Ken Chapman & Assoc.
Phone: (205) 366-0265
Fax: (205) 366-0401
info@leaderscode.com

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Personal Growth and Goals

           In nearly thirty years of studying the human experience, I have learned that "people are people," no matter where you find them.  Almost all of us are capable of enormously good behavior, as well as tragically self-destructive behavior.  At our best, we are nothing short of heroic in the face of disappointment or danger.  At our worst, we are equally capable of cowardly behaviors which harm even the innocent.  People from both ends of the continuum can be found in every setting where people gather-the workplace, schools, government, and yes, even in religious institutions, and the home.  In my experience, three things separate the emotionally healthy from the self-destructive. 

1.  Emotionally healthy people know they are imperfect and, therefore, capable of committing self-destructive acts.  Thus, they guard against such behavior.  By contrast, self-destructive people cannot tolerate the thought of their imperfection and go to extraordinary measures to avoid facing their own fallibility-lying to themselves, blaming others, and even harming those who will not turn a blind eye to their pretense of perfection.

2.  Emotionally healthy people self-critique.  They tend to explain the world in terms of their own behavior, not in terms of other people's faults.  They refuse to be victims and they refuse to victimize others.  Emotionally healthy people focus the bulk of their energy in managing their own words and behavior.  We recognize them by how well they lead themselves.

3.  Emotionally healthy people consider self-knowledge the starting point for all wisdom.  They believe that accepting the capacity for wrong is the best way to guard against doing wrong.  They believe the wise will assume responsibility for themselves, because it is impossible to control or be responsible for others.  Therefore, the emotionally healthy view personal insight as a painful, but valuable road to greater wisdom, happiness, and professional effectiveness.

In Personality: Making the Most of It, I attempt to make a contribution to the effectiveness of the emotionally healthy, no matter where they are found.

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