Very few psychotherapists, human relations trainers, or 360 degree feedback processes ever touch on these elements of the second quadrant. That is one of the reasons why I have introduced the Continental School in the New Johari Window. Perhaps as Joe Luft suggests, the task of liberating our personal and societal blindness is an ongoing task. The revealing of Quad Two blindness is, perhaps, one of the fundamental tasks of a humanistic, lifelong search for enlightenment and personal development.
Interaction between Two People
In order to better understand and appreciate the dynamics of Quad Two in Luft’s original Johari Window, I will turn, as I did in several previous essays, to the relationship between Sheila and Kevin. As you will recall, Sheila is Executive Director of the Human Service Agency, and Kevin is her new Board Treasurer. Both Sheila and Kevin are psychologically sophisticated. They both went to college, took Introduction to Psychology, have participated in several rudimentary human relations programs and—most importantly—have accumulated 40+ years of interpersonal experience and wisdom. They both know that Quad Two exists in one another.
Sheila knows (or at least assumes) that Kevin is holding back some thoughts and feelings about her. She suspects that Kevin may find her to be a bit intimidating, both because of her rather forceful and no nonsense manner and because of her friendship with Kevin’s boss. At an even deeper level, she wonders if Kevin is intimidated by strong and assertive women. “Is Kevin relatively quiet and reserved at Board meetings and during our meeting today because he is afraid of me or is he just a shy or quiet man?”
