There are times in life when we choose paths, values, or behaviors that characterize others. We may choose to follow great leaders. We may choose to follow leaders even if we are not totally clear why.  Psychologists and sociologists studying our behaviors vary in how they view our choices. In his seventh point in the last chapter of Discovering Free Will and Personal Responsibility, Joseph Rychlak addressed these behaviors emphasizing choice:

7. It is not always psychologically harmful to relinquish our range of personal freedom in favor of following the intentions of other identities whom we assess positively.

With this observation Rychlak subsumed a range of human behaviors.

• We choose meanings embedded in the cultures in which we live, perhaps not thinking about other choices we might make. We usually accept roles expected within specific cultures. But we can change cultures.
• We give up some choice for social roles, such as teachers, firemen, politician. But in the “more private aspects of our lives,” we expect choice.
• We may choose spiritual or religious lives that ultimately are the basis for meanings we bring forth day by day. They may sustain us in the darkest of times.
• We may choose to let others choose for us in important parts of our lives, others such as a life partner, a valued friend, a highly respected leader.
• We may adopt the premises of another as our own by observation, in part the essence of modeling.
• But we can run from decisions and rely too heavily on others, possibly leading to dysfunctional behavior. 
• Likewise we may choose to follow charismatic leaders, which depending on the leader, may be good or bad. 
  

My take-away:

History witnesses the power of people to change culture, to change their cultural roles, to change social roles. Courts speak to freedom in the private areas of our lives. Religious and spiritual experiences can transform lives. We do choose to share responsibilities, to follow others. I think it is easy to see ourselves as “tabula rasa,” blank tablets written upon by our environment. Rychlak reminds us that ultimately, in most situations, there is an element of choice, we may choose or “not choose”, either way we have chosen. In my opinion leadership occurs when a person or group chooses to follow because they are inspired, inspired to aim higher, work smarter, achieve difficult goals. They choose.

Image of Joseph Rychlak courtesy of L. Rychlak and used with her permission. 

Rychlak, J. F. (1979). Discovering free will and personal responsibility. New York: Oxford University Press.         

Truly understanding another person is difficult. We can develop insights into behaviors based on a better understanding of workplace norms, roles, culture, and so forth but the inner meanings by which one comes at the world are not an open book. Sometimes we are not even sure why we do things.

Is this important to the leader? It varies. A high level official once told me he could not know the motivations of his direct reports, he could only see the results, so he concerned himself only with behaviors and results. Pragmatic. My guess is there are times when we would like better insights into another.

Joseph Rychlak’s sixth point in the last chapter of  Discovering Free Will and Personal Responsibility addressed understanding others:

6. To understand other people, always think about them from an introspective perspective.

In other words, to understand another person, to see how that person comes at the world, how he or she interprets situations, we have to think about that person introspectively.  We have to try to look through their eyes, listen with their ears.

Rychlak commented on Shakespeare’s “All the world’s a stage” and that we are all players. But Rychlak went further. He stated a play begins with a “scenario to be enacted.” We are not only players, but also playwrights. Part of understanding how another gives meaning is to understand the games we play, to understand the scenarios in which we are a part. 

My take-away:

1.  Thinking introspectively about others is difficult. We live in our skin with all the perceptions we create. To stop and focus on another, to listen actively, to understand another person is hard. But trying to do this, no matter how incomplete, will bring us closer to understanding another than if we do not try.

2.  What games do we play? How do we see our role in the scenarios we create? What roles do we play in the scenarios of other people? Perhaps we should analyze the scenarios of which we are a part. 

Image of Joseph Rychlak courtesy of L. Rychlak and used with her permission. 

Rychlak, J. F. (1979). Discovering free will and personal responsibility. New York: Oxford University Press.         

In the workplace and in our lives, we do not just respond to what happens around us:  Joseph Rychlak said we “telospond,” we interpret or give meaning, we come at life. Here I continue my discussion of the ten points in the last chapter of Rychlak’s Discovering Free Will and Personal Responsibility.

4.  Self-determination and self-confidence are ways we have of describing people who use their free will. 

5.  The freedom to keep things as they are is also a manifestation of free will. 

• We cannot “change everything in life” but the degree to which we try and are successful “we can speak of self-determination.”
• People whom we perceive as self-confident “tend to make a difference in the course of events.”
• Self-realized people expect to live successful lives; given obstacles or setbacks, they revise their plans, they continue to come at life through their choices. 
• Freedom is often equated with growth and growth with change, but people can choose not to change, to be satisfied in the moments of their daily lives, especially if their self-determined goals have been attained.   
  

My take-aways:

1. We vary widely in how we come at life. Think of the workplace or your community and the people who make a difference. A leader may be unsure of outcomes and may have to take risks but the leader has the self-confidence to play the probabilities and try to a make a difference.

2. We are never totally bound by our environment.  Given the ability to think, we give meaning to what unfolds. In the horrors of the concentration camp at Auschwitz, Viktor Frankl chose to experience wonder and great beauty in a magnificent sunset. We always have choice. Even when our situation seems overwhelming. Even when everything seems to be in our way or against us. There is choice. 

3. People can behave arbitrarily. As a manager you may arrange every contingency, every reinforcement by the book to change the behavior of an employee, and yet the employee does not act differently. There may be times when you scratch your head and just can't figure out what is going on. Ultimately people change only when they choose to change.

Image of Joseph Rychlak in the 1960s. Courtesy of L. Rychlak and used with her permission. 

Rychlak, J. F. (1979). Discovering free will and personal responsibility. New York: Oxford University Press.      

Where in time do you live? Where is your future? Do you think long-term, such as 20 years from now, or short-term, planning the family vacation? Or both? 

In a previous blog I discussed the first two of ten points with which the eminent psychologist Joseph Rychlak concluded Discovering Free Will and Personal Responsibility. His third point addressed the place of the future in understanding how we live:

3. “The essential human posture is that of futurity.  We always create ourselves by arranging future circumstances or allowing them to arrange us." Rychlak made these observations:

• People who live “long, successful lives” have lives of purpose; they live in the present, not in the past.
• The nature of living is that we always live on the edge of the future whether we like it or not. With each breath, the future becomes present and the edge moves. We are always becoming.
• It is possible to be so long-term focused that joy in the present (this day, this week) is lost. The activities of life may be overwhelmingly instrumental, that is, means to ends, such as the successful career or the accumulation of wealth. 
• This afternoon, this evening are future events in our lives. We do not think of today as the future because it is immediate -- but it is. 
• People who live in the present are affirming the “spontaneously emerging events” in their days, such as finding excitement or challenge, relaxing or enjoying friendship.
• “The secret of happy living” is being in the journey, enjoying each season as it passes, tasting the fruits of each. 
• To maximize our human potential, we must always be asking ourselves, “What am I becoming?” “Where is this taking me?”
  

My take-aways:

1.  I find these perspectives profound. For example, imagine being in the moment of each day, finding joy in simple pleasures, framing the meaning you give to your work in such a way that the instrumental becomes intrinsic. The onerous task becomes challenging. The tough workload becomes a learning experience, a growth experience. We choose how we frame and give meaning to our experiences.

2.  Do we make it through the day to just get through the day? Are we waiting to live our lives, or are we living our lives? This will vary from person to person, but there are organizations with cultures where people are more likely to be living their lives. If you are a leader, do you know how meaningful employees find their work? Are there things you can change? Leaders have tough but exciting days. It is easy to assume this is the same for everyone.

3.  Such great questions!  “What am I becoming?”  Do I put this on my bathroom mirror, my refrigerator, my desk, or all three. What are you becoming?

The image is from my collection. From left to right, Joe Rychlak, Jim Lamiell, myself, and Brent Slife, New York, 1987.   

Rychlak, J. F. (1979). Discovering free will and personal responsibility. New York: Oxford University Press.  

The greatest psychologist I have known in my lifetime was Joseph Rychlak, who passed away in 2013. Rychlak authored 17 books and over 200 papers. He was not well known outside of psychology and philosophy. A scholarly writer, he needed translation to make his writings more easily accessible to the masses. His ideas were profound. In my opinion for all the recognition he received in his life, it was not enough. From my conversations with him, I know that it was enough for him, but not for me. Humanity can benefit from a better understanding of the ideas of this great human being.

Rychlak’s most accessible work was probably Discovering Free Will and Personal Responsibility. The final chapter, “Our Human Nature and How to Keep It So,” discussed ten points that speak directly to our humanity. The first two reaffirm our free will. Classical and operant conditioning do not totally define human behavior. There is more. Rychlak’s first two points speak to that free will and the limits of stimulus-response interpretations of our behaviors.

1. Freedom of the will means being able to change those premises for the sake of which we behave. Personal responsibility means that we acknowledge our role in the fixing of premises. There are obvious limitations to such freedom. 

Rychlak stated, “We are never directly controlled by circumstances. . .”  We come at the world, we give it meaning. If we give it meaning, then we can shift those meanings. Life is not just a matter of stimulus and response and unbreakable patterns. Sometimes it is hard. Sometimes genetics overrides. But we have more freedom to make choices than we realize.

2. Never confuse values with the valuation process. Values can be changed but as pure final causation the valuation process will always be with us.

“Values cannot be reinforced into the belief systems of individuals when the individual intends otherwise!”  We can understand another’s values, even admire their positions, but only through our own re-evaluation and intentional change can we move to a new value, not through conditioning. Kubrick expressed this idea in his classic film, A Clockwork Orange.

My take-aways: 

(1) We have options. We have far greater freedom than we realize. Rising above difficulty or challenge may not be easy but it may be possible. In organizations, leaders can facilitate this process, change the vision, transition to a new place, build to a new future. 

(2) Values are the most deep-seated of our beliefs. Change comes slowly, if at all. Values change only when we intend for them to change. Want to build a highly ethical workplace? Hire ethical people. 

Image of Joseph Rychlak from the 1990s. Image used with permission.

Rychlak, J. F. (1979). Discovering free will and personal responsibility. New York: Oxford University Press.