A Book Club Reflection
During this “second act” of my life, I kicked off a book club called, “Bets-ya-didn’t-read-that“. At first, my intention was to focus on activities that I had deprioritized in my life, but it’s been a growth opportunity for me - I’ve enjoyed reading a diverse genre of books that aren’t my typical go-to. I lovingly refer to our book club as the Misfits since any book from any genre can be added to our list, but perhaps I should rename it the Diverse Literary Society. We started with a few historical fiction novels, dabbled in comedy, and bounced to mystery and thrillers.
This month, we’re reading The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett. Have you ever read a book and thought, “wow, this character reminds me of me” but you can’t articulate why? Birdie Calhoun, a main character, is a no-nonsense self-sufficient young woman in the 1930s, but when the author uses the word “pragmatic” to describe her, I swear a little lightbulb icon formed above my head. I normally call myself logical or practical but pragmatic sums it up better.
Merriam-Webster’s definition of pragmatic is dealing with the problems that exist in a specific situation in a reasonable and logical way instead of depending on ideas and theories: practical as opposed to idealistic.
If you know me, you’ll likely agree this describes me well. Seeing myself as Birdie, I felt like I was the main character in the story, riding along on the adventures, comforted by Birdie’s use of logic and reason to guide her decisions.
While reading the book, I couldn’t help but wonder if this was a nature vs nurture phenomenon. Have I always been pragmatic or was it cultivated over time? In Birdie’s case, it seemed to be a little bit of both, and I think the same holds true for me as well.
Is being pragmatic in your DNA?
In 2021, I worked on a project with someone who had a degree in Cultural Ecology. The idea that your core values remain constant based on your cultural upbringing while the outer rings of your personality and decision-making skills can be influenced by environmental factors fascinates me. I have a B.S. in Chemistry and chose analytical chemistry as my area of concentration. My first job found me working in a lab, following strict procedures, documenting my work diligently in a notebook, and abiding by regulations. Everything was precise, and decisions were made based on evidence and data. Eventually, I got involved in multiple process improvement projects, which taught me to understand a process end to end, identify waste and pain points, put countermeasures in place to fix the process, and all the while, relying on data to evaluate the outcome.
I was raised by two scientists. My dad was a chemistry teacher (after taking a circuitous route from biology major to home builder to insurance salesman to getting a second degree in chemistry later in life). My mom started in the lab as a bench chemist, forged her own path along the way with additional degrees in Project Management and Supply Chain Management, eventually serving on her site’s executive team. Both were raised by parents who survived the Depression and served in WWII. Could their upbringings have impacted on my eventual career path?
My decision-making style is to gather the data, look at the facts, and use structure or framework to guide my process-thinking approach. Is this because I spent my career in pharma, where regulations and rules guided every decision made? Or did I choose this path due to my pragmatic nature.
Upon reflection, I realize that my early career learnings impacted how I was taught to make decisions; however, I believe I was drawn to such a role because of my pragmatism - I believe it’s nestled into my core values. But can my pragmatic nature be seen as a flaw or possibly a blind spot in a role that values creating without boundaries or that values unique one-time solutions? While I love working in the “squishy”, nebulous space, I also seek to create framework and structure so that the process can be repeated or iterated upon.
Understanding My Blind Spots
After spending a year in a creative space that wasn’t regulated by strict procedures, I now see that my pragmatic nature may have been seen as a blocker. When organizations encourage individuals to dream without guardrails, the pragmatic type may appear to be struggling with the lack of structure, but in reality, we are “questioners” by nature. Whether it’s in our DNA or we learned it, we seek to have the data to drive our decisions in a logical way. We understand that using emotions to make decisions may not drive us to the correct outcomes or dreaming for too long may slow down the process. Could my pragmatism have rubbed people the wrong way? Was I seen as someone bogged down by the details?
Ironically, my pragmatic nature got me through the past 10 months. I didn’t let my emotions drive my decisions. I took logical steps and gathered data along the way. In determining my next career move, I focused my energy into researching things like which website platform I should use, should I use Microsoft or Google to create my business account, what is the logical order for establishing a new business, and the list goes on. While I am now more aware that being pragmatic can also be seen as a flaw, I proudly wear the badge of pragmatism because I think it’s highly correlated to grit and resilience.
In The Calamity Club, Birdie’s pragmatic approach ultimately leads to her survival and while my Bets-ya-didn’t-read-that book club wasn’t purposefully created to help me heal, I am grateful that our book club chose this book because it gives me hope that I will also survive this sabbatical period of my life and will come out stronger in the end. Birdie’s practical resilience and refusal to let emotional setbacks stall her action are continuously highlighted in her inner monologue when facing hardship, and I felt this in my soul.
Have you ever read a book and felt like you were the main character because of a character trait? Did it cause you to pause and reflect on this trait?
