With many of these, I’m sure, Canova hadn’t intended to be the final piece, or even a demonstrated work, but it brought me the simple taste of a truth that a work’s importance isn’t always defined by the artist, goal achieved or not. Works in progress and left well enough alone are also a beautiful thing. 

One element that I am leaving out is the component of the team member’s characteristics because what I find interesting about this Path-Goal Theory is that it seems to assume a core element in a given team member: competence.

A team member is on a path to a goal but hits an obstacle (the work is overwhelming, unclear, etc.). A leader should then have a sense of how to best assist, at least on the premise that this person is able to do the work but for the unique nature of the work.

But a specific reason that I love the fall is because it is a long anniversary for me. I say it every year, and every year I mean: I think a lot about my time solo-traveling around Europe. During my first run at graduate school, I saved up some money and went around Europe for 100 days in the fall of 2017, mostly using couchsurfing.com and staying with friends.

Life seems to offer itself in cycles. And sometimes, it offers checkpoints in those cycles. Héctor Tobar is one for me. When I first met Héctor, there was no way I could have known that his moments in my life would be bookends to chapters in my life, a momentary touchstone for understanding where I am and where I’m headed.

In this model, a leader, after assessing how their team is doing on task, will be able to understand where their team is and can then derive what style is best for that situation. Thus, the matching relationship between the S1 and the D1 and so on.