Book Review Presentation - Jonathan Livvingston Seagull

7/27/2019 Book Review Presentation - Jonathan Livvingston Seagull

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Jonathan Livingston Seagullby Robert Bach

Book-review exercise for the course “Individual Dynamics and Leadership” for

Trimester-I, MBA, under the guidance of Dr.Veena Vohra.

- Team 8



• Seagulls

Never stall, never falterTo stall in the air for

them is disgrace and itis dishonour.

Eating is what mattered.



Introducing Jonathan Livingston

He was no ordinary...he had VISION !!

He was unashamed, stretching his wingsover and over again.. Against the normsof his tribe.

Worked in the hard curve stalling and slowlystalling once more.

Flying was what mattered



Personality Analysis

AmbitionDedicationand Hard

Work Success

Self-actualizati

on



Fails....but also Overcomes..

• Learned from failures

“I am a seagull, I am limited by nature. Imust forget this foolishness. There wouldbe no more challenges and no morefailures”



And then he realises “Short Wings. All I need to do is fold my

wings and fly on just my tips alone.”

Risk Taker :5000 feet

dive issomething

whichrequires a lot

of courage





Jonathan’s FLOCK

• Availibility Bias...

They are weighed down by the anchoringpropagated by their beliefs that they couldnot account for the changes in their

environment and hence, turn a blind eyeto what young Jonathan had to say.



Functional FixednessThe concept of flying is contained only towards gathering foodand not towards exploring or experimenting with flight as ameans towards self-actualization or realization, thereby limitingthe functionality.



While our Jonathan

• Breaks norms• Takes Risks

• Exhibits High Self esteem

RESULT:JON IS AN OUTCAST !!!!

Standing to the centre of shame!!!!!!

Core Self

Evaluation :Believes inhimself andhis abilities



Comfortable with Ambiguity

• Jonathan stays all alone thereafter and inthe course he learns that boredom, fear

and anger are reasons that a gull’s life isso short.

Learns from new situations..



Maslow’s Hierarchical Needs

Physical Needs: All Seagulls need food to survive. They get foodby flying over the ocean picking up fishes.

Safety Needs: All seagulls felt safe when they were flying at

modest speeds rather higher ones. On the contrary, Jonathan feltthat flying high and reaching new horizons will make him feelsecure.

Social Needs: Seagulls have their own community style of living.

Jonathan has his own ambitions but wants to take his flock alongwith him. When there is resistance, he goes with two other gullswho can take him to a new world of like-minded gulls.



Maslow’s Hierarchical Needs

Self Esteem Needs: Jonathan thought he would be respectedfor his new found flying skills. What happened was contrary to it.He craves for respect. Since he didn’t get it in his native group hemigrated to a new world where he gets what he wants.

Self-Actualization Needs: Jonathan realized his full potential.He broke his outcast image by making himself acceptable to hisnative group. He takes pride in imparting his knowledge to futuregenerations. He set the standards for the future progeny of

seagulls.



Transcends when in outcasts!!!

• Committed• Uncompromising

• Gets ray of hope in wisdomWords..

“But You can, you have learned. One schoolis finished and it is time for others tobegin.”



“I AM READY” says Jon

• Self Awareness• Openness to new

experience



Halo Effect on mentor

• Jonathan’s PERCEPTION Initially when approaching Chiang, Jonathan was in awe of his

reputation and his expertise. Only after his interaction, he couldobserve and learn from Chiang. In this case, the halo effectgradually subsides allowing Jonathan to experience the truepersonality of Chiang.



JON Achieves Insight

• “To Fly as fast as LIGHT, THOUGHT”

• “You don’t need faith to fly. You need tounderstand FLYING”



Big Five Model Approach

JonathanLivingstone

Seagull

Extraversion EmotionalStability

Conscientiousness

Opennessto

experience



Learning

• John has intrinsic desire to learn• Operant Conditioning

• 3 incidences• Relating to real life

Willingnessto Learn :

Pusheshimself to the

limits tobecome abetter flier.



Takes control :

• “Jon, Keep working on love” ...were thelast words of his mentor

His way of love was to demonstrate andgive back to his flock what he had

achieved.



Motivation : Self-efficacyTheory

• Jonathan is shown to be a self motivated seagull.

• There were bad times and times of doubt.

• But his belief in his own abilities always takes over thosesituations.



• Social Belongingness• Sharing

• Emerges as a LEADER ProactivePersonality :Identifies theopportunities

and took initiative to

changeothers



Feidler Model

When back on earth Jonathan acts as a people-oriented leader.

helps the physically challenged seagull.

AND…. each seagull mould their skill according to theirstrengths and weaknesses.



And when the time was right.....

Jonathan instils :

• FREEDOM• AUTONOMY • INNER STRENGTH



Jon ignites leadership

• Love• Positive Outlook

• Gives chance to others to becomeleaders(Leadership Pipeline)

“You need to keep finding yourself, a little more each day,that real unlimited Fletcher. He is your instructor. Youneed to understand him and practise him.”



Summary

1) Declared Outcast:

Continued to practice:

Sent to heaven:

2) Incident with Chiang:



Summary (contd.)

3) Chiang goes away to a different

world:

4) Jonathan teaches his own flock and make them self sufficient.

5) Jonathan instils freedom and LET GO his subordinates.



Critical Analysis Part-1

In the first part, Jonathan is shown as a confused, if not amisfit, bird born into a group of squabble of seagulls calledBreakfast Flock. The author subtly demonstrates how hisimprovements and improvisations egged him on to hone hisabilities.

The appearance of two “angel” seagulls is an indication thathis time to leave the present world has arrived. Thisrepresentation can be interpreted as a reflection of the

Buddhist concept of moving from the Hinayana, an inferiorvehicle to the Mahayana, a great vehicle which uplifts theseeker into a higher level of consciousness.




Jonathan is shown to lose track of his past world, an indicationof the theory of rebirth, as he is absorbing the facts of his newlife

The contrast between the first world where everything wasphysical and this higher plane where the mental was themeans to accomplishment has been stressed at several points.

By grasping teleportation, it is conveyed that he has overcomethe limitations of his body and that he is the image of theGreat Gull, a reference comparable to the Hindu concept of Jeevatma and Paramatma.




Jonathan is shown as “healing” Kirk, “resurrecting” his faithfuldisciple Fletcher and earning a reputation of being “the Son of The Great Gull”, all clear allusions to the story of Jesus Christ.

Jonathan establishes Fletcher as his successor and guide forall those who wanted to explore their potential by helping himunderstand the concept of overcoming limitations, just asChiang helped him. Impliedly, Jonathan attains Ekayana, theone vehicle that is an enlightenment of the true meaning of perfection.



JONATHAN LIVINGSTON Seagull

Our takeaways from him:

Visionary

ResilientRisk taker

Seeker of wisdom

Self aware

Socially responsible

Mentor

Authentic LEADER





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Book Review Presentation - Jonathan Livvingston Seagull