Response to previous blog submission:

Dr. Watkins, you mentioned in the video response you never heard of Zenfolio. Zenfolio is a preferred tool for photographers due to their upload algorithm. This is a photography webpage which does not distort the image resolution for large photographic images. This enables the images to be displayed with higher resolution. In addition to this the lowest paid membership fee includes unlimited storage, so photographers can upload large files, and not have to take space on their computer. I have not used the blog function on my site before, but am using this to be unique.

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Greetings World,

The purpose of this blog will be to encapsulate the importance of Intellectual virtues, and how we as leaders are consistently growing to push the mind to better grasp these constructs. We will write about instances where I felt constrained based on my position in an organization. A wide array of Intellectual virtues have been presented to us from Dr. Paul, and Dr. Elder. The eight intercorrelated virtues are displayed below, we will focus this post on the two which resonated most with in my mind during my last two years (Paul & Elder, 2019). We will discuss my growth with Intellectual Perseverance, and Confidence in Reason. Before we delve into these items, I will provide some background on my workplace organization, and an example of being in an inferior position to challenge authority which created tension. We will use this as a spring board to the two intellectual virtues. (Be advised the center of this image should say intellectual virtues).

So I work for the Military. In the military we are trained, and directed to follow through on all task given to us from higher authorities. We have strict adherence to our superiors decisions, we may not agree with the decision, but they ultimately have the final say which controls our actions to complete the task. At times this can be bad for the junior folks beneath those decision makers if the decision maker is not too sharp, or rational. Some military leaders rule with an iron fist, and do not like subordinates talking back, or questioning authority. I had one boss who required us to stand up and greet them with the appropriate salutation of the day each time he came in the office throughout the day. I had another boss who consistently could not explain his rationale thought, and was not capable of remaining on the topic at hand when disagreements arose. This lead to confusion, and mental suffrage. Being in an inferior position is tough, because military members are in a disadvantage under these circumstance unless they have the willingness to speak back, and risk receiving a lower evaluation. The implications of the superior rating them low due to a valid rebuttal is a real fear due to promotion opportunities. This causes many to feel constrained, and tethered to a dark situation with very few channels to formally address the situation at hand. One circumstance in my previous command leadership was so bad, I had to scheduled an impromptu appointment with my boss' direct boss. 

The boss I had at this time was frequently late to work, very disengaged, did not respond to emails timely, and overall hurt the organization. I was the third in command, and this person wrote my evaluation. I attempted to resolve this on the lowest level over months, but one day my previous boss missed a highly important meeting. His boss asked me of his whereabouts, and I saw this as an opening to shed light on what had been happening. I felt relieved, and reassured as he said my evaluation would not be impacted in shape or form should he attempt to exercise any form of retribution.

This ultimately led to a spot promotion for myself, and I held this position for four weeks. We will now speak on the two virtues above, and how this relates to my experience while I was temporarily promoted.

Intellectual perseverance is developed through tough times, and I experienced this virtue during these conditions of bearing additional responsibilities. COVID-19 measures came waving down during the initial 1-2 weeks, and we had to think quick to offer reassurance to the staff. I learned the importance of re-focusing on the issue at hand, and have an objective to seek for facts during dynamic periods. This virtue describes these items. 

Being in a leadership role is rewarding, especially when you realize the growth in others. Confidence in reason exemplifies this achievement as we as leaders step back, and enable those in the organization to identify solutions for tough problems without our inputs. We must have patience, and realize the true benefit of fostering an environment for growth is for the health of the organization, and the development for this individual going forward.

Although the Military has their share of inadequate leaders who abuse authority, and use malice behind a cloak of higher rank the overwhelming majority are not this way. This is what makes our Military the best. We cannot fire or demote people beneath us, we learn to work through problems with our staff and how we can meet the mission. The beautiful thing about those dark moments with bad leadership, is they tend to highlight the efforts of those who are in power due to their referent leadership, and not positional authority.