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