In my life, I have faced many instances of ambiguity. The most prominent moments that I can think of are when I was younger. Growing up, my family did not have a whole lot of material possessions. We were not poor, but we were also not comfortable in a financial sense. I remember specific times when we could not get the presents that we wanted or even celebrate birthdays with a cake. As a young toddler, this was emotionally exhausting for me. I didn’t realize the situation that my family was in, I just wanted what I wanted. Another time that I can barely remember was when we had to go to a place that supplied food for my family. I would’ve been too young to know what was happening at the time, but I still made my parents explain it to me. They said that we just needed a little help. I didn’t know it at the time, but this ambiguity was shaping who I would become in the future.
These instances of not being financially stable didn’t happen all of the time but when they did, it was a family effort to try to make things better for ourselves. We would conserve electricity and buy cheaper things. We wouldn’t get luxurious presents and we lived quite a simple life. But we learned to appreciate the small things in life, such as the love of our family, our home, the food we can eat, our faith, and so much more. Growing up in an ambiguous situation taught me to appreciate everything about my life on a whole different level and to not take things for granted. Not only can ambiguity teach life lessons, but it also plays a large role in effective leadership. Similar to how ambiguity at a young age in my life hardened me and taught to appreciate the little things, ambiguity can bring out the best in other people. I personally see ambiguity helping effective leaders grow in two different ways. The first way is when ambiguity comes about naturally and no one expects it. The second way is when leaders specifically place ambiguity in someone else’s path to bring the good out of him or her. The first situation that I described happens the most often in my opinion. Hardship comes about and a leader is forced to come out of his or her “shell” and take the challenge on. “Pressure creates diamonds” is an accurate phrase that can be applied to this situation. A specific situation in my life that I relate to is how I work better under stress. The ambiguity of a stressful situation causes me to work harder and faster. The second situation doesn’t happen as often as the first. Only skilled and effective leaders know how to put this into action. A time that I can think of is when my high school pre calc teacher gave me extra problems to work on because I wasn’t being challenged hard enough in her class. She knew that I needed ambiguity in the course in order to actually learn something and get something out of the class. She is an excellent example of how an effective leader can use ambiguity to bring the best out in people.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |