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Week 14 Reflection

4/15: Seeking Diversity (cultural norms)

4/17: Valuing Diversity

Reflection:

In class we were asked, “What about diversity is important to me as a leader?”  The most important part of having diversity as a leader is being able to have many different inputs on what you are trying to accomplish.  Addmitingly, as an individual I am pretty set in my ways, but with diversity in a group I can see more opptions.  Having diversity helps you to have multiple ways to attck any problem you may come accross.  Without diversity a group may be blind to one side of a discussion.  I conclusion, diversity gives a more broad range of a way to look at and attack topics.

Week 12 Reflection

4/1: Time Management

4/3: Problem Solving (Overcoming Obstacles)

Reflection:

A problem I seem to run into every night is finding what I want to eat.  This problem is usually resolved with a reflexsive decision making style.  I usually just eat or buy the first food that pops in my head.  Boom, thats my usual solution, first idea I eat.  Ever since arriving to college I have had to put more thought into what I eat.  I have become a reflective thinker on this topic.  I am now forced to take into consideration the cost of food, the convience if I need to study or work, the healthieness since I am no longer in sports and food my roomates will like as well.  My solution for my problem is now more than anything, grilled chicken thighs.  They are health consious, quick to make on my foreman, I can buy them in bulk to save money, and all of my roomates enjoy them.

Week 10 Reflection

3/18: Transactional vs. Transformational Leadership

3/20: Emotional Intelligence (EQ)

Reflection:

My example of miscommunication is simple and occurred over spring break.  When my dad got up for work at 4 a.m he gave me directions to clean up our dogs messes in the back yard when I woke up.  The situation with the miscommunication occurred in the early morning, I was asleep and my dad was in a hurry.  I was not fully awake and was unable to absorb the task he had given me.  The involvement I had in the miscommunication was not making sure I was fully awake but instead only appeared to be coherent in order to get him to go away.  I was able to overcome the miscommunication only because my dad called me in the middle of the day and asked if the yard  was cleaned up.  This gave me the chance to dodge the otherwise inevitable tongue lashing that I would have had in store.  As a result of the miscommunication I had to hurry in completing my task which led to an unsatisfactory job.  This meant I still felt a little heat from my dad because of the way my finished product looked.

Week 9 Reflection

3/4: Understanding Power

3/6: Communication in Leadership

Reflection:

Understanding my motivation factor influence my personal leadership a lot.  I am motivated by helping others become motivated about improving themselves.  This makes motivation everything to my personal leadership.  When I lead, I am constantly using motivation tactics.  It’s hard for me to describe how motivation affects me because I am used to being the motivator.  If I had to decide what motivates me, I would have to say seeing myself improve each day.  Asking myself if I got better today is something I look forward to asking myself every night.  Another motivating factor for me is to influence other in a positive way to push them to their full potential.  I love to influence kids especially from my hometown.  Motivation is something I always try to instill in these kids when I am home.

Week 3 Journal

1/21: Values Clarification

1/23: Personal Ethics in Leadership

In class we focused on finding our purpose, mission and vision.  These three words are what we use to find out what we are meant to do with our lives.  I do not know how many people actually know their purpose, mission and vision, but those who do know must have put a lot of thought into them like we have in this class.  When I look at myself to find my purpose in life, I look to where I find the most joy.  This joy seems to come to me when I am back in my hometown trying to coach students to their full potential.  I feel like coaching does not only affect students in sports but also has a big impact on their entire lives.  I know this because one of my coaches from high school is still the reason behind my efforts in life.  My mission then would be to push these kids to be the best they can be by pushing them academically, athletically and as people.  I could do this by carrying myself in a positive light for them to look up too as well as numerous other ideas I constantly have swirling around in my head.  The vision I have for myself is to know I made an impact on these kids life, even if I only impact one.  My home town has a bad reputation with the other towns around us and I would like to be part of the change of our reputation.  I also seem to be a very optimistic person and I would like to help others be the same way.

Week 2 Journal

1/14: Defining Leadership

1/16: Leadership Mission and Vision

After finding the leadership definitions for different individuals, I have found that no two definitions were the same.  While some were close to others and some were a lot different, I was able to conclude that all of the definitions involved related concepts.  To me, this means there is no one set way to lead a group of people.  Different opportunities may call for different ways of leading.  For example, coaching a little kid’s soccer team is going to be lead in a different manner than owning a business.  So far in my life I have experienced leadership roles that are very similar.  I have been a team captain in sports, I have coached teams and I have been an older employee at work helping younger employees learn the job.  I believe that the definitions I received from each person are a reflection of the leadership roles they have held during their lives.  In my opinion, a good leader depends on the situation but a complete leader is also able to know how to adjust to other situations.  They need to be well rounded enough to be able to complete any kind of leadership task asked of them.  This is the kind of leader I believe most people aspire to be.

Week 6 Refelction

Week 6:

2/11: Leadership Philosophy Presentation

2/13: Strengths Based Leadership

Reflection:

Three of the leadership theories we discussed in class really stuck with me,  behavioral, role and transformational theories.

Behavioral theory stuck out to me because I agree with the principals.  Leaders are formed through life experiences rather than being born.  In life, events unfold in front of you that will mold your perceptions choices and who you are.  I feel there are people who do not appear to be leaders out there, but inside they have the potential to become great leaders.  Learning how to use the tools you develop throughout life is another important part of being a leader.  Some people have more success utilizing their tools on their own and other have to learn from watching and interacting with others.  I think I am one of these people who have potential and I am trying to learn how to utilize my skills.

Role theory made me think of living up to expectations.  I feel I have a job to live up to the expectations of anyone who looks up to me, and in return I look for them to live up to my expectations.  Also in role theory, I need to be able to see the strengths and weaknesses of those who look up to me so I am not expecting to much out of anyone.  I also need to know my own strengths and weaknesses so I know when I need to let someone else help me with a task or whatever I may come by.

Transformational theory is when you can sell your vision by inspiring people.  I feel like this fits me because when I am passionate about something I can really encourage people and make them enthusiastic.  My mom always told me I do not seem to have much to say, but when I do people listen because it is most likely something I am passionate about.

Week 5 Reflection

Week 5

2/4: Overview of Leadership Theories

2/6: Leadership Philosophy & Styles

Reflection:

By asking someone to describe a crest of what they value, you can really find out about a person.

Middle Circle: My middle circle is filled with faith.  In high school church was a must for me.  I am raised Catholic and have went through many classes.  Faith to me is knowing even when you are having a really bad day, tomorrow will be a step forward into better times.  Faith is knowing somebody is always there for you.  Faith is knowing no matter the sins committed in the past, God is willing to forgive you.  Faith is knowing knowing you are where you are for a reason.  Faith is touching others lives.  Faith is knowing an everlasting life is waiting for us.  This is why faith is so important to me.

Upper Left Corner: Relationships are very important to me.  I love my family so much, I thought I wanted to get away from them for college but I find myself going to see them every chance I get.  I believe in quality over quantity when talking about friendships.  I have very good friends who I know I can trust and lean on in the bad times.  The good friends are the ones who stay with through bad times.  My friends would visit my family in the hospital when my grandparents were passing (three in the past three years.)  I knew I could count on them to help me through tough times and I have done the same for them.

Upper Right Corner: Fitness is important to me.  I am not talking about staring at myself in the mirror kind of fitness but instead working out to stay healthy.  I have been heavily involved in crossfit the past two years and it have helped my physical and mental fitness.  I have broken down so many barriers about what I thought I was capable of.  This really is a rewarding feeling for me.  Also the feeling carries over into everyday life, from feeling better about yourself to thinking, “Man if I could push myself through that I can sit down and study for an hour.”  Fitness has helped me to strive for more in daily life than I believe I would otherwise.  I feel healthy and I have built unbreakable bonds with people I have tortured myself with.  I love it.

Lower Left Corner: Education is also very important to me.  I have less to right about for education but I refuse to not see the importance.  I know my education is going to help me to get to where I want to be.  I feel an immense amount of pride when I see a good grade on an exam and I can only dream of what I will feel when I receive my college degree.  Education is my present and it will carry me through my future.

Lower Right Corner: Last but not least, being a positive influence on others is important to me.  I love wearing my values and my beliefs on my sleeve, especially when working with my hometown high school and junior high kids.  I feel so rewarded to know that I can show these kids that being yourself, and not conforming to what others may be doing is okay, even if I only I can show one student.  I know that they in turn may be able to influence peers or younger students.  I really feel like I have to cut myself off because I do not want to write a book about how I feel about all of these.  Anyway, I feel as though all of these values of mine are intertwined, they all touch on each other.

Week 4 Reflection

Week 4:

1/28: Leadership Traits and Characteristics

1/30: Leadership Roles and Skills

Reflection:

Everyone lives by their own code of ethics.  My code of ethics is as followed:

– Be true to myself no matter the circumstances.

– Always have faith that I am where I am supposed to be.

– Treat others with respect and never put anyone down because of being different.

– Push someone toward their highest potential every chance I get.

– Always remember where I come from.

– When things get tough I get tougher.

– Do not be afraid to fail, embrace it.

– I will always be there for my family.

– Strive to be the best that I can be in whatever I may be doing.

– Always lend my shoulder to cry on, you never know when you will need the favor returned

Week 3 Reflection

Week 3:

1/21: Values Clarification

1/23: Personal Ethics in Leadership (social norms)

Reflection:

Purpose: My purpose is to influence other individuals to be the best they can be.

Mission: Be a role model for individuals to show them that they have a high potential that can be achieved through hard work.

Vision: I hope to be seen as someone people can look up to and want to be like because of the way I carry myself.