MM1051/1L01

Tango! Managing Self &

Leading Others
LEC02: SELF-AWARENESS

CHAPTER 2
“We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the
power we need inside ourselves already; we have the power to
imagine better. ”

J. K. Rowling, Author

Dr. Edmond YEUNG

Department of Management and Marketing
 Learning Objectives
• How to find free and high-quality journal articles
• Identify your own self-awareness, emotion, dream and
work on them.
• Explain the factors that influence your values.
• Define personality and understand yourself through the
“big five” personality traits.
• Compare and contrast skills, knowledge, and interests.
• Explain how personality, skills, and interests relate to
your career choice.
Search and read reliable resources

• How to search & read high quality online resources?

• How to read a journal article smartly
 Obtain High Quality Resources
How to obtain high quality resources?
For Group Project as well as other subjects

• Scientific source:
• e.g., Journal Paper, Textbook chapters

• Article from good publisher

• e.g., Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, SCMP,
Fortune

• Official statistic/data
• e.g., Government Statistics Department
 Obtain High Quality Resources
• Google Scholar
• Setting — Library links —“Polytechnic University” —select and save
 Obtain High Quality Resources
• PolyU Library – OneSearch
 Obtain High Quality Resources
• PolyU-Database-Web of Science
 Read Journal Articles
This video show you how to read a journal article smartly

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEVftUdfKtQ&ab_channel=KishwaukeeCollegeLibrary
 Self-
Awareness
 Finding Your Direction
1. Self-Awareness
The process of paying attention to yourself.

2. Self-Honesty
The ability to see your strengths and weaknesses
clearly.

Success Secret
• Self-honesty helps you get in touch with your dreams,
values and interests.

How Well Do You Know Yourself?

 Finding Your Direction
3. Self-Consciousness
The tendency to frequently think about and observe
yourself.

Activity: How Self-Conscious Are You?

 Activity: Self-Awareness
To determine your own level of private self-awareness, read the items below and
place a check mark in the blank that you think describes how often you feel this way.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Never Rarely Sometimes Often Always
1. I'm eager to learn. 1
2. My work is exciting. 1
3. I'm willing to listen with an open mind. 1
4. I have new insights. 1
5. I like taking direction from people who know something I don't. 1
6. I try to look at the world through the eyes of the other person 1
7. I believe each person is unique. 1
8. When someone is talking to me, I really listen. 1
9. I'm honest with my self and others. 1
10. I've thought about my own strengths and weaknesses. 1
11. I continually challenge my own assumptions. 1
12. I recognize that others may think that I'm strange or odd in 1
some ways.
13. I adapt easily to the environment and situation. 1
 Tips
• Review and think about where you placed your check
marks for each of the questions.
• Review your positive attributes more often
• Seek to move your responses to those questions with
as many “Always” or “Often” as possible
Emotional
Awareness
 Affect (Emotion & Mood)
The Structure of Affect
Intensity and Valence

Intensity

Valence
Affect (Emotion & Mood)
Identifying Your Emotions
Figure 2.1 I Feel Comfortable
Identifying Your Emotions
Figure 2.1 I Feel Uncomfortable
 Emotional Awareness
• To become more emotionally aware, practice
asking yourself these questions
• How is my body feeling?
• What happened right before I started to experience
this emotion?
• Can I put a specific name to this emotion
• Why would developing a vocabulary of feeling words
help you become more aware of your emotion?
 Identifying Your Emotions
4. Emotional Awareness
The process of recognizing, identifying and accepting
your emotions.

5. Identifying Your Emotions:

Pay attention to how your body feels.
What occurred right before the emotion started?

Success Secrets
• Develop the courage to handle painful emotions.
• Look for the exact word to express what you feel.
Dream
&
Value
 Defining Your Dreams
• Dream: An aspiration, hope, or vision for the
future that gives your life purpose.
No dream is better than any other.
No dream is too big to achieve, or too small to count.

• Reclaiming Your Dreams

Think back to childhood, before you worried about what
other people might think. What did you want to be when
you grew up?

Success Secret
• A dream can be anything you want it to be.
Worksheets (Assignment 1): Picture your Aspiration…
 Getting In Touch With Your Values
• Values The beliefs and principles you choose to live by.
• Ethics The principles you use to define acceptable
behavior and decide what is right and wrong for you.
• What values are important to you?
Adventure, Commitment, Community, Compassion,
Courage, Creativity, Environmentalism, Fairness,
Financial Security, Fun, Generosity, Hard Work, Health,
Honesty, Independence, Integrity, Kindness, Knowledge,
Learning, Loyalty, Relationships, Responsibility, Social
Responsibility, Solitude, Spirituality, Tolerance, etc.
 Examining Your Values
Do you know which values are most important to you?
Although everyone lives by different principles and beliefs,
many people value at least some of the following:

• Adventure-exploring the world; seeking new experiences

• Commitment-dedicating yourself to a goal
• Community-feeling a connection to a neighborhood or group
• Compassion-having sympathy for suffering and working to reduce it
• Competition-testing yourself through rivalry and challenge
• Courage-taking risks; showing strength against fear, danger, and difficulty
• Creativity-experimenting; expressing yourself; trying new ideas
• Environmentalism-preserving the natural environment
• Fairness-treating others in a just and impartial way
• Financial security-being free from worries about money
• Fun-enjoying yourself and having a good time in life
• Generosity-treating others in a giving way
• Hard work-giving your full effort on the job and at home
• Health-feeling fit; enjoying physical and mental well-being
• Honesty-thinking, speaking, and acting in a forthright way
 Examining Your Values
• Independence-making your own decisions; having options
• Integrity-doing the right thing; acting ethically
• Kindness-behaving in a caring and helpful way toward others
• Knowledge-seeking truth and understanding
• Learning-pursuing education; growing as a person
• Loyalty-remaining faithful and devoted to a person or cause
• Physical appearance -looking attractive, groomed, and healthy
• Power-having influence over people and situations
• Recognition-receiving acknowledgement for your efforts
• Relationships-enjoying affection and belonging
• Responsibility-honoring obligations; being reliable
• Security-being free from anxiety; having your needs met
• Social responsibility-contributing to the welfare of society and to the solution
of social problems
• Solitude-enjoying time alone for rest and renewal
• Spirituality-searching for a greater good, purpose, or meaning to human
existence
• Tolerance-accepting other people, cultures, and ideas
• Wealth-having enough money to support an affluent lifestyle
 Values
We can become confused about our values
when we adopt other people’s values as our own.
• Did I choose this value or copy it from someone else?
• Does this value make me feel good about myself?
• Will other people benefit if I act according to this value?
• Will something truly bad happen if I don’t follow this
value?
• Is this value flexible enough to allow me to pursue my
needs and goals?
 Your Values At Work
• No job can suit all of your values perfectly.
• It is important to find a balance between fulfillment in
work and in life.

Success Secrets
• Values are beliefs, not absolutes.
• Values guide your choices in life.
Personality
(Big 5
Personality
Model)

OCEAN
 Discovering Your Strengths
Personality and Individuality
• Personality
The relatively stable pattern of behavior that
distinguishes you from all other people.

• Trait
A disposition to behave in a certain way regardless of
the situation, e.g. Active, friendly, flexible…. Traits are
shaped by our genes, but also by our upbringing and
experiences.

Activity 9: Personality Self-Portrait

 The “Big Five” Personality Traits
• Openness Imaginativeness, openness to new people,
ideas, and experiences.
• Conscientiousness Self-discipline and desire to
achieve
• Extroversion Assertiveness, sociability, and interest in
excitement and activity.
• Agreeableness Trustworthiness, warmth and
cooperativeness.
• Negative Emotionality Resistance to negative
emotions such as anxiety, anger and depression.

Success Secret
• Use your personality traits to help you succeed.
Understand Yourself
Big Five Personality
 Interpretation of the Result
• Open-Mindedness: High scorers tend to be original, creative,
curious, complex; Low scorers tend to be conventional, down to
earth, narrow interests, uncreative.
• Conscientiousness: High scorers tend to be reliable, well-
organized, self-disciplined, careful; Low scorers tend to be
disorganized, undependable, negligent (careless).
• Extraversion: High scorers tend to be sociable, friendly, fun loving,
talkative; Low scorers tend to be introverted, reserved, inhibited
(not confident), quiet.
• Agreeableness: High scorers tend to be good natured,
sympathetic, forgiving, courteous; Low scorers tend to be critical,
rude, harsh, callous (unkind).
• Negative Emotionality: High scorers tend to be nervous, high-
strung (easily upset), insecure, worrying; Low scorers tend to be
calm, relaxed, secure, hardy (tough).
 Skills
&
Interests
 Exploring Your Skills & Interests
• Skill
The ability to do something specific as a result of
learning and practice
• Job-specific –ability to do a specific job/task.
• Transferable skills – abilities you can use in a variety of
jobs/tasks.

• Knowledge
An understanding of facts or principles in a particular
subject area. Knowledge isn’t a skill until it is combined
with real-world experience.
 Skills & Interests
If you aren’t sure what your skills are, ask yourself:
• What do I have experience doing?
• What areas of knowledge do I have?
• What projects have I completed at home, work, or school?
• What problems have I solved? What skills did that show?
• What do I enjoy doing? What kinds of skills does this require?

Activity 10: Skills Assessment

 Multiple Skills, Multiple
Intelligences
• Intelligence A set of abilities that enables you to solve
certain types of real-world problems.
• Verbal/linguistic • Musical
• Logical/mathematical • Interpersonal
• Visual/spatial • Intrapersonal
• Bodily/kinesthetic • Naturalistic

Success Secret
• Pinpointing your strongest intelligences helps you
discover what you do best.

Activity 10: Discover Your Multiple Intelligences (p.51)

 Discover Your Multiple
Intelligences
Put a check mark next to each statement that
you feel accurately describe you. If you do not
identify with a statement, leave it blank
Expanding
your
Intelligences
 Discovering Your Interests
• Interests
Personal preferences for specific topics or activities.

• What do you like and enjoy?

Success Secret
• Skills and interests go hand in hand.
 Myths About Work
1. By nature, work is unpleasant.
2. If I do what I enjoy, I won’t make any money.
3. If I don’t know what I want to do for the rest of my life, there must be
something wrong with me.
4. I’m the only one who doesn’t have a fixed occupational goal.
5. There is one, and only one, perfect career for me.
6. Somewhere, there is an expert or a test that will tell me exactly what I
should do for the rest of my life.
7. A “real” job is 9 to 5, five days a week, working for someone else.
8. What I do at work defines who I am as a person.
9. Once I choose a career, I should stick with it no matter what.
10. You have to suffer to get ahead.

Success Secrets
• Myths spring from negative work attitudes.
• Work can and should be something you enjoy.
 Putting It All Together
Self-Awareness and Work
• Why Work Matters Most of us will spend about 80,000 hours of
our lives at work. The work you do, therefore, has an enormous
impact on your success and happiness.
• Satisfaction Gaining self-worth from a job well done.
• Relationships Learning from other people.
• Meaning Fulfilling your personal purpose in life.

Success Secret
• Let your skills and interests guide your career choices.
 Personality Types and Work
Career Researcher John Holland’s
Six Basic Types of Work Personalities
• Realistic —doers who prefer hands-on activities to activities
involving words or relationships.
• Investigative —thinkers who like to investigate and solve problems.
• Artistic —creators who value self-expression structure.
• Social —helpers who value relationships more than intellectual or
physical activity.
• Enterprising —persuaders who enjoy using their verbal skills.
• Conventional —organizers who thrive in situations with rules and
structure

Success Secret Activity 12: Interest Survey (p.68)

• Consider your personality when choosing a career.
 Interest Survey
In each of the following six categories, check the items that describe you

Scoring ： Add up the total number of items you checked in each of the six categories
 Interests & Career Choices
The following list of career areas represent fields that
people of each personality type often enjoy and excel in:
• R – construction, engineering, transportation, law
enforcement, armed forces…
• I – Science, medicine, dentistry, I.T., Math, post-
secondary education
• A – Music, dance, theater, fine art, photog, creative
writing
• S – education, religion, counseling, psychology, social
work, childcare..
• E – sales, management, business, law, politics,
marketing, finance, television or movie production…
• C – accounting, court reporting, financial analysis,
banking, tax preparation, office management
 Take Away
• Know more about yourself: self-awareness, emotion,
dream.
• Factors that influence people’s values.
• Personality and the “big five” personality traits.
• Skills, knowledge, and interests.
• How personality, skills, and interests relate to career
choice.
 References
De Janasz, S., Dowd, K., Schneider, D. (2024). Journey into self-
awareness, In J. Xiao & E. Yeung (Eds.), Managing self and
leading others (pp. 3-22). McGraw-Hill, Singapore.
Waitley, D. (2024). Understanding yourself, In J. Xiao & E. Yeung
(Eds.), Managing self and leading others (pp. 23-41).
McGraw-Hill, Singapore.
Waitley, D. (2024). Discovering your strengths, In J. Xiao & E.
Yeung (Eds.), Managing self and leading others (pp. 42-71).
McGraw-Hill, Singapore.
Waitley, D. (2024). Understanding self-esteem, In J. Xiao & E.
Yeung (Eds.), Managing self and leading others (pp. 72-94).
McGraw-Hill, Singapore.
 Tutorial

• This week: Group Formation & Topic Allocation

• Next week: Presentation of L2L worksheets P.1 & 2 (one
representative each group)