Leadership styles have traditionally centered their focus on profits, share prices, and productivity, but a new approach increasingly taken up by todays leaders, known as authentic leadership, takes a different spin on the concept. With the authentic leadership model, the focus is on people, values, and ethics first, with productivity and profits subsequently promoted by fostering an inclusive and welcoming environment where everyone feels heard.

Authentic leadership is a relatively new concept, and because of that, there isnt an official definition of authentic leadership. But ultimately, authentic leadership can be viewed as the opposite of traditional leadership in many ways. For example, whereas traditional leadership emphasizes leading with goals, authentic leadership instead focuses on leading with purpose. Or whereas traditional leadership focuses on profitability and productivity, authentic leadership focuses on inclusivity, ethics, and morals.

Authentic leaders are those who demonstrate self-discipline and a strong moral code they dont take shortcuts or bend their morals to meet certain goals. Theres a pattern of behavior that defines authentic leadership and its one that trends toward transparency, self-discipline, self-awareness, empathy, and emotional intelligence.

The theory of authentic leadership was introduced formally by Bill George in his 2003 book Authentic Leadership. In this book, George presents his theory that the key to being a successful leader is to be yourself. He suggests that great leadership starts with authenticity, which then strengthens your ability to hone your other leadership skills.

According to Bill George, there five main characteristics that define authentic leadership:

While authentic leadership is still a relatively new concept, research has backed up Georges claims, with several studies published on how authentic leadership can positively influence employee productivity, job performance, and overall employee engagement. Employees that are engaged, productive, and performing at their best boost the companys overall success. And research shows that authentic leadership has a way of bringing out the best in employees by creating an environment where they feel empowered and supported.

Authentic leaders create a productive, effective, and motivated environment by being transparent, honest, admitting when theyre wrong, and being open to criticism or feedback when needed. They are leaders who can solve conflicts without being manipulative, function within a specific set of ethical values, and can display vulnerability when appropriate. Building this sense of trust with employees is critical to authentic leadership and it all must come from a genuine place.

Authentic leadership is important for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts, because employees need to feel safe at work and comfortable speaking up if they experience or witness a threatening situation or microaggression in the workplace. If employees feel they must stay silent about toxic behavior in the workplace, the consequences to the organization can be significant. This can lead to high turnover, low productivity, and low morale across the company.

Research from Dr. Cottrill, Associate Professor Lopez, and Dr. Hoffman from the California School of Professional Psychology at Alliant International University found a strong connection between authentic leadership and individual feelings of inclusion. The research surveyed professionals and asked them to rate how inclusive they felt their organizations were and how they felt about themselves as employees. The survey looked at Organization Based Self Esteem (OBSE) ratings and Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB). Employees with a high OSBE would describe themselves as important, meaningful, effectual, and worthwhile to the organization, and companies that have a high OCB rating display altruism, conscientiousness, sportsmanship, courtesy, and civic virtue.

The findings showed that employees who feel more included at work are more likely to rate higher levels of self-worth within the organization and are also more likely to help their co-workers manage and prevent problems, demonstrate initiative, show up on time, overlook minor inconveniences, and care about their organizations performance. And the results also showed that authentic leadership had a direct impact on inclusivity and that authentic leadership can model inclusivity in the workplace all the way down the ladder. Companies with authentic leadership were also more likely to rate higher on the scale for OCB and that OCB is more likely when an employee feels included and experiences higher rates of OBSE.

Diversity is also critical to organizational success companies that are more diverse at every level are more successful than their less-diverse counterparts. Authentic leaders create inclusive environments where everyone feel safe to bring their full selves to work. They wont have to hide parts of their identity to make others comfortable or to protect themselves from potential discrimination.

Becoming an authentic leader takes a lot of self-reflection and self-awareness. Youll need to work to understand yourself and others, using empathy and compassion as your driving force. For examples of authentic leadership in the tech industry, you can look to former CEO of Apple Steve Jobs, former CEO of GE Jack Welch, former CEO of Xerox Anne Mulcahy, and former CEO of IBM Sam Palmisano. These leaders are all known for their authentic leadership styles that helped them drive business success.

To become an authentic leader, youll need to embark on a path of self-discovery, establish a strong set of values and principles that will guide you in your decision-making, and be completely honest with yourself about who you are. An authentic leader isnt afraid to make mistakes or to own up to mistakes when they happen. Youll need to make sure youre someone who takes accountability, maintains calm under pressure, and can be vulnerable with coworkers and employees.

Its important to know your own strengths and weaknesses as an authentic leader and to identify how you cope with success, failure, and setbacks. Authentic leaders are comfortable being themselves, but the first step is figuring out who you are. It requires an immense amount of honesty with yourself, and a full acceptance of your positive and negative traits. Once youve figured out who you are and what you stand for, you will be ready to start leading authentically.

For those interested in learning more about how to become an authentic leader, several courses that focus on developing authentic leadership skills are available today, including the following:

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Authentic leadership: Building an organization that thrives - CIO

I still have faint memories of my first concert. Theyre fragmented flashes of feelings more than anything: singing along to Bon Jovi while stuck in traffic on the way there, excitement and adrenaline running through my 5-year-old veins in anticipation of Aly & AJ as the opening act, purchasing the overpriced concert book Id end up spending hours poring over religiously and wearing my bright pink Hannah Montana T-shirt that would get shrunk in the dryer a week later. Miley Cyruss actual set was pretty much a blur, a null and void blind spot in my memory, but the feelings surrounding it have never quite faded.

The memories Ive retained from my most recent concert are understandably more vivid, but to some extent its still that same raw intensity of my feelings overpowering the practical reality of the event itself. It was a classic Michigan April. Most days were rainy and cold, sporadic snowfall still threatening to shower the streets in time for a White Easter. Id end up hauling my winter coat out five times too many to ever really call it spring, but on Tuesday, April 5, the weather was positively picture-perfect. I wore my sunglasses on the drive home for the first time in months. Sunny and 70 degrees, I joked that the Lorde had come and brought the sun with her. It felt like magic, as if Mother Nature had intervened to orchestrate an absolute perfect day.

To say I was excited was an understatement. By the time the actual concert rolled around, Id raided my sisters closet to switch my outfit about 20 times and had enough jittery energy to light a fuse. At the venue, that energy was met tenfold, the anticipation so palpably intense I felt as if I could reach out into the air and touch it. Goosebumps began to dance across my skin as I heard the opening chords to The Beatles Sun King, nudging my sister to let her know that this is it, to get ready. Ive never been one for having a Peter-Parker-esque spidey sense of premonition, but when Lorde walked out on the stage a moment later, I felt strangely gratified.

The vast remainder of the concert plays across my memory in rapid succession, despite my valiant attempts to preserve every bit of that pure, euphoric concert rush, from each inflection of her vocals to the way my heart seemed to beat outside of my chest entirely. Certain moments, however, do stand out in my mental replay of the night. I can no longer listen to the intro of Buzzcut Season, my favorite Lorde song, without hearing it get drowned out by the echoes of a crowd screaming in anticipation. Lordes laugh after a particularly cheeky line in Dominoes, followed by a Thats true in confirmation. The emphatically joyous way she encouraged us all to dance to Ribs for our 15-year-old selves and proceeded to energetically bounce across her sundial stage while fans were scream-singing the drink you spilt all over me / Lovers Spit left on repeat / my mum and dad let me stay home / it drives you crazy, getting old. The outro of Supercut, in which she repeatedly whispered the line in my head I do everything right, (so simple, yet so devastatingly sad it shatters my soul every time I hear it) and lay down flat on her back as if she were trying to relish in the brief calm and stillness as much as the rest of us.

Lordes giddy, vibrant energy was infectious; the crowd was a bit like a honey-starved swarm of bees thats just stumbled upon the hive. Instead of her usual stadium-arena tours reminiscent of Melodrama, the Solar Power tour featured smaller, more intimate venues that only further magnified the atmosphere. And on that stage just in front of us, dancing and singing with all of her heart, she appeared ethereal, at the height of her powers. She remarked that because the concert sold out in, well, minutes, almost everyone in attendance was likely a fan of hers thatd been waiting to see her perform live for a while now. I recall that when buying the tickets nearly a year prior, well before the release of Solar Power, I wouldnt have cared if it ended up being the worst album Id ever heard (which, to be fair, was kind of a risk-free gamble considering Lordes killer track record). What I hadnt expected was Solar Power being the precise summer album that arrived right when I needed it.

Maybe its pure cosmic coincidence, or simply me assigning a level of hyper-inflated significance to art that isnt actually there and just happens to be immensely personal or important to me, but the trajectory of Lordes music has always seemed to parallel the ever-oscillating waves of highs and lows driving my teen years.

When Lorde first arrived on the scene with Pure Heroine, she was readily appraised for her propensity to speak in terms of the we, the collective teenage experience. Part of her entire brand was appealing to that audience on the cusp of adulthood, stuck in the limbo of wanting to cling to childhood, yet rush full speed ahead into the future. She was heralded by critics as being the voice of a generation, but it was more than that. As a teen herself, she was able to put into words ideas, thoughts and feelings that I hadnt even realized I was desperately trying to say.

For the most part, her early songs in Pure Heroine centered around relatively ordinary experiences that she imbued with the depth and importance everything seems to have at that age. Although her writing talent made her feel wise beyond her years, her music felt relatable, about quintessential teenage highs and lows: singing in the car with friends with no destination in mind, briefly finding everyone and everything superficial and pretentious, wanting your feelings to feel validated, wanting to love and be loved.

With Melodrama, Lorde grew a little older, a little wiser, but so did I. Although her overall focus and vibe had shifted, it was Lorde through and through. With that same effortless eloquence, she ricocheted through pop anthems that left you feeling like youre the life of the party, at the top of the world, like Green Light or Perfect Places, and then abruptly sent you reeling back into the deepest depths of your loneliness with heart-wrenchingly sad ballads like Writer in the Dark and Liability. Her core collective essence remained intact, a keenly perceptive sense of self-awareness juxtaposed with a youthful naivete that allowed you to bask in the glow of your highs and wallow in the profound pain of your lows.

Each of her records has taken on a distinct aura the small town of Pure Heroine, the eternal house party of Melodrama, the wind-swept island of Solar Power like a phantom place to visit and temporarily slip back into an old self. That sort of residual, lingering connection to her songwriting and its impact on my teen years is precisely what makes Solar Power so special to me. In a time in which it was extremely easy to be overburdened by sadness, to let ourselves be swayed by the cynic, pessimistic voice that there is no hope for the world around us, Lorde said let there be light (alright, done with the Lord puns now, promise).

In all seriousness, with a lesser artist, Solar Power couldve very easily fallen into the trap of being totally disconnected from reality, blissfully ignorant of the world around it. Yet she masterfully balances timely, multifaceted themes, the perpetual weight of the world we all seem to carry on our shoulders and the age-old nostalgia to seek guidance in the natural world. This level of self-awareness substantially impacts the idyllic landscape of the album, from the way she reprimands the previous generations ambivalence towards our planet in Fallen Fruit to how she satirically critiques the pseudo-spirituality of wellness culture in Mood Ring. On The Path and Oceanic Feeling, she dismantles the appointed position of savior by her fans and touches base on her existence and connection to nature. She explores the impact fame has had on her coming of age with California, reminisces on the path shes chosen in life through Stoned at the Nail Salon and assuages her younger self in Secrets from a Girl (Whos Seen it All) that at the end of the day, itll all be alright.

Although she makes it crystal-clear that she does not have all of the answers, Solar Power still feels like a soft guiding light at the end of the tunnel. Watching her performance of older songs like Ribs or Liability, chock-full of fears about growing up and loneliness, affected me in a way I hadnt really anticipated. The very act itself felt like a warm, reassuring hug from someone who lived through it, who understands, with a sincere promise that itll all turn out okay like that bittersweet relief in knowing that the things that once kept you up at night, that worried or haunted you to no end, will eventually come to pass, like everything else. Its what my 15-year-old self wouldve given anything to hear, but wasnt quite ready to accept.

With Solar Power, Lorde took some time and space to breathe, so, maybe, I can too.

By the time we leave the venue, the night sky is blanketed with stars. I cant seem to stop tilting my head back to stare at it as we pass through the dwindling crowd of concertgoers. It all feels slightly magical, mundane occurrences taking on a newfound luminosity as if my enchanted mood had somehow tinted my surroundings with a pair of rose-colored glasses. The night, the people around me, that warm aching feeling in my chest. In absence of the sun, the temperature outside has dropped a solid 20 degrees, yet I hardly register the cool air kissing my bare skin. Im aware of my sister ushering me through the crowded street, but my mind keeps drifting in a daze and back to the sky goes my gaze. I keep trying to pause, partly to slow down and soak up every last bit of the feeling in my bones, commit the night to memory, but mostly because Im terrified of how utterly void and empty Ill feel once it passes. The solstice was still months away, but Id gotten a brief taste of summer that night that I wasnt quite ready to let go of just yet.

Daily Arts Writer Serena Irani can be reached at seirani@umich.edu.

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The concert, the sun and the holy spirit of Lordes Solar Power - The Michigan Daily

Telva MacGruder, General Motors Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer, with a Corvette

Though womens employment has picked up since the she-cession of the pandemic when millions of women quit their jobs in part to help their kids with remote schooling it has not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels across the nation, according to a new analysis of employment data by Stateline.

In areas where white-collar, knowledge-based jobs abound that lend themselves easily to remote or hybrid work, women have done much better, such as in the Northeast and West Coast, the study found. But in largely manufacturing-based areas, such as the Midwest where companies like General Motors are based, women hold almost 800,000 fewer jobs than before the pandemic. Whats worse, mothers of small children lag behind fathers of small children in returning to the workforce, at 68.6% vs. 90% respectively.

Part of the problem is the lack of childcare support in this country, as we all know. While legislation languishes amidst partisan squabbles in Congress, some employers are stepping up. General Motors includes child care support in their benefits package, according to their website, along with other family-related benefits.

Its about who they want to be at work and advancement

Beyond family issues, women are also taking the time to consider their careers more deliberately, including where they can advance and the kind of environment they want to work in. Women want to make a difference being who they are, according to a study my firm did a couple of years ago that found idealism as one of the top drivers of women achievers.

Telva McGruder, GM Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer

I recently interviewed Telva McGruder, the Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer of General Motors and a 28-year veteran of GM who started as an engineer, for my Electric Ladies Podcast. She explained that in todays values and innovation-driven economy, there are attributes that fuel advancement beyond just being very good at your job.

McGruder has held a wide range of roles at GM, from leading facility engineering for the GM global footprint and facility management strategy for North American manufacturing, to being Program Manager for Global Body Manufacturing Engineering, and climbing the ladder at several manufacturing locations.

Here are four keys to career success McGruder highlighted:

Pixabay

1. Self-awareness: Sit and breathe and figure out, Who am I? What works well for me? and always work from that center, she explained. Self-awareness is key to success in any field at any level. Its about being honest with yourself, taking constructive feedback, reading the room, and maybe getting coaching to help you see how other people see you and feel around you.

2. Adaptability: During the pandemic, GM pivoted some of its manufacturing plants to make ventilators very quickly which had a profound and lasting impact on the company, especially as they transform their operations to only manufacture electric vehicles, McGruder said. One result is that now adaptability is a priority in recruiting and promoting talent going forward. We're not only looking for the skillset, but we're looking for adaptability. We're looking for collaborators, she said. Talentthat we're confident can evolve with us, that can grow with us and grow really quickly.

Managing conflict image -by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay

3. Managing conflict: Moving at ventilator speed to build ventilators during the pandemic to save as many lives as possible, McGruder said, ushered in a culture change at GM that strengthened their ability to entertain new ideas and manage conflicts constructively. McGruder attributed this in part to having a diverse, inclusive workplace, and added that it doesn't mean we're skipping through the daisies and always getting along and never disagreeing with each other and having perfect compromises.

She described what happens this way: When we have an environment that's truly inclusive and people have a true sense of belonging, we are going to disagree with each other. Butthose disagreements are the fuel for the future, right. Where someone speaks up and they say, I'm not sure if that's right. And the other person says, help me understand why you're saying that.

She emphasized that, that's how conflict can fuel innovation and conflict can fuel solutions that really aren't on the table of imagination before the conflict occurs.

Technicians of the General Motors' factory repair ventilators from public hospitals amidst the ... [+] Coron(Photo by Lucas Uebel/Getty Images)

4. Make a difference: McGruder emphasized that career success fundamentally depends on your ability to make a difference for the organization you work in and the people you work with. I started working on (this) many years ago, when I realized that as a technical leader, I could solve all the technical problems in the world, but there were a lot of days where I still had people around me that weren't necessarily super-excited about being at work, that weren't necessarily, you know, really bringing their best to work every day. She realized that if she couldnt help her teams, she wasnt going to be successful herself, so she focused on helping them succeed.

As our ideas about how to make a living evolve with our ideas about making a difference, these four keys could apply to any choices we make.

Listen to the full interview with Telva McGruder on Electric Ladies Podcast here and read her suggestions for how to make a difference here.

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4 Keys To Womens Career Success From The General Motors Chief Diversity Officer - Forbes

If you were a young kid in the early 90s or before that, you may be pretty cognizant of the level of no-no that swearing was. It was a pretty big deal. Parents would earmuff their kids around thoughtless adults or movies rated R for language much more than we see today. Perhaps it was the pandemic, or maybe its the age of the internetwe know there is only so much we can shield our kids from when they have the universe at their fingertips and in their pocket.

Some words just tumble out of the mouth much easier than others, especially in moments of certain, shall we say, passion. Germanic sounds like fuck and shit and French or Latin words like piss and damn just really satisfy a need when the moment strikes. All the sweet euphemisms in the world like fudge or shoot simply will not get the job done, and we all know it. Were societally conditioned to feel that way and there is no turning back. But is it really so bad?

Science says maybe not. Intriguingly, a few crisp consonants can provide a little level of relief from pain. Of course, that pain is the physical pain experienced by the person swearing. Swear words can also inflict pain if you use them at someone, which is where compassion and self-awareness come in. What were talking about is swearing socially, bringing it into daily language and diluting a little bit of the shock factor in all kinds of social environments, like work, parties, or run-ins with an acquaintance or old friend.

Profanity has also been linked to honesty. Studies show that we are displaying our most genuine emotions when swear words come into play. Perhaps its because we are expressing our true feelings of passion around a subject when swear words enter the context. It may be easy to lie for some people, but its more challenging to convincingly feign passion.

Another reason swearing may be on the rise is feminism doing away with tradition. While it may have seemed unladylike to swear in decades past, quite frankly, were done with that shit. It can also be seen as an act of defiance against the patriarchy; a contrast to what they expect from women. The crass colloquialism levels the playing field in sports but also in romantic, platonic, and professional relationships, when appropriate.

And when is it appropriate? Thats a more nuanced question with an answer no one likes: it depends. Swearing can be a way to build trust in new friendships or professional relationships as well. It showcases that weve let our guard down just enough, relaying that we trust the other/trust they wont judge us and showing that we feel equal to them. Its really about utilizing your best judgement, social awareness, and observation skills to determine when it is an OK time to let an F-bomb slip. Our best advice? Use swear words as sparingly as possible when directed at someone or describing someone. Swearing can be powerful, but mean-spirited gossip is ugly on everyone.

The content provided in this article is provided for information purposes only and is not a substitute for professional advice and consultation, including professional medical advice and consultation; it is provided with the understanding that Poosh, LLC (Poosh) is not engaged in the provision or rendering of medical advice or services. You understand and agree that Poosh shall not be liable for any claim, loss, or damage arising out of the use of, or reliance upon any content or information in the article.

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Can Swearing Actually Benefit Your Life and Relationships? - Poosh

Johann Gottlieb Fichte is one of the most underappreciated post-Kantian philosophers. Yet during the peak of his career in the 1790s, when he was lecturing in his private garden and within the walls of the University of Jena in Germany, he was hailed as a new hero arriving in the land of truth, as F W J Schelling put it in 1795 in a letter to G W F Hegel. More recently, the American philosopher Allen Wood has suggested that Fichte is the most influential figure in the continental tradition since 1800.

This, if true, is largely due to the direct and indirect influence he exerted on continental philosophers such as Schelling, Hegel, Karl Marx, Sren Kierkegaard, Gyrgy Lukcs, Martin Heidegger and Emmanuel Levinas, as well as the neo-Kantians Heinrich Rickert and Emil Lask (sometimes called neo-Fichteans), who shaped the reception of Kantian philosophy in Germany during the early 20th century.

And yet, outside of the scholarship on Hegel and the tradition of German Idealism a tradition oriented by the works of Kant, and which includes Fichte, Schelling and Hegel (among others) Fichtes philosophical views are hardly known today. His theory of self-consciousness and views on social recognition have been overshadowed by Hegels influence. Fichte is typically treated as a mere stepping stone to Hegels improved view on the intersubjective nature of self-consciousness. Unfortunately, Fichtes own views on freedom and intersubjectivity have gone underappreciated outside the narrow historical study of his philosophy, even though he developed them prior to Hegels, and they shaped the views of Schelling and Hegel. A recovery and re-assessment are due.

Born in 1762, Fichte grew up in Rammenau, a small German town approximately 30 miles east of Dresden. His origins were certainly humble. His father was a ribbon weaver, and Fichte would have likely taken up the craft if it was not for two fortuitous events that transformed his circumstances.

The first event occurred on a Sunday in 1770 when the Baron Ernst Haubold von Miltitz, who was visiting Rammenau, missed the Sunday sermon. Wanting an account of the sermon, Miltitz was introduced to the nine-year-old Johann Gottlieb, whose powerful intellect allowed him to memorise and recite it, more or less, verbatim. Impressed, Miltitz, with the pastors encouragement, offered to support Fichtes education. Under Miltitzs patronage, Fichte attended the Schulpforta, the boarding school where the poet Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, the historian Leopold von Ranke and the philosopher Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche were also educated. Without the support of the Miltitz family, it is doubtful Fichte would ever have transcended his class status as an artisan to, eventually, fulfil his vocation as a scholar, or philosopher.

Fichte was broke. Needing assistance to make his way back to Saxony, he asked Kant for a loan

The second event occurred in 1791 in Knigsberg where Fichte travelled to meet Kant. Fichte reports that, during the previous summer, his reading of Kant awoke him from his own dogmatic slumber, to reuse Kants own remark about his experience of reading Hume. After studying Kant, Fichte excitedly explained to Weisshuhn, his schoolmate:

It was only after reading Kants Critique of Practical Reason (1788) that Fichte abandoned his scepticism about the possibility of freedom. Until then, he had been a determinist. After failing to impress Kant at their meeting, Fichte decided to draft a work on religion, a topic Kant had yet to write a book about. His purpose was to establish that he was, in fact, worthy of Kants support. He even modelled his work on Kants own method and terminology. After spending much of the summer in Knigsberg with Kant and his circle of friends, Fichte was broke. Needing assistance to make his way back to Saxony, Fichte in a move that still causes his acolytes embarrassment asked Kant for a loan. Presumably, Kant asked himself What if everyone did that? Rather than provide the loan, Kant offered to pass Fichtes manuscript on religion to his own publisher.

As a result of Kants gesture, when Fichtes book An Attempt at a Critique of All Revelation was published in 1792, it was printed accidentally without Fichtes name on it. Reviewers naturally mistook the anonymous book as a new work by Kant, with some reviewers attributing it to the philosopher of Knigsberg. These circumstances forced Kant to publicly acknowledge he was not the books author, but that it was written by the young upstart Johann Gottlieb Fichte. Its hard to imagine in the world of philosophy a more fortuitous and consequential example of mistaken identity. Just a few years later, Fichte would secure his position at the University of Jena, and soon his philosophy would become a guiding star for young and ambitious thinkers such as Schelling, Hegel, Hlderlin, Novalis and Friedrich Schlegel, many of whom attended his lectures, read his works, and tried to complete or surpass his system.

When Fichte arrived in Jena in 1794, he took over the chair in philosophy previously held by Karl L Reinhold, a priest who helped to popularise Kants critical philosophy in Germany in the late 1780s and transformed Jena into a cradle of post-Kantian philosophy in the early 1790s. Fichte, who in addition to his work on religion had also published a controversial defence of the French Revolution (also Kantian in spirit), was ready to carry the torch. He just needed his own philosophical system. While teaching private lectures in Zrich prior to his move to Jena, he proceeded to construct such a system so that, upon his arrival in Jena, hed not suffer imposter syndrome.

That system, the first system of freedom (as he believed it to be), was his Wissenschaftslehre, or science of knowledge. Initially, the Wissenschaftslehre was his attempt to rationally reconstruct Kants critical philosophy, including his idealist theory of knowledge, the distinction between sensibility and understanding, Kants conception of the categories of the understanding, space and time, and even the moral law and moral agency. No small task. Fichte held that Kants critical philosophy, if its conclusions are to be accepted, ought to be based upon a first principle of subjectivity. In the words, again, of Schelling: Kant has provided the results. The premises are still missing. And, who can understand the results without the premises? In short, Fichtes system provided the missing premises in the form of a first principle.

Here is how Fichte first states this principle: The I originally posits its own being purely and simply. What Fichte has in mind is not obvious, and possibly paradoxical. He is claiming that the core activity of subjectivity involves an I (or subject) determining itself (positing itself) to be an I, without relying on anything outside its own activity (purely), and without that activity consisting of multiple activities (simply). From this, Fichte attempts to deduce, or reconstruct, the Kantian system, in effect constructing the first system of freedom, something Kant attempted, but failed to achieve.

How is self-consciousness, awareness of oneself as oneself, possible?

Now, Fichtes principle sounds paradoxical since it seems as if the I brings its own being into existence. How can something bring itself into existence if it did not already exist? I will not attempt to resolve the apparent paradox here, but it is worth noting that Fichte is not suggesting that there exists no activity within the subject prior to positing itself as an I, but only that the activity is indeterminate, so that a unique sort of activity is necessary to constitute or transform the subject into an I, a kind of congealing of the subjective self.

Fichte struggled over the years to find the best way to describe the activity of the I in positing itself. He characterised it as a self-reverting activity, a reflection on itself, a transitioning from indeterminacy to determinacy, a subject-object, a double series of consciousness, an absolute I, a pure I, and a self-positing I. Fichte was hesitant to employ the same conceptual vocabulary or jargon throughout his career, since he believed that a static discourse might either impede students from thinking along with his system or hamper their ability to grasp it through their own thinking. Instead, they might merely mimic his mode of doing philosophy by trading on jargon in place of carrying out the hard work of understanding and developing the insights the philosophical system offers.

Some scholars have suggested that Fichtes changing philosophical discourse is a response to a specific philosophical problem he took on himself to first discover and resolve. The problem, call it the reflection problem, concerns the explanation of how it is possible for a rational being to be aware of itself and its representations as its very own. In other words, how is self-consciousness, awareness of oneself as oneself, possible? Fichte believes that all previous philosophers have run into a problem when attempting to account for our capacity for self-consciousness. Previous philosophers have relied on our reflective capacities to explain how self-consciousness is possible, however, Fichte insists that a problem arises when an explanation of self-consciousness relies on reflection. Explanations of self-consciousness that rely on reflection attempt to explain it in virtue of two distinct mental acts: the first is a consciousness of some object, such as a table; the second act is a separate act of consciousness directed at the first act. In virtue of this second, reflective act, the first act of consciousness is recognised as my own, as belonging to me, as one of which I am self-conscious.

The problem with this explanation of self-consciousness is that the second, reflective act treats the first act of consciousness as an object. However, if I am conscious of myself, it seems that I must be conscious of this second act too, since it is, after all, my own mental activity. But, to explain how it is that I am conscious of the second act, a third act of consciousness is required that is conscious of the second and treats the second act as an object of its consciousness. This type of explanation naturally leads to an infinite regress of reflective acts (a fourth, fifth, etc) and will not do as an explanation of self-consciousness.

Fichte explicitly recognised this problem in his published writings and lectures. The philosopher Dieter Henrich referred to Fichtes appreciation of the reflection problem as Fichtes Original Insight. Fichtes own theory of self-consciousness and the self-positing I is meant to resolve this problem. For Fichte, the activity of the I, by immediately intuiting its own activity as itself, constitutes itself (or makes itself, if you will) into an I. The I, you might say, consists in a kind of pre-reflective activity that conditions any reflection or deliberation on the part of the person. Fichtes changing philosophical discourse, then, might be attributed to his attempts to get his readers and students to appreciate his resolution of the reflection problem.

But how does Fichtes response to the reflection problem relate to the question of freedom? Fichtes thought is that this peculiar activity of the I, its positing itself as an I, is a spontaneous and free act that is unconditional and based in nothing beyond itself; it is not even based in the not-I, whatever stands against the activity of the I, even though the not-I serves as a check or limit on the I. It is important to remember that we are talking about a very minimal conception of the the I, that is, the essential pre-reflective activity required for self-conscious thought and action. To be clear, Fichte is not claiming here that the self is untouched by the world within which it is situated. In fact, Fichte will insist for this reason on drawing a distinction between the self (the person as embodied, culturally, politically and morally situated) and the I as a pure activity that posits itself.

What is particularly striking about the picture of subjectivity Fichte offers, and one reason he views his system as a system of freedom, is that the Is self-positing shapes the rest of the system. The main reason for this is that the Is self-positing activity, as a form of self-determination, shapes the reflective self-conscious activity we enact as rational, moral and political agents. To be a rational being, an embodiment of reason, one must be a self-positing I.

While questions about the nature of subjectivity would always preoccupy Fichte, his philosophical interests ranged more widely than just this. One key area was his interest in social philosophy, and in particular how we recognise one anothers freedom. Fichtes love of Kant ran so deep that he named his only child Immanuel. And, although not exactly a doting father, he did take a philosophical interest in the upbringing of children. His own views on the subject drew from the writings of Rousseau and the lesser-known Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, a Swiss pedagogue whose love of Rousseau ran so deep that he named his only child Jean-Jacques.

At the centre of Fichtes own conception of upbringing is the concept of the summons. A summons is a demand in which one person calls another to act by taking up a particular task as their own. Fichte outlines the concept, somewhat opaquely, in his Foundations of Natural Right (1796/97) when he describes the summoned subject as being-determined to be self-determining, ie, as a summons to the subject, calling upon it to resolve to exercise its efficacy. In this work, Fichte argues that reflective self-consciousness our capacity to reflect on and deliberate about our beliefs, desires, reasons and intentions is a social, intersubjective achievement that gradually develops through a subjects upbringing in virtue of this specific type of social interaction, the summons.

To get a sense of what Fichte has in mind, consider an exchange between a father and daughter: the father summons his daughter to the dinner table. In this case, the father demands that she act according to a plan of action she has freely designed, but one that is responsive to his summons. The father may call out: Dinner time! In response to the call, she ideally stops whatever she is doing and walks over to table. She is not physically coerced by her father; the summons is, crucially, a concept of freedom and so allows for her to act freely, of her own volition. By responding to the summons, she determines herself by resolving to exercise her own will and efficacy. This type of social interaction, Fichte believes, is essential to the development of reason in human beings, and, ultimately, to our capacity to respect and appreciate the freedom of others.

I must in all cases recognise the free being outside me as a free being

The summons plays an essential role in Fichtes theory of self-consciousness too. Reflective self-consciousness, according to Fichte, is conditioned by the summons of other rational beings. Many people associate a similar idea with Hegel and his views on social recognition, developed most famously in his work The Phenomenology of Spirit (1807), and most infamously in its master-slave dialectic, which dramatises a struggle for recognition. There, Hegel begins to develop his view that the achievement of self-consciousness is essentially dependent upon relations between subjects in which they recognise one another as rational beings.

While I dont intend to offer a comprehensive comparison between Fichte and Hegels views on self-consciousness and social recognition, one often overlooked contrast is worth noting. Hegels struggle for recognition has proven useful as a lens through which to understand social and political movements where there is often a struggle to have ones rights or identity recognised and respected. It is not obvious, however, that all or even most social interactions involving social recognition ought to be understood in terms of a struggle or in terms of the politics of recognition, as some Hegelians have suggested.

In contrast, Fichtes summons involves two types of recognition (as I see it) neither of which essentially depict recognition as a type of struggle nor rule it out: the first type is what I call elementary recognition where a child is gradually brought up through acts of summoning and social recognition to be (among other things) the kind of agent capable of summoning others and reliably responding to their summons; the second type is political recognition in which one subject summons rather than coerces another out of respect for their freedom and rights. The state, for instance, may summon you to jury duty or a neighbour may demand that you remove yourself from their property.

There is no reason to deny that the recognition of political rights is typically born of struggle. Yet, for Fichte, in order to have both external freedom and free social interaction, a more basic concept of right must be at work in society, one that may not specify any particular right, but is the social condition for rights as such. I must in all cases, he says, recognise the free being outside me as a free being, ie, I must limit my freedom through the concept of the possibility of his freedom.

The very possibility of free social interaction presupposes, on Fichtes view, this concept of right. Free social interaction, thus, presupposes acts of summoning, as well as respect for a space in which other subjects are free to act. Summoning another person accords with the concept of right because it, by offering a task for another to take up, provides a space for social freedom, the limiting of ones own free agency for the sake of the free agency of others. At the basis of this interaction there may be a type of social negotiation, but the interaction is not essentially a struggle.

Fichte held that the recognition of others as free beings is necessary for the development of their self-consciousness. Self-consciousness, he held, is social in nature. But in what sense? In some places, he seems to mean that the summons (and social recognition) is necessary only for reflective self-consciousness, the type of consciousness we have when we deliberate about our beliefs and intentions. Elsewhere, he seems to imply that the summons and recognition is necessary for the very activity of self-positing, the minimal form of pre-reflective self-awareness that accompanies all forms of consciousness.

There is good reason, I think, to believe that Fichte came to recognise over time that self-consciousness as our capacity to be aware of our representations as our very own is a social phenomenon. This view is evident most clearly in his lectures where he claims that consciousness begins with consciousness of a summons. Even more, he claims that the first representation I can have is that of being summoned. Much of Fichtes reasoning hangs on the kind of distinctions that must be made in order to have an awareness of oneself as oneself, which, arguably, implies a capacity to distinguish oneself from others. Self-consciousness, as Fichte puts it, originates with my act of selection from a general mass of rational beings as such.

The summons and social recognition, he argued, shape our cognitive and practical capacities. It is in virtue of them that we become free rational beings, the kind of creatures capable of respecting social and political rights, of acting morally, capable of taking on a vocation to shape the world for the sake of the freedom of each. Act! Act! Fichte proclaims, that is what we are here for isnt our greater perfection precisely this calling we have received to work for the improvement of others.

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On freedom and the limits of agency: the philosophy of Fichte - Aeon

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Academic institutions have banished the f-word, and it needs a revival. I'm talking about failure.

Today's students are increasingly under the impression that if they fail just one course or test, all hopes of attending their desired institution, being hired for their dream job and making something of themselves will, in an instant, disappear.

Perfectionism among teens has increased significantly since the 1980s, according to research from the American Psychological Assn. Author and researcher Brene Brown defines this phenomenon as "life paralysis," referring to all opportunities we miss because we're too afraid to put anything out into the world that might be imperfect.

Related: Why Entrepreneurs Should Plan for Failure, Not Success

Let's fast-forward 15 years to those very students, those perfectionists, who have now graduated and moved on to the working world and are running the very companies we work for. They are creating hiring rubrics, performance evaluation frameworks and company presentations. They are defining what success looks like, and within this definition lies no room for failure.

Research shows that failure is a necessary ingredient of success. A study conducted by Northwestern University analyzed 46 years' worth of venture capital startup investments and found that while not every failure leads to success, failure is a necessary step to success.

In fact, Dashun Wang, who conceived and led the study, said that "trying again and again only works if you learn from your previous failures." Success will not come without failure, and true learning will not manifest without recognizing that.

Related: 8 Reasons Failure Makes You a Better Entrepreneur

Today's growth companies need to recognize failure as a necessary component of learning and learning as an essential component of success. Leaders must ask themselves how they can incorporate failure as an integral part of their hiring, leadership and success practices. And, more important, how they can reframe failure, correlate it to learning and hold themselves accountable for doing so.

Here are seven ways companies can utilize failure to drive learning-led leadership:

By demonizing the great f-word, our leaders are losing a significant learning opportunity. Today, more than ever, we are presented with an open door for progress communication, production and distribution have never been as fast and accessible. It's time we acknowledge failure, reframe it as a critical leadership component and leverage it to drive more impactful innovation.

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The F-Word: Why Failure is a Must-Have Key to Success - Entrepreneur

As a first-generation Dominican American, Scarlet Hernandez has gone through periods throughout her life where she struggled with her identity.

Growing up between Elizabeth and Newark, New Jersey, she was often surrounded by other Latinx people.

However, at the age of 13, when she and her family moved to the suburbs, Hernandez was presented with a complete transition to a predominantly white community.

I felt like there was a shock there, she recalled during an interview with AL DA. I think I struggled a little bit with being too Latinx for the white kids, and being too white for the Latinx kids.

That reality originally made Hernandez feel like she was stuck living in that middle place.

But that middle place allowed me to also acknowledge and enjoy the opportunities that came my way, Hernandez expressed.

Those opportunities grew as the years went by, and became the catalyst for her becoming the career professional she is today as director of member success for Rec Philly.

If my parents hadnt moved me into the suburbs, I would have never gotten into radio and done four years of radio and TV and interviewing and journalism, said Hernandez.

That inspired me to work with artists and I think that being a first-generation really instills in you right away to do what you love and be the best at it, so you can provide, she continued.

Hernandez would be the first to tell you that she would in no way be able to do the things shes done without the love and support of her parents.

Everyday, Hernandez wears a necklace with a nameplate of her mothers name.

She describes her mother as a wonderfully smart, badass boss lady, who grew up caring for her family.

A career teacher, Hernandez credits her mother for teaching and encouraging her to never be afraid of going after her dreams.

Because I always struggled with wanting to be like the others she was always the first one to tell me to be different, noted Hernandez. I love my mom, and everything I do is for her.

Hernandez describes her father as so strong, so kind, and so funny.

He studied to become a lawyer with dreams of being a public defender in the Dominican Republic. However, when Hernandez was growing up, she knew her father as simply the hoagie maker at the bodega.

He later went on to own his own bodega, but still has dreams to eventually return to the Dominican Republic someday and continue his practice as a public defender.

He hasnt forgotten about that, and we continue to celebrate him everyday like that. Hes a lawyer first and foremost, said Hernandez.

It was also Hernandezs parents who taught her not to be afraid to take risks.

I feel like risk has a bad name associated with it, but risk is you seeing opportunity, not seeing failure, said Hernandez.

She continues to be inspired by her parents everyday.

When I was growing up, they were my biggest supporters, and today continue to be just incredible people who are the first people I call for any good news, bad news and anything in between, said Hernandez. And Im very, very lucky for that.

Hernandez knew early on that she wanted to pursue a career in the creative field.

As early as six years old, Hernandez remembers being exposed to different musicals, listening to music on vinyls, and various other forms of entertainment.

Those moments were very critical for her growing up and had a profound impact.

Especially as an only child, she said, all you have is entertainment.

And when I noticed how it was affecting me, I let that empower me and let myself know that I can be doing that, too, she added.

From then on, she remembers gathering the family together to see a dance she made up, pretending to interview people, making mixed CDs, recording songs on the radio all helping to flex that creative muscle.

Entertainment became more than entertainment.

As a first-generation Dominican-American, a huge part of her figuring out that love for entertainment was also translating things for her parents to understand.

It also really allowed me to indulge in American pop culture, said Hernandez. So to be connected with that, I felt like everything had a context and a reference.

Once her parents understood her level of passion, they helped and supported her in any and every way possible.

From there, Hernandez began brainstorming ways to be a part of that industry in one way or another.

Hernandezs first time in Philly was going to World Cafe Live in 2011.

She immediately fell in love with the city, and when it came time to select a college, she knew exactly which city she wanted to go to school in.

I specifically came to UArts [University of the Arts] because it was in Philly, Hernandez said.

At UArts, Hernandez majored in Music Business, Entrepreneurship & Technology (MBET) a newly created program at the time.

She credits the program for allowing the most liberal arts experience possible, despite the lack of structure and continuity of a program with more lineage.

The variety of the program allowed for students to find an element within the program that could allow them to find their path.

There were people who were musicians and their parents wouldnt let them go to school just for music, so they took the business side, versus me where its like Im obsessed with anything that doesnt have to do with performing, said Hernandez.

I love to sing, I love to dance, I love all that. But I want to be the brains behind productions and stuff like that, she added.

Throughout the MBET program, Hernandez became well-rounded in her craft, as she took photography classes, collaboration courses, produced a concert series, and even started a radio station at the university.

Her experience was aided by her overarching goal.

Its not about what I can do, its who I love to serve. And as a Latina, I feel like serving and hospitality is in our blood, said Hernandez.

Her mindset was often: How can I bring that forward to bring a more self-aware, emotionally intelligent industry into play?

Her experience at UArts helped her develop that, and lead in her own way.

While a junior at UArts, Hernandez was selected as one of two students to represent the MBET program at an alumni mixer event.

While there, she met the prolific painter George Beach, who asked her at the time what she wanted to do after college.

Her response: Everything.

Upon hearing that response, Beach set up an opportunity for Hernandez to meet Rec Philly co-founders Will Toms and Dave Silver, where she discussed her interests and all the extracurriculars she had been involved with in college.

She was then invited to a company meeting a few days later.

And they couldnt get rid of me since then, said Hernandez.

From the start, she became enamored with the environment that was being built at Rec Philly, as a space that empowers creatives to simply tap into their creativity in a productive and personal way.

Hernandez has remained connected to Rec Philly since her first exposure to the organization in 2015.

In 2017, she became Director of Member Success for Rec Philly, where she leads membership efforts to its more than 1,000 members.

The human interaction is what keeps Hernandez motivated the most in her role.

We get to work with some of the most talented people in the city and beyond, she said.

I just love artists, and when you work at a business that serves artists, the first currency that they exchange with you is trust, she added.

Through this role, Hernandez is able to build trust and relationships with each member, and that connection is mutual.

Over the years, a number of former members often return just to share good news with her.

Knowing that Im someone that they look to share that with because Ive been there encouraging them, telling them to do it, telling them how to sometimes keeps me going and is the entire reason why I do what I do, said Hernandez.

To her, this role was built for me, and Im still learning, she said.

As director of member success, there is no playbook for how the job is done. The same can be said for just about the entire Rec Philly team.

We are all on this team constantly building the road that were walking on, said Hernandez. And that can be the scariest thing in the world, or that can be the most empowering thing in the world.

When Hernandez thinks about Phillys creative scene, Hernandez distinguishes individuals into two groups those who have grown up in Philly, and those who have come to Philly to be a part of the scene.

The creative scene in Philly is vast; however, the goal for Rec Philly is succinct.

Rec [Philly] can be a place that encourages people that there are enough resources for everybody, said Hernandez.

Its her belief that success doesnt just look one single way and with the scene as diverse as it is, Hernandez hopes that the younger generation of creatives are inspired to collaborate with each other and share in one anothers successes.

Philadelphia historically continues to have one of the most densely talented industries whether that's visual art, music, even just like public figures, in our politics, food we have amazing artists in all those factions, she said. So to list them all out, what I can say is that they deserve resources and opportunities.

Rec Philly is like a gym membership for creatives, providing the avenue for members to gain access to all the tools and resources needed to help them achieve their goals.

When Hernandez looks at where she is currently in her career, she cant help but feel grateful.

When I was little, I could never have imagined having such a perfect place that reminds me of who I am and why I do what I do, she said.

She gets to wake up and work with some of the regions most talented artists and creatives and play a critical role in their development.

As her journey has been about dedication, branching out and being unafraid to take risks, Hernandezs advice for those who are looking to forge their own path into the industry is often just that.

We are here to support them and give feedback and real feedback comes from love, she said. So encouraging people to show up as their best selves is really the best advice to give.

Hernandezs journey has been a matter of constantly learning more about herself, and challenging herself everyday.

What may have started out as resentment and wondering why she doesnt fit in, has since evolved into self-awareness and self-love.

I still feel like I am getting to know myself and getting to stand up for the things that I love, said Hernandez.

At just 28, she is still very young and continuing on the long journey ahead.

To Hernandez, that is the most exciting part about it.

You should never fully be done with knowing yourself and feeling comfortable within yourself, because theres always somewhere to grow and somewhere to be better, said Hernandez.

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Meet Scarlet Hernandez, creative visionary and director of member success for REC Philly - AL DIA News

For decades, many people have viewed academic success measured through grades, exam results, report cards, and tertiary admission rankings. Consequently, learning has been validated as the rote memorisation of bulk content.

As the world becomes increasingly globalised and the future increasingly uncertain, the need for emotional intelligence (EQ) alongside global competence is becoming abundantly apparent.

Global competence is a nuanced concept that involves a combination of knowledge, skills, attitudes and values. It refers to individuals developing an awareness of self, of others, of values, attitudes, assumptions, behaviours, cultural and global issues as well as understanding an individuals and the collectives role and responsibility in the world.

Arguably, what sits at its core is emotional intelligence through empathy, problem-solving and communication.

With the first semester of 2022 starting against a backdrop of a continuing pandemic, an escalating climate crisis, political conflict and war, its worth remembering The Alice Springs (Mparntwe) Education Declarations view on teaching and learning.

The 2019 national declaration on educational goals for all Australians, agreed upon by all state and territory education ministers, is to prepare young people to thrive in a time of rapid social and technological change, and complex environmental, social and economic challenges.

For that to come to fruition, education must focus on cognitive skills and behavioural skills alongside social and emotional skills. Educators across the nation must provide effective Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) opportunities for young people through explicit opportunities to experience, reflect, build self-awareness, motivation and empathy.

Often interchangeable with the phrase personal and social capability, social and emotional learning sits with the General Capabilities of the Australian Curriculum.

As the curriculum states, students develop personal and social capability as they learn to understand themselves and others, and manage their relationships, lives, work and learning more effectively.

These key skills and values of self-awareness, motivation, empathy and social skills are exactly what build and foster global competence.

At a recent professional development session I ran for the Asia Education Foundation with teachers in Indonesia on intercultural communication, participants were asked to describe the connection they see between emotional intelligence and global competence.

It builds relationships and opens up new possibilities, wrote one person, it helps us develop our knowledge and understanding of the world and each other.

Another added, it is the key to connection and collaboration.

Together, we looked closely at the role and purpose of communication.

We began with the etymology of the word, which stems from the Latin word communicare, meaning to to share, divide out; communicate, impart, inform; join, unite, participate in.

Again, this is what forms a large component of what is global competence.

We investigated the five key purposes of communication, which are often said to be to inform, to express feelings, to imagine, to influence and to meet social expectations.

As participants identified, whether its a conversation, a story, song or a film, communication and people-to-people connections are how we share, learn and work together. Its how we get to understand different perspectives, to take action.

Emotional intelligence and global competence are so vital because they foster social cohesion, community, relationships and wellbeing.

In 2016, Census data found, nearly half (49%) of all Australians were either born overseas or had at least one parent who was born overseas, and more than a quarter (28%) of the Australian population were first generation Australians (born overseas).

This diversity is represented in classrooms and workforces the length and breadth of the country.

Transnational mobility has also meant young Australians are now travelling or emigrating overseas to study, work, and explore new possibilities. This further highlights the relevance of these transferable skills not just for young people living and interacting in Australia day-to-day, but for when they also travel, work, explore or live elsewhere.

Along with moving cities and countries, other studies have found that young people will move between jobs. Research from the Foundation of Young Australian suggests that todays 15-year-olds will likely navigate 17 changes in employer across five different careers.

Reflecting this, the World Economic Forums Future of Jobs Reports 2020 highlighted the emerging skills now in high demand from Australian employers that include critical thinking, emotional intelligence, active learning, resilience, innovation and leadership.

These are the skills that must be taught in schools and addressed explicitly in the curriculum.

Young people are the future, and that future is now.

Australia has over 3.2 million young people aged 15 to 24, representing one in every eight Australians. For context, that is larger than the entire population of countries like Slovenia, Uruguay, Fiji and Malta.

Rather than being aspirational, Australia must significantly invest in its young people.

So, lets start with courageous conversations, recalibrating our perceptions of academic achievement and prioritising the whole student and their social, emotional, intellectual and physical learning journey to become truly globally competent.

This article was first published onPursuit. Read theoriginal article.

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NSW general counsel says he offered West words of comfort

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Is EQ more important than ever? - The Mandarin

Many retailers are increasingly focusing their product strategies on health, wellness, and convenience. Mark Field the CEO of Prof. Consulting Group outlines why adding nonprescription medicine to the product mix could offer retailers an attractive opportunity to drive consumer traffic and lift profitability.

With a global market value in excess of US$131 billion by 2022 and a healthy growth outlook of ~5% over the next three years, the over the counter (OTC) market is likely to appeal to an increasing number of investors and brand managers.

The Australian OTC market was valued at over US$20 billion in 2019 and was recognised for multi-billion-dollar savings through saved visits to the doctor. This outlook is forecast to continue to grow as consumer interest and confidence in OTC products builds alongside our own self-awareness with regards to our health and wellbeing.

Increases in chronic disease, growth of the aging population, and rising levels of diabetes are all key drivers for growth in the category and are creating a strong demand.

Within retail there is still a significant opportunity for range rationalisation a retailers approach to reducing those less popular lines and replacing them with customer focused innovation. This will provide selling space, allowing for the introduction of innovation. As an example, a recent review of the paracetamol category showed over 17 varieties across brands, pseudo brands and private label.

More importantly, the price per tablet ranged from $0.04 per tablet to $0.20, whilst products with innovative deliveries such as mini tablets, rapid and +flu reached up to $0.55 per tablet. Reducing the range, opening availability and easing the customer experience are all simplification techniques that help create growth in what is widely considered a complex aisle.

Taking the first aid and medical category across one of the leading retailers as an example, ~450 sku in an average store, ~90% is branded (approximately 415 skus), 6% pseudo branded (approximately 30 skus), and <4% is traditional own brand (approximately 3 skus). This suggests that current own brand penetration represents less than 10%, providing a significant growth opportunity.

The completive landscape for OTC products in Australia continues to evolve with the strong presence of the big box discount models such as Chemist Warehouse, the strong independent sector with community chemists such as Terry White, and the growing presence of online alongside traditional grocery.

With over 6500 skus on average in the health and beauty aisle across a standard grocery store and an average product spend in the region of $5 to $7.50 whats clear is the potential opportunity to drive sales, improve profitability and increase consumer traffic to a high value area of Australian retailing.

About the author: Mark Field is the Founder and CEO of Prof. Consulting Group, anaward-winning Melbourne-based consulting firm specialising across the international food and grocery supply chain.

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Could OTC products be the next strategic focus for private label - Consultancy.com.au

For 17 stages of this Tour de France, Geraint Thomas has been riding his own race. For 17 stages, Geraint Thomas has watched Tadej Pogaar and Jonas Vingegaard surge up the road, maintaining an unsteady detente.

In that sense, stage 17 into Peyragudes held this Tours equilibrium, even if the Welshman lost 2:13 on the yellow jersey. He was in third place before. Hes even more in third place now, having lost time to the two whippersnappers and gained it on almost everyone else.

Almost five minutes back, Thomas wont win this Tour, but hes a day closer to locking in a podium finish, having ridden a consistent, unflappable race.

An awareness of his strengths and limitations has been Thomass thread through the last two weeks. When the road tilts upwards and Pogaar stings his rivals, with Vingegaard locked on his wheel, the 2018 champ has the self-awareness and experience to ride his way back into the race rather than reacting his way out of it. I dont even attempt to kick when they go, he said a few days ago.

The gap was bigger today, but Thomass measurement of his effort was characteristically insightful.

I felt alright, but didnt feel quite as light on the pedals as earlier in the race, the Welshman said, shortly after crossing the line and making his way up to his team bus. With UAE Team Emirates driving the pace on the front up the Col de Val Louron first with Mikkel Bjerg, then with an imposing Brandon McNulty Thomas had a choice to make. He chose defence, rather than attack.

[Bjerg] put in a hell of a shift for the kind of rider he is it was cracking me, actually, that he was hurting me as much as he was, Thomas said. Next came McNulty, whose effort slowly whittled the group down to five riders before Thomas lost contact.

I started riding my pace, and I couldve held the gap and tried to edge back over the top or on the descent, but made the call not to go into the red and risk blowing up on this climb, Thomas explained.

A small second group of team leaders coalesced down the road Thomas, Bardet, Gaudu, Lutsenko, a handful of others where Thomas recovered further before putting time in on the steeper ramps toward the top of the climb. I waited for that group behind, saved my legs a little bit, Thomas explained. From then, it was just a matter of riding a solid pace all the way to the line.

There are two stages left, really, where the gaps on the GC can expand or contract. On current indications, Thomas might lose a little tomorrow, might gain a little in the time trial a couple of days later. He was, he agreed, all about the podium now a podium that will likely be shared with Pogaar and Vingegaard, both more than a decade younger with a more explosive turn of speed.

I think all in all it was a decent day, Thomas reflected, mulling his performance. In the end, I got dropped by those two, but theyre another level.

Thats one way of putting it, but Thomas good for a quote had another. I want to have what they have for breakfast, because they were going, he said, half bemused, half impressed, entirely Geraint Thomas.

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Geraint Thomas wants what theyre having for breakfast - CyclingTips