"This
Hungry Spirit" by C. Clinton Sidle
The best leaders in business, politics, education, community
life or any human endeavour usually possess a mix of talents.
They understand the field they're working in and its relation to
the larger world; they have a sense of purpose and priorities. And
they also have a good understanding of people, including
themselves. Of all the life skills, that final one may be the
most important and the most difficult to attain. There are
accountants to keep track of a company's cash flow, but who else
can read the profit-&-loss statement when a close personal
relationship goes sour? Electricians can install an Uninterruptable
Power Source in a plant or office, but who can help when your
own life feels like it's lost its charge? A manager can hire
people to open and close a store, but "what opens and closes
you?"
That question is one of hundreds among the scores of exercises in
"This
Hungry Spirit: Your Need for Basic Goodness". It is a book that
aims to make its readers more self-assured, purposeful and simply
happy by clearing away the detrius of negativity that can conceal
their positive virtues. The author is C. Clinton Sidle, who guides
aspiring business leaders and others as director of the Roy H. Park Leadership
Fellows Program in the Johnson Graduate School of
Management at Cornell University. Sidle is a graduate of
Cornell and was director of strategic planning at the university
for ten years. He was a Peace Corps volunteer in Nepal, is a
consultant on leadership to many companies including Corning, Inc.
and Kellogg's and also writes a blog for the
Huffington Post.
Most of his MBA students enjoy the experience of putting aside
their spreadsheets to examine their own life stories and ideas,
says Mr. Sidle, but it can also lead to disturbing insights.
Sidle believes that most people's thinking is constricted by mental
models "formed and reinforced by your mental chatter". That
chatter is mostly about personal wishes or shortcomings. "My
bet is that like most of us, you are always concerned with your
self-image, and obsessed with 'looking good and not looking
stupid.'" "This Hungry Spirit" seeks to get people out of
"boxes" and turn them toward hearing and understanding their mental
chatter, cultivating awareness, making reflection a habit and
finding work they love. To accomplish this Sidle devised more
than thirty exercises and activities:
Exercise 10: Who am I?
1. Ask yourself, "Who am I?" You can't do that with a
lot of people around. So go to your room, shut your door, turn off
your cell phone, and ask the question.
2. Ask it at least ten to twenty times and write down your
answers. Don't verthink it -- just let the first thought be
your best thought each time you ask.
3. As you proceed, see if you notice something about
yourself that's contrary to what you have thought, or reveals a
deeper longing.
Clint Sidle also speaks in personal terms about who he is, his
striving for personal freedom, a failed marriage built on false
expectations, the value of kereping a journal to explore his inner
world, the misdirections in his career and discovering his true
calling. In beckoning people to where they can accomplish
satisfying work, Sidle cites such diverse but interconnected
thinkers as theologian
Martin Buber, mythologist Joseph
Campbell ("follow your bliss") and psychologist Mihaly
Csikszentmihaly, whose concept of "Flow" describes the
condition wherein a person is more in touch with the activity he or
she is performing than with the self carrying it out.
In addition to chapters on interpersonal relationships, standing
up to fears and having a light-hearted attitude ("People are never
so trivial as when they take themselves so seriously"), Sidle adds
an appendix about assessing personal strengths as detailed in his
2005 book "The
Leadership Wheel".
C. Clinton Sidle joins Bill Jaker on OFF THE PAGE to
speak about how people can apply their highest nature to their life
and work. To join in with questions, comments and personal
experiences call during the live 1:00 PM broadcast to 888/359-9754
or e-mail a comment to OffThePage@WSKG.ORG.
