The New Johari Window #30: Quadrant Four: The Unknown Area

Thus, the complexity and breadth of developmental issues at each phase may increase if we don’t successfully play out the current role and phase. The so-called mid-life crisis and despair of later life exemplify this compounding effect.  Regarding the fourth quadrant of the Johari Window, this means that the residue of the past may be increasingly influential or even disruptive if developmental issues associated with this residue are never successfully addressed.  Q4 is likely to intrude more often in Q1. There is likely to be more unintentional leakage into Q3-External, and our clear and accurate receipt of feedback (Q2 to Q1) is less likely to occur. Our developmental “ghosts” appear at in-opportune times—as they did in the life of Charles Dicken’s Ebenezer Scrooge—and demand attention.

[i]Luft, Joseph. Of Human Interaction. Palo Alto, CA: Mayfield Publishing Co., 1969, p. 65.

[ii]Luft, Joseph. Of Human Interaction. Palo Alto, CA: Mayfield Publishing Co., 1969, p. 67.

[iii]Luft, Joseph. Of Human Interaction. Palo Alto, CA: Mayfield Publishing Co., 1969, p. 66.

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