Jonathan Livingston Seagull

by Robert Bach

- Team 8

Book-review exercise for the course Individual Dynamics and Leadership for Trimester-I, MBA, under the guidance of Dr.Veena Vohra.

 Seagulls
Never stall, never falter To stall in the air for them is disgrace and it is dishonour. Eating is what mattered.

Introducing Jonathan Livingston

He was no ordinary...he had VISION !!
He was unashamed, stretching his wings over and over again.. Against the norms of his tribe. Worked in the hard curve stalling and slowly stalling once more. Flying was what mattered

Personality Analysis

Ambition

Dedication and Hard Work

Success

Selfactualizati on

Fails....but also Overcomes..

Learned from failures
I am a seagull, I am limited by nature. I must forget this foolishness. There would be no more challenges and no more failures

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 is something which requires a lot of courage

Jonathans FLOCK
Availibility Bias...
They are weighed down by the anchoring propagated by their beliefs that they could not account for the changes in their environment and hence, turn a blind eye to what young Jonathan had to say.

Functional Fixedness
The concept of flying is contained only towards gathering food and not towards exploring or experimenting with flight as a means towards self-actualization or realization, thereby limiting the functionality.

While our Jonathan

Breaks norms Takes Risks Exhibits High Self esteem

Core Self Evaluation: Believes in himself and his abilities

RESULT: JON IS AN OUTCAST !!!! Standing to the centre of shame!!!!!!

Comfortable with Ambiguity

Jonathan stays all alone thereafter and in
the course he learns that boredom, fear and anger are reasons that a gulls life is so short.

Learns from new situations..

Maslows Hierarchical Needs

Physical Needs: All Seagulls need food to survive. They get food
by 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 felt that flying high and reaching new horizons will make him feel secure.

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

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

Maslows Hierarchical Needs

Self Esteem Needs: Jonathan thought he would be respected
for his new found flying skills. What happened was contrary to it. He craves for respect. Since he didnt get it in his native group he migrated 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 his native group. He takes pride in imparting his knowledge to future generations. He set the standards for the future progeny of seagulls.

Transcends when in outcasts!!!

Committed Uncompromising Gets ray of hope in wisdom
Words.. But You can, you have learned. One school is finished and it is time for others to begin.

I AM READY says Jon

Self Awareness Openness to new

experience

Halo Effect on mentor

Jonathans PERCEPTION
Initially when approaching Chiang, Jonathan was in awe of his reputation and his expertise. Only after his interaction, he could observe and learn from Chiang. In this case, the halo effect gradually subsides allowing Jonathan to experience the true personality of Chiang.

JON Achieves Insight

To Fly as fast as LIGHT, THOUGHT
You dont need faith to fly. You need to
understand FLYING

Big Five Model Approach

Extraversion

Emotional Stability

Jonathan Livingstone Seagull Openness to experience Conscientious ness

Learning
John has intrinsic desire to learn Willingness Operant Conditioning to Learn: Pushes 3 incidences himself to the limits to Relating to real life become a
better flier.

Takes control :
Jon, Keep working on love ...were the
last words of his mentor

His way of love was to demonstrate and give back to his flock what he had achieved.

Motivation : Self-efficacy Theory

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 those situations.

 Social Belongingness Sharing Emerges as a LEADER

Proactive Personality: Identifies the opportunities and took initiative to change others

Feidler Model

When back on earth Jonathan acts as a peopleoriented leader. helps the physically challenged seagull. AND. each seagull mould their skill according to their strengths 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 become
leaders(Leadership Pipeline)
You need to keep finding yourself, a little more each day, that real unlimited Fletcher. He is your instructor. You need 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 a misfit, bird born into a group of squabble of seagulls called Breakfast Flock. The author subtly demonstrates how his improvements and improvisations egged him on to hone his abilities.

The appearance of two angel seagulls is an indication that his time to leave the present world has arrived. This representation can be interpreted as a reflection of the Buddhist concept of moving from the Hinayana, an inferior vehicle to the Mahayana, a great vehicle which uplifts the seeker into a higher level of consciousness.

Critical Analysis Part-2

Jonathan is shown to lose track of his past world, an indication of the theory of rebirth, as he is absorbing the facts of his new life The contrast between the first world where everything was physical and this higher plane where the mental was the means to accomplishment has been stressed at several points. By grasping teleportation, it is conveyed that he has overcome the limitations of his body and that he is the image of the Great Gull, a reference comparable to the Hindu concept of Jeevatma and Paramatma.

Critical Analysis Part-3

Jonathan is shown as healing Kirk, resurrecting his faithful disciple 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 for all those who wanted to explore their potential by helping him understand the concept of overcoming limitations, just as Chiang helped him. Impliedly, Jonathan attains Ekayana, the one vehicle that is an enlightenment of the true meaning of perfection.

JONATHAN LIVINGSTON Seagull

Our takeaways from him: Visionary Resilient

Risk taker
Seeker of wisdom Self aware

Socially responsible
Mentor Authentic LEADER

 Hopefully we could do justice to our own

JONATHAN (JON)

THANK YOU.... !!!!!