Russian psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik first noted this phenomenon in 1927. While dining in a Vienna restaurant, she noticed that her waiter could remember a rather long list of items ordered by his customers. But, once the waiter had delivered the orders to his customers, he no longer remembered what he had just served moments before, and he even forgot about the customer after the order was completed.

As Zeigarnik contemplated this sequence, she concluded that people remember the particulars of incomplete tasks, but once they complete that task, they forget about it and the details associated with it.

So much for your refill of coffee after you have paid your bill.

What’s going on here? Zeigarnik theorized that an incomplete task or unfinished business creates “psychic tension” within us. This tension acts as a motivator to drive us toward completing the task or finishing the business.

In Gestalt terms, we are cognitively wired to seek “closure.” Once closure is achieved and the task is completed, the cognitive tension dissipates and we move on and direct our attention and energy to other open, unfinished business.

In reverse, you’ll note that if you take the same test a few days later you probably will do worse, especially if you studied for a long time in anticipation of the test. Why?

You simply lost interest after the closure of taking the test.

So, how does the Zeigarnik effect help explain the power of purpose? As Zeigarnik discovered, to complete the order—or to accomplish a goal or resolve a story line in a book or movie—is to lose interest and thus to lose energy.

But, as Zeigarnik also discovered,there is an instinctive drive within us to keep pursuing resolution and closure. There is a part of us that is profoundly alive to and at odds with unfinished business. And so, the fact that a task or goal or story line remains unfinished or unresolved unleashes energy to move toward resolution.

Our mind works overtime to achieve at least a measure of closure. This release of energy focuses us and keeps us tuned in and engaged.

The Zeigarnik effect explains, at least in part, why the TV series “24” and “Lost” were such big hits. They leave you hanging every week, craving resolution
of the plot tension, hopefully to be found, at least at one level, in the next episode. As the plot grows more complex and even more layers of unresolved tension are added, people literally must tune in the next week and the next and the next in search of a more satisfying level of closure.

Purpose, like any good story—in fact, purpose is a good story—piques our interest, captures our attention and won’t let it go. It locates our daily life in a larger narrative with forward movement, plot twists, and unresolved tension.

And, like a good story, purpose compels us to stay tuned in and engaged as the plot unfolds. It infuses our daily lives with the will to stay engaged and the energy to come back for more as the plot unfolds over the days and decades.

Do you have a larger purpose that keeps your interest and sustains your effort?

The Art of Virtue-Based Transformational Leadership provides a discussion on the importance of transcendent purpose, faith and hope to one’s leadership. The book is available on this website. Leadership in a Changing World: Virtue and Effective Leadership in the 21^st Century, by this author, provides a more thorough exploration of the relevance of purpose, faith and hope to leadership effectiveness. The book, published by Palgrave-McMillan, will come out December 2014 and you will be able to purchase it on Amazon.com in both hardback and e-book formats. Dan Taylor’s book Tell Me a Story provides a powerful discussion on the role that story plays in our personal lives and leadership.

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Reflection On Finding Purpose

Mark McCloskey — Tue, 16 Sep 2014 19:57:15 +0000

I love the scene from City Slickers where Curly Washburn, the rough and tumble cowboy, played by Jack Palance offers the Billy Crystal character, Mitch Robbins, some words of wisdom. Curly tells Mitch that, to figure out the meaning of life, all he has to do is to know this “one thing.” Of course Curly never says what this “one thing” is, leaving Mitch—and the movie audience—to fill in the blanks for themselves.
Philosophers aren’t much more help. Nineteenth century French sociologist Alexis De Tocqueville wrote in the Ages of Faith,

“The final aim of life is placed beyond life.”

Nineteenth and early 20th century scientist, philosopher, psychologist and author William James echoed De Tocqueville with these less-than-helpful words.

“The greatest use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it.”

While it is indeed helpful to know that genuine purpose is transcendent, that it is found not in the particulars of our daily life, but, rather, is sourced “beyond life” in “that which will outlast it,” this advice leaves us with Mitch to figure it out for ourselves.

What is the “final aim…beyond life,” this “something” that will outlast life? What is the ultimate purpose of humankind? The Westminster Catechism asks and answers the “question of questions.” “What is the chief end of man?” The answer. “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.” God created us for Himself and placed eternity in our hearts (Ecclesiastes 2:11).

God has designed us so that we find our deepest satisfaction in a living and vital relationship with Him through His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus said,

“Whoever shall seek his life shall lose it, but whoever will lose his life for my sake and the Gospel’s shall find it” (Mark 8:34-35).

De Tocqueville and James were right. We won’t find purpose or its byproducts—a measure of satisfaction, success or happiness—by seeking it in the particulars of daily life.

Ask yourself if you are happy,” said John Stewart Mill, “and you cease to be so.”

The Austrian Victor Frankl put it well in the preface to Man’s Search for Meaning.

“Don’t aim at success—the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue…as the unintended side effect of one’s personal dedication to a course greater than oneself.”

“The final aim of life is placed beyond life.”

This sounds like the advice Jesus gives His followers.

Do not be anxious then, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘With what shall we clothe ourselves?’ “For all these things the Gentiles eagerly seek; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you. “Therefore do not be anxious for tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own (Matthew 6:31-34).

C. S. Lewis was asked which of the world’s religions offers the greatest chance of human happiness. He replied,

“While it lasts, the religion of worshipping oneself is the best.”

Lewis went on to explain that he didn’t embrace biblical Christianity to make him happy—a good bottle of port wine could do that. Rather, he became a follower of Jesus because it took him outside of himself and connected him to the transcendent, the sacred, to others and to a life worth living—to a life located in the larger story of God’s redemptive work in the world.

The connection of one’s life to divine purpose is found by entering into a personal relationship with God though Jesus Christ. We enter this relationship by faith—by trusting in Jesus’ work on the cross as payment for our sins, and pledging our loyalty to Him as Savior and Lord. But faith goes beyond this initial act. Faith is a way of living, a way of seeing ourselves in the world. As James Fowler put it,

“Faith, classically understood, is not a separate dimension of life, a compartmentalized specialty. Faith is an orientation of the total person, giving purpose and goal to one’s hopes and striving, thoughts and actions….as such, faith is an integral part of one’s character or personality.”

Answering the invitation of our Creator to know Him and participate with Him to accomplish His work connects us to the ultimate “why” for living, the highest source of purpose in human existence. Faith connects our whole person over the entire span of our life, all of us for all our life, to the larger story of God’s redemptive work in the world, providing order and pattern, form and cohesion, meaning and integration for our daily lives.

Divine purpose is the integrative center, the focal point that binds our total selves, our latent energies, experience, gifts and abilities to Jesus and His work in the world. This purpose infuses our life with lasting value and connects us to that which is worthy of our loyalty over a lifetime. It provides a deep and abiding sense of being a character in a larger story, with plot, movement and coherence that gives meaning to the particulars of each day, as well as the decades.

God created us for just such a purpose. He put eternity in our hearts. And He invites us to join with His Son to participate in His eternal Purpose. We are designed us for nothing less. We need nothing more. We find our deepest satisfaction in nothing other.

Are you searching for happiness and success or for genuine purpose? Have you found the answer to Curly’s question?