Thanksgiving Leadership

 I know I'm a bit late in posting this, but due to the weekend festivities of eating leftovers, I decided to continue on and comment on this interesting blog article posted by Marci Segal on Wordpress.

In her blog, Segal asks the reader to compare their leadership skills with a Thanksgiving dinner table setting. Her main question was: "Do you focus more on the turkey or the table on which it is served?" In her assessment of comparing a Thanksgiving dinner table with a person's leadership skills, she asks the reader whether they tend to focus more on the overall outcome or the community involved in developing the final product? The turkey would represent the final product, while the overall dinner table presentation would represent the community of people that worked together to make the dinner table as delectable as possible.

I think this is an interesting way in which to compare one's leadership skills, because in reality, a Thanksgiving dinner requires more than one person to assemble. The family CEO (usually the maternal head of the household) overheads the entire planning process with the rest of the family who are given certain duties to accomplish. Some of the delegated duties assigned to the family members include: setting the table with utensils, napkins, and nice chinaware; purchasing groceries; cooking the turkey, as well as the other accompanying dishes; purchasing and serving the drinks; etc.

With those individuals focused on the "turkey" in an organizational setting, I believe they tend to be the type of people who take on the responsibility of organizing the entire Thanksgiving dinner without delegating tasks to others. Either because they get satisfaction knowing they accomplished the entire dinner on their own or because they dislike assigning tasks they feel they could accomplish at a quicker rate or at a better quality. Those leaders stress throughout the process of organizing the dinner, they do not get to relax and enjoy the final dinner. Their desire is to get the compliments of others knowing they did the dinner on their own.

Regardless, I feel its a greater accomplishment to have the setting up of the Thanksgiving dinner table be a family affair. You build a stronger family bond, while arguing and fighting over where the mashed potatoes will be placed on the table. Setting up the dinner table, as well as depending on a community to develop the final product, allows people to build networking/socializing skills. It creates a communal bond through the process of working together despite the arguments and disagreements. At the end of the day, everyone is working together toward a common goal. 


Janet Echeverry



http://marcisegal.wordpress.com/2010/11/24/thanksgiving-leadership-turkey-or-table/