The 309 Spot

2006-04-17T13:57:00.000-07:00

The Meaning of the Blog

With the regular writing in our blogs, this was a way to get the class to reflect on their personal experiences and for us to look further within ourselves to get a true understanding of our strengths and weaknesses as a leader, in order to begin the process of learning and personal improvement. This process has lifted me up to learning in a new dimension which I haven’t yet experienced as thoroughly in any other university class. We are required to write our own feedback on the class, leadership and also how these things relate to our lives. We also got feedback on our entries from an anonymous classmate which helps us to gage our level of involvement and understanding. The feedback we were given from Dr. Feinberg and the classmate who evaluated our blogs has helped me realize the critical importance of giving feeback and recognition. The feedback helped me to propel myself towards success, understanding and improvement. Now I know that as a leader if I want to yield great results from my followers, the importance of feedback and recognition.

2006-04-10T15:53:00.000-07:00

Valuable Insight I've Gained in 309

One thing I have noticed that sets this class apart from others is the kind of feedback we receive on our work. So far in my university career, most classes you receive a grade for a paper you've done and never see that paper again (unless of course you are one of the few students who will go over their paper during office hours). For a lot of students, including me very often, once a paper is turned in then you feel like you've been freed and never have to think about it again. Not only is feedback important, but recognition for good work is what has inspired me to keep on doing my best. Every time I get on that Wall of Fame or receive positive comments, it inspires me to keep on working hard because I feel like it gives me some sort of hope that one day people will listen to what I have to say and be changed for the better by it. This is an important idea to remember when you are in a leadership position. Giving recoginition will inspire your followers to achieve great things.

2006-04-06T18:49:00.000-07:00

You're Fired !

This week our second group memo was due. For this assignment we were to evaluate an episode of the apprentice. This episode was great in teaching what not to do if you want to be a successful leader with a strong team. We watched as the team that failed at Mr. Trump's assigned task to create a marketing plan for Gillette struggled to maintain mature and accountable attitudes. We witnessed as the team placed the majority of the blame of their unsuccessful marketing campaign on Brent, claiming he is a liability with erratic behavior and a threat to the team’s positive performance. Perhaps the most critical flaw of the Synergy team was in the trouble the team members distinguished and somewhat embellished in regards to there fellow team member, Brent. Maybe Brent’s character and style in the way he accomplishes projects is different from that of the other Synergy team members, however that is not valid reason to outcast him from the group. The option the Synergy team considered, which was to send Brent home while the rest of the team worked on the assigned project, was as destructive, if not more, than what they claimed Brent’s character to be towards their team’s effort and success.What I hope the team leader should have learned from this failed experience that one of the keys to a successful performance of a team is to foster collaboration, be accountable for your own faults, and act with maturity and integrity.

2006-03-22T15:21:00.000-08:00

Developing Leadership Skills Are Not Always Necessary to Survive, but Are Necessary to Thrive

This week in class we were given a survival exercise, where it was your task to individually rank items according to their importance you felt they played in your survival on a stranded island. Then we were able to discuss these items with our team and come up with a team ranking. I wasn't too suprised to see that in our group's case, the team rankings were closer to the expert rankings. This proved to me that a collaborative effort amongst a team is important in order to thrive and perform to the best of its ability. This is the idea that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. In order for a leader to build a team that thrives, the leader must be an advocate of group development and create an environment that fosters a creative and collaborative effort amongst its group.

2006-03-06T13:17:00.000-08:00

"Take these broken wings and learn to fly..."

This past week we were administered our only exam of the semester. In the aftermath I discussed with a few people how they felt about the exam. I collectively gathered that many were left feeling a little depleted after taking this exam, despite their preparation. I think we can all learn a valuable leadership lesson in this which will help us succeed in this class. We witnessed in Norma Rae as she put forth a constant battle everyday in order to strive closer to her vision, succeeding in the end even after some devastating experiences. We have heard that the best leaders keep their vision in mind despite rough opposition. Now, after experiencing the exam which many considered a turbulent opposition, we are being tested. I have learned that it is the strong leader, who chooses to react positively after an experience that could have had a distressing impact on you. We can't always control our experiences, but it is in our ability to prepare for them the best we can and then control the way we react to that experience after it has happened.

2006-02-22T15:44:00.000-08:00

Norma Rae: Success in Leadership

This week in class we finished watching Norma Rae. As an assignment we are supposed to analyze her success as a leader in the movie and how it relates and compares to our success in this class as a leader. Watch out for some insightful posts on leadership once I gather my thoughts and complete the assignment. For now I'll leave you with a quote that I wrote down from Kirk Weisler's seminar that I feel captures the leadership essence of the character Norma Rae.

"We move towards and become, that which we consistently think about and believe."

2006-02-12T18:44:00.001-08:00

BUILD YOUR TOWER, MAKE YOUR MARK

First off, today's class was the first time we got to really interact within our teams and we had some fun! We were given a task to build a tower that represents your team. This is where it gets creative and symbolic. We were able to encorporate aspects of leadership and traits of a winning team visually into our tower. My team's tower reached the highest, looked the most powerful, and was stable. I feel this says a lot for how our team operates and the style of our leader. Each team member got to be creative and design something they felt represented them to put on the tower. Our team leader's symbol was placed at the top of the tower. This was a tree with extending roots, connecting and bringing together the symbols representing each team member. As a team member, today was a good day to be in CSR 309. Our teams were given the opportunity to make their mark and build unity. We left a bold impression.

2006-02-12T18:44:00.000-08:00

"A key, perhaps the key, to leadership is the effective communication of a story." -Kirk Weisler

The highlight of class this week were the inspirational musings of Kirk Weisler. The delivery of his narratives was a breath of fresh air for this class, different from the confusion and harsh lectures I feel we've experienced thus far. I feel like this seminar was a turning point in this class for me because I felt more engaged than I had before. I took some notes dealing with aspects of leadership that Mr. Weisler spoke about, but I feel that it was his energy and delivery of his stories that most left an impact on me. Though his stories were simple, they were entertaining and humorous and he had a positive radiance about him. He really showed that the key to being an inspirational leader was engaging your followers. I never anticipated that I would have been as interested as I was for nearly 4 or 5 hours.

2006-01-30T18:26:00.000-08:00

The first thing I did after class today was wash my hands...

We ended today's class with everyone lining up to shake Dr. Feinberg's hand. In the grander scheme of things we continued with the process of electing leaders. As an audience member, my task was to rate the potential leaders on how well I felt they displayed the characteristics of a good leader during their exercise of coming to a group consensus onstage of what makes a good leader. I felt again this was beneficial for me as an audience member to observe all groups from a perspective as if I were a recruiter observing behind a one way mirror. I rated those higher who spoke up early. It wasn't the words these people were speaking about that necessarily inspired me to rate them higher than another. There ratings were primarily based on there initial actions to take charge with the task that seemed a little confusing and very open ended up onstage. However, for a few of the people up onstage I felt like a lot of what they said lacked consideration. It seemed as if some of these people spouted off words that they thought the judges might like to hear even after last weeks election process. But then again everyone onstage earned points from me for at least being up there...they took a step towards a more noble end whereas I missed my opportunity to. Even though so far the election process has been mostly about first impressions and for me the most prominent in the elections were those who were poised and confident, I feel once the selection starts becoming more narrowed, the rhetoric of these people is really what is going to count. They have all demonstrated their ability with a more determined initiative than most in the class to volunteer themselves as potential leaders, but in the end I want an articulate, intelligent leader. Dr. Feinberg also mentioned today in class that it is a great thing to position yourself with people who are better than you. I consider this while rating the potential leaders.

2006-01-29T11:12:00.000-08:00

MY FIRST ENTRY

With the ongoing process of electing leaders in class, I've had some brutally honest realizations regarding aspects of my life I need to work on in order to mold myself into a better leader. So far this class has been vital for me to really get an objective picture of how I appear to a recruiter as a potential employee. Wednesday's class with the 30 second elevator pitch was also a great learning experience for me, even though I was just an audience member. First of all, I feel that all the candidates were courageous for attempting to sell themselves in front of a large, intimidating audience, which such short notice of what exactly they had to do. As an audience member, I was able to make some important observations of what sets one person apart from another. For most leader candidates up on stage, we kept hearing the same basic words and explanations over and over. Out of these individual explanations, those who stood out were people who had narratives to back themselves up. One person I remember who stood out was a young man who backed up his description of himself as a good leader with facts and experiences to support those descriptions, such as being the editor in chief of a literary magazine. Another realization I had was also that those who were confident and poised seemed to stand out very positively, even if what they said was repetitive in comparison to everyone else's comments. We were emailed an article to go along with I Inc., which talked about how attitude is the one thing that can really set you apart from the rest of the bunch. The article noted that it wasn't necessarily those who were smarter that achieved greater success in the workplace, but those who had positive attitudes that lived longer lives and were more successful. This idea was noticeable to me in Wednesday's class. When I was rating the candidates after they gave their comments on stage, I first of all kept in mind that they were all courageous and smart for taking the initiatve towards becoming a leader, but also I rated those who appeared to have confident and positive attitudes higher. If I were a recruiter, one of the most important aspects I would look for in a particular job candidate would be there ability to have a positive, confident attitude, and be sure of themselves whatever they happen to say while in the spotlight. I would want to hire someone who is confident in their decisions and on a determined path.