Leading Like आशा Āśā

I read a statistic this morning that over 80% of New Year’s resolutions fail by mid-February. Since we are in the last week of February, I would like to ask: have you made a New Year’s resolution and, if so, has it failed? I don’t make New Year’s resolutions so I am in the clear on this one. My reason for not making them is that they are frustrating and not sustainable.

I just finished the great book Slow Time Between the Stars by John Scalzi and I’ve already written a couple of posts inspired by that book. Here is another. At least seven times during the book, the only character in the book, an AI being, आशा Āśā, referred to “repairing and improving” itself. आशा Āśā once said, “…what I was doing now, repairing and improving itself for a further journey” (Scalzi, p. 22). At one point आशा Āśā even referred to taking 200 years for repair and improvement. This really got me to thinking about the time we spend, don’t spend, or should spend, on repair and improvement for ourselves. Part of the reason New Year’s resolutions don’t work is because they are focused on fixing something we see as being inadequate. If we are honest, it is usually something pretty superficial.

I realize that आशा Āśā is a fictional AI character, but maybe we can learn from its approaching improvement from a continual and long game approach. Incidentally, in the book आशा Āśā is a Sanskrit word with the approximate meaning of “Hope.” The character, आशा Āśā recognizes being changed by knowledge in the book.

As a person who believes in building on our strengths, I try not to focus so much on the weaknesses, except in the areas I want to learn and grow in. For example, I am taking a University of Oxford Artificial Intelligence class right now. To better serve my clients I need to know how to better leverage the use of AI, understand how AI works, and have a better knowledge of the policy and regulatory implications surrounding AI. AI is not necessarily a strength area, but one I need to allow time for growth and improvement in.

Focusing on our strengths can help us build upon what we are already good at and continuously improve. By leveraging our strengths, we can achieve greater success and continue toward reaching our full potential. Again, we can recognize our weaknesses and work toward improving needed areas, but emphasizing our strengths can lead to more efficient growth and development.

Byron's Babbles