Dear Visitors,
We are off to another great adventure this summer to learn about personal and organizational hardiness and how it contributes to adaptive coping, courage, compensatory self-improvement, existential clarity, growth, and resilience. Students in this course accepted the challenge to learn not only in the traditional classroom context, but also to practice self care and a philosophy on life that will prepare them to climb Mt. Adams, WA as the final simulation and capstone experience of the course. Course objectives are to develop personal hardiness from a holistic perspective involving mind, body, and spirit; study and learn best practices of hardy and resilient organizations; and practice course objectives and the hardiness philosophical perspective in climbing Mt. Adams. In this journey, they will study: a number of scholarly articles on personal and organizational hardiness; Victor Frankl's story - Man's Search for Meaning; High Altitude Leadership; and Resilience at Work.
Leadership & Hardiness students began their journey in this course through learning about the foundation and philosophy on life that contribute to the construct of hardiness and other mechanisms that represent a pathway towards resiliency. Students are currently reading Flrankl's gripping account of "life in a concentration camp as reflected in the mind of a prisoner". The story is filled with realistic depictions of the experiences of camp life and how the experiences of camp life show that man does have a choice of action and in finding meaning in all forms of existence, even in the most dyer of circumstances, and thus a reason to continue living. Through readings and classroom discussions, students are engaging in an existential analysis of their own existence within the context of their families, organizations, and community. What did we learn from Frankl's story and his life at a concentration camp that has implications for leadership, personal and organizational resilience? What is the relevance of understanding existential analysis to explore meaning and growth in adversity? These are some pragmatic yet important questions to ask in authentic living, let alone in preparing for a class simulation that will stretch the mind, body, and spirit.
As visitors we invite you to join our discussions or simply follow our journey throughout this summer.
26 comments:
What did we learn from Frankl's story and his life in a concentration camp that has implications for leadership, personal and organizational resilience?
Frankl faced one of the most traumatic and challenging things that any human will ever face throughout history. His ability to be resilient and survive speaks a tremendous amount about the character of his being as well as his ability to adapt with the events going on in his life. Frankl had to face much more than any organization will have to directly face but the relation to how an organization must survive during tough times and during challenging events is very similar. Frankl had to develop a plan of survival, even if it was nothing more than wanting to survive and dreaming of life outside of the concentration camps. Frankl is constantly mentioning how the people who were able to survive simply had to believe that there was something to survive for. If someone does not believe this for their organization, themselves, or the relationships within the personal or organizational lives then they will not strive to succeed as a person or as part of an organization. I can fully relate to this as I have felt like there was nothing to survive for within an organization and I felt like it was “killing” me as a person and was also taking away my own self-worth. I have also experienced a high of feeling like I was on top of the world and that things could not get any better and I personally know that I was much more of a productive member of a team and as a person during my times when I felt like I had everything to live for and that things were going great. I am glad, as I can imagine Frankl was, that I did not give up and still kept fighting to get back on top no matter what challenges were placed in front of me or the organization that I was part of.
What is the relevance of understanding existential analysis to explore meaning and growth in adversity?
The ability to focus on the positive and want more in our lives can ensure a positive or beneficial outlook that can create a positive psychological feeling that will help propel a person through troublesome times. If a person does not have this ability, then the negative can overtake them and create an even more challenging situation. Frankl’s story created the epitome of challenging circumstances and how a positive outlook or at least the ability to see a potentially positive situation eventually can lead someone to reach their ultimate goal, whether it is success or survival. Having the understanding that being able to explore meaning and growth in a difficult situation can be the difference between an individual being success or simply giving up whenever there is any kind of adversity in their life. If there is no will or ability to see the potential positive then as soon as there is trouble there would be an instant thought of giving up or simply the process of giving up that could destroy either the individual or the organization.
What did we learn from Frankl's story and his life in a concentration camp that has implications for leadership, personal and organizational resilience?
I have read several books about the perils experienced in a concentration camp. Until I read Frankl’s story, however, I did not realize how cutthroat individuals in the camp could be. In his book he explained that this selfish behavior was, at times, essential for survival. I did not realize that not only were you suffering in every way; that your soul was also being malnourished just trying to survive. However, despite the examples he used to make the point, he also talked about how essential it was to not give up and to have the courage to think about the future. He talked about how he was able to make it thought hardship talking to his wife and reflecting on the small parts of his day that were more positive than others.
Frankl demonstrated leadership initially when he let his visa lapse because he could not leave his parents. During his experience he offered to help the sick prisoners and refusing to leave them when he had the opportunity. I have started to make a mental list each day of the positive experiences that occur each day and I am trying to be more openly thankful in regard to the individuals in the Bureau. I encourage others to share positive experiences with others when they are shared with me.
2. What is the relevance of understanding existential analysis to explore meaning and growth in adversity? These are some pragmatic yet important questions to ask in authentic living, let alone in preparing for a class simulation that will stretch the mind, body, and spirit.
I think that existential analysis is an important factor in successfully analyzing meaning and growth in difficult situation because positive growth can only stem from the individual’s courage to plan for the future and make lasting change. It is often more comforting for individuals to live in the past because the outcome is known, for good, or for bad.
The three C’s of hardiness are commitment, control, and challenge. Commitment requires us to actively participate in making a change in our future, without it we have to rely on luck alone. Control allows us to feel like we are part of the change and that we are responsible for driving change forward. Challenge allows us to learn from the situation and it gives us the courage to move change forward. Without the courage to look towards the future it is very difficult to develop solutions, retain hope, and rise to the challenge.
What did we learn from Frankl's story and his life in a concentration camp that has implications for leadership, personal and organizational resilience?
Simply having to read the words on the pages that Frankl penned were gut wrenching enough let alone to have to live through the process of trying to survive in the Auschwitz concentration camp. His ability was obviously unique and incredible. It's hard for us trying to compare his circumstances to ours in our organizations even putting them on the same scale is hard. What we can learn is that Frankl's experience even though some of the stories he shared were horrible, actually all the stories, he's a man like you and I. He simply chose in the midst of the worst possible scenario where hope couldn't be justified to the simple idea of living. That is what he clung to when day in and day out hope seemed like a mirage, he clung to the only thing he had left......life. While I tend to compare so many of my situations in my organization I tend to lose site of what drives resilience and what Frankl paints so well for us.....life. We get caught up in reports, numbers, finances, who's responding to an email and in the midst of our "stressful" lives if we just focus on life we will find hope in the midst of the "worst" situations. Frankl is purely an inspiration and restores hope in the hopeless.
What is the relevance of understanding existential analysis to explore meaning and growth in adversity?
To go into a place where one can't fathom even the idea of hope or finding any sense of meaning and one rises at the end to claim to find meaning there has to be a redefining of existential. Victor Van Kaam has a great article and so many books on existentialism if you're interested, but a quote that I think Frankl would agree with is this:
"In the concept of freedom, Van Kaam emphasizes freedom, that is to say, his experience is openness and willingness to dialogue with the world and reality. The opposite of freedom are willfulness and willessness. In willfulness man is seen as unreasonable and stubborn in his orientation to reality. Willessness, on the other hand, is the inability of man to make his own decisions and choices because he has been conditioned to accept blindly the precepts of society."
Frankl took what society defined as meaning and threw it out the window saying the rules only apply to the fact that he is alive. He by no means created his own reality, but just embraced the one he was given fair or not.
What did we learn from Frankl's story and his life in a concentration camp that has implications for leadership, personal and organizational resilience?
For me, the main take away from a leadership perspective is how he accepted where he was, why he was there, how it would affect his fellow prisoners, and the fact that he had little control over any of it. He accepted his reality and still made attempts to serve others while he took tangible and meaningful steps to establish some amount of predictability in his life.
In my professional military experience, I have seen failures of leaders, and Soldiers in general, to transition to a new assignment because they have lost an amount of control, or routine, and in turn never accept the fact that he/she must start over with new meaning, create a new reality and purpose. The ones I saw fail the most miserably were the ones who sought that purpose or meaning in terms of themselves and their prior successes, never once humbling themselves to accept their place in the new reality and meet the burden of an uncertain future head on.
I believe that is what I saw in Frankl's descriptions of people who didn't survive. The ability to not lament the why, and move on to the how and the what seemed to be a basic ingredient to survival. That ability to transition from the fixation on desired state to addressing reality is a key component of personal and organizational resilience. In this transition, Frankl touched on something that I think in basic to achieving, or surviving through to that desired change. He talked about men who would openly weep and discuss their depth of sadness with their friends. They accepted that is was normal to despair in this situation and that the tears were the mind's way of letting go of some of that sadness in order to make room for either the next tragedy, or the next joy. They were able to view themselves in a new way and not let the past inhibit their honest view of what they had become.
Either way, the prisoner was keenly aware of where they were physically and mentally, while also transitioning between the present struggle for survival, and the hope for future liberation.
What is the relevance of understanding existential analysis to explore meaning and growth in adversity?
The understanding of the self and the ability for an individual to find meaning or purpose in their existence is equally important in good times as well as the bad. We have all seen examples of successful people who ultimately crash into depression, addictions, or other compulsive behaviors because there is no existential meaning to their success. Frankl discussed how he advised some of his patients / fellow prisoners that their suffering can serve a purpose, or have meaning, and that meaning gives the mind a reason to continue to solve problems and seek remedy to its ailments. Once the mind loses this purpose to solve problems, or reason to will, then the only thing remaining is for the body to die. A purpose or meaning of existence during times of adversity can make the mind, and the self stronger as the will to exist is tested and the individual is compelled to new and creative solutions to continue to fulfill that purpose even though the means to fulfill that purpose may not be presently available.
In the end meaning holds more meaning than money. Frankl cites research performed on 48 college/university campuses asking what was most important to them. Only 16 percent said “making a lot of money” was important, while 78% said that finding a purpose and meaning to my life” ranked as the highest priority (Frankl, 2006). For me, it reminded me that while making money is an important aspect of any job, it is not the only reason. People need meaning more than they need money, and they will work harder for meaning than they will money. Just look at the prisoners in the concentration camps, such as Frankl. They worked in the hopes of staying alive long enough to see their release and their hopeful reunion with their loved ones. Why else would they have worked? It definitely wasn’t for the scarce rations that they received. As a leaders we must be able to point individuals towards a meaningful end. This concept of looking to the future and the principle of “tragic optimism” presented by Frankly (2006) is consistent with Collins’ (2001) Stockdale Paradox. In summary the Stockdale Paradox states that “You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end - which you can never afford to lose - with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever that might be” (Collins, 2001, p. 85). Just as Frankl found with individuals in concentration camps, Collins found that organization that were able to embrace this paradox where not only able to survive but were able to walk away stronger. As leaders we must look to the future while making sure to not only understand the present but embrace it for what it has to offer.
I will tie a few related quotes from Frankl (2006) that I found relevant to leadership and life in general. First, “Man is not fully conditioned and determined but rather determines himself whether he gives in to conditions or stands up to them...Man does not simply exist but always decides what his existence will be” (p. 131). Furthermore, “everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms-to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way” (p. 66). Yet, this freedom alone does not lead to meaning. “Freedom is only part of the story, and half of the truth. Freedom is but the negative aspect of the whole phenomenon whose positive aspect is responsibility.” In other words, only by using our freedom to act responsibly will we find meaning. Conversely we can expect irresponsible actions to to bring forth negative outcomes. As leaders we must therefore understand man’s freedom towards self-determination and the opportunity to act. But we must also remember the necessity to act responsibly. In acting responsibly we must take into account the future we are seeking to realize and act in a manner that will most likely to actualize that future.
Lastly, only true love allows us to see the potential in others - the potential that they, and only they possess. “Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life to carry out a concrete assignment with demands fulfillment (Frankl, 2006, p. 109). Yet as leaders we cannot come to understand the potential of others without love. “By his love he is enabled to see the essential traits and features in the beloved person; and even more, he sees that which is potential in him, which is not yet actualized but yet ought to be actualized” (p. 111). This is somewhat reminiscent of Greenleaf’s concept of servant-leadership. Both seem to make a strong case for love as a principle of true leadership.
The breadth of his work is encompassing no matter our state or stature. Therein lies the beauty and majesty of his work.
What did we learn from Frankl's story and his life in a concentration camp that has implications for leadership, personal and organizational resilience?
When we look at the lessons learned from Frankl’s story of his life in a concentration camp, several themes relate to leadership, resilience and hardiness. The first being, be a survivor! No matter what situation you are put in, your mindset and mental health play a huge part in your ability to survive. You have to take on the warrior mindset and fight to be a survivor and not a victim. Frankl was lucky enough to survive and live to tell his story. Frankl describes this in his book, “It’s easy for an outsider to get the wrong conception of camp life, a conception mingled with sentiment and pity, Little does he know of the hard fight for existence which raged among prisoners” (Frankl, 1959,p.4).
Keeping a sense of humor and a healthy curiosity about life is important in leadership and in survival. Even in the gravest of situations, humor can lift the spirit. Frankl describes how a humiliating situation turned humorous when the prisoners were forced to shower together. Frankl’s ability to detach his thoughts from his body and his mind from his surroundings was instrumental to his survival. Spirituality and faith also played a huge role in Frankl’s experience. “This intensification of inner life helped the prisoner find a refuge from the emptiness, the desolation and spiritual poverty of his existence, by letting him escape into the past” (Frankl, 1959, p.39).
Ultimately Frankl came to the conclusion that despite the grave situation that he faced, the way he chose to handle it lead to his survival. “The way in which a man accepts his fate and all the sufferings it entails, the way in which he takes up his cross, gives him ample opportunity-even under the most difficult circumstances-to add deeper meaning to his life” (Frankl, 1959, p.67)
What is the relevance of understanding existential analysis to explore meaning and growth in adversity?
The relevance of existential analysis to explore meaning and growth in adversity is to help others define the things that are important to them and how their experiences will shape the meaning of their lives. It is important to recognize that all humans have freedom of will and the choice to decide what is important to them. In that we see what people view as important, what motivates them, what fears they have and how that makes their lives meaningful.
1. What did we learn from Frankl's story and his life in a concentration camp that has implications for leadership, personal and organizational resilience?
Viktor Frankl’s story of life in a concentration camp is both a reminder of how horribly cruel humans can be to one another, but also how, in the midst of such brutality, how the human spirit can endure. The human spirit or soul can endure almost anything when there is meaning. Frankl’s observations in a concentration camp explain how prisoner’s with a “why” to live fared better than those with an “existential vacuum or crisis”. For the father prisoners, the will to live was inspired by their hope to see their wives and children again. For the scientist, it was their unfinished life work yet to be published.
“For the meaning of life differs from man to man, from day to day and from hour to hour. What matters, therefore, is not the meaning of life in general, but rather the specific meaning of person’s life at a given moment” (Frankl, 2006, p.108).
Once a prisoner found meaning to their life, their suffering was no longer a burden, as they could overcome it by exercising the only freedom they had left. The survivor’s exercised the freedom to choose their attitude towards their circumstances.
In a supporting effort, a leader’s role is to provide the environment that facilitates individual meaning. A leader creates a culture of meaningful work, tasks, and goals. A leader prevents existential crisis from developing in an organization.
2. What is the relevance of understanding existential analysis to explore meaning and growth in adversity?
Existential analysis, also referred to as “Logotherapy” as developed by Viktor Frankl is composed of the following three concepts:
1. Freedom of will
2. The will to meaning
3. Meaning of life
Freedom of will means we have the power to make our own choices in life. The will to meaning is our ability to understand our circumstances objectively. Once we understand our circumstances, we can formulate greater meaning to our lives.
“As logotherapy teaches, even the tragic and negative aspects of life, such as unavoidable suffering, can be turned into a human achievement by the attitude which a man adopts toward his predicament” (Frankl, 1988, ix).
TEST
1. What did we learn from Frankl's story and his life in a concentration camp that has implications for leadership, personal and organizational resilience?
Viktor Frankl's account of his experiences in the Auschwitz camp are horrifying and haunting. As I go about my normal life, I have been ambushed by various details that Frankl describes. For instance, I was having a rather pleasant lunch with friends earlier this week and I overheard a nearby patron order soup. Soup! Just the word "soup" transported me momentarilly to the deathcamp. I could hardly believe that human beings could work, march, dig or even survive on the thin, watery meals they were given in the camps. The soup may have been marginally sufficient, but what really mattered was the handling of the ladel. I remembered that, depending upon a prisoner's preceived worth by the foremen or Capos, certain prisoners were given more than others with a scoop of the ladle to the bottom of the vat. The difference in nutritional levels could determine life or death! Then I started thinking about my role as a leader in an organization. My god, I have the ladle! How often have my biases and experiences contributed to those for who I "fished out a peas" while depriving others of what they need? How dehumanizing must it feel for members of an organization who are denied resources, knowing that they are available to others?
2. What is the relevance of understanding existential analysis to explore meaning and growth in adversity?
"If someone tapped your shoulder while listening to your favorite music, and asked you if life were meaningful, would you not, "asks Frankl, "answer yes"? There is so much personal power in meaning that a lack of meaning may actually cause sickness. Here is my over-simplified explanation: Human beings want to stay alive in order to do what they want or need to do. Frankl writes, "in logotherapy the patient is actually confronted with and reoriented toward the meaning of his life" (Frankl, p. 98). This method sounds like a great survival plan for the aimless and uninterested.
TEST
What did we learn from Frankl's story and his life in a concentration camp that has implications for leadership, personal and organizational resilience?
Frankl's story is both motivating and depressing because it makes us see both the unbelievable evil of humans and at the same time we see the unwavering courage and resolve of humans and the impact that meaning has on survival. In the end, though, as in almost all stories such as this, the good in people wins out over the evil. We learn that even in the face of almost unbearable misery that the good in people can and will emerge and that those with a will to live for a higher meaning in their life will prevail.
The main two learnings for me from this book were the fact that even during these horrible times when so much was taken from Frankl and others, he highlights the things that could not be taken from them such as their faith and attitude. The second main learning for me was the idea that those with a meaning for their life beyond themselves were much more likely to survive but in addition to that, the people that focused on knowing that they had a responsibility to others gave them a reason to continue living.
There were many examples in the book of items that Frankl discussed that couldn't be taken from them and the prisoners clung to those things that they could retain some element of control over. Frankl referred to them as the “independence of mind”. Even though they had been stripped, literally and physically, of every shred of their former physical existence they continued to control the things that they could. These included their attitudes and their ability to see the best in any situation regardless of how small it was. Also, their spiritual life could continue and in many cases it was strengthened throughout their ordeal. I can only imagine that knowing that in the face of the control that was exerted upon them by the guards and others, that knowing that there was a higher power that was in greater control gave them hope for the long term. Lastly, their ability to control their own course of action, irritability, apathy, self control and their memories of their past were just enough to maintain them.
Frankl's stories of inmates that had the sense of meaning and were surviving and then quickly degraded when it was lost were particularly impactful to me. I tend to think of survival as a very physical thing but this introduces the mental element and the role that it plays. The physical can quickly degrade when there is no longer a reason to live for something greater than yourself. Their reason to live may have been for someone or something and either of those reasons and meanings gave them the courage to continue because they knew that “life was still expecting something from them”.
Lastly, Frankl discussed that even though they were wronged in so many ways they still had the choice to chose not to wrong others. In his words, “no one has the right to do wrong, not even if wrong has been done to them.” All of these lessons are valuable and applicable to our day to day personal and professional lives.
What did we learn from Frankl's story and his life at a concentration camp that has implications for leadership, personal and organizational resilience?
Viktor Frankl survived one of the most horrific experiences imaginable in his lifetime and discusses his mindset and philosophy that he had through it all. He was more concerned with living for a purposed that was yet to be fulfilled in the future than he was with concentrating on his current circumstances. Finding the reason to stay alive was something that was different for everyone in the concentration camp however he believed it was the essential piece of what kept some men alive despite the absolutely clear prognosis of certain death. This way of thinking transformed into a leadership method that he used to help others understand what he understood about finding their reason for living. Frankl (2006) states “We had to learn ourselves and, furthermore, we had to teach the despairing men, that it did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us” (pg. 77). This was more of a responsibility to your creator and existence to not give up and to fight to fulfill your duty. The uniqueness of this way of thinking was that you were not living for an expectation that would be fulfilled. For example you did not live for the day that you would be released. You lived instead for the purpose that your life meant something in that moment and it was your life to live. Frankl (2006) explains “when a man finds that it is his destiny to suffer, he will have to accept his suffering as his task; his single and unique task. He will have to acknowledge the fact that even in suffering he is unique and alone in the universe…His unique opportunity lies in the way in which he bears his burden” (pg. 78).
When we apply this thinking to our lives it has a profound implication on the way we handle the stresses of daily life. This is a fundamental shift from expecting things from life and being disappointed when it doesn’t turn out the way we think it should to life expecting things from us and us taking that responsibility seriously and living each day like we are meant to perform and learn and teach. This is a huge responsibility that each of us has and can be life changing if we understand that difficult times are meant to make us stronger and challenge us. Each situation presents a unique opportunity for us to react to it in a certain way as if life was watching and evaluating our response. This can lead to exceptional resilience in situations if we understand that it is in difficult times that we grow the most. We will seek challenge and when it presents itself unexpectedly we can look it in the eye and choose how we will respond. What is life expecting me to do in this unique situation that will provide useful for my future?
What is the relevance of understanding existential analysis to explore meaning and growth in adversity?
Understanding existential analysis helps us find meaning in even the most difficult situations. Profound growth happens during challenging times and understanding this cannot only help us survive difficulties but can even help us thrive. Victor Frankl (2006) explains that “logotherapy focuses rather on the future…and the meanings to be fulfilled by the patient” (pg. 98). The meaning that we find in our lives has to do with the meaning we put into our lives. The same situation handled differently by someone else can have a very different meaning and provide very different lessons. It is our responsibility to determine how we handle difficulties to provide the best future for us.
What did we learn from Frankl's story and his life in a concentration camp that has implications for leadership, personal and organizational resilience?
The power of Frankel’s story is exists in the fact that he integrates personal experience with psychological analysis. Frankel’s unique position as he reflects on his personal story in conjunction with psychological analysis brings life to his experience in the concentration camps. I appreciate Frankel’s story for his authenticity through psychological analysis.
Frankel outlines several implications for leadership, personal and organizational resilience. First, every individual has a unique calling and distinction to serve the world. The primary basis of identifying one’s unique calling and distinction is your personal story. Who are you? What is the driving force that is deeply embedded in your very nature? This should be discovered through self-reflection and introspection on a regular basis (daily, weekly, monthly and annually). Secondly, suffering happens. Recognizing that life will present you with suffering ought to help one accept that difficulty is a season of life to be humbly appreciative of the opportunity to grow and learn through the difficult season. Suffering, like exercise, is the breaking down of oneself in preparation to serve and serve holistically (mind, body and spirit) from a place of authentic compassion. Thirdly, the difficulties in life can steal everything your own, except how you respond to a situation. The mind is the most powerful asset one has in deciding how one will approach adversity. Frankel’s story highlights through his own personal journey and subsequent analysis that one can overcome even impossible odds. One should identify one’s meaning in the world and focus on the future: strive to identify the meaning of the suffering in conjunction with it’s meaning in one’s life.
What is the relevance of understanding existential analysis to explore meaning and growth in adversity?
Our popular culture will often ask in situations of adversity: why do bad things happen to good people? Frankel redirects this thought process by identifying the motivational force to one’s life and how suffering is a training ground for how God is calling one to serve. Suffering is necessary tension in order to find authentic joy. Suffering is a necessary part of life to direct a person towards their unique and specific calling. It is through suffering one finds satisfaction within their will to live. In short, do not fear suffering but embrace it as an opportunity for greater individual and organizational development of one’s existence.
I appreciate the foundation Frankel outlines through his own journey as it brings authenticity and humanity, or, someone who has been through exceptional struggle, to bring life to his psychological analysis. It is one’s personal story, their unique and individual existential struggle, that gives meaning for others to learn and embed the teachings to one’s own journey.
There is a statue of Christ that stands majestic in a church in Soweto, South Africa. During a police raid at the time of apartheid this beautiful symbol of peace fell to the ground and both hands shattered. In the aftermath of the confusion followers found the statue and placed it back in its original place, but rather than try to replace the hands a plaque was place below simply saying, “We are Christ’s hands in this world”.
In the hours of quiet reflection as I have lived with Viktor Frankl through his poignant story of life, death, and endurance, I believe he stood as sanctified hands to those he willingly served. Frankl, along with others, were chosen men and women placed in their circumstances to act as divine hands to ease the pain and suffering of Gods children on earth. As children of a supreme creator we can be leaders in the same way that Viktor Frankl illustrated by understanding our responsibility to others and having the ability to act and not be acted upon.
In the darkness of dire circumstances that we face, happiness and light can bring hope and understanding to our lives. Regardless of what we face, we have the choice to let the situation dictate our actions or we can break from the bands that bind us and act independently from the outside influences. Frankl has helped me understand that we have freedom to choose how we act and what we feel in trying times rather than surrender our thoughts and actions to the persuasions and power of the adversary.
In our families, communities, and organizations, many look to the warm embrace of helpful hands to lead them. My hope, after reading “Man’s Search for Meaning”, is that I can better follow the example laid before me and become one who leads through service and steadfastness. I hope that I can act as this great man did and refrain from reacting to the indignant atrocities that are placed upon those he loved. I hope that I can lead through loving hands.
“He who has a Why to live for can bear almost any How.”
Frankl’s story was intense to say the least. It is unfathomable to have someone caged up and treated worse than an animal. Why a human would impose so much hardship, grief, and torture onto another human being is mind boggling.
Frankl spends a great deal of time talking about the meaning of life. Having meaning to life is what seemed to have kept people alive in the camp- the idea that there was something worth living for. Personal resilience was also vital in staying alive. Giving up was a confirmed death sentence. Even though death was always lurking around every corner in every move that was being made. The prisoners bonded with each other and formed a support network. They learned from each other. That trait is also important in organizational resilience. Learning from each other and working together can make or break and organization. There is not much to an organization if people cannot work together. For an organization to function properly there must be cohesion of the group members. Individuals and egos will destroy an organization from the inside out.
I see adversity as a learning moment- challenges that create growth. I also see it as character building. When we are challenged we learn about ourselves. The mind is the most powerful tool- it can talk your body into pushing it self beyond what you thought capable. Adversity breeds resilience. Having the three C’s of commitment, control, and challenge helps when faced with adversity. Most of the resilient people I know were faced with tremendous adversity when they were growing up. They learned how to deal with the deck they were dealt. They did not drown in self-pity they picked themselves up and moved on. They learned for the past so that the same mistakes would not happen again. Having a strong support system also helps when faced with adversity. Unfortunately sometimes people do not have the support system they need when faced with adversity, so they are forced to look inside and find their own support.
For me, the reason I am here at Gonzaga is a chance to improve myself through learning and experiences. Reading a heroic tragedy like Frankl’s is a way of throwing myself into a situation/topic that is painful and uncomfortable. There are of course overt stories of death and hardship throughout this book, but for me, the most important lessons were those of change and happiness-even when among the bleakest of moments. I am fascinated by people who are constantly evolving and attempting things that are difficult or challenging. I am not implying that these evolutions should be physically demanding, instead I think the most fascinating people are those who are challenging their knowledge, their behaviors and their personalities. Frankl summarizes that feeling well in a Man’s Search for Meaning, “every human has the freedom to change at any instant. Therefore, we can predict his future only within the large framework of a statistical survey referring to a whole group; the individual personality, however, remains essentially unpredictable (Frankly, p. 131).” To take experiences and reflect is the portion of book and his time in the death camps that I found so intriguing. To think at all in such dire circumstances seemed like a feat, but his drive to continue, to write and document his thoughts after he left these prison could have justifiably played a role in his survival then and his long, life after he was freed. There is so much of our daily lives that is mundane and trivial. Today, I fall victim to arguments over people and situations that will not matter in hours, let alone weeks or years. To read books like a Man’s Search for Meaning and to reflect on it as we are doing today seems like a small gesture of gratitude to the man that wrote the book and came away with a wonderful grasp on what is important in life.
Anytime I read stories about the atrocities that humans inflicted on other humans I am filled with a range of emotions from deep sadness to anger, and yet in the midst of darkness Frankl shows us that hope, joy, and encouragement can exist. Frankl’s story represents that of a minority at Auschwitz as he entered and left the camp, a claim few can make. For each story of a survivor thousands of others exist that will never be shared. From Frankl’s story we are given amazing insight into the psychological state that within the camp could spell the difference between life and death. Frankl had a personal meaning to his life and in this he found strength. He had a book he wanted to make available for the world to see and if he died the book would die with him. In times and darkness and despair he was able to draw on a desire to finish this book as a source of strength.
Identifying and understanding the meaning of ones existence as an individual, leader, or organization provides a framework and source of strength than can result in the difference between life and death/ success or failure.
Without meaning what would motivate and drive any actions? Meaning allows the ability to create goals around which passion can be fueled. Every day we ask the big question of; “what is the meaning of this?” Either verbally or non-verbally we ask why. Why was I born, why do I go to work, why am I doing this, etc.? Just as we personally ask these questions, so should organizations. In the absence of an answer to these questions we experience doubt. In the presence of doubt we lose motivation, and without motivation we experience failure and death. So where do we finding the resilience to keep going? This is something each of us has to find for ourselves, but in identifying our meaning we find the ability to make it through even the seemingly impossible. Frankl demonstrated this through his own life and with his examples of many others who faced adversity well beyond any the majority of us will ever experience.
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It’s a healthy personal practice to ask oneself what the meaning to live is. While we all have a meaning that drives us, we often don’t go through the full effort of concisely identifying and recognizing what that meaning is. I have found for myself -and Frankl’s book supports- that the practice of identifying meaning can be the very thing that keeps us going. Frankl claims he owes his own life to the strength found through his meaning in life, and likewise I have succeeded throughout life thanks to the strength I have found in my own meaning. My meaning is found in my family and this very thing has kept me going well beyond what should have been a breaking point. While working, going to school full-time, and raising young children I was often tired and burned out wanting to give up time and time again. Yet, I never did give up. Instead I worked hard and longer than anyone around me and found success. I graduated college, provided a good life for me family, and landed a job that seems well beyond my reach.
I get asked often how I do it. I tell them that I was able to do it because of my family. I faced adversity and became a better person as a result. When my son was born and I all of a sudden had a family something changed within me. I went from just trying to slide by to working harder than I ever had. Not only did I begin to work harder than I ever did in life, but I found so much joy in it. I loved the hard work because I knew it provided then and would continually provide in the future for my family. My family made me never want to give up. I know the meaning of my life and in it I have never faced adversity I couldn’t overcome. I have seen to many high school pregnancies end with father less children and parents without any sense of hope. Instead of seeing this as a tragedy I saw it as the reason for my life and moved myself beyond all the negative statistics associated with individuals found in our situation.
1. What did we learn from Frankl's story and his life in a concentration camp that has implications for leadership, personal and organizational resilience?
Frankl’s story was a story of how man could overcome difficulty because they have hope. They have something to hope for. And that hope drives them home.
One of the remarks that Frankl wrote was “Textbooks tell lies!” Somewhere it is said that man cannot exist without sleep for more than a stated number of hours (Frankl, 2006).
The concentration camp had helped him to discover the ability of human kind in tough, extreme situation like he was. Reflecting what Frankl went through life really helps me to see what I am facing nowadays is not such a big deal. Frankl and his fellows were stripped down naked. They were treated like animals, with no names; the guards did not called them by name but by number and whistles like a man called a dog. Yet despite of all hardship, His will to live, to survive was strong had helped lived through the darkest hours of his life.
Frankl’s life shed a light of hope for me and for any organization out there. He gave me hope. I can’t give up easily. His study helps me to expand the range of my resilience.
Frankl, Viktor (2006-06-01). Man's Search for Meaning (p. 17). Beacon Press. Kindle Edition.
2. What is the relevance of understanding existential analysis to explore meaning and growth in adversity?
Frankl learned to turn around the adversity for his own good. Without the experience, he would not know how far he could stretch his limits. And we know that he found something that he would not otherwise if he was not in the concentration camp. As long as there is hope, there will be the way out. He lived in hope rather than in hopelessness. This kind of living helped him to go through the camp was better than those who lost hope and some actually died hopelessness. It was what eventually called logotherapy: Giving a meaning to be fulfilled in the future by the patient will help the patient continue to strive for life.
What did we learn from Frankl's story and his life in a concentration camp that has implications for leadership, personal and organizational resilience?
I have read other accounts of time served in a concentration camp, but none from a psychotherapist's point of view. Frankl's story still produced the same emotional response in me -- horror, sadness, nausea -- but it also made me analyze the hierarchy of relationships he described and how they came to be. I also didn't know of the cutthroat behavior (Collinson, previous post) -- albeit understandable as people are trying to save their own and their loved ones' lives -- of the prisoners. It made me think and question - what lengths would I go to to save my loved one or my life? There wouldn't be anything I wouldn't do to try to save my family. Frankl's ability to rise above one's most basic instinct - survival - is all the more awe-inspiring. He maintained his integrity, for lack of a better word, by imagining how his wife would feel about his actions. I only hope I could be that strong.
Translating Frankl's experience and resilience to leadership is difficult for me. Theoretically, one can say that one must always maintain one's integrity, values, and beliefs, no matter the difficulty of the situation. Facing the decision of life or death and maintaining one's integrity is much different than facing termination, the demise one's organization, or the demise of project, and maintaining that same integrity. Perhaps one's survival instinct kicks in in both situations, but until one faces a truly life or death experience, one has no idea how one would react. Leading with integrity should be a given attribute in all good or great leaders. The temptation to blame others or to not take the blame, even though "the buck stops here," is great, but not insurmountable. The ability to look at oneself in the mirror, look your child in the eye, or look your partner in the eye, is a good litmus test as to if one's actions/reactions measure up to the level of integrity at which one strives to live.
What is the relevance of understanding existential analysis to explore meaning and growth in adversity?
Perhaps my favorite quote in Frankl's (2006) Man's Search for Meaning was,
“During psychoanalysis, the patient must lie down on a couch and tell you things which sometimes are very disagreeable to tell.” Whereupon I immediately retorted with the following improvisation: “Now, in logotherapy the patient may remain sitting erect but he must hear things which sometimes are very disagreeable to hear.” (p. 98)
To understand existential analysis, one must understand the focus is on what they want for the future; the past is past and, per Frankl (2006) rehashing old problems only adds to ones’s neuroses.
…logotherapy, in comparison with psychoanalysis, is a method less retrospective and less introspective. Logotherapy focuses rather on the future, that is to say, on the meanings to be fulfilled by the patient in his future. At the same time, logotherapy defocuses all the vicious-circle formations and feedback mechanisms which play such a great role in the development of neuroses. Thus, the typical self-centeredness of the neurotic is broken up instead of being continually fostered and reinforced. (Frankl, 2006, p. 98)
Relevant to leadership, understanding existential analysis is essential to exploring meaning and growth in adversity because one must learn from one’s trials and tribulations and apply those lessons to the development of a future one desires. Understanding challenges and difficulties in life, and how one can benefit from them, are essential to growing and evolving as a leader. Frankl teaches us to find the positive, or at the very least, the learning experience, in each of life’s pitfalls. Both understanding and living this doctrine are essential to creating the life and life’s meaning one desires.
Frankl, V. (2006). Man's Search for Meaning (p. 98). Beacon Press. Kindle Edition.
What did we learn from Frankl's story and his life in a concentration camp that has implications for leadership, personal and organizational resilience?
Viktor Frankl’s story is a vivid and driving portrayal of life in a concentration camp during World War II. However, it isn’t a traditional perspective of what so many view as the most horrific genocide in the history of human existence. Most accounts of concentration camps focus on the gory details of violence, disease, and death. But Frankl’s account – though he doesn’t shy from the tragedy of it all – suggests a certain positive from the experience. As crazy as it sounds, Frankl embarks the foundational concrete for resilience as we grow into leaders.
The first lesson I took from Frankl is that man’s purpose is not derived from his surroundings. His purpose is driven from within. Regardless of how terrible the circumstances on a person’s life, there never ceases to be a drive or purpose to that existence. Frankl said, “Man can preserve a vestige of spiritual freedom, of independence of mind, even in such terrible conditions of psychic and physical stress,” (p. 65). Regardless of how negative tall the challenges are that we face in our organizations or lives, our life can continue to have meaning and purpose. We will always have the power to “choose one’s attitude in and given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way,” (p. 66).
Purpose and meaning are things that can never be taken away from an individual. I person must choose to give those things up. Once we choose to give up faith in the future, we are doomed.
Second, Frankl teaches us that our lives are not driven by comfort. He criticizes modern psychological practices for focusing on a cure for suffering rather than embracing suffering. According to Frankl, “Without suffering and death human life cannot be complete.” (p. 67). Frankl goes so far as to say that human suffering is an achievement, and grows out of an existential frustration (p. 102).
In our daily lives, our suffering should be welcomed rather than remedied. By remedied I mean avoided. It should be addressed. Our suffering is a natural occurrence in our human existence. It helps us transcend ourselves. It helps us continue to search for meaning and purpose. An inner tension is a prerequisite for our mental health. Without suffering, we don’t arouse ourselves from a purposeless equilibrium. We begin to lose purpose when we fail to suffer.
Therefore, embrace the challenges with open arms. Embrace heartbreak, failure, and seemingly insurmountable obstacles. It’s when we are presented with these challenges that we find a renewed sense of purpose in our lives.
(I think by default I answered the second question!)
1. What did we learn from Frankl's story and his life in a concentration camp that has implications for leadership, personal and organizational resilience?
Stories of the Holocaust have always been difficult for me to read and comprehend the extremes of human nature. I remember visiting the Holocaust museum in Washington D.C. and having to leave half way through the tour because I couldn’t stomach seeing pictures of the children. Tough subject in general but I enjoyed Frankl’s story as it brought a new perspective to this ordeal and portrayed a whole new meaning to leadership. Reading this book came at a very appropriate time in my life as I have lately been feeling very sorry for myself and the shape of my organization. My family farm is involved in a complicated lawsuit that will change the direction of our industry and alter our future as an organization and family. Reading Frankl’s story really put things in perspective regarding outlook and the willingness to survive. Death was an accepted ending for many prisoners but the fear of death seemed to be removed as they survived so many ordeals. Early in the book Frankl talks about the selection of prisoners for work “The significance of the finger game was explained to us in the evening. It was the first selection, the first verdict made on our existence or non-existence. For the great majority of our transport, about 90 percent, it meant death” (p.12). Decisions of life and death might not be a part of everyone’s organization but imagine that most people have been through “cutbacks” and “restructuring”. These are difficult times for any organization and the will of an individual through this process can make all the difference. The ordeal was obviously physically exhausting but the mental games played by the guards took its toll as well. Frankl describes “The majority of prisoners suffered from a kind of inferiority complex. We all had once been or had fancied ourselves to be “somebody”. Now we were treated like complete nonentities”(p.62). I can’t imagine the process of having one’s own self-worth constantly lowered. The prisoners would be separated into some feeling completely degraded and others, like the Capo’s, would feel a strong sense of worth. When an organization values one group of employees over others tension can rise and create strong separation between individuals. In the concentration camps, these tactics were used to further the mental torture of prisoners and create a system of hierarchy among people who were all held captive.
Personally I take away a new appreciation for future thinking and projecting strength in doubtful times. The strength of the author’s character was constantly in question both physically and mentally and yet he was able to survive such a horrific ordeal.
2. What is the relevance of understanding existential analysis to explore meaning and growth in adversity? These are some pragmatic yet important questions to ask in authentic living, let alone in preparing for a class simulation that will stretch the mind, body, and spirit.
Through Frankl’s ordeal he continued to find meaning in life by what he survived. Frankl describes the will to meaning as “Mans search for meaning is the primary motivation in his life and not a secondary rationalization of instinctual drives. This meaning is unique and specific in that it must and can be fulfilled by him alone; only then does it achieve a significance which will satisfy his own will to meaning”(p.99). I enjoyed this section of the book as I think it brought me to question some of my own values and what I hold true to myself. Authentic living is part of unmasking “hidden motives” and what we truly consider genuine to ourselves.
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