Post #9: Ch8 Lighten Up!

Ch8 Lighten Up!

I thought it is interesting how this chapter came right after the last chapter "Conflict". I thought Perkins tried to make a contrast. The title says it all; in a gloomy situation, it is sometimes important to lighten up the group by finding something to celebrate or laugh about. I cannot imagine how hard it was for Shackleton to perform this task. As Perkins states, "in stressful circumstances...celebration is usually the farthest thing from anyone's mind." This chapter can be considered as a further explanation of Strategy 3: Optimism. How could Shackleton be this impeccable? He was optimistic, determined, extremely good at problem-solving and was even humorous? At least his crew were fully entertained by his leadership qualities and characteristics. I think this strategy is very effective because the idea from Harvard article that we read earlier states we all have mirror neurons. If the leader, Shackleton in this case, becomes the first to laugh in any stressful situations, crew obviously starts to feel optimistic and no longer suffers from that stressful situation. My task as a leader from my a cappella group is going quite well, but I am not sully satisfied with my performance. We are getting hasty because Fall concert is ahead, but in this tense situation, the solution would be lighten up the group.