Week 14 Activity - Creative Visualization ExplorationExploring the posts of others has been a nice reminder to me that a lot of us are both motivated by and struggling with a lot of common things. For me, it was very refreshing to find this at a time when we are hearing about so much division in more common news and media outlets. I picked out 2 new students to dive in and explore their portfolios. Here are the insights I gained from reading their A13.2-Creative Visualization entries:
Mark Chamberlain One of the main insights and reflections I picked up from Mark’s entry was the struggle with trying to put oneself into standard career paths. I think that a lot of people struggle with this, especially seeing things from my viewpoint of an instructor. At least with my generation, the instructions we were given to find our career paths was to finish high school, go to college, figure it out there, and then graduate to get a career, and then life was supposed to be set. I don’t think a lot of people finalize their life plans out in that span, and then we all struggle what to do once we find out we have to change and update over and over again. I think we all have to learn to embrace this constant change and keep learning and growing ourselves. Brenna Kelly From Brenna’s log entry, the commonality that I found was the struggle to visualize the future, both the immediate and long term time frames. From this exercise, the importance of not only visualization, but being able to build a picture of success in the future is revealed to be an extremely important and useful tool. We might not be good with this at first, but we can think of it like a mental muscle that we need to use and train to get proficient and improve our visualization abilities.
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Week 12 Activity - Weekly Blog UpdatesHere is the latest update from the 3 blogs I am following:
Week 11 Activity - Revisiting Blogs (+1 new one)Here is the latest update from 2 of the blogs that I am following, plus one new one (http://daringtolivefully.com/ did not update this week):
Week 10 Activity - Revisiting BlogsHere is the latest update from the 3 blogs I am following:
Week 9 Activity - Revisiting BlogsHere is the latest update from the 3 blogs I am following:
Week 7 Activity - Revisiting blogsHere is a followup since Week 6 with the 3 blogs I am following, and how they tie into the Tribal Leadership reading for this week:
Week 6 Activity - Revisiting blogsHere is a followup with the blogs that I am following, highlighting entries and how they relate to the current reading.
Week 5 Activity - Examining Peers' BlogsThis week, instead of looking at the 3 blogs I am following, I check in with 2 other students' blogs and gain insights from them! I chose the two individuals from people that I have not yet commented on their threads or other posts, and picking from backgrounds/expertise outside of my own area, trying to practice looking at other "T" types in my creative circles, as Belsky recommends.
Week 3 Activity - Blog SummaryHere is my summary and highlights from 3 blogs that I am following:
On the path to understanding modern leaders and the evolution of our leadership models, this week I began my journey by examining the past and looking at the present to better gauge my heading as I move forward.
I set forth by first studying the traditional model, and also looking at how the term leader carries its own implications and underlying meanings. In brief, the stereotypical leader of the past is usually seen as the “leader of the pack” or the “alpha”. This is traditionally associated with traits of dominance and power, glorified in positions such as royalty (kings/queens), military (generals), etc. Using this as a baseline model, how does it relate to the modern leader? The traditional model could be classified as the origin of the “hero” type of leadership. I watched 4 videos of interviews discussing leadership styles of 5 notable leaders from recent history: “From Mandela to Obama”1 This interview was a discussion comparing and contrasting the stories of Nelson Mandela and Barack Obama. Their histories show that there are many potential paths to being in a position of leadership. Mandela was put through a much more difficult trial, through his imprisonment, which really helped form and shape his character. During this time, he studied both sides thoroughly to gain a complete picture of the situation in South Africa. Similar to the stereotypical “alpha” leader, he embodied the physical traits, standing at 6’2”, and he was also extremely conscious of his appearance in his clothing choices as well. Where he differed from the old picture was in his philosophy of leading not from the front, but from the rear, as if he were herding cattle. Obama had a different entry into his leadership role as President of the US. Unlike Mandela’s imprisonment, Obama came up through more traditional paths in US politics, and didn’t really face his first big challenge until the Presidential election. One way his style is similar to the traditional leaders is in the need for resiliency, as shown in his drive to get Obamacare passed. One difference, as the interviewers describe, is that he is “not prophetic”, which doesn’t fall into the “hero” mode, having come up through his political path. “Desmond Tutu on Leadership”2 In this interview, Desmond Tutu discusses some of the important characteristics of leaders, both with himself and other leaders. He really sets himself apart from the traditional model, leading not for personal glory, but for the sake of others, through personal suffering. “Richard Branson speaking at the London Business Forum in 2008”3 At this discussion, Sir Branson talks about his role as a leader in business. One point that stood out was his focus on praise and bringing up the good accomplishments versus mistakes of others. He seems to fit a traditional model in his attention to getting the little details right. “Madeleine Albright on Women and Leadership”4 In this video, Madeli ne Albright talks about her journey to becoming the first female US Secretary of State. Unlike the others, she found her way up to that position without any female role models. Because of this, the big difference in her discussion from the traditional model was the highlight of her involvement of the G7, the support group of all of the female leaders in the UN, at the time she was ambassador. This really gets away from the leader as a singular person. From all of these examples of contemporary leaders, it is enlightening to see both the diversity of the group and the paths taken to positions of leadership. There is no one correct way to take or one specific method to use. The modern picture of a leader may take many forms, drawing aspects from traditional models and embracing new methods. Video References: |
AuthorAlex Wong, MASD Student Archives
December 2017
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