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A game of tennis provides ample lessons in human nature. (For that matter, most games help us understand human nature.)

Kim and Charles Petty tell us “Tennis psychology is nothing more than understanding the workings of your opponent’s mind, and gauging the effect of your own game on his mental viewpoint, and understanding the mental effects resulting from the various external causes on your own mind”. (You can read the complete article here.)

Tennis is eminently suited for the study of human nature as it involves two individuals. Can you think of any other game that helps understand human nature better?

This term denotes an optical illusion, but here it describes our obsession with our faults.

Our weaknesses assume such gigantic proportions that we stoop under their weight and stumble around unaware of the opportunities. They so disillusion us that we assume that everything is a mirage or beyond our reach.

It is good to know our weaknesses and our faults and work towards eliminating them.

However, rabid obsession with them will serve no purpose and hold us back from exploring our potential.

Do you see your faults magnified disproportionately?

 

Feature Article: The New Psychology of Leadership

In recent years, however, a new picture of leadership has emerged, one that better accounts for leadership performance.

In this alternative view, effective leaders must work to understand the values and opinions of their followers—rather than assuming absolute authority—to enable a productive dialogue with followers about what the group embodies and stands for and thus how it should act.

By leadership, we mean the ability to shape what followers actually want to do, not the act of enforcing compliance using rewards and punishments.

Given that good leadership depends on constituent cooperation and support, this new psychology of leadership negates the notion that leadership is exclusively a top-down process.

In fact, it suggests that to gain credibility among followers, leaders must try to position themselves among the group rather than above it.