In the end...

When I first started this class I was spectacle about being able to learn about leadership in a classroom. There are just some topics that cannot be taught in a classroom and are better understood when you experience them in real life... I thought leadership was one of these topics. After realizing all the different things I have learned about leadership in this class, I found that leadership could be taught in a classroom setting. There were topics about leadership that I did not even consider before taking this class. As a whole, I feel like many students are the same way. The first class we wrote down things that makes a good leader. This list mainly consisted of qualities such as organized, outgoing, persuasive, etc. These characteristics that we listed barely covered the spectrum of leadership. Throughout the class, I realized that leaders not only need the characteristics that we listed but also need to have a vision and share this with followers, they need to motivate their followers, take challenges and try new things, recognize and reward followers, and support followers. Again, this list can go on but there is a huge difference between the two lists. The second one is much more in depth and provides clearer aspects on leadership than just saying a leader is organized. The difference in the two lists just helps display the better understanding and insight that I have received with this class.

Additionally, the way that leadership was taught in this class helped us be more aware of leadership in things we do daily. For example, a movie, many of us have watched endless movies but have we ever considered the leadership in them. Until now... no. Never did I think about the leadership prevalent in a movie while watching it but as discovered through the large list of movies used for our papers, many movies have leadership in them. Also, the Airborne military program videos that we watched were a unique example of leadership. A normal viewer would never think about the extraordinary leadership ideas in those videos but after this class it is hard not to think it.

So not only has this class given me a better understand and base qualities of leadership, it has also made me realize that leadership can be observed in many facets of life.

What you want?

It was interesting to see the different comments that men and women had about the opposite sex. The main thing that got my attention was the huge difference in views between men and women. There was a huge disconnect between the two and this is what causes the underlying issue and conflict between the two. This disconnect causes issues in expectations, views, and relationships. So for years, there has never been any clarification or resolution to this problem and honestly I do not think there ever will be. This issue probably will not be changed because a lot of it has to do with genetics and just the tendencies of males and females. It would be too hard to changed learned behaviors.

The same issue can happen regarding leadership. If there is a disconnect between a leader and their follows this can only lead to problems. Having these different views in expectations can only cause future problems especially if they go unresolved. Followers not knowing what their leader expects of them only makes them unable to fulfill their duties and cause their work to not be up to par or what their boss wants. As for leaders if they do not make their expectations clearly stated then this will cause issues for their followers. Followers having unknown goals cause followers to have an unclear understanding on what to do. Even though males and females are unable to completely correct problems caused by the disconnect, leaders have the ability to clarify their goals. Clearly stating what leaders want from their followers can only provide a means to avoid problems. So creating an environment that has specified expectations and open communication can only be beneficial for the leader and followers.

Influential Leaders

Time.com has the posting for top 100 most influential people. You are currently able to vote for the 2009 candidates. Of the 205 candidates, Barack Obama, Twitter Creators Jack Dors and Biz Stone, Jim Cramer, The Charter 08 Authors, Tzipi Livni, and Bernie Madoff are some of the names included. You can vote at http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1883644_1883653_1884491,00.html.

I also looked at the Top 100 from 2008 that people voted for. The top five for 2008 were Dalai Lama, Vladimir Putin, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and John McCain. Three individuals being politicians, obviously you can observe that it was an election year. If you would like to view the remaining finalist go to http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1733748_1733757,00.html.

Survival of the leadership...

Today in class we did a group exercise about being stranded in a desert and ranking the items to be left with. So this had me thinking what are some of the survival items needed for leadership.

These are the top five things needed for survival of leadership:
1. Take risks and challenges.
2. Be specific and clear on expectations and goals.
3. Do what you say and lead by example.
4. Provide followers with information on how they are doing and give feedback.
5. Recognize people and acknowledge their efforts.

Leaders need these qualities to be able to survive. Just like being in the desert, if you do not select the proper items and survival techniques you will not make it out of the desert and with leadership if you do not have the proper tools to be a good leader you will not make it.

It was also interesting to see how teams made the decision process in obtaining the ranking for their 15 items. Particularly the teams that voted had scores that did not work in their favor. One of the worst scores was from a team that voted to get their ranking and it was interesting the Dr. Feinberg knew that this team had used voting as their method. Learning that voting was not an adequate method was unique because in many group settings voting is always thought to be the best option. It is the easier and less confrontational but as proved in class, it can be the least effective method because it does not allow discussion which can be a huge help when making decisions.