By: Jonathan Lee on March 17, 2022
Leadership: Theory and Practice, 8th edition by Peter G. Northhouse presents many different leadership theories and models to offer leaders and organizations to practically apply different theoretical leadership models. Each chapter summarizes and discusses different leadership theories by presenting a “definition, a model, and the latest research and applications of emerging approach to leadership.”[1] In…
By: Andy Hale on March 17, 2022
Peter Northouse argues that leadership is intuitively challenging to define, like the words peace and love. After examining the myriad of ways it has been expressed over the centuries, he finally lands on: Leadership is the process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal. [1] It’s evident from Northouse’s examination of leadership throughout history, its many forms…
By: Kayli Hillebrand on March 16, 2022
If you know me at all, you know I appreciate the practical applications. Peter Northouse’s Leadership: Theory & Practice has immediately become one of my new favorite books on leadership – one that I know I will be utilizing for years to come. Northouse, an academic with extensive experience in the field of communication, has…
By: Eric Basye on March 16, 2022
This past week I was conversing with an older mentor when he commented on the vacuum of leadership we have in our nation, and in particular, the state of Montana. It isn’t the first time I have heard this lament, and truth be told, I also have observed this lack of leadership across many sectors…
By: Mary Kamau on March 13, 2022
Dr Pragya Agarwal is a behavioral and data scientist and a freelance journalist, and has a PhD from the University of Nottingham. Agarwal shows us in her book, Sway: Unravelling Unconscious Bias that intrinsic or unconscious bias is learned and can therefore be unlearned.[1] According to her well researched and cogent book, unintentional or unconscious…
By: Jonathan Lee on March 11, 2022
Pragya Agarwal, the author of Sway, is a freelance writer, behavioral and data scientist, and the founder of a research think-tank, The 50 Percent Project. She focuses on women’s rights around the world, and she writes widely on the subjects of bias and prejudice, motherhood, gender, racial inequality, and mental health. This book, Sway, categorized…
By: Denise Johnson on March 11, 2022
The emotionally charged world in which we live today seems like it is primed for Pragya Agarwal’s book Sway: Unravelling unconscious bias. [1] Nearly every day there is some reference to racism, sexism, homophobia, or the discrimination of someone. The political rhetoric of the day is to point fingers and blame someone for another group’s…
By: Elmarie Parker on March 11, 2022
It seems our readings have had a theme the past couple of weeks—blind spots. Last week it was the challenge of recognizing the limitations of an economic system that has enveloped the world. This week it is the challenge of recognizing one’s own implicit or unconscious biases. Pragya Agarwal—British behavioral and data scientist, activist, and…
By: Henry Gwani on March 10, 2022
Bias refers to discrimination on the basis of race, gender, social-class, educational status, religion, theology, denomination, nationality, ethnic group, profession or other factors. The high incidence of bias today has resulted in a toxic environment characterized by racism, gender-apartheid, nepotism, tribalism, exclusion and a host of other undesirable behaviors. Bias is not only a reflection…
By: Roy Gruber on March 10, 2022
Over the last year, I helped with the chapel service for the local college football team. As I got to know one of the coaches who attends our church, he told me about his first seven months in the area. After playing in the NFL, he joined the coaching staff to work with the running…
By: Andy Hale on March 10, 2022
“Humans are not naturally rational. Information overload is exhausting and confusing, so we filter out the noise. We only see parts of the world. We tend to notice things that are repeating, whether there are any patterns or outliers, and we tend to preserve memory by generalizing and resorting to type,”[1] argued Dr. Agarwal, in her…
By: Troy Rappold on March 9, 2022
In her book, “Sway: Unravelling Unconscious Bias,” Pragya Agarwal, a behavioral scientist and freelance journalist, tries to show that we all have unintentional biases that effects how we perceive the world and therefore how we act and communicate. Her book was published in 2020 and contains twelve chapters in four sections. She states the purpose…
By: Eric Basye on March 9, 2022
A fascinating read! Named as one of the 100 most influential women in the UK nonprofit sector, Dr. Pragya Agarwal lives and works in the UK as a behavioral scientist, author, consultant, and speaker. In her book, Sway: Unravelling Unconscious Bias, Agarwal utilizes the field of social science to help readers understand how our unconscious…
By: Nicole Richardson on March 9, 2022
Pragya Agarwal brings her education and experience as a behavioral and data scientist to her deeply researched book, Sway: Unravelling Unconscious Bias. Agarwal deftly unpacks the science of how the brain is responsible for the inclinations of human biases, in particular those that are unconscious and take place through System 1 thinking.[1] She shares stories…
By: Kayli Hillebrand on March 9, 2022
Pragya Agarwal’s Sway provides a comprehensive understanding of the various biases we each have, how we utilize them in our interactions with others, and offers suggestions for how to combat those that result in negative outcomes for our self or others. Agarwal, a behavioral and data scientist, not only provides a research-based analysis of biases…
By: Michael Simmons on March 8, 2022
“Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then they heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the…
By: Denise Johnson on March 6, 2022
I am deeply impacted by the fact that I am writing this post in the safety of The United States, while my friends and colleagues are being run ragged attempting to meet the ever-mounting needs of the hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine. The emotional upheaval that wells up within me…
By: Mary Kamau on March 5, 2022
Karl Polanyi is a historian and political economist who wrote the book, The Great Transformation, as historical explanations of the political and economic origins of the collapse of nineteenth-century civilization, and the great transformation that he had lived through in the twentieth century.[1] Jason Clark is a Theologian, leadership expert and a pastor in the…
By: Elmarie Parker on March 4, 2022
I recognize there is an inherent logic challenge with my blog title. By definition, one cannot see one’s blind spots. If it were possible, they would not be blind spots. And yet, this week’s readings pushed me to see the blind spots in the economic system that has been like what air—polluted air—is to my…
By: Henry Gwani on March 3, 2022
Perhaps more than anything else, The Great Transformation highlights the incredible power of human ideas, the need for these ideas to benefit all, and what could result when these ideas miss the mark. Polanyi argues that market liberalism, regardless of how good the intentions of Friedrich Hayek and other proponents may have been, is significantly…
