Arizona State University Growth Mindset Discussion Questions

Each week, you will be presented with a series of critical thinking prompts and application prompts.

Please copy/paste the prompts into an offline document (Word, for example) and compose your responses offline (be sure to save your work).  Then click on the “Submit Assignment” button above, copy/paste your work into the text box (please be sure to include the prompts prior to your responses), and click “Submit Assignment” at the bottom of the page.

Each question is generally worthy of at least 250 words (2-3 well-written paragraphs) in response for the open-ended types of prompts.  Be sure to connect with (and informally cite in-text) the applicable readings/videos from the module’s learning materials.

A note on in-text citing and connecting with the learning materials:  As a graduate student, it’s very important that you offer perspectives and arguments that are grounded in the literature – NOT simply personal opinion or anecdotal evidence. I don’t want a works-cited page, but I do want you to clearly cite your sources in-text for the various connections you’ll be making between the learning materials and your application thereof.  For example, one might write, “While I marveled at the uncanny ability of the psychic to tap into my true personality, the Barnum Effect(Aronson, 117)could have well explained my feelings…”Be sure to use these informal in-text cites to make your arguments and to support your perspectives.

Excluding the prompts that are simply requiring you to input data, these are all open-ended prompts/questions, each deserving of a well thought out response. Again, that generally means two to three well-constructed paragraphs (about 250 words on average) per prompt.

The following exercise includes the following six prompts:

Critical Thinking/Application Prompt 1:As we bring the semester to a close, it is important to not overlook the potential “dark side” of EI.  Thus, go online and locate a few articles addressing “the dark side of EI.”  (For example, see links to four different articles below.)  Summarize the basic message of the articles you examine – and respond to them critically.  Note how EI is typically referred to as a “tool” that is “morally neutral.”  Place these thoughts in the context of integral theory – where emotional intelligence is one of many different lines of development or “multiple intelligences” (another of which is “moral intelligence”).  Is the claim that there is a dark side to EI a valid claim with merit?  Would an emotionally intelligent leader be prone to hypnotize people (in a manner similar to a person practicing NLP Programming (NLP)?  If you like, you can even address the question: “Does EI really make you a more successful leader?”

“The Dark Side of Emotional Intelligence” (The Atlantic)Links to an external site.

“There’s a Dark Side to EI: Here’s How to Protect Yourself” (Time)Links to an external site.

“The Dark Side of Emotional Intelligence (Psychology Today)Links to an external site.

“Does EI Have a Dark Side?: A Review of the Literature (Frontiers)Links to an external site.

A first step in addressing how to promote EI in your own organization is to contemplate two of your social systems: 1) your team; 2) your organization as a whole.  Thus, address yourself to Prompts 2 and 3 below.

Critical Thinking/Application Prompt 2 (My Team & Me):  Address yourself to the bullet points below – treating them as one single data-collection prompt.

Who we are: our individual names (if possible) and what we call the team

Values that guide how we behave with each other

Our purpose as a group, what we are trying to accomplish

What we are proud of, what makes us feel good about ourselves

Our dreams and aspirations as a team

The challenges we face together

Critical Thinking/Application Prompt 3 (My Organization or Institution & Me):  Address yourself to the bullet points below – treating them as one single data-collection prompt.

My organization’s name and purpose

What we are funded to do

Core values that inform our work and guide our culture

Our strengths

Our dream as an organization

Our biggest challenge as an organization

Our most important stakeholders

Critical Thinking/Application Prompt 4 (Am I a Resonant Leader?):  Time to be truly honest with oneself.  Fully address yourself to the questions below.

Am I inspirational? How do I inspire people?

Do I create an overall positive emotional tone that is characterized by hope? How?

Am I in touch with others? Do I really know what is in others’ hearts and on their minds?  How do I show this?

Do I regularly experience and demonstrate compassion?  How?

Am I authentic and in tune with myself, others, and the environment? How can people see this in me?

Critical Thinking/Application Prompt 5:  In his article “The Focused Leader,” Goleman points out that effective primal/resonant leadership lies in the need for leaders to be attentive while focusing on self, others, and the world (for Wilber, this is evidence of the evolution of emotional, cognitive, and moral development).  And in Resonant Leadership, Boyatzis and McKee address the “Sacrifice Syndrome.”  They all point out that even highly emotionally intelligent leaders can easily slip into dissonant leadership due to “power stress” (stress burn out); and they highlight the need for organizational leaders to continually renew themselves through attention — mindfulness, hope, and compassion.  “We have found that leaders who sustain their resonance understand that renewing oneself is a holistic process that involves the mind, body, heart, and spirit” (Resonant Leadership 8).  Using the four quadrants/dimensions inherent in integral theory (Ken Wilber’s AQAL Map), create your own holistic/integral agenda in order to stay in a state of continual renewal – and cultivate effective resonant leadership.  What can you do on an ongoing basis to cultivate a more healthy: mind (e.g., reading and study, taking multiple perspectives, meditation practice, dreamwork, psychoanalysis), body (e.g., weightlifting, aerobics, diet, hatha yoga), organizational culture (e.g., conflict resolution, negotiation skill-building, anger management, interpersonal workshops), and organizational systems (e.g., structures, practices, processes, TQM)?

Critical Thinking/Application Prompt 6 (Learning Agenda for the Promotion of EI in My Organization):  Using the information you shared in the prompts above, using your Self-Directed Learning Agenda from Module Four, and, of course, using anything else that you have learned this semester (e.g., leadership styles, effective listening through dialogue, etc), create a “Learning Agenda for the Promotion of EI in My Organization.” List four goals, break each goal into 3-5 action steps, and share potential resources that can be utilized in order to meet the goals and/or action steps.  The goal here is to create a brief report/agenda designed to bring more emotional intelligence into your workplace.