Читать книгу Becoming an Invitational Leader - William W Purkey - Страница 11

The perceptual tradition seeks to explain why people do the things they do by postulating that human behavior is determined by, and pertinent to, the experience of the person at the moment of acting. In other words, each individual behaves according to how the world appears at that instant. From this vantage point there is no such thing as illogical behavior — each person is behaving in the way that makes the most sense to him or her at a particular moment. What may seem from an external point of view as counter-productive and even self-destructive is only a function of what the world looks like from the viewpoint of the perceiving person at that moment of action.

When Richard Nixon proclaimed at a news conference, “I am not a crook,” and Sally Field shouted at the Academy Awards, “You like me, you really like me!” they received heavy ridicule from the press. Yet, at the moment of action, both were best stating their feelings from a most visceral and momentary place. No matter how strange or counter-productive the behavior of another person may appear, from that person’s perception at the moment of action, the behavior is seen as preferable to other actions he or she might take. We perceive what is relevant to our purposes and make our choices accordingly.

Fortunately, each person’s perceptual field can be continually enriched, expanded, and modified. This optimistic belief provides something to continually appreciate and reach for; it provides leaders with a jumping-off point for working collaboratively to extend the human experience, allowing them to enroll others in a shared, mutually inspiring vision of the future.