My Final Thoughts!

First of all, I'd like to thank Dr. Feinberg. Not only did you manage to touch both ends of the professor-likability spectrum for most students, you also managed to send the most relevant life messages using mostly Youtube videos and some perverted humor. These things alone show that you are truly a genius...

When it comes to being a leader, I conclude that it ultimately lies within the beholder. Some people have what it takes to lead, or at least learn to be an effective leader. Others, just don't care to be in that position in their lifetimes. I chose the path of learning to be an effective leader. I want to walk away from this class with the mindset that in order to be a leader the two areas I need to work on daily are my self-confidence and my initiative.

I always thought I was a confident person, but after this class and all of the reflection I have done, I realized that I don't carry myself or speak with conviction. I need to truly believe in myself and my ideas if I expect others to believe in me and my ideas. I know I am capable of great things, and it is time I carry myself in such a manner. If I am able to exhude confidence, and speak with the same conviction, then there is no doubt that I can attract followers to my cause.

The other area of my life that I need to immediately confront is my initiative. I realized that I tend to sit around and wait for things to happen. I have the motivation, internally, to want to do great things with my life. I dream of the possibilities that lie ahead of me. Like I said before, I am sitting around and waiting. If I want great things to come my way, I need to go bring them to me. No longer can I sit around and wait for the call from my dream internship, or sit around and imagine my body becoming more muscular. I can not sit around and expect my group members to organize our meetings, or sit around on a Friday night and wait for somebody to call me. I need to take the intiative in my life in every area. I need to practice making things happen with every area in my life, and build my drive.

Improving these two areas in my life will guide me in whatever I do. I may not be the best leader right now, or have a sufficient reason for people to follow me. However, I have the ability to learn, and the drive to improve my weaknesses. If I can really follow through on my ideas of improvement, then the sky is the limit. It is time to fly.....

M.R.D.

Leadership at Easter

I tried to relate Easter to leadership. So I watched the activities of the holiday, and thought about all of my previous experiences. Here is what I came up with.....
Easter egg hunts at my house showed the outcomes of poor communications from a leader.
My mom would hide the eggs all over the house. As we found more and more eggs, the final eggs would be harder and harder to find. We would be looking for a while, and finally ask my mom for some clues. She would give us a very vague clue, something like; the egg is visible. So we would look, not find it, and she would start saying how she can't believe we can't find it, and how easy it is.
The relation to leadership is that everything will seem easier to a leader. The leader knows how to get the stuff done, and how it should be at the end of the task. However, it is not that easy to the follower if the leader can not give a detailed explanation on how to do it efficiently. My mom did not give us detailed enough clues, and it never got any easier. Leaders need to be able to communicate effectively and clearly in order for the followers to to accomplish the tasks the way the leaders want them to.

M.R.D.

Arguments Are Okay?

Monday's class was about being able to have constructive arguments, and everyone being able to share ideas.... Now I am no expert, but arguing all of the time never got me anywhere with my ex-girlfriend. It is commonly accepted that arguing on numerous occasions tends to distance people from one another. If I am constantly arguing with my group members about ideas, I would tend to get annoyed of that person. Maybe that is my own personality threshold.

However, what I do believe in is open discussion. A healthy discussion greatly benefits every team. It allows people to feel a sense of belonging, and allows leaders to hear ideas that may end up better than their own. One thing I do believe in, as far as leadership positions, is that leaders are wise to build teams with people smarter than them. If a leader does this, and creates an environment where discussion can freely flow, then the team will operate more efficiently and create a better overall outcome.

Here is a quote to think about.....
"Discussion is an exchange of knowledge; argument is an exchange of ignorance.”-Robert Quillen

Active Listening

Active listening goes beyond being a necessity for leadership. While it is important for all of us to become active listeners if we want to be good leaders, it is also important for us to become active listeners if we want to be good friends, siblings, sons or daughters, boyfriends or girlfriends, and so on. We can use our own personal examples to validate this point.
As we make our way through the obstacles of life, we will all hit rough patches. We will suffer mistakes, headaches, and heartbreaks. We will search for every means of strength to make it through the tough times. I went through tough times in August when I split up with my girlfriend of 3 years. I was not ready for the relationship to end and didn't know what to do with myself. I didn't eat, I didn't sleep, and worst of all, I gave up on everything I had going. My grades slipped, and I was not fun to hang out with. It was the listening of other people that got me through the tough times.
I was able to talk to my mom and sisters about the things I felt, and know that they were listening with empathy and advice. It was that fact alone that made me realize, I might be okay without my ex-girlfriend and ex-best friend. It is from this that I realized, if I want to truly show my respect and care for somebody else, I need to be able to lend an ear.
This same thing resonates with every leader. Leaders need to be able to listen and understand what their subordinates have to say or feel. If leaders can show that they listen and empathize with their followers, trust will be easier to build than a Legos set.

Back to Reality...

Oh how nice it was to be in California for a week. It was a complete buzz kill to come back to school and read all of the CSR 309 emails...However, it is time to talk leadership.

After the lecture on company culture, and the leadership involved in making sure everybody understands what is expected of them, I started thinking about my dad's company that he works for. I have never seen a person put so much into his job, and constantly be stressed by it. What makes it frustrating is the person in charge. The President of the company has no clear cut direction in which he wants to go, and has no idea of how he wants to operate. I worked for the business for 3 summers and it was evident that nobody knows exactly what their part is in the operation. The company has only stayed afloat because of the standards set by the previous 2 Presidents.

Thinking of all of these things made me realize that in order to lead any group at all, one must be completely on top of their game. They need to be putting 100% effort into 100% of what they are doing, 100% of the time. A leader must have a clear vision and direction, understand and communicate exactly how and why they are headed that way, and constantly perform maintenance on those expectations.

Thus, I say this to leaders.... NOTHING LESS THAN 100%

M.R.D.

Back in Action!

Well all of my loyal followers, it has been a little while since I have posted anything. Unfortunately, I was at home for the last week after my grandmother passed away. It was a very tough time.

However, I am back and ready to blog.

I wanted to write about the exercise we did where we had to imagine what would be said about us at our own funeral. It was funny to me because I have already thought about this a little while ago. I was reading the 7 Habits book by Covey and saw this same exercise in that book. At that same time, I was going through a very difficult situation with a girlfriend of 3 years.
To make a long story short, I was pretty stupid in the relationship and hurt her pretty bad. We broke up and I realized how dumb I was and it was too late. So I was bearing the feeling of letting her down, letting her family down, and letting my family down. Then I read that exercise.....

I pictured my funeral, and thought about the things that people would say about me. It hit me that the most important people to me would not be saying what I would hope. That was an earth shattering experience. From that day forward I made it a mission to live my life in a manner that people would respect and admire. That means being a trustworthy person. That means being the hardest worker in anything I try. That means being there for people no matter what. That means growing up and acting like a man.

So to those of you who are reading this, and would even attend my funeral, I hope I am giving you something good to talk about.

Sitting On My Leadership Ass

How could I be so stupid?



I sat there and decided against applying for a leadership position. I thought I had no chance of getting voted to be a leader with the number of people in our class. There was no way I would ever make a better leader then most of the people in the class. DUH!



As I entered the tower building project knowing only the last name of my group leader, not who he was or who was in my group, I began to think about the mistake I made. I never received any email about my duties for the project, or where we were to meet. So I aimlessly walked around for the first 15 minutes of the project, and I got to observe most of the groups. I thought to myself, "there were only a handful of leaders that are better leaders than I am." This thought alone was enough for me to realize NO MORE!


NO MORE shall I sit on my ass and go with the flow.

NO MORE shall I doubt my abilities as a leader.

NO MORE shall I leave the fate of my grades in class to somebody else.



So to the many of you who imitated my position in class on the day of leader nominations, never leave outcomes to somebody else. If you want things to go a certain way, or things to happen for you, do something! Don't sit back and go with the flow of things. Stand up, flex your leadership ass, and make things happen!

M.R.D.