A500.2.3.RB - WashingtonJ...Tell Your Story

Learning to Think Things Through

The standards that are most important in my life are a standards professional integrity.  While there are numerous definitions when it comes to the term integrity, the common factors include applying moral or ethical principles.  To be honest, I believe most individuals believe that they we have integrity, but the question is do they have an understanding of what exactly having integrity means? I believe that anyone who considers themselves as a professional, in any chosen career field owes a duty of accountability to society and to their profession.  This standard of professional integrity that I have adopted involves accepting full responsibility for the integrity of their own conduct, and for the activities of any family member if individual under their direction or supervision.  These standards that I have adopted are especially important when applied to positions of leadership.

There are two foundations for which I acquired these standards my parent and my career in the military.  I do not believe integrity is a trait that we are born with, however I do believe it is “learned” as we go through different stages of life. This is very important because as a child we have no foundation of belief in basically anything.  To us what our parents tell us is correct. For this reason, I believe that, no two people of group of individuals will possess the same value system.  Yes there will be similarities but there will be differences also.  Now before you apply professional integrity, you must first be taught integrity as an individual in the early stages of life.  For me this process began at an early age, instilled in me by my parents, grandparents and teachers.  To be fair, just because a person is raised in a positive environment does not mean they will grow up to be a person of high standards of integrity.  There have been many individuals who have chosen to live a not so positive or legal life even though they were taught integrity as an individual in their youth. In my opinion, the reason for this shift in integrity can be based on not so ethical element such as peer pressure or even things such as certain television programming.  As I matured and started to grow as an adult, I was exposed to integrity in the professional sense, learning to do the right things and why it is important to me and others I influence.   

Many would ask whether or not I have changed my standards professional integrity over the years.  I don’t know if I have changed I how I view professional integrity, but how I influence other when it concerns standards professional integrity has changed a lot.  I am no longer the person that supervises hundreds of individuals.  So my influence factor has changed in that sense.  However, I do teach in various arenas, where I do influence a large number of people.  This is where I think my application of critical thinking particularly fair-mindedness plays a vital role in society.  I have a personal goal of having students understand integrity by getting them to question the relationships that they have, to question how they conduct their lives, and for those who can influences others that they may supervise, to question are they doing what I considered professional and being a positive example of what I consider professional integrity.

A500.1.6.RB_WashingtonJO

When I entered this degree program and this class, I was like ok this is going to be some work and will require some serious time management on my part.  As I began to read all the required assignments, I had to step back and say hold up sir, you just finished your second masters and it pushed you to the limits.  Are you ready for this again?  I thought about it and said yes because I love the study of leadership and must admit I love it when I am pushed to learn more than what I knew when I committed to this task.  I know without a doubt I must apply intellectual perseverance with each challenge presented to me each week, and I have accepted that I will become frustrated on numerous occasions.  However, selling myself short is not an option, as I must focus on each assignment one at a time.  So I have put together a plan for success through this degree plan.  I call it my Five Commandments of using Intellectual Perseverance for my educational success as documented in my “Expedition through a Leadership Nexus” blog.

1.      Time Management is an Important Part of Intellectual Perseverance.  Thou shall understand that unexpected things will happen because I have a professional and personal life outside of school, no one is interested in you excuses or your reasons for struggling.  I must use the leadership and education I have gained throughout my life to overcome my personal obstacles, and frustrations in spite of difficulties I will encounter.  I must learn to use work-life balance to my advantage.

2.      Success depends on my actions as a leader and I must use this success to apply the concept of Intellectual Perseverance.  Thou shall understand that this is your journey to learn more about leadership and others will not share your frustrations and not understand what you are going through.  I must understand that some intellectual problems that will be presented to me, as they relate to leadership will be are complex and I will not always find it easy address them.

3.      Leadership Experience is Vital to Understanding Intellectual Perseverance.  Thou must understand the journey that you have already made you have been in numerous high profile leadership positions throughout your life; for senior positions in the military to Fortune 100 companies to the federal government.  Use that insight you have, use that experience and be honest with yourself when you face difficulties, learn from it and share this knowledge with others.

4.      Internal Struggle is Part of Understanding Intellectual Perseverance in a Graduate Educational Environment. Thou shall understand that struggle is a part of intellectual success as it relates to intellectual perseverance.  You will not always have the right answer to the questions posted by the numerous professors you will encounter.  You will disagree with many of them in many ways.  However, when faced with intellectual complexity or frustration I must not give up.  The question that will be posed is, “did I learn anything.”

5.      Questions and Problem Solving are Part of Understanding Intellectual Perseverance in a Graduate Educational Environment. Thou must understand that you will have to increase your comprehension of intellectual perseverance and sharpen my application of the skill of critical thinking.  It is imperative that I learn to challenge what I do not agree with, but I must challenge it appropriately.