Summing it up.

As a leader, it is extremely important to develop a clear vision. This carefully constructed vision must be reasonable and practical. It is necessary that a good leader makes certain his or her followers are fully aware of this vision and goal. A leader must also make known what is expected of his or her followers. If the team doesn’t know the expectations and responsibilities that have been set for them, they won’t completely ever satisfy their leader.

 In addition, a great leader must give his or her followers a compelling reason to follow them. If a leader isn’t optimistic, proactive, and trustworthy, they aren’t capable of being followed. An effective leader must deliver the results that they have promised their team. If a leader is simply all talk and know action, they aren’t giving their team a reason to want to follow them.

 On top of all of the leadership skills I learned from Professor Feinberg, one thing I have definitely taken from the leadership course involves the JP Morgan story. Each day, I wake up every morning and make a list of things I need to complete that day. If every item isn’t crossed off by the end of the day, I feel almost incomplete. I feel so accomplished each time I cross something off of my list. As dorky as it seems, I actually get excitement when I complete one of my tasks and get to cross it off my list.

 In our last class of the semester, Professor Feinberg showed a video of Jim Valvano. Valvano was the head coach of North Carolina State University and is most famous for his speech at the ESPY awards shortly before he died of cancer. Jim Valvano had a vision. He expressed how his vision became clear once he was diagnosed with cancer. While speaking at the ESPY awards, Jimmy V (as we he nicknamed) gave an inspirational speech that truly touched my heart. He stressed the importance of doing just three things every single day. He encouraged the audience to laugh, think, and let your emotions turn to tears every day. He claimed that these three actions alone would help someone become a better, loving individual. Jim Valvano made his enthusiasm for life apparent during this touching speech. His dream was for his inspiration to carry on with his words, “Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up.”

 I plan on putting these words to good use. Jimmy V is truly an inspiration. I want to do the three things he mentioned every single day. I want to laugh until it hurts, think of my goals and aspirations, and let my strongest emotions take over to relieve any pain or stress I may be feeling.

 Professor Feinberg actually scared me will all of his talk about only having 1.6 billion seconds left in this life. I want to combine Professor Feinberg’s words with Jim Valvano’s in order to be the most effective leader I can be, while being an influential and caring role model to the people around me. 

M

Racism Issues

Professor Feinberg showed us a video discussing the racism issues that were occurring at established college campuses. I was shocked to see how many prestigious universities were involved in these horrible attacks on people of different races. I was ashamed to see exactly how many educated people were involved in these racist acts towards people who attended their same university. 

I'll be the first to admit that college has opened up my eyes to the different races, ethnicities, and religions that come together at our campus. I have to be honest, I am from a very small town close to Purdue, where most students are Caucasian Christians or Catholics. Purdue has definitely shown me a wide array of varying backgrounds. However, I don't understand how someone can be attacked simply because of where they came from. I'm completely interested in learning about people's background and the history where they came from. A close friend of mine that I met at Purdue is Arabic. From the second I met him, I have bombarded him with questions about his country, beliefs, and family. I find other cultures completely intriguing, which is why I get so upset when people make racist comments or jokes. These attacks simply are not fair. Even though this problem will more than likely keep occurring, I hope that one day I can be in a place where people aren't judged by where they come from.

M

Decision Making

Monday's class dealt a lot with decision making. This is one area that I truly struggle with. I am completely awful with making decisions. I consider myself to be a more "go with the flow" type of person. I even have trouble deciding which restaurant I want to go to when a group of friends gets together for dinner. I would rather agree with someone than argue with what I want.

I recognize that this is a poor quality to possess if you want to be an effective leader. Professor Feinberg stressed the importance of decision making in effective leadership. He mentioned that a good leader should know the desired outcome of a decision before he or she even discusses the options with the team.

This is definitely an area of leadership I need to work to improve on. I've had to make a lot of important decisions in my life here recently. I received two really good job offers for after graduation. I obviously had to decide which offer I wanted to accept. Both were with stable companies with similar training programs. I weighed all of my options to reach a decision that I am truly happy with.

I am going to start using this approach with a lot of my decisions. While actually looking at the pros and cons, I will be able to come to a logical and reasonable decision more easily. 

M

03/30 class

Yesterday's lecture was all about communication. It illustrated the importance of listening and being able to ask questions if a concept isn't fully understood. Professor Feinberg selected two students to describe a simple drawing that the rest of the class was to draw. The first person was only able to describe the drawing, while the second person was able to describe it as well as answer any questions that the class might have.

The first description was hard only because we couldn't ask questions. Whitney, however, is very well spoken and is also a very descriptive individual. I was one of the eleven students who drew the picture correctly. SIDE NOTE: My success could possibly be because I lived with Whitney in New York for an entire year, so I feel I know her very well. Let's just say we speak the same language....

Approximately 85% of the class drew the picture correctly when we were able to ask questions. I would say that nearly 10 questions were asked while he was giving the description of the drawing. The high percentage shows that importance of asking questions if something isn't completely clear.

This activity proves that not only is it important to listen intently; it's also necessary to ask questions to make certain you understand what is expected from you.

M

Pain Response

I was really inspired by the pain response extra credit Professor Feinberg emailed to us yesterday. Reading through each student's story of what causes them pain was very sad, yet touching at the same time. You don't realize that everyone is suffering through some type of pain each and every day. It really makes a person think twice about judging someone because you have no idea what that person is going through in life. My pain story is full of tragedy, but it seems minor compared to what others have battled through.

I believe the leadership lesson to be learned from this activity involves building relationships with your team members. By knowing them on a personal level, a leader is able to better understand why a person thinks or acts the way that they do. A person is able to become a better, more effective leader simply by learning their team's story. 

M

What CSR 309 has done for me.

I had an interesting thing happen to me yesterday that I must say made me relate back to one particular lecture is CSR 309.

 I got a call from Abercrombie’s recruiter yesterday. I had interviewed for their MIT program when they came to Purdue’s campus in January. Andy, the Chicago recruiter, called to offer me the MIT position. I was a little shocked to hear from her because she had told me they wouldn’t be extending offers until late April or May.  She said a few things on the phone that made me realize that I had successfully given Abercrombie a compelling reason to hire me. Andy said that I was the only person getting an offer this early. She said that the people who interviewed me said I was a person who couldn’t be let go. They think I’m an excellent candidate for the company, not just in short term, but for the long haul. She also said that Laura, the first interviewer, had so many great things to say about me. In fact, Laura had told her that she knew within the first 5 minutes of my interview that I would be getting an offer from their company.

 Andy explained that although there isn’t a specific opening for any Abercrombie location in the Chicago area, I had a job come June. Andy reassured me that when the time comes, there will 100% be an opening for me. She said, “If there isn’t, we will make one.” Wow…that made me feel wanted!

 I looked back on my recent blogs and came across one I had written about the importance of selling yourself in an interview.  I had stated, “You only have a limited amount of time to sell yourself, so what you have to say must be good and must me memorable.”

 What happened to me yesterday made it apparent that I had been successful in selling myself to this company. Unless you give the company a compelling reason to select you, they won’t. 

M

Expectations

Today's class discussion was about the importance of knowing one's expectations in order to be successful. It is necessary to fully understand what is expected from you from your leaders. Without knowing what is expected, there is a chance you can let your leaders down. On the other hand, as a leader, it is extremely important to give detailed instructions if you want something to be done correctly.

As this lecture progressed, one instance from my Escada internship stuck out in my mind. I was Escada's visual intern, and my supervisors expected a lot from me because they trusted me and believed in me. Escada's visual team is responsible for every single aspect of presentation, including the interior of the retail stores. We were in the process of remodeling a few of our boutiques while I was an intern. 

One day, my supervisor showed me a picture of a modern, faux leather chair and told me to, "find this chair." Before I continue, know one thing, I take things literally. I took his command as, "find this exact model." And so the search began...

I Googled every combination of the words--faux, leather, chair, beige, modern--to try to find this chair. It was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. I was intimidated for sure. After what seemed like years of searching, I had to break the news to my supervisor that I failed in completing my given task. He was confused on why I couldn't find the chairs. He pulled up Google, picked the first website, and said, "this one will do." I was embarrassed. I soon realized that he meant find a chair SIMILAR to this one, not this exact chair. He laughed and apologized that I had been searching for the impossible. 

Lesson learned: Don't be afraid to ask questions. It's better to know what is expected of you, than to assume it. 

M