What is your experience of compassionate (or not) leadership?
Compassionate leadership is where an apparent sense of concern for the suffering of others, and a want to end the suffering, is shown. "I" becomes "we", where the aims and goals progress beyond personal achievement and instead collectively strives for a greater good.
In highschool, playing for the first XV rugby team, we had a manager who carried out different tasks to that of the head coach. The coach was great, but the manager really went out of his way to accomodate people and make everyone feel welcome, even doing mundane tasks like filling up the team drink bottles. I found this to be a really compassionate form of leadership. He made us feel, in some ways, equal, and his general sense of caring rubbed off on all of us.
Do the multiplying goodness meditation. How did you find it?
I found it to be very productive, and it put me in a calm mood. Focussing on goodness is beneficial in that it helps you emanate an aura of positivity, which in turn should help to lift other people's mood and sense of well being.
Do the Tonglen meditation. How did you find it?
The meditation was quite difficult as there was a lot to focus on and take in. When imagining talking to a version of myself during the meditation I felt it to be very therapeutic and vivid. I was able to think more objectively about a situation without being overwhelmed by other feelings. It was also interesting to imagine viewing things from another person's perspective - this can help foster understanding and take away prejudice.
How does the SCARF model apply to your Phase 0 experience so far? How will it apply to bootcamp?
The SCARF moodel has definitely applied to Phase 0 and will certainly apply to bootcamp as well. I'm hoping that the environment at bootcamp, amongst students, is one of compassion rather than competitivness. I have some trepidation about whether my knowledge is up to scratch at this point, so I am hoping that other students (with more experience and knowledge) will appreciate this and not get too frustrated with me during group assignments.