Ethics, Democracy & Leadership : MY THEORY OF HUMAN NATURE

Leadership is all about impacting others and influencing those around us. One of the irreducible truths about leadership is that it is relational in nature: it is about human interaction.

Each of us hold certain things to be true about the people around us. How we interact with others around us (including our decisions made from our various roles) is predicated on what we believe to be true about people. This assignment asks you to consider, and explore your beliefs. Beliefs in many cases can be understood to be predicated on opinion, fact, or reasoned judgement.

As you can from the image above, there is a difference between one's opinion which is highly subjective and usually based on personal insight, or anecdotal experience.

This assignment asks you to consider your "theory" and engage it with questions such as: How do I know that? Why do I think that? What proof do I have that allows me to maintain that idea? Am I possibly wrong in the face of facts or reasoned judgement?

In this assignment, you will:

Write a two (2) page reflective paper (double spaced) in which you discuss:

Your personal theory of human nature

Include exmaples and ideas you have learned

Address how this theory has functioned in your decision-making.

Ideas/questions to consider:

1. Why do I do what I do?

2. Why do others do what they do?

3. What do I think about how people make decisions?

4. Are people basically good or bad?

5. One way to start thinking of this topic is by considering what human behavior would be like if there were no rules. How would decisions be made? What would things like leadership and ethics look like in a world with no rules?