Week 11

This week I worked on IM2. I chose to watch the movie Milk, which is about Harvey Milk. Harvey fought for gay right in the 1970s. Although this wouldn't be a movie that I would recommend for everyone based on entertainment value, but what an incredible movie about leadership. Harvey was an inredible man who much like other activists, could envision a world that no one else at the time could imagine! He overcame all the obstacles put in front of him and worked diligently toward his goal! AMAZING MAN!!
This week we also completed a group activity. The senario was that we were in a plane crash in the desert and had to decide from a list of 15 items which items would be most important to us. We ranked the items individually, collectively as a group, and then compared them with what experts say. It was interesting to learn that every team member scored better individually than as a team. What does this say about our team? hmmmm..... We aren't establishing who the experts in our group are and utilizing them? We aren't taking each other's ideas seriously? We let others decide what answer we think is best? Well, it could be a combination of all of these things. Being the only group in the class with this outcome, we as a group need to work together more and trust our group members!!

Week 9

The living obituary was an interesting assignment to complete. I found it kind of difficult to truely understand what a person is all about in a 10 minute meeting. And, how could someone really get a feel for me in a simple 10 minute conversation. If you think about the first time that you meet someone you usually talk about general topics, age, family, current situation, what do you like to do, are you an alocoholic, blah blah blah more general personality questions. You don't usually find out the deep aspects of a person's life until you really get to know them and spend some time with them. I mean most of us put on a fake persona anyway to the general public and don't show people our true emotions until we know for sure if they are going to accept our faults. So, how could I write a paper about a persons entire life up to this point in just meeting them for 10 minutes?!?!! Wow, what a challenge. Basically I had to trust that everything that they person told me... was actually true and the way that she really lives her life day to day. Truthly I doubt that any of us honestly act like we would like to think we do every moment of every day! NOT!! Well, I have to say this made me think about what my acquaintences would say about me.... Megan is a stuck up person who doesn't show much emotion... she is quiet and doesn't say much... quick to judge others.... opinionated, bitch sign right across her forehead. Ok... not how I would like to be remembered or who I am really!!

This week was normal... Feinberg lectured... and by that I mean he played clips then talked about how the clips were related to leadership. Although I enjoy the clips... I feel that my time could be spent more productively than to watch clips!!!! So frustrating!
Feinberg also asked us if we were living our lives the way that we wanted to be remembered... now this is an interesting question. No one wants to think about their own funeral, but he asked us to image what the people there would be saying about us. Would they say the same qualities that you think that you portray???? Would they remember the same stories that you remember??? Hmmm.... now this is interesting. This is about taking ownership of our actions and really BEING the person that we WANT to be. We all think that we are living our lives to the fullest and people just know what we are about... but do they really!!?!?

Week 7- The Test

The exam was Monday night. We all knew it was coming and had heard from our friends what it would be like. I talked to several people who told me not to read the book, that it would be so dificult that no one would pass it anyway. I heard from one friend that she read the book cover to cover and still failed it. Wow, I didn't think there was an easy way out of this situation. So, what did I do.... I followed the advise of my friends and I didn't read the book. I looked over some of the key concepts the night before the exam and hoped that the little work i had done would be enough to get me through. Well, the exam wasn't easy... I felt that I knew some of the answers, but there were definately some that I guessed on. Shame on me for being a follower and not a leader!!
After the exam we learned that this was also a test for our leaders. The leaders could have written the test, asked Feinberg what would be covered on the test, or could have made a study guide for the rest of us. This is disturbing to hear, but if I were a leader I wouldn't have thought about doing these things either! Feinberg also posted an audio clip about the exam. The point is if he could have trusted that we would have read the book and learned the lessons, we wouldn't have had a test at all! CRAZY! This class is teaching me to expect the unexpected, think outside the box!

Week 6

We finally have group leaders this week! I'm not sure, for me, if that is a good thing or a bad thing. On Monday, I received an e-mail from my leader telling us we were in his group and to bring 20 solo cups and duct tape to class for a group activity. He also said to try to sit in one area of the room so we could all sit together. First impression- not too bad. He seems organized and communicating well. So, in class I sat in the designated area as requested with my solo cups and tape ready to go. So, we are told about the activity and Feinberg says- "ready go". Our group leader immediatedy leaves the group! What? Where did he go, half the group is in the designated seating area wondering where our leader has run off to! So, make our way to the fron of the room, along with 5 other groups, and try to figure out what is going on. Bad leader! When we finally get to him, he says just start taping cups together and we will make a tower. Well.... ok leader thanks for asking your group how we should go about this or if we had any ideas as to what should be done! Bad leader! So, we do as we are told and just tape cups together growing our tower as tall as the room with allow. We were not prepared to represent our group on our tower... and had no idea why we decided to use solo cups and duct tape! Bad leader! Hopefully our leader will for future activities get some input from his group members!! This class is definately teaching me how to be a BAD LEADER!!!!

Week 5

Our Leadership workshop was this week with Kirk Weisler. Kirk is an amazing speaker with a lot of passion for what he does. I loved the fact that he talked about each of his family members and what makes them special at the begining of his presentation. His stories of Diamond and the pin lady were really inspiring! It amazes me the little things that we could do to make someone's day a little brighter, and how often we pass up these opportunities. After listening to Kirk, I have the desire to be GREAT.....the problem is keeping that mentality and not letting anyone take our spirit away from us!

Week 4

This week was about choosing the leaders for our groups. The one's who volunteered to be leaders were given about 30 seconds in front of the class to plead to us to vote them as a leader of the class. This was interesting to watch. Some people didn't know what to say and were thrown off by the pressure to impress. The rest of us observing got to see first hand how important it is to sell yourself within the 30 seconds. I now see how important it is to be able to sell yourself and to know why you are a good leader. I can see that it's important to be prepared to lead others at any moment in your life, and know why you should be the leader at that moment. The one's who impressed found a way to show or to tell us that they would be sucessful in the leadership position in unique ways. One guy was a marine who simply stated that he was born to lead, trained to lead, and didn't know any other way (in so many words) and the class was very impressed. We could see that through his confidence and formal training he would be a great choice to lead our class. Really makes me think about how I would sell myself in 30 seconds, and if I would be able to communicate effectively the leaderships skills that I have.