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

Finally a President!

We discussed visions and goals again at the beginning of class today. Professor Feinberg has stressed over and over again how important it is to establish a common vision within a group; however, it seemed as if no group actually new what vision they had set for themselves. A vision for any group is important because it is the basis for which all current and future goals are set. Without a vision, no one know exactly what it is they are working toward.

We finally got our president today! Professor Feinberg says that this is now the turning point of our leadership class. Now that we have one main leader underneath the CEO to represent the class, I feel as if class will be run completely differently.

Our president, Joe, seems to be a promising leader. He took CSR 309 last year and was a very successful leader and eventually vice president of the class. Professor Feinberg apparently believes in him enough to ask him to be the president of our class, so as a class we should believe in him too. 

Our president did a good job addressing the class. He is definitely a respectable leader. He explained how he was a marine for several years, and that is most definitely a respectable achievement. The three words he used to describe himself were: Appendable, Dependable, and Forward-Thinking. While listening to him speak in class, these qualities were starting to become apparent already.

M

Finger Trappers

We did a little leadership activity in 309 on Monday. Professor Feinberg passed out finger trappers to each student in the classroom. I remember playing with these things and getting frustrated with them when I was younger! The activity involved having a few people stand at the front of the classroom, all joined together with the finger trappers. The "leader" was given the instructions to walk to the back of the classroom, touch the door, and walk back to the front. Each member was to follow the leader. The group was successful with this task. Then, an entire side of the classroom hooked on to each other, Professor Feinberg included. They were told to do the same thing; however, Professor Feinberg refused to move--he was located in the middle of the line. Since he didn't more, the entire group of people were at a stand still. Even though some people were encouraging him to move, he stood still.

This activity was meant to illustrate how one person can actually effect an entire organization. It also showed that it's difficult to motivate individuals if they aren't willing to motivate themselves. If one person refuses to do his or her job, the rest of the organization can, and will be, let down. It is up to the leader to make sure that every person in the organization is doing their job. If some individuals are lacking, the leader needs to find some way to improve this setback.

M

CSR Test Day

What a test...

I wasn’t sure what to expect for our CSR 309 exam. I had heard from past students that it was difficult—and they weren’t kidding. Past students told me that nearly all students receive a failing grade after taking this exam. Although this should encourage students to work harder, it’s hard to motivate to study for an exam when you are expecting to fail.

 

The questions were difficult because we were tested over specific concepts of the Leadership Challenge book. For me, I have trouble retaining information after reading a book, or even a newspaper article for that matter. I even have trouble describing my favorite books, the ones I thoroughly enjoy reading, to people who ask me what it was about. So this particular test was challenging because I wasn’t able to regurgitate all of the necessary information from reading the Leadership Challenge book just once.

 

The questions were challenging. I tried my hardest to remember the main concepts outlined in the Leadership Challenge book. Even if I had no idea what the question was asking, I would somehow incorporate the main topics I remembered into my answer. Hopefully this will help my grade a little!

 

Professor Feinberg sent out an email after the exam regarding the test. He made it clear that if the leaders were to ask him for a study guide, he would have provided one. A study guide would have been useful, but I don’t blame the leaders for not asking. I feel as if you never quite know what to expect from Professor Feinberg. We'll see how my grade ends up....

M

February 16th class

Professor Feinberg said something in class that stuck in my mind: "If you don't get a second interview, you screwed up."

If the company doesn't want to hear more of what you have to say or learn more about who you are, you must have done something wrong. You need to figure out what you did and fix it. Fast.

We discussed how important it is to sell yourself in an interview. How great you are isn't as clear or obvious in an interview compared to what it is like if you are a singer or an athlete. On American Idol, the judges can tell right away if the candidate is talented, or if they suck and should pick a different career path. The interviewer in an employment interview has no idea if you are good or not, unless you tell them. For this reason, it is important for a person to have his or her story planned out completely before going into an interview. You only have a limited amount of time to sell yourself, so what you have to say must be good and must be memorable.

Unless you give the company a compelling reason to select you, they won't. I'm thankful Professor Feinberg has embedded this concept into my mind by repeating it over and over. I've went into a couple of interviews recently with this concept on my mind. I focused on what I would bring to the company--why they would want me on their team. So far, I feel as if I have left an impression on each of these companies. I truly believe in this theory, so I plan on carrying it out with future interviews.

M

Kirk Weisler

"The key to a happy life is an eagerness to learn and a willingness to change."

-Rebecca Weisler

The leadership seminar my CSR 309 class attended was led by Kirk Weisler. Kirk ended his seminar with this quote which his wife, Rebecca, chooses to live her life by. 

Kirk demonstrated how he believes in his wife's quote. The first part, "an eagerness to learn," is a concept Kirk stressed in great detail. He inspired me to read more with the extensive list of leadership and business books he provided--I've already read "It's Your Ship," which was encouraged by Professor Feinberg. Reading allows a person to continue learning, even beyond any schooling. It provides for more conversation starters, as well as a wealth of knowledge to help a future/current leader to be successful. Kirk challenged us to read at least two books a year. I think I'll shoot for three. Kirk claims, "Readers are leaders."

Kirk also demonstrated how good leaders must be willing to change. He claims that leaders should inspire their followers, not require them to achieve results. Leaders should build relationships and base their techniques on the individual. If you consider your job to be miserable, the key to being happy at your job is to look at what is making it unbearable. There are three signs of a miserable job:

1. Anonymity

2. Irrelevance

3. Immeasurement

You must be a proactive person if you want these problems to change. A person must create their own motivation and inspire others around them to be positively contagious. 

I truly believe that if I follow the guidelines outlined in Rebecca's quote, I, too, can make my life an even happier one.

M

February 2

The first thing Professor Feinberg had the class do today was write down 3 adjectives describing ourselves. The 3 adjectives I chose were: Hardworking, Reliable, and Thoughtful. These 3 words do describe me very well; however, if I could do it over again I would pick more exhilarating words such as: Compassionate, Dedicated, and Dependable. I feel these words are much stronger and more descriptive, which would be better if I was trying to sell myself to someone or convince them to follow me. 

We then watched some of Professor Feinberg's favorite commercials from the Super Bowl--one's that depicted leadership in some way or another. The one that fascinated me the most was a Doritoes commercial in which guys were making their decisions based on what snow globe told them to do. It was a very humorous commercial, while illustrating a leadership point rather well. Professor Feinberg asked the question, "Do you reason your decisions, or rely on the "snow globe" to point you in the right direction?" Often times we sit back and wait for answers to just fall right into our laps. We think it would be easiest to base our decisions on some outside force, such as a snow globe or magic 8 ball. In reality, a person's wisest decisions should come from reason and contemplation. 

The remainder of class, the students who chose to be the leaders last class came into the room one by one and answered the question, "What is your leadership story?" They had 20 seconds to answer, and then the rest of class was to give them a score 1-10. The winners will be chosen for group leaders of this course. This activity taught me quite a bit actually. I was most interested in the students who excelled in public speaking. They had to first catch my attention and charm me in some way. They then had to say something relevant to leadership, while illustrating to me what leadership qualities they would bring to a group. I quickly learned that part of being a good leader is thinking on your feet. Some people struggled to find the words, while others were quick to answer the question. There are definitely some great leaders amongst my classmates.

M

January 28th Class

Today's message...

"You want to get the fish to jump into your boat."

You won't be successful if you don't choose your own paths and make something of yourself. Your goal is to make good things happen for yourself.

I enjoyed hearing the section of Professor Feinberg's lecture discussing the roles and importance of the leaders and their followers. We came to the conclusion that the followers are as equally important as the leaders. Without loyal followers, the leaders would be nothing.

We did a leadership exercise in class. We each had to finish the sentence, " I should follow you because..." I finished the sentence with, "...I will help you do your best and motivate you to succeed while giving you the utmost respect and attention you deserve." Professor Feinberg then selected a few individuals to stand up and complete their version of the sentence. Some were successful, while others were not. The followers want to hear what you would do to help them, and how following you would benefit them. This exercise taught me that people will only follow you if you give them a compelling and convincing reason to.

At the end of class, Professor Feinberg asked the students who wanted to be a leader to come to the front of the classroom. I hesitated. I quickly regretted my decision...

M

Week 3

"Not everybody can be famous, but everybody can be great." -Martin Luther King

Oprah quoted the notorious MLK while giving a very inspirational speech during a short clip we watched today in CSR 309. Oprah was commenting on her ability to be a powerful woman and inspirational leader throughout this segment. Her words were very memorable. She stated that being a leader isn't about having power, and it definitely isn't about being a celebrity. Leadership is about doing the things you were put on this Earth to do. Serving people less fortunate than yourself and caring for others in a way you would want to be cared for. I will definitely take Oprah's motivating words with me as I begin to develop my own leadership attributes and styles. 

Professor Feinberg discussed leadership while introducing the class today. He says that leadership not only makes a difference; leadership makes THE difference. There are 2 major themes involving leadership. The first is leading others, the second is leading self. Professor Feinberg stated that we will be discussing both of these themes throughout the semester. He also explained how he is demonstrating how to be a poor leader and a poor CEO until he is given a reason to be a good leader. 

Day 1, Week 2

Professor Feinberg was not in class once again. The TA,Courtney, for the class showed great leadership qualities as she silenced the classroom once class was to begin. Courtney explained that the professor wasn't able to make it to class, and we were supposed to watch a movie. She did a nice job explaining the assignment that was to follow this film, as well as answering the questions from the students to clear up any concerns that came up.

The film we watched was "The Queen." I took notes on the type of leadership displayed throughout this movie. I am noticing that the Queen exhibits a type of conservative leadership style. A lot of students ended up leaving during the movie, but I actually thought it was a very interesting film. Since the class wasn't long enough to watch the entire movie, I plan on downloading it from Professor Feinberg's website to finish watching.

First week of CSR 309

This past week in CSR 309 was an interesting one that's for sure.

One thing is obvious: Professor Feinberg is testing our leadership ability.

The first class on Monday wasn't very successful. The professor wasn't in class, which left all of the students a little frazzled. After handing in a paper following the short film that was playing, we were not instructed whether or not we were free to leave the class. Some students stayed, while others left. I feel as if Professor Feinberg was testing our class to see who would step up and take charge of the classroom. Unfortunately, no one did this on Monday.

On Wednesday, Professor Feinberg sat in the back of the classroom to observe how we handled day 2 of CSR 309. The only instructions we had involved a paper telling us we were to "study leadership in the here and now." A couple of students stepped up and suggested we form groups of 15 or more.

After my group formed, we unanimously decided that I was the group leader. I collected each group member's email address and phone number. After groups were formed, a few students tried to open a discussion about what leadership is and what makes a good leader. Unfortunately, they quickly lost the attention of the hundreds of students in the classroom.

I believe it is hard to gain the attention of a room full of students when you haven't earned the respect of these students. It was also hard for us to complete this task given by the instructor because no one fully understood what the task entailed. 

At the end of the class, it was obvious that we failed again on day 2. It was very frustrating to try to discuss this one sentence for an hour long class. Nothing really got accomplished during this class, except for the formation of our groups. I hope next week is a little more successful.

Morgan