POTO Reflection No. 4
During the Spring 2019 semester, I was finally able to begin my doctoral journey. It seems I waited a lifetime to begin, having completed my Master’s degree in 1995 – my oldest son (Michael) was two! However, as I reflect back on my life’s journey, there is a realization that had I begun sooner, I may not have appreciated the coursework in the same manner. Evidence of this fact – anecdotal of course – was my response to my initial reading of Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed seemed to speak directly to me. Given my work in organizational and leadership development, the application of Freire’s work to educational organizations was oblivious to me. I saw and understood organizational development, and from a new lens.
My days as a student attending Frostburg State University saw my movement in the student leadership realm more than the classroom. This was key to my development as a person, Black student, and student leader, respectively. Taking Freire’s work, into consideration, I was likely the antithesis of an empty vessel. Education was my first love and for some reason, I just always knew things. I could read an article, passage, book, or whatever and my mind would subconsciously connect dots immediately. I was the “smart guy” and as a result a leader. Heck, my first foray into leadership was during my time in the Boy Scouts of America – Troop No. 138 located in Baltimore’s Park Heights community, not far from where I now live. Those leadership experiences seemed to revive themselves once on Frostburg’s campus.
Once I found my voice as a student leader, I spoke boldly and bluntly regarding matters of equity for Black students. After all, I chose Frostburg because it was my belief in order to navigate the post-collegiate world, I needed a better understanding of how to navigate majority culture; Frostburg was an EXCELLENT teacher. From serving as a three-time president of the Black Student Alliance, or as the precursor of the FSU Student Chapter of the NAACP, or as the second Black treasurer of the Student Government Association, as well as a student senator, or as vice president of the Greek Council, I spent an inordinate amount of time in organizations. Not just as a member, but as a connoisseur of how they are to operate.
As a professional, I have taken the path of consultancy from serving as a certified project manager to a “strategist and fixer” for various organizations – mostly for technology projects. However, it was a Fraternity Brother, Mr. Raymond V. Haysbert, Sr., who helped bring it all together for me in 2008. As a project manager working on C-level projects, there was the advantage of considering a perspective few others could understand. Whether navigating operational or resource (human and financial) challenges, a person with my background who could do so could move into a position of coaching others to do the same. Considering he would transition from the physical realm only two years later, in the middle of my mentoring, it was revealing to read Freire’s theory of the dynamics between oppressors and oppressed. Having assisted a few non-profit organizations and coached professionals in navigating operational dynamics it was as if Freire had surveyed hundreds of professionals to determine why organizations struggled and provided the roadmap for improvement. As noted in my first reflection, I place his work in the realm of “organizational systems” and “system maintenance.” The ability to do a deep dive into this book has exposed not just Freire’s concept of banking education, but his concept on dialogue, praxis, and conscientization – each of which appears to play a key role in organizational development and dynamics. To me this course has provided exposure to a possible model to understand better, the “why” in an organization’s challenge.
