April Freaks

April really scares me!! Why do people always go crazy with attitudes and just good old bad manners when it becomes spring time?? Is it because the weather keeps changing back and forth or is it because school is almost over and everyone is anxious??

What does this say about leadership? Not really sure but I feel that a good leader can control their moods and attitudes regardless of the weather conditions. Having a positive attitude toward your followers I believe will only make your followers love you and make you a better leader.

I have a friend in a group of all sorority girls and they all have attitudes with her. She thinks it's because she is not a sorority girl but to make her feel better I tell her it's because of the season. I told her people freak out and have attitudes during this time of year. Who knows?? But it made her feel 10 times better when I said it.

Creating Meaningful Change

Structure vs. Communication

Dr. Feinberg says that structure is important in an organization. True, it maybe important but I feel the #1 priority of a company is to have communication, efficiently and effectively. I took an OLS 252 class and the book stated that the number #1 failure of most fortune 500 companies is poor interpersonal (communication). So with that said, a company can have as much structure as it wants to have but without communication it cannot succeed to the level its members would like it to. However, it can also be true the other way around. Poor communication can be because of a lack of structure within the company.

In CSR 309, I believe that the communication within each group is progressively getting better because the more structure that we have (IE. having group leaders) the better the communication as become. The class started off with so much confusion but now it is less confusing and the task is more noticeable than it was in the beginning.

The Leadership Essence Can be Taught....and Caught??

Recently, we did an assignment which was a Living Obituary of a classmate. The instructions on the assignment was to capture the essence of your classmate in the assignment. Since, this is a leadership class I was guessing that we had to capture the "Leadership" essence.

I have found a website that addresses capturing the essence of leadership. It explains that we don't have to necessarily be taught leadership but we can capture/catch the essence of leadership through stories. I felt like this was the best website to explain the Living Obituary assignment.

Below is the website address...

http://www.the-happy-manager.com/leadership-stories.html

The next web address is from the same website; However, it is an example story that they share about an essence of leadership through the story of Thomas Edison

http://www.the-happy-manager.com/essence-of-leadership.html

Retrieved 3/13/09

Your Thoughts vs. Your Friends - What would your friends say about you at your funeral??

Last time in CSR 309 class, I was picked by Dr. Feinberg to do a demonstration. The demonstration was that a friend that I had in class was to go in the hallway while I tell Dr. Feinberg what I think my friend would say about me at my funeral. By the way, my friends name is Amy. While Amy was in the hallway, I listed several things I thought she would say about me such as I'm a good friend, I make my friends better, I'm honest, I'm goofy and outspoken. After I listed the things I thought she would say about me, he then called her back into the classroom. Amy came to the front of the class and he explained to her what was going on. She was to say what she would say about me at my funeral and she had to get at least 3 correct. She said a variety of things about me, however, she got 3 right even though Dr. Feinberg gave her credit for 2. She said that I was honest, I'm a good friend and that we have a lot of inside jokes (which to me implied the goofy aspect). The point of this exercise was to display to the class that what you think your friends would say about you may not always be correct. You should lead your life the way you want to be portrayed so that people speak that way about you. I was thoroughly impressed by the exercise. Maybe I am living the life that I want people to see me as...It was slightly apparent that my friend sees me in those ways that I expressed before she came into the class.

After class I asked my parents how they viewed me. Both of my parents said that they instilled a lot of values in me and I hold true to those values with my honesty and ability to speak up.

As for my professor, Dr. Feinberg, he said that he doesn't remember me even though I have made several attempts to be noticed in the class. I'm not the least bit offended but I am sure that it is hard to keep track of the many students he has each semester.

I feel accomplished to know that I am living some of the part that I think people are perceiving me as.

As I said after our demostration when Dr. Feinberg gave us a reward for participating in the exercise, "its an unbelievable gift", especially to know what I found out after the demonstration.

So you don't want to re-invent yourself =FAILURE

Hello, Hello, Hello

I have been gone for awhile and I would like to apologize. In recent as well as past events, I was in a different class other than CSR 309 and we discussed the failure of Polaroid and their technology. Everyone knows Polaroid was popular for the instant photograph which projected from the camera. Keyword is instant. The instant form of technology advances as we speak (or type). Everyday people want better and more instant forms of technology. The most recent form is digital camera technology. Polaroid failed to familiarize themselves with the new technology and failed from being a leader to bankruptcy. This is a valuable leadership lesson that we have talked about CSR 309 and the book the Leadership Challenge. ALWAYS BE WILLING TO RE-INVENT YOURSELF whether its through technology or through a personal function in your life. If you do not you could lose everything from financial to followers (customers). Below is an article I found that expands on Polaroid's situation further.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/08/AR2008020803598.html

No time No Time

This Year, I have become the BIGGEST procrastinator that I have ever become before in my life. 21 credit hours is really taking a toll on my ability to stay focused. I basically wait to the last minute on most of everything. NOT A GOOD LOOK! But I hope to snap out of this mode upon graduation.

Senior year has been a challenging process for me. I hope to not be the challenge for this year but to be the challenger for this year!

Romancing Your followers

I've heard Dr. Feinberg and Kirk talk about love your followers and romance them. In less complicated terms for me is to have a personal relationship with them. Having a relationship probably can help you have a better follower but what do you do when you do not have time for your follower or can not make time for your follower.

In my current job, I used to have time to have a personal relationshio with my followers because it was my junior year and I didn't have much to do. However, since I have become a senior I have been more focused on my opportunities for success. Not to mention, I am taking 21 credit hours. I do not have much time to romance my followers. Sorry followers! But I have picked someone who is going to take my place next year who will be able to do that task.

Readership Ability

CSR 309 is quite informative. We had a workshop that I feel was very helpful in developing my personal and professional growth. The workshop was no doubt 5 hours long which was a bummer but it was a great experience. The speaker for the workshop was Kirk Weisler. The most profound idea that he spoke on that really got my attention was having the ability to read but not utilizing the skill. It made me realize how much I do not read and how much I am costing myself in growth by not using my abilities as best. Since the workshop, I have gotten together a list of books I would like to read for this year alone. Thank You Kirk for making me realize something so fundamental about using your abilities. It's ironic that they instill that reading is important in grade school then when we are in our careers we don't read.

P.S. For more on Kirk Weisler go to kirkweisler.com

Leadership in Commercials

In CSR class, Dr. Feinberg showed us some clips that he picked for us to watch. Each clip was a commercial (mostly from the superbowl) which had a sort of message pertaining to leadership. The companies that advertise their product use life experiences/situations to sell their product. As Dr. Feinberg pointed out, most consumer do not see the hidden message in the commercial besides the advertising of a product.

Below is a commercial clip i found on YouTube which illustrate exactly what Dr. Feinberg was subjecting us to. I feel this commercial conveys that leaders of today plant seeds for our future (children).



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ur_H4vL0YB8

Aretha Franklin (How Shocking)

This is very disturbing and I just wanted to share this with you. Aretha Franklin, a legendary R&B soul singer is very prominent in the music entertainment business. She has inspired a lot of old/new singers to become singers and follow in her footsteps. Recently, she took a very shocking picture that has people talking about it. The picture is very revealing and may be a little disturbing to you. I believe a real leader who inspires others should be presentable in the eye of their followers. I believe a good images sends good messages about how you are, not to mention it helps with your own (self) brand identity.

Current Employer

My Current employer is Purdue University. I work in a residence hall as a student supervisor. I manage a staff of 17 individuals, all of which have their own distinct personalities. At the beginning, I admit that I loved my job. However, now that my stress and lifestyle has changed the job is more stressful because I am on call most of the time.

Furthermore, my other duties include creating work schedules, handling disciplinary actions, hiring, training and terminations.

Leadership...So much encompasses this word. I believe a leader is a person who persuades others to follow him/her using various tools and skills such as motivation.

It was day 2 of Purdue University CSR 309 class and the professor wanted to teach us a lesson by giving each us the same task on a sheet a paper then observing to see what the class would do without any direction at all. Several, people got up that day thinking they were leaders and made assumptions about what we were supposed to do as a class. Many people that tried to be the leader did not lead us toward our task at hand. I am still not sure to this day what the lesson was on. As were many, I was confused. However, I did get up and ask the professor, "Aren't we supposed to go over what this paper says in particular?" He gave me no answer.
Later, he sent the class an email about the observation that day. He mentioned me in that observation of when I asked him that question but then he also wrote in the paper "why didn't I do something about it?" That statement that I read sparked something in me. I felt like I knew the answer but I lack the motivation to go in front of the class to do something.

This blog is about me and my progression into leadership. In addition, this blog is about how CSR 309 will help me progress in the direction of a great leader. Knowing I had a chance at being great but not taking the opportunity. Could CSR 309 be my opportunity toward being a great leader? We will see....