Spirituality of Leadership

For me, discernment is a thought process to reason through decision, conflict and any situation with multiple outcomes. Discernment makes it easier to make an educated choice. In the lecture, we read about the seven steps of discernment. I think it is often times difficult to so thoroughly think through alternatives, but these steps provide a great groundwork for the general process. Going through the process allows one to see how the decision will impact him, others and the grander scheme of things. Often times when faced with a decision, I find myself only considering the effects it will have on me in the short term. Having a holistic view is imperative to making the most strategically positive decisions both in the workforce and in my personal life.

As I alluded to earlier, discernment is a process that follows the following questions: identify the central questions, consider subsidiarity, identify relevant facts, identify salient values and moral concerns, consider alternatives, decide & justify, and follow up/review (scension health handout). Just being aware of the various steps that should be taken, allows one to be more cautious while making a decision. I learned from this class that I often skip over many of the steps due to my hasty personality. When at work, I often don't even identify the central question. On the surface, it often seems that the symptom of the issue, is in fact the issue at hand. However, by doing a little more digging and research, it becomes apparent that the true issues is broader and larger. By overlooking this elementary first step, I encounter a lot more headache than I should. In terms of work, I focus on the symptoms instead of the issue. Therefore, I spend countless hours trying to resolve something that will be a quick fix. That will undo itself in a matter of time, and I will have to start again. Now that I think back on an optimization I was performing just a few weeks ago, I must have attempted that same root issue 10 times over multiple weeks. In the end, I found a solution that resolved that problem and many others at once. This was due to the fact that the real problem was creating multiple symptoms. It takes much longer to resolve the many symptoms than it does to take the time to get to the root of the issue. Also, I often time overlook relevant facts. Since I was working on Hilton Worldwide's SEM campaigns, there were many copy requirements we had to follow. When ads were disapproved by Google, often times I didn't think to look at our agreements with Google and other third parties. If I had, I could have referenced agreements that allow us to advertise on certain terms. Instead I wasted time rewriting the ad copy, which ended up being less specific and performing more poorly.

Even in my personal life I don't take the time to make good decisions. I've been thinking more about it after going to class, and understanding how I could have better approached