Leadership and the Humanities Class Blog Posts

Throughout the article, Concepts of Leadership: The Beginning, Bernard M. Bass references many influential leaders throughout history and how their ideologies from the past shaped and defined modern leadership techniques that are still prevalent today. Referencing Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Greek mythology, and other historical topics, Bass discusses how knowing the history of these leaders is important to understanding the basis of leadership roles today. This connects with the article, “Why History Matters” by Penelope J. Corfield because this article dives into the idea that understanding the people of the past and our history is the best way to effectively change and live in the future. 

However, while listening to the blog post today, we dove into the idea that historiography. Historiography is the concept that history is often mistold and corrupted to show the side of the winners because those are the people in charge of telling the stories of the past. This is an important thing to remember when thinking about the ideologies of the effective leaders of the past and what has lasted the test of time as meaningful ideologies. For example, Michavelli’s The Prince has many controversial standpoints of violence for absolute control within it, but it is still considered an important book for strong and controlling leaders, as Hitler is known for quoting his ideologies. Therefore, it is important to remember the influence ideologies have had in the past and their outcomes.

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I really enjoyed the reading by Corfield which explained how the great importance of History is, in large part, due to the fact that all ordinary and common people are “living histories.” I never truly thought about History through that lens before and was surprised and saddened that I hadn’t before. To hold the mindset that every ordinary person’s actions or behaviors are both results and causes of historical events and patterns is very eye-opening and introduces new self-importance or meaning. It certainly made me rethink my actions and overall life in a way that gave more value to my seemingly small blip of existence. This new outlook an attitude toward History can definitely tackle some of the objections to the subject which Corfield mentions. Instead of focusing on the winners or the most influential people throughout history (which is, in fact, biased), emphasizing the importance of the common people can instill a newfound responsibility in the public to their nation or to the world as a whole. It can make people really rethink their actions and consider the long term or short term consequences of them.

I also found it interesting how, on the other hand, Bass focused on the other side of History and leadership by mentioning kings, dukes, Machiavelli, and countless other examples of people, mostly men, in important, great positions of power. He aimed to define and further understand leadership by focusing on how leaders were depicted throughout historical texts like the Bible. He consistently and solely mentioned the actions of the leaders and why or how they may have come to those decisions, while also focusing on the success or failure of their reign. Bass also emphasized the more negative, “hortatory” side of leadership where the leader dominates and exploits the “subordinates”. He places less emphasis on the “subordinates” or followers by even using negative tones towards them and focusing on the “heroes” or heroines”. In terms of history, it is very important to give those who didn’t have a voice or power in the past another chance by telling their story and learning valuable lessons pertaining to leadership and followership. I believe that Corfield’s outlook is more challenging than Bass’s and is a more efficient and overall better way to study History and leadership.

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Before reading “Why History Matters” I was already aware of the fact that it is, and needed no convincing. I knew history is important, but I knew it for mainly one reason; learning about our history helps us to learn from our mistakes/successes in order to go forward into the future. While reading this article I realized not only that there are people who still believe History doesn’t matter, or simply wonder why it does matter at all. 

Cornfield brings up the idea that History allows us to explore new topics without having to learn everything new again. She says about how “the human mind can and does explore much wider terrain than does the human body”. Not only does History allow people to have so much more information then what is put right in front of them, but it gives them a framework to understand and make sense of the information. I found this interesting because Cornfield highlights how it is the job of educationalists to have students analyze a subject fully by understanding the history of a topic and the ways it may have changed or been challenged. The idea that History is much more than past events that helps us learn, but how we can learn from how we are living in it now is important to realize moving forward. 

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Throughout “Why History Matters” Cornfield discusses the importance of history in terms of understanding the true human experience and condition. History connects events, people, beliefs, and experiences to the present and students can create a larger, more critical view of things that happen today. When discussing why history is so important to study Cornfield says, “to study the subject for the invaluable in-depth analysis and the long-term perspective it confers upon the entire human experience”. Education allows people to gain knowledge about the world they live in and teaches how to build upon that for the future. Cornfield also brought up an interesting point that the human mind can do more and experience more than the physical human body. This shows the importance of education and history specifically where our minds are able to travel back in time to periods of evolution and to see change throughout the past. 

Last semester, I took a history class called Nazi Germany and a constant theme throughout the course was the importance of teaching difficult and horrific moments of the past to ensure that history does not repeat itself. Humans learn from the past and see different outcomes to behaviors. When encountered with similar behaviors or experiences humans adapt their responses based on their knowledge of the past. Cornfield’s article brought up many similar arguments showing the importance of teaching history in order to give people a strong and knowledgeable foundation to create change for the future. This can be done through a good educational system and compelling teachers who provide students a “vital collective resource” that teaches about the past and also promotes growth for the future. 

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In his article, Concepts of Leadership, Bernard M. Bass examines the history of leadership through various cultures and time periods. I found it especially interesting how he discussed  how the greater the socioeconomic divide/stress on a country or peoples, the greater the distorted “realities” of leadership are. In my own personal studies of history I have found this statement to hold true. When people are impoverished and have little educational background (due to socioeconomic divides and class structure) they are less likely to understand what “good”  leadership looks like. Therefore they are unable to notice unfair tyrannical behavior from their leaders. This creates a distorted sense of leadership for the people and for the leaders themselves. This leads to an even more unjust society with cruel/bad leaders. Another point Bass made jumping off of that is that to keep the leadership in check you must educate the leaders and the people in the ideals of good leadership. I believe that is why studying not only history but specifically leadership is crucial. If people can truly understand what good leadership is and looks like then they can evaluate their own leaders, or their own leadership.

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Wednesday’s readings sparked two thoughts for me. First, in Bass’ “Concepts of Leadership”, he points out that famous philosopher, Aristotle, believed in the need to teach the youth about leadership, yet some 2500 years later, we still struggle to find an accurate description or definition of leadership. However, I noticed two different leadership styles and goals emerging at different times throughout the reading. First, are the leaders who “create myths that allow dominance over subordinates” and use their power and authority to get what they want, or serve the mission they desire in a sort of narcissistic way. On the other hand, the Iliad describes a sort of servant leadership in which the leader that “serves me most, or serves his country best” is the most effective leader. Taoism takes this a step further to empower followers to believe that the successes were due to their efforts, and the leader’s role is to cultivate the self belief and confidence for his or her followers to succeed and thrive, I am very interested to learn more about these tactics, see how they have developed, and also how they have shaped the cultures they consist in. 

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Throughout “Concepts of Leadership” Bernard M. Bass examines what forms of leadership have appeared throughout history in terms of time period and physical location as well as how different cultures viewed leaders. He uses the term “Purposeful Stories” to describe the way that leaders are remembered as time passes. It is interesting to think how a single decision made by a leader could be the basis of their entire legacy or the “stories” future people tell about them. The fact that leaders, at one point in time, were remembered solely through stories gives many historical  figures a sort of legendary ambiance that amplifies their accomplishments to an unattainable height.

It seems that throughout all points and places in history, great leaders were admired for their similar qualities and the positive effect they had on their followers. However, it seems the definition of what is a “great” leader has evolved with time through the changing of standards by the general public as well as the creation of new philosophical ideas. According to Bass, early leaders mentioned in the Old and New testament fell into categories such as “prophests, priests, chiefs, and kings”. While these figures were meant to demonstrate qualities that the entire population could employ to improve society as a whole, none of them were elected officials, but rather came into power through other means. These means included religious appointments, a  matter of blood right, or possibly both as can be seen with the belief in divine right to rule held within many monarchies. By today’s standards these leaders would be considered completely unjust and unfit to rule. It can be unfair to judge the leaders of the past by modern standards as it is highly possible that the leaders of today will be looked down upon by future generations. Looking at both the positive and negative qualities of past forms of leadership should alter the decisions we as a society make about who we put in charge as well as how leaders choose to lead. This is especially important as today in many places the people determine who is in power, instead of some other factor.

 

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As I read through “Concepts of Leadership” by Bernard M. Bass, I begin to reflect on the fact that in some of the oldest text discovered there is evidence of leaders and leadership. The article states, “Leaders as prophets, priest, chiefs, and kings served as symbols, representatives, and models for their people in the Old and New Testaments” (49)—I find myself reminiscing on the idea that there has always been a somebody who has a following/ and or a leader.

At my last college, I took a class on the Bible—history and literature. After taking that class I began to understand the differences between the power that the Roman army had above all else. Even though Jesus had apostles and followers; he was a leader to them, but the Roman army had more power, and Pontius Pilate, the man in charge are killing Jesus, had a sense of leadership. Although his power and leadership can be seen in many eyes as evil, he had the leadership power to be able to defeat.

Bass also suggests in his text that there are “leadership rivals” in times of civilization coming fourth (50). Again, we can see that through the Bible, but we can most definitely see the rivalry in everyday life. To become the caption of a sports team, to be elected as a chair or a president in an organization, working your way to the top of a business chain. We see rivalries every day and because of that now I see the importance of studying leadership and hopefully being able to determine how I can better myself for the moments I must be a leader.

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Out of the living room ads for Obama’s 2012 campaign against Mitt Romney, the one that really stood out to me was the “Big Bird” ad. This ad was a remarkable change of pace from the majority of ads which highlighted Romney’s corruption and Obama’s dedication to prosperity and unity. Though still an attack ad as the majority of the ads were, this one was primarily focused on the fact that Romney lacked vision and policies aside from wanting to cut subsidies to PBS. This ad made fun of Romney, for lack of a more accurate phrase, for wanting to take on the corruption of Sesame Street as opposed to Wall Street. I thought that this ad was an effective comedic ad, though hard to take at all seriously if it was intended that way.

I did find it very interesting that Obama was using almost entirely an attack ad strategy in his 2012 campaign as he was the incumbent and could have used this time to promote his vision for the next four years of his presidency along with his accomplishments from his previous four years in office. Of course, there was a lot of material to attack Romney, as there is with most politicians, but almost none of the ads actually discussed Obama’s policies and/or successes. Now that he was an established candidate and incumbent, one would think Obama would have shifted strategies a bit. It is interesting to think that his campaign team thought that attacking Romney for not wanting to subsidize PBS should take precedence over actually discussing the Obama administrations’ successes of future.

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Earlier I saw a play called the Hunting Ground and was basically about rape cases on college campuses and how they are handled. It is very scary to observe and what how often this happens. The protection order system is very poor when it comes to handling these situations. In the movie, one of the scenes describes how they treated a sexual assault case as a slap on the wrist, meanwhile the victim is scared for life and has anxiety over the entire situation. This was interesting to relate to our class but I think it relates in the sense that in order for a leader to gain more followers and accomplish more towards whatever the movement is attempting to do, it is important to make sure that all followers are accepted by the leader and there is room for all walks of life. In this situation, the colleges are trying to protect their campuses look and reputation which is why they try not to give these cases attention.

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I attended The hunting ground screen earlier in November, this film showcased the reality of rape and sexual assault on college campuses. It gives stories of college students who had been sexually assaulted and explains how they began a fight for justice against the administrators which was a very difficult battle to fight. The administration often denounces these cases in order to preserve the overall reputation. The movies also explain how these survivors were doing after their experiences and actually how hard it is to actually recover from a situation like this. These victims are constantly harassed by peers. He finally explains that there is a culture that not promotes rape but enables it to happen. Overall it was a very interesting documentary and one that I would recommend everyone else see.

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I found Yasha’s speech to be very interesting. I think its really scary think about the “internet as a weapon” because as explained its a very dangerous game. He also explains that the world is wired, everything is connected to the internet, our economy and more importantly our safety. I’m nervous about our future because he said that computers were made to fight wars whether it be drone strikes or cyberattacks they can always affect us in some way which would be detrimental to society. The Cambridge project was something I had heard about earlier but when he mentioned it I figured out what it was. It was a super interesting project in which allowed him to spy on different leaders of the movements of the new left. And this technology makes it so surveillance video is indestructible.

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In November I attended Pure Confidence, a play written by Carlyle Brown performed at the Modlin Center with a few student actors and the rest of the cast comprised of hired and professional actors. The play details the story of a slave who is attempting to pay his way to freedom by horse racing. Simon Cato and his horse Pure Confidence attempt to race their way to freedom and though Simon is not leading a large audience, he is an example of working hard to achieve something. Though the system of slavery is corrupt and immoral to begin with and it is incredibly difficult and unfair to escape, Simon and his motivation to escape the system can be seen as an inspiration to other slaves who can raise their morales to escape as well.

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This talk was part of the Jepson Lecture Series which focused a lot on technology and the digital age. I went into this talk by Yasha Levine expecting to hear about Russian interference in our elections, online terrorist “recruiting,” the dark web, and more things along these lines based on the title and that fact that Levine’s job description is “Russian-American investigative journalist.” However, this is not the talk that I got. He started with a brief (aka not-so-brief) explanation of the origins and history of the internet. He explained that it was at least designed by the military to act as a tool. This does not surprise me, especially after taking this course, because our government pours a lot of money into military endeavors, and we’ve talked a lot about how economic motivations are ALWAYS at play. He then went on to explain how the internet became available to the general populous and slightly into the rise of social media.

I was a little disappointed at this point in the speech because he chose to bring it to an end. It felt like there was no wisdom or final message. It ended in a very “that’s just kinda the way it is” way. I was very unsatisfied by this and I think a lot of fellow audience members felt the same because many people asked questions that recognized that this may be the way it is currently but also asked what we could do to change the internet so that it is no longer weaponized. I was once again dissatisfied by his responses because they felt like he himself had given up any semblance of hope regarding the internet. I may not be an expert on the topic, but I am also not someone who settles for things that I am unhappy with. I wish that Levine had taken this opportunity to teach his audience more than history.

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Michele Norris is a former journalist on NPR and now is the head of the Race Project. The Race Project asks people to describe their experience and relationship with race in six words or less. She started by leaving postcards everywhere she went, with the address already written on the cards so that they could just stick them in the mail and the cards would be sent right to her office. Norris has been collecting these cards over the course of the years. During her presentation, she shared a number of cards with us. A lot were as I expected, minorities talking about their experiences. I was surprised to see that there were a lot of cards about gender or sexuality because neither are what the project was initially designed for. Michele Norris said that this surprised her too, but what she discovered is that when people are given an avenue to expose their true feelings, they are going to take it.

I think my favorite moment about her talk was who she handled differing opinions. She showed a race card from a white man from Wisconsin. It said something along the lines of “I’m white and I pay for it.” When she put this card on the scene, the mood of the room definitely shifted, and you could hear grumbles and objections spike up in the room. She immediately addressed these by saying that the race project is designed to facilitate conversation and does not aim to judge. Everyone has a story to share, and every single person’s story should be valued equally to each other’s. I think that this point is really important because that it something that we as Americans fail to do a lot. Our highly polarized, partisan world means that people judge without listening. I think that the Williamson article echoed this idea of listening and trying to understand one another, which is part of why I liked both that article and this talk so much.

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I went to a Marshall Center Lecture series. Joshua B. Kaplan was the speaker for this event. Kaplan works at the political science department at Notre Dame. Kaplan talked about the consequences of electoral college reforms that have been proposed. He states he believes the electoral college is not good. He stated that even the biggest fan of the electoral college would use it if we started over. He talks about how each proposal has its own bias. He believes these consequences could be worse than what we have. He talks about the electoral bias is in its geographic location. One of the revision plans is the Automatic plan which states we would keep electoral votes but not the electors. Each state would get the same amount of votes.

I found this lecture very interesting because we can see in elections how one candidate might win the popular vote nd the other the electoral vote. The one with the electoral vote will become president. These seems to be odd considering a majority of the population wants a certain person. During the time of the constitution this was used to suppress the masses because the elite didn’t want them to have to much power. You can also see during elections which states usually vote a certain way. This makes the electoral vote easy to get for the candidate of the party that state favors.

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I went to one of the Marshall Center lectures where Raymond O. Arsenault spoke. He is a professor of southern history at the University of Florida, St. Petersburg. He lectured on Author Ashe. He wrote a biography on Author Ashe. He wrote the first biography on him. Author Ashe was a great tennis player but Arsenault focused on him as a person. He was born in Richmond and was alive during the Jim Crow era. He was unable to stay in Richmond and left to go to Missouri.

He was the first African American to go on the mens tennis tour. He was alone during this time and was playing during the civil rights movement. He worked hard to integrate Richmond into the desegregation movement. He tried to get an African American hall of fame. He had to come out after his career and tell the public he had aides. He then became an aides activist. There is now the Author aides foundation.

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Earlier this semester I went to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts where they sectioned off a part of the museum for a Roman exhibit. The exhibit was pertaining to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and the effect that it had on the city of Pompeii. The exhibit had a variety of Roman artifacts from paintings, to sculptures, to the technology they had during the time period. I had taken Latin throughout high school which is what interested me in the exhibit. The detail and craftsmanship in each of these individual artifacts were incredible. The Romans for their time period were so advanced and ahead of their time with the technology they had invented. The Romans were the ones who had invented running water and drainage systems. Last year over winter break I had the privilege of going to the Roman Baths and witnessing the complexity of these drainage systems and it was extremely impressive. I was extremely happy to have had the opportunity to have gone to the museum and witnessed the amazing pieces of art and artifacts. The complexity and detail placed into them was astonishing.

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In the lecture I attended on October sixth a multitude of different topics were discussed. The speaker began the lecture discussing the irreversible damage that humans are placing upon earth. In his lecture, I quoted him as saying “Humans are a geological agent who has placed irreversible damage on earth.” He further elaborates on this idea by discussing the seventy five percent decrease in the insect population in the last twenty seven years due to the effects of global warming. This drastic drop has directly impacted the food chain causing shortages in food for certain species causing a domino effect throughout the hierarchy. He also discussed topics such as landscape archeology, industrial modernity, the Hittite empire, but what truly grabbed my attention was ISIS’s destruction of the Gardens of Babylon and ancient treasures/artifacts. After learning in his lecture that ISIS was destroying these ancient artifacts I decided to do some research of my own. What I discovered was sickening but the one that truly grabbed my attention was the destruction of a Roman theater in Syria using explosives. The reason for this is their belief in destroying ancient monuments or artifacts that contradict their views on the Islamic religion and describe such events as “cleansing”. The reason why they are destroying these cultural sites is due to their significant loss in territory. In an attempt to seek revenge they destroy these artifacts. It puts a sickening feeling in my stomach knowing that these priceless artifacts which draw in thousands of tourists are being destroyed. Not only are they depriving tourists of cultural experiences but they are also depriving these countries of tourism which brings a lot of money into these economies. With the destruction of these sites people have less reasons to visit these countries. The reason why ISIS is able to get away with these crimes is because of their control over portions of Syria along with the western and northern part of Iraq. Since there is no military in these areas under ISIS’s control there is no one and nothing to stop them. As mentioned above they justify their actions using religion and describing how these artifacts threaten their religion. The worst part is that ISIS documents the destruction via cell phone cameras and uploads these videos onto youtube. Placing these videos on a public platform is truly what aggravates me because the documentation is used as a scare tactic. An example of this is their seizure over the town of Palmyra as well as the nearby ruins. The ISIS militants initially promised to leave the site untouched but unfortunately this was not the case. They publicly executed the head archeologist as and released photos of the 1900 year old temple being rigged with explosives and the explosion that soon occurred afterwards. For the reasons stated above as well as many others that is why this topic in the lecture captured my attention. These artifacts once they are destroyed have no way of being restored or brought back which is truly sickening to me.  

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I attended a presentation by L. Antonio Curet titled life, death, and remembrance at the center of the Cosmos. While I thought Mr. Curet was a fascinating man with a  wealth of knowledge. I believe the way in which he delivered his information, as well as his presentation style, was lacking in a variety of ways. I felt as though he came into the presentation underprepared and found his points of discussion during his presentation. In addition, I wish he would have placed more text in his individual slides to highlight the main points he was trying to convey allowing the audience to understand the main topics. I hate being so critical over his presentation style but I felt as though if he was able to communicate the information in a more effective manner I would have been able to understand his presentation. What I did understand from his presentation was this Pre-Columbian culture called the Saladoides which is in present-day Venezuela as well as the Carribean. It is believed that this culture is from the lower Orinoco River near what is today Saladero and Barrancas in Venezuela. They migrated from the Orinoco River and established themselves in the Lesser Antilles, Puerto Rico, and Hispaniola. They inhabited the wetter and more fertile islands which allowed for their success in agriculture as well as their profound skills in pottery making, bead making, and jewelry making. The craftsmanship and details placed into their ceramic bowls as well as jewelry were incredible. The Saladoides were present from 300 B.C. to 600 A.D. which after that the Ostionoides came into the picture. The origination of the Ostionoides is still debated and they originally were thought to have come from the Saladoides but new research indicates that they primarily evolved from Archaic people who had migrated from Central America into Cuba and Hispaniola. This society of people was known for their complex societies and skilled agricultural practices. However, unlike the Saladoides their pottery and craftsmanship were far less complex. Their pottery was known to have simple black smudging, basic structuring, and an orange-red slip applied to the entire ceramic piece. Many of these artifacts which have been recovered today have chips in them due to the thinness of the pottery. Whereas many if not all of the Saladoide artifacts found today are in perfect shape. As mentioned above their pottery was far more complex due to the natural resources which allowed for better quality clay. On account of this better clay, the Saladoides were able to trademark their pottery with elegant designs such as rectilinear incisions, crosshatched designs, punctuation, appliqué clay ridges, and small geometric and zoomorphic lugs. What was also very interesting about the Saladoides is that for burials they would bury the dead in one place with marking. The reason why this was the case is to express the idea that during and afterlife this culture of people will always stay together both throughout life and throughout death. 

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