Leadership

How To Spot a Tyrant was nothing like what I had imagined it to be. Dean Paul Woodruff narrated three plays, each explaining the tyranny that lived in everyday people. First, you can spot a tyrant by looking for these three traits: 1.Hubris, which leads to catastrophe, 2.Lawlessness, gets away with breaking the laws they enforce, and 3.Fear, of being undone so, they cling to power and frighten others. Not all tyrants believe themselves to be one, and usually all justify their ways by pardoning themselves. "In effective personal leadership, visualization and affirmation techniques emerge naturally out of a foundation of well thought through purposes and principles that become the center of a person's life." (P.134 Convey) According to Convey's book a true leader doesn’t need much to be effective, just a strong foundation of learned principles. This definition is the exact opposite of a tyrant.

John F. Kennedy-Leader


In the lecture, Dean Woodruff said, “A tyrant is a man or women, who has too much power, it goes to their head, and they think they are God.” I personally believe that a leader is first and foremost a person who can lead, but also a person who knows and will humbly follow his followers. You cannot expect people to give up their will and follow you if you were not first willing to do the same. In Convey's book he says it best, "The more genuine your character, the higher your level of proactivity, the more committed you really are to Win/Win-the more powerful your influence will be with that other person. This is the real test of interpersonal leadership." (P.222 Convey)

Saddam Hussein-Tyrant


There were three styles of plays-Ancient Greek, Modernism, and Shakespeare. He chose the styles particularly well, because the eras involved demonstrated the similarities between democracy and theater. The audience is King, where the people rule, and during Shakespeare's time the plays were made and dedicated to the royal family. Yet, the audience (actual towns people) were the ones who would dictate whether or not the stage would be full of live or dead bodies (which they favored, remember Romeo & Juliet).



Of the three stories, Antigone, Measure for Measure, and A Doll’s House, the one that spoke the most to me was A Doll’s House. The lesson to be learned from this play was that even through a tyrant's fear they can still control you and make you just as fearful as they are. Nora is treated like a doll, by her husband Torvald. His fear is what people may think of him, and those he considers to belong to him, his wife/doll. What scared me most about this type of tyranny is how closely it can resemble love. “He pampers her, protects her,”(P.3 Notes on The Three Lessons) although the sentiments seem sweet they're more affections of a dog and his owner, than husband and wife. He sets rules for her and she begins to fear him. "Two ways to put ourselves in control of our lives immediately make a promise-and keep it. Or we can set a goal-and work to achieve it." (P.92 Convey) She does just that, after realizing what her marriage really is, a dictator as a husband, she goes out to get an education and finally becomes free of tyranny.


Scene from A Doll's House

When Dean Woodruff said, “Freedom is the absence of tyranny,” I thought the quote was so simple yet summed up the lesson of the entire lecture. Tyranny is what makes plots so interesting, because of the conflict and havoc it brings. Ultimately I feel that the fight for freedom is what’s so universally recognized and admired, in the plot of stories, new and old.

Gandhi-Leader