MSLD 521 Module 9- A Different Kind of Leader

Gina Folk stated that effective leadership occurs when the leader puts themselves on other people's shoes (2015). While I’m not entirely sure if the academic field is my long-term career path, I know that I’d like to bring up the importance of understanding people wherever I end up. Many times throughout my life, I’ve came across customer service representatives that were feeling agitated, and often rushed to get the job done. After receiving their usually awful service, I often wonder how they thought their way of doing was acceptable, and whether they ever think about their customers. Prakash Singh stated that simply having the ability to perform tasks is never enough, and that it is critical for leaders to be aware of their surroundings (2014).

As leaders, it is important to keep in mind that people is what makes leadership possible. Relationships, along with communication are like parts of a machine- without it, things won’t run smoothly. Because of this, it is important to meet the people’s needs and wants as much as possible. As Stephen Denning mentioned, an interactive leader works with the world rather than against it (2011). This is perhaps one of the most important dimension Denning stated. While a leader has the role to lead, it is important to avoid being too manipulative since this can stress people out. For example, when I make degree maps I really want many of my students to follow the patter I’ve suggested. Rather than being direct, I explain to them the importance and reasons behind the list of classes, as well as make it clear that these are only my recommendations. With explanations, I’m sounding less commanding, but could have the students follow.

Building personal integrity and authenticity, and disregarding hierarchical authority are two other dimensions that I constantly consider daily as an academic adviser (Denning, 2011). Although I have some higher authorities than a student, I always disregard my status and instead blend in with the students as much as possible. By engaging in conversations with the student, I can gain further information outside of advisement. For instance, as staff, I’m only told that you need to take all the math and English courses before taking a research course. When engaging in conversations with my students, they can talk about their experiences and tell you that business statistics heavily revolved around the research course. This was something I haven’t been told initially, and in the future, I could use that information for future advisement. In addition, I’m also a current student. I’m one of them. By sharing my personal experiences, my students and I are going back and forth- gaining new information, and at the same time develop stronger relationships due to our common interests.

Long story short, the key to effective leadership is to blend in with your people as much as possible. By blending in, leaders and followers can relate to one another- establishing stronger relationships. In addition, putting oneself in others shoes allows additional information to be absorbed: which can enhance the overall leadership.

  

References:

Denning, S. (2011). The Leader’s Guide to Storytelling: Mastering the Art and Discipline of Business Narrative. San Francisco, CA: Josey-Bass.

Folk, G. (2015). Put Yourself In Other People’s Shoes. People Leadership. Retrieved from http://peopleleadership.com/put-yourself-in-other-peoples-shoes/

Singh, P. (2014). Employees’ use of empathy to improve their job behavior. The International Business & Economics Research Journal (Online). Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/docview/1525361493/abstract/2F2815C3B74C411EPQ/1?accountid=27203

MSLD 521 Module 8- Cornerstones of Speaking

For a very long time, I’ve experienced many good and bad presentations. Despite the many experiences, most were unfortunately bad ones. I’ve had many cases where teachers were speaking in monotone voices or were simply repeating what’s shown on their visuals. Because of this, I often times got distracted: drawing pictures, playing with my phone, or in worse cases- falling asleep in class. Whenever I encountered these bad presentations, I often wondered if the rest of my classmates were even learning anything, and whether the presenter was aware of how bad the presentation is. All of these things are what I always consider when I’m the one presenting. I don’t want my audience to not learn, or find my presentations boring. To prevent this from occurring, I usually adjust my voice, verbal delivery, as well as visuals.

Just as Julian Treasure mentioned in his video, the presenter’s voice has an impact on the outcome of the presentation (Treasure, 2014). In the many examples shown on the Charisma on Command video, Kevin Hart often spoke very loudly, but he also adjusted his voice to actually be funny (Charisma on Command, 2016). One thing that can be drawn from the two videos is the importance of adjusting voices. The outcome of a presentation is good when people are able to absorb something from it. To do this, the audience needs to be motivated and or entertained.

Before I start entertaining and motivating people, I need to know who my audiences are. At a university setting for example, my audience usually consist of students and a teacher. The teacher will likely be the most motivated of the group since the students were literally “forced” to listen to my presentation. To balance out and capture as much attention as possible, I usually try to have more of a “conversation-feel” rather than actually presenting. George Bradt pointed out in his short article that people engage easier in conversations rather than presenting (2014). Every time I come across presenters literally “reading”, I often ask, “Who normally talks like that?” To bring in a little more life to my presentations, I try to be expressive (adjust my voice) and avoid the reading style- just as if I’m having a regular face-to-face conversation. For the future story project specifically, I also need to be expressive to help my audience understand its importance to me.

Although adjusting tone and the talking style is important, presentations can be more effective when visuals are present. Visual aids have many benefits: including maintaining interest to illustrating your points (Leigh, n.d.). In past experiences, I’ve often implemented not only relevant materials, but videos and photos to help deliver the mood I’m hoping to achieve. Referring back to the university example, I’m aware that the students are the ones that’ll be harder to capture since they’ve been forced into my presentation. Since many of them are young like myself, we all probably have very similar interests. In one business presentation, I used a short scene from The Big Bang Theory to not only entertain the audience, but to prove a point in the audience. After a short moment of laughter, I’ve capture most of their attention, and can continue on with the presentation. The important thing to keep in mind however is to ensure that the materials won’t led your presentation to go off-topic, or is too distracting for the audience.

In summary, I plan to consider the audience’s point-of-views into my Future Story presentation. Since my presentation is heavily based on myself, it is important to be expressive. To do this, I plan to avoid sounding too monotone and to “talk” rather than present. Since audio alone for my presentation can be a little bland, I intend to also include interesting and relevant visuals to help maintain engagement. Although my presentation isn’t like a business or research and fact intensive, I can also rely on visuals to help the audience illustrate my points.  

References:

Bradt, G. (2014). Big Presentation? Don’t Do It—Have a Conversation Instead. Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/georgebradt/2014/09/10/big-presentation-dont-do-it-have-a-conversation-instead/#8e2d384295b7

“Charisma on Command”. (2016). Kevin Hart’s 3 Secrets to Hilarious Storytelling [Video file]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vn_L4OPU_rg

Leigh, R. (n.d.). The Importance of Creating Effective Visual Aids in the Workplace. Chron. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/importance-creating-effective-visual-aids-workplace-17432.html

Treasure, J. (2014). How to speak so that people want to listen: Julian Treasure (TED Talk Summary) [Video file].  YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEkEAFaV818

MSLD 521 Module 7- Secret Structure

While pursuing a degree in business administration, I made and came across a lot of presentations. Whether it was to examine a management tactic or a real-life business scenario, the pattern was overall repetitive. We provide a summary of the main topic, analyze it, and support our reasoning with internal and external data. Since the point of most of these presentation is to prove something, the most important thing for these presentations is data. According to Nosich, you can’t explain without information. While information include numbers and charts, different views and other relevant information from different people or environments also serves as data (Nosich, 2012).

During my undergraduate days, I’ve always relied on research for my presentations. In the leadership program however, I’m starting to realize that research alone doesn’t always add up to our presentations. As leaders, the key is to inspire and motivate people to support an idea (Prive, 2012). Nancy Duarte mentioned during her TED talk The Secret Structure of Great Talks that presentations are completely flat-lines, whereas a story allows ones to establish physical reactions (2011). She examined the different “shapes” of how stories and presentations are made, and concluded that successful ones are done in the following shape:

Duarte's whole point was that a good communication is done by going back and forth on "what is" and "what could be", and ending it with "the new bliss". Rather than having one climax of the speech, you can have multiple to help engage the audience. Personally, I find this pattern to be made more for someone who clearly knows their vision: where they can provide numerous examples to support their vision. As much as I would like to fully adapt this style to my future presentation, I will likely only implement a small portion.

As of today, I personally do not have a large lifetime goal or interest since I'm currently in the stage of life of figuring this out. Since I do not have a clear, large vision, using Durate's will be tricky. To avoid my presentation being too much of a presentation as Durate mentioned, I might adapt part of her "what is" "what could be" portions of the chart. For my case, I might be considering doing a presentation about overcoming my thoughts on my hearing disability. At the beginning of the presentation, I'll talk about how well I'm currently doing with my job, and provide some examples of them. Durate's portion can be implemented at the body of the presentation: where I provide examples on how overcoming my fears of my hearing disability could change today's advisement. The ending of the presentation might not add up to Durate's example, but I might consider a short summary and sum up the overall importance of my personal goal. To avoid the presentation being too much of a presentation, I also consider to implement some short story telling to my presentation. 

References:

Duarte, N. (2011). Nancy Duarte: The secret structure of great talks [Video file]. TED. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/nancy_duarte_the_secret_structure_of_great_talks

Noisch, G. D. (2012). Learning To Think Things Through: A Guide to Critical Thinking Across the Curriculum. Boston: Peason Education.

Prive, T. (2012). Top Qualities That Make A Great Leader. Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/tanyaprive/2012/12/19/top-10-qualities-that-make-a-great-leader/#3dc71c923564

MSLD 521 Module 6- Sustained Change

On July 1988, an oil rig exploded off the coast of Scotland, which tragically killed over 160 workers. Andy Mochan, a survivor from the accident chose to jump fifteen stories into water to avoid the blaze, quoting “it was either jump of fry”. Daryl Conner uses Mochan’s quote as a metaphor to the burning platform: which he defines as the commitment to sustain a change (Conner, 2012). Rather than suffering and dealing with a change when it happens, Conner believes that ones can “pay less” by supporting the change (Galoppin, 2011). The whole concept of the burning platform help leaders understand the different outcomes between being reactive versus being proactive. According to Fisher, leaders should avoid being reactive since it increases stress, reduces effective decision-making, and can lead to a sense of powerlessness. Instead,  a good leader should stay proactive since it relieves stress, prepares and establishes better understanding, and promote control and direction of the change (Fisher, n.d.).

                While I never really thought of it before, I happen to consider the burning platform concept every day. As of today, I am only one year into the “working adult life”, and everything seems to be in order. I managed to land a full time job, move out of my parent’s household, and is currently pursuing a master’s degree. While I currently have everything I want, it is always important for me to avoid getting too comfortable, and be aware of the potential risks that may occur. Of all the things I’m going through at the moment, I am very cautious about my position as an academic adviser.

                Academics is one of few organizations that faces constant changes. We apply new technologies to improve our services, introduce and revise degree programs, and make changes to stand out from our competitors. Today, many universities including the one I work at is starting to focus more towards online courses. Students are finding online courses to be flexible and convenient than traditional classroom courses. Because of this, many physical campuses including mine are facing a deficit in both participation of in-seat courses and overall office visits.

                Although my university hasn’t announced any dramatic changes to resolve this issue, I think of “possible” changes the university might make. For instance, I often feel like the university might completely get rid of in-seat courses someday which can either lead to one of two possible changes. One possible change might be the university transforming all physical campuses into a service center where students can receive advisement and other needs. For this case, I overall believe that this won’t have too huge of an impact since we simply lose the task of setting up and hosting in-seat courses. However, since we don’t get that many office visits, the university might only need a campus director to run a campus: which could lead me to lose my job since I’m currently an assistant.

                If I were to lose my job due to having no need of an assistant campus director, the situation will be like the second possible change, where the university decides to close all physical campuses. Losing my job would be a serious issue since this will impact my goal of getting a master’s degree and living alone in general. Rather than taking action after the change happens, I am proactive and brainstorm a few ideas before the change. Saving income is one thing, however I also try to make and maintain connections with people from organizations close to my university. My campus for example consists of  many students from the Boeing Company. While establishing a relationship helps with advisement purposes, doing so might even help me land a job at their company. By landing a new job, this can save me from losing my current home, and I can continue to pursue a master’s degree.

References:

Conner, D. (2012). The Real Story of the Burning Platform. Retrieved from http://www.connerpartners.com/frameworks-and-processes/the-real-story-of-the-burning-platform

Fisher, C. (n.d.). Being Proactive Vs. Reactive. Retrieved from http://yourbusiness.azcentral.com/being-proactive-vs-reactive-10356.html

Galoppin, L. (2011). The Giant Misunderstanding on Burning Platforms. Retrieved from http://www.reply-mc.com/2011/01/17/the-giant-misunderstanding-on-burning-platforms/

MSLD 521 Module 5- Core Workplace Values Assessment

As an academic adviser, student success is our priority. While my university face some competition with other aviation-focused schools, we mainly rely on genuinely ethical values. As Stephen Denning stated, people following this value focuses more on the people in the community rather than profit (Denning, 2011). As students complete their degree programs, they will be counting on me and many other university staff to help them. To do this, it is important to establish and maintain a strong relationship.

After completing Dr. Randall Hansen’s Workplace Values Assessment, it wasn’t surprising to notice how closely tied my values were to my job. Below are five important values I mostly rely on:

1. Integrity and truth.
2. Friendships and warm working relationships.
3.   Professional development and on-going learning and growth.
4. Having a positive impact on others and society.
5. Being recognized for quality of work in a visible/public way.

The first two values were heavily inspired by personal experiences. When I was working on my bachelor’s degree, I studied at the same university I currently work at. Although many of the staff and faculty were helpful, there were cases where I came across those that “rushed” through their advisement. I found these people to be a little disrespectful and dishonest: which eventually lead me to speak to another adviser.

Now that I’m an adviser, I am able to see and think from the staff and student perspectives. Many of my students find my advisement helpful because I often connect my personal experiences to their advisement. According to Zak, storytelling establishes an empathetic environment. By being empathetic, we’re relating with one another: which establishes and strengthen relationships (Zak, 2014). One example is when I make class recommendations for students. Rather than choosing random classes off the list, I implement my personal experiences when possible. The whole point of storytelling is to ensure that students don’t make the same mistakes I’ve made in the past. By doing so, students can see that I’m providing honest information and that I truly care about them: which often time leads them to respond in the same manner.

Although sharing personal experiences may be helpful, it is important to keep in mind that this won’t always be the case. According to Allison, a leader should always think proactively since change is constant (2014). Because of this, my third important value is to constantly seek opportunities to expand and improve my current knowledge. According to Nosich, a leader’s effectiveness depends on the amount of information they have (2012). To improve the effectiveness of my advisement, I am currently taking graduate courses. Although doing so Is not required in my position, I can gain further knowledge as a staff and student. By doing so, this will improve the quality of my advisement, which will leave a more positive impact for both the students and fellow staff.

References:

Allison, A. (2014). Why Leaders Should Never Get Comfortable. Retrieved from http://www.inc.com/austin-allison/planning-for-inevitable-change.html

Noisch, G. D. (2012). Learning To Think Things Through: A Guide to Critical Thinking Across the Curriculum. Boston: Peason Education.

Zak, P. (2014). Why Your Brain Loves Good Storytelling. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2014/10/why-your-brain-loves-good-storytelling

MSLD 521 Module 4- Listening

Tom Peters’ briefly talked about the importance of listening by providing an example of the healthcare industry. He states that strategic strength comes from strategic listening rather than a strategic plan (Peters, 2009). As leaders, it is critical to listen to your followers since each person’s beliefs and thoughts are considered as valuable information: which is necessary for effective decision making (Nosich, 2012). While cutting conversations short may save some time, many people find it rude: causing leaders to not only obtain less information, but struggle maintaining a positive relationship.

 When I was working on my bachelor’s degree, I had an unusual question pop up, and my academic adviser referred me to speak to a professor at the math department. After exchanging introductions with the professor, I started to have difficulties understanding her. The professor had a very thick accent and spoke rather swiftly. As someone with a hearing disability, it was important to inform her before she got too far in the conversation. When attempting to do so, she kept cutting me off and continue where she left off. After a few more attempts, she finally yelled at me telling me to let her finish. Just before I could finish my sentence, she again cut me off and asked me to leave because of my "disruptive behavior".

 At the end of the conversation, I felt mistreated and believed that reporting the incident was reasonable. After going back and forth with the school for a week, I finally received an email from the same professor. Because of the way she yelled during the last visit, I felt pretty hesitant to see her. Upon arrival, we exchanged greetings and she immediately apologized and admitted that she assumed that I wanted to ask questions during the middle of her conversation. In the end, I accepted her apology, and she was able to help me out.

 There were a few things that can be drawn out and tied to Tom Peters’ explanation on the importance of listening. The first was that miscommunication (or lack of information) occurred because of the lack of listening. According to Blundell, some reasons why people talk over each other is because it’s a narcissistic or a battle for power (Blundell, 2015). Although I don’t have the full understanding of the professor’s thinking, I believe that she might have cut me off because of her position at the university. As a professor, they have a lot of knowledge on the academics than the student. Because of this, she showed “who’s boss”, but at the same time might have assumed that my statements were least important and can wait.

 While cutting people off causes miscommunication, it also causes emotional issues to occur. I was upset about being cut off in general, however it was her tone and facial expression that really put an effect. Each time I attempted to stop the professor, she was progressively raising her voice and her facial expressions began to change. Clearly seeing this, I also began to respond the same way (McDonald and Messinger, n.d.). As leaders, despite facing a difficult situation, it is important to always stay positive since this will help people regain confidence, and become more motivated: which eventually results in more efficient functions (Somogyi, 2013).

References:

Blundell, A. (2015). 7 reasons people talk over the top of others [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1PQRZojlXQ

McDonald, N., & Messinger, D., (n.d.), The Development of Empathy: How, When, and Why. Retrieved from http://www.psy.miami.edu/faculty/dmessinger/c_c/rsrcs/rdgs/emot/McDonald-Messinger_Empathy%20Development.pdf

Nosich, G.D. (2012). Learning To Think Things Through: A Guide to Critical Thinking Across the Curriculum. Boston: Pearson Education.

Peters, T. (2009). Tom Peter’s Leadership Thoughts: Listening [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwB7NAvKPeo

Somogyi, R., Buchko, A., & Buchko, K. (2013). Managing with empathy: Can you feel what I feel? Journal of Organizational Psychology. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/docview/1470425153/fulltextPDF/CE275E3C16174E05PQ/1?accountid=27203

MSLD 521 Module 3- Credibility

Joel Whalen has identified three pillars of credibility: expertise, trustworthiness, and goodwill. Expertise is the form of credibility where people rely on one’s title, education or other professionals’ esteem. Trustworthiness is simply the confidence level between people, whereas goodwill focuses on the overall relationship (Whalen, 2007). As an academic adviser, maintaining a strong relationship with students is critical since they will be relying on my help to successfully graduate. While I hardly come across professional issues, one challenge I struggle with is to be seen as a trustworthy adviser.

Though it’s hard to determine, I believe one reason why I struggle on gaining trust is because of the lack of experience with my current position. I was hired as an adviser only last year and because of this, a few students enrolled before my arrival refer straight to my boss. Though the situation appears more relevant towards the expertise pillar, I believe trustworthiness is the primary issue. According to Whalen, it takes time to build up trust (Whalen, 2007). A year may seem enough time to gain some trust, however the challenge at my workplace is that most students rarely contact us. My university primarily offers online courses, and many students rely on them to balance work schedules, as well as having the opportunity to get a degree without constant travelling.

While work experience at my university might be one thing, perhaps the biggest struggle that applies to anyone is my age. I am 24, graduated last year with my first bachelor’s degree, and is new to the working world. Though it is uncommon for students to judge me, I’ve been told by my boss several times where students admitted that they trusted a “grown man” than “some kid”.  Whether the person is a current, new, or a potential student, the pattern is usually the same. First, I usually receive an email or phone call requesting an office visit. When the student arrives, they either ask if I was the same person who they initially spoke to, or they will ask or go straight to the director’s office (without saying anything). When my boss wasn’t in the office, in rare cases, they simply say “oh” and leave the office.

                While working for a year and being young are two different issues, I believe the solution to both are overall the same: and that is to simply engage in more conversations. The root problem to both situations are that people are judging based on “the cover”. The situation is similar to Chimamanda Adichie’s TED talk The Danger of a Single Story. According to Adichie, a single story or stereotype might be true, but are inaccurate information (Adichie, 2009). For my situation, I am sometimes seen as untrustworthy because I’m young and just got hired. The judgments are true, but not entirely. To overcome the issue, I often talk about my past and current experience as a student.

                According to Joshua Gowin, personal experiences and storytelling allows the audience to make a connection to their thoughts and emotions (Gowin, 2011). For my case, sharing my experiences is efficient because going to school is a common interest. While true experiences are credible, implementing emotions through body language and tone can make a conversation more efficient since emotions allows ones to respond the same way (McDonald & Messinger, n.d.). To supplement my storytelling and overall knowledge for advisement, I am also currently working on my master’s degree: which follows into the expertise pillar of credibility. Whenever I come across a student who talks about a master’s degree, I worry that I lack experience. To avoid this, I am continuing and learning more as I complete my degree.

References:

Adichie, C. (2009). The danger of a single story [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story

Gowin, J. (2011). Why Sharing Stories Brings People Together. Psychology Today. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/you-illuminated/201106/why-sharing-stories-brings-people-together

McDonald, N., & Messinger, D., (n.d.), The Development of Empathy: How, When, and Why. Retrieved from http://www.psy.miami.edu/faculty/dmessinger/c_c/rsrcs/rdgs/emot/McDonald-Messinger_Empathy%20Development.pdf

Whalen, J. (2007). The Professional Communications Toolkit (1st ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

MSLD 521 Module 2 - The Danger of a Single Story

We’ve all probably heard the phrase, “never judge a book by its cover”. Although a title or main idea might give us a rough idea about something, the details that goes with it can give us an entirely different image. On a TED talk “The Danger of a Single Story”, novelist Chimamanda Adichie brought up some excellent points about the importance and need of understanding different sources and views. According to Adichie, “a single story creates stereotypes”. Though these stereotypes might be true, they are usually “incomplete” information (2009). Throughout the talk, Adichie shared her personal experiences to explain her reasoning. Several people: such as her college roommate initially saw Adichie based on common African stereotypes (poor, lack of education, interest in tribal music, etc.). After taking time to know who Adichie really was, they were shocked by the fact that she was from a middle-class family and spoke English fluently due to English being the official language of Nigeria.

                As a leader, it is critical to view and understand different point-of-views. By understanding what others think, it expands our knowledge of the main idea (more information): hence resulting in effective communication and decision making (Nosich, 2012). As an example, consider the pit bull controversy. Some people may consider these species to be blood-hungry and violent due to their genetics, and therefore believe that all pit bulls are to be banned from household ownership. Another group of people may fully disagree with this answer and argue that violent behaviors of pit bulls result from bad training and handling of the owners, and therefore should not be banned. Though leaders may have great ideas, it is always important for them to gather as much information and consider different points-of-view to avoid any complications. A successful leader considers the ideas of others and implement them to their reasoning and decisions.

                Though Adichie’s TED talk informed us about the importance of having details, I was also able to make a personal connection to her experience. I happen to be half-Japanese and I’ve came across numerous stereotypical comments throughout my life. The most common is in relation to anime, or Japanese animation (a popular modern pop culture). I often have people ask me if I watch anime, however in more extreme cases, I’ve came across people who asked me if the way young women were in anime is how most Japanese women really are. According to a research, there were evidence of stereotypes found in voices in anime. Comparing to male characters, females often had much more high-pitched, lengthy, and breathy voices (Teshigawara, 2004). In addition, Japan uses many onomatopoeic words. Though they are not gender specific, the use is more common in women to supposedly give them a more “cute demeanor” (Thy, 2015).   

                Considering my similar personal experiences, I realized that there’s likely a hidden message delivered through Adichie’s expression and tone. Personally, I believe that Adichie is spreading awareness that there’s a need for people to think in more than one direction since assumptions can lead to personal issues. Like myself, perhaps Adichie felt offended when people judged her based on common stereotypes. While sharing her experience, she spoke in a serious tone, and often raised her eyebrows when she mentioned the parts that perhaps made her offended (such as the wording of the charity announcement from her flight). Although she likely felt offended by the stereotypes, she also ensured her audience that she wasn’t fully angry. To avoid the miscommunication, she made a few laughs about her experience: such as smiling when she mentioned Mariah Carey in response to the tribal music comment. This move was beneficial for her speech since too much aggression can threaten the audience’s self-esteem (McKay, Davis, & Fanning, 2009).

References:

McKay, M., Davis, M., & Fanning, P. (2009). Messages: The Communication Skills Book. Oakland: New Harbinger Publications.

Noisch, G. D. (2012). Learning To Think Things Through: A Guide to Critical Thinking Across the Curriculum. Boston: Peason Education.

Teshigawara, M. (2004). Voices in japanese animation: A phonetic study of vocal stereotypes of heroes and villains in japanese culture. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/docview/305104747?accountid=27203

Thy, B. (2015). Why do the Japanese Sound So Cute When They’re Talking?. Japan Info. Retrieved from http://jpninfo.com/21084

MSLD 521 Module 1 - Your Favorite Storytelling Leader

History has taught us many lessons on what to do and what not to do for the sakes of our future. At the same time, we came across many examples of famous leaders that taught or inspired us to be who we are today. Former United States president Ronald Reagan was one of my personal favorites. Though his career mainly focused on political subjects, there were often times Reagan included personal stories as well as retelling historical and tragic events in his speeches (Giuliano, 2004).

            Ronald Reagan is often seen as a great leader to many historians: he had amazing communication skills, along with powerful strategies to motivate people. However, what really made Reagan stand out was his ability to understand emotional drivers. Rather than playing “the big boss” and point America to what he believed was right, his way of connecting and speaking “in the language of a common man” truly inspired me. (History.com, 2009).

            Although I was not around at the time of the event, Ronald Reagan’s response to the Space Shuttle Challenger tragedy on January 28^th, 1986 left an impression on me. On the day of the tragedy, the president was scheduled to give his State of the Union address. During the preparation, he and his staff heard the news and were in shock. Rather than continuing with his duties, he postponed all plans and instead made an urgent speech in response because America was “more than saddened” (Grier, 2011). Though the speech was not written by Reagan himself, the speech clearly expressed his mourning to the Challenger crew, along with the care and concerns of his people- particularly children.

            The significance of the Space Shuttle Challenger mission was that the crew included a school teacher, Christa McAuliffe. Many children looked up to her, and Reagan explained in his speech:

I want to say something to the schoolchildren of America who were watching the live coverage of the shuttle's takeoff. I know it is hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen. It's all part of the process of exploration and discovery. It's all part of taking a chance and expanding man's horizons. The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we'll continue to follow them (Reagan, 1986).

The vision and purpose was clear, and Reagan wanted to not only honor and mourn the loss of the Challenger crew, but to clarify those confused and shocked about the tragedy, and to reiterate the continuation of the space program. He made this clear on the last sentence from the last quote, “The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we’ll continue to follow them” (Reagan, 1986).

            Though the speech may not have been written by Reagan himself, what really inspired me was his tone and body language during the televised speech. The speech had a combination of styles specified in Stephen Denning’s book: the raconteur, orator, and the romantic (2011). The first and perhaps most clear indication is that the speech was for the citizens of America: particularly those who watched and were involved with the tragedy. The raconteur, or the polished, elegant style were also present in the speech. It was very well-written and Reagan’s delivery to the crowd was flawless most likely due to his early acting career (Giuliano, 2004).

Though he may have once been an actor, we can see that he’s sincere, and cared for his people. Personally, I believe that it would have been difficult to see the romantic style if the speech was not televised. During the entire speech, Reagan maintained a straight posture and direct eye contact just as if he would be speaking to someone in person. I find the tone of his voice to be similar to father speaking to his own child during a difficult time: it was full of emotions and not only was it sad, but at the same time, it was also very comforting.

Works Cited

Denning, S. (2011). The Leader’s Guide to Storytelling: Mastering the Art and Discipline of Business Narrative. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass

Giuliano, C. P. (2004). What made ronald reagan "the great communicator". Public Relations Strategist, 10(3), 46.

Grier, P. (2011). Challenger explosion: How President Reagan responded. Retrieved from http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/The-Vote/2011/0128/Challenger-explosion-How-President-Reagan-responded

History.com Staff. (2009). Ronald Reagan. Retrieved from http://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/ronald-reagan

Reagan, R. (1986). Explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger, Address to the Nation. Speech. Retrieved from http://history.nasa.gov/reagan12886.html

MSLD 511 Module 9- Course Reflections

                Prior to taking the Organizational Leadership course, many of the students in the leadership program were required to take the Leadership Found’s in Research course. During the course, students were assigned a project that focuses on their choice of an element or system and identify its importance in leadership. For the project, I decided to focus on empathy, or the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. Overall and as one of my sources for the project stated, only having the ability to perform your job is insufficient and that it is important for leaders to understand and connect with their surrounding environment: including people (Singh, 2014). It was concluded at the end of the assignment that empathy establishes and builds stronger relationships, as well as providing opportunities for leaders to gather additional data to be used for decision-making. As a result, my initial definition of leadership heavily revolved around the project (Travenetti, 2016):

…leadership is defined as the ability to motivate and lead groups clearly with consideration of everyone’s (including leader) thoughts, opinions, and emotions.

                As I went through nine weeks into the Leadership Found’s in Research course, I realized that my definition of leadership has slightly changed. Today, I believe that leadership is defined as the ability to motivate and lead groups in balance with everyone and everything involved. The past definition revolved a little too strongly towards all the people involved in an environment. Unlike the past, now I believe that leaders should never get too comfortable on “one side”. At one point of the course, students were assigned to watch a TED talk show by Itay Talgam. In summary, Talgam shared several video clips of musical conductors and used them as metaphors to explain different leadership styles. I personally found this video to not only be interesting, but it was very informative and provided actual physical visuals. For instance, he showed one clip of a serious-faced conductor who violently swung his baton to the music and another one with a happy expression who danced during the performance. The serious conductor represented a leader that is too commanding (directive), and the other represented a leader who follows too much (supportive). The important point made from the talk was that being too directive can cause followers to become unmotivated and stressed, whereas a leader who follows too much doesn’t have steady control or lack of involvement in leadership.

            
    Deeply considering Talgam’s video, I realized that establishing and maintaining people’s relationship is important, but too much of it might be “annoying” as Talgam mentioned. When I initially started working as an assistant campus director, my goal was to provide a more student-friendly and comfortable environment since in the past, I have dealt and understood the hardships students go through at the university. As much as I want to be nice, being too nice could be harmful for my position. For instance, I have a couple students that question me on how to enroll for courses. Since the system was confusing for me as a former student, I do provide walkthroughs. However I always ensure that I don’t become too helpful to the point that a student’s own responsibility becomes mine (student becomes too dependent on me). To avoid being too much on the kind side, I balance it out by speaking in a directive language, saying things such as, “it is the student’s responsibility…”. As a result, I believe that leaders should switch and use a combination of different leadership styles in different situations because a preferred form of leadership doesn’t work in all situations.

References:

Noisch, G. D. (2012). Learning To Think Things Through: A Guide to Critical Thinking Across the Curriculum. Boston: Peason Education.

Singh, P. (2014). Employees’ use of empathy to improve their job behavior. The International Business & Economics Research Journal (Online). Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/docview/1525361493/abstract/2F2815C3B74C411EPQ/1?accountid=27203.

Travenetti, K. (2016). Define Leadership [Blog]. Retrieved from https://erau.instructure.com/courses/42907/discussion_topics/572707?module_item_id=2073442

MSLD 511 Module 7- Inner Work for Authentic Leadership

Being a caring and empathetic individual has empowered me to become a more successful advisor. When students come up to me with a question, I consider the student’s point-of-view and find a solution that best fits them while following university policies. Considering students in decision making is one thing, however after watching Bill George’s video on authentic leadership, I realized that my advisement wouldn’t have been as effective without hands-on experiences.

As Northouse stated, there is no real definition of authentic leadership: it all depends on you (2015). George clarified this when discussing three important points on inner work. The first is that inner work involves real-world experience. Just as Northouse mentioned, authentic leadership can be conceptualized intrapersonally, which is the way where leaders focus on their knowledge, regulation, as well as self-concept (2015). Though putting myself in “the student’s shoes” can help me make more effective decisions, perhaps my leadership wouldn’t have been as effective without actual experience as a student from the same university I am currently working for.

Prior to getting hired as a university counselor, I was a fresh graduate from the main Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University campus in Daytona Beach, Florida. Many of my students (mostly undergraduates) look up to me because not only do I truly care for my students, but I’ve actually been through what many of the students are and will be facing. For instance, many of my students love my class recommendations because I’ve taken the same class before. Not only do I discuss what topics may be involved in the class, but I also provide information beyond that. This includes discussions about the level of difficulty for the class, the workload, as well as the timing on when the class should be taken in the degree plan. These are examples of George’s second point, where ones process experiences through some type of reflection.

Though my experiences enhance my overall performance, I can’t always depend on it. It is important for leaders to keep in mind that things change over time and that we all must be able to adapt and implement new things. This is George’s third point, where leaders seek honest feedbacks from others. Northouse also mentioned this when pointing out the interpersonal perspective of authentic leadership (2015). As a personal example, undergraduate students are required to take a research course prior to many upper-leveled courses. In the past, the only advice I gave to my students was that it should be taken as soon as you finished the prerequisites. Over time, some of these students come back and provide me more details on the class. In the end, I learned that students should take the course immediately after completing business statistics, as well as pairing it with an easier course due to the tremendous amount of coursework involved. Though I never got to experience this course, I went from my own perspectives to a blend of the student’s perspective: a closer result to actual experience.

References:

Northouse, P. (2015). Leadership: Theory and Practice 7^th ed. Los Angeles: Sage Publishing

Sound, M.T. (2012). Harvard's Bill George: Inner Work for Authentic Leadership [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmPu2LQ84ts

MSLD 511 Module 6- A Leader From the Past

Though I’ve only worked as an assistant campus director for less than a year, I was able to make several improvements for my campus. I established new strategies to improve the overall function at my campus with the help of advanced computer knowledge, as well as making various outside connections to reach out to potential students. Of all the skills, my boss, along with many of my students look up to me for my caring and empathetic nature. However I wouldn’t have been able to obtain and enhance these skills without the help of another assistant campus director from a neighboring campus.

Immediately after being hired, my boss stationed me to a neighboring campus to receive training from Mrs. F (keeping her anonymous for privacy purposes). Mrs. F is a longtime acquaintance and is a very kind and cheerful individual. During the training sessions, we were often interrupted by students that walked in to seek assistance. As Mrs. F handled the students, I observed how she completed her tasks. Though her demonstrations provided me a general idea of how to perform the job, how she handled her students caught my attention.

Prior to the training, I lacked experience as an employee and therefore believed that having the ability to get the work done was all I needed to be successful. Though having the ability to perform is vital to any job, Mrs. F demonstrated the importance of care and empathy in a people-oriented position. At one point during the training, we had a student that came in and argued about the struggles of finding a class. Rather than just finding the class for the student, Mrs. F established a more welcoming, comfortable environment by talking with the student. Mrs. F spoke to the student like she was a friend of the student rather than a university counselor. She often made jokes and even shared her past experiences to let the student understand that she cares and want to help. Mrs. F also offered to make a degree map, which is a list of suggested classes for the student to ease the struggle of finding a class. In the end, not only did the student get what he wanted, but he was really satisfied with the outcome and responded in a similar manner as Mrs. F.

Another thing that inspired me was how she made her degree maps. Though a degree map is a simple list of suggested classes, Mrs. F told me to "always consider the student's side". She initially talked about the university requirements for the map, but she immediately told me to "never throw a bunch of random classes to the map". In short, she suggested me to put myself in the student's position and think critically on the pairing of the classes, workload, as well as the general life of the student. For example, Mrs. F pointed out that I should never mix a math class with another numerical class. Not only will different mathematical processes confuse students, but the workload might be overwhelming. She also mentioned other things such as the importance of family, as well as work schedules.

After working nearly a year at the university, I clearly see how Mrs.F depends on transformational leadership. As Northouse defined, transformational leadership is the way of changing people and it focuses on emotions, values, ethics, standards, and long-term goals (2015). Mrs. F demonstrated many of these traits by showing care for her students and satisfying their needs. This not only made the students satisfied, but it also encourages them to come back for future needs. During the training, I also saw many students come in to the office only to chat with Mrs. F. Not only does this enhance relationships with students, but it also provides a positive, successful image to the campus. Just seeing this outcome in-person seems rewarding, and as an individual who seek great success, I knew that doing more than getting the work done can make a completely different and more efficient outcome.

References:

Northouse, P. (2015). Leadership: Theory and Practice 7th ed. Los Angeles: Sage Publishing.

MSLD 511 Module 5- Mid-Term Reflection

Itay Talgam provided several visual examples on how conductors performed in concerts. These were all excellent metaphors on how leaders should not and should lead their followers. The importance brought up from Talgam’s talk was that leaders should take part and be involved with their followers, but to not be over-involved to the point that leaders sound like the “big boss”. This concept was very similar from a past assignment from module three on directive and supportive behaviors.

Greg Bock was a Fire Chief from Alton, a small town of 30,000 in Illinois. Though Bock manages and plays the role of the “big boss” in his department, he didn’t want his coworkers to have this mentality. Instead, he showed his care and concerns: which included the 30,000 residents of Alton, “I’m not there to flex my muscle and show you who the boss is” along with how you must treat people like “they’re your best friend” (NPR, 2008). The reason Bock chose to lead this way was because everyone is involved- it’s more than just commanding and putting out fires.

Leadership is impossible without people, so it is critical for leaders to meet as many of the needs and want of people while pointing them to a direction the leader wants. Talgam pointed out a few things for us to keep in mind. In one example, he showed us a clip of Riccardo Muti’s performance. Though Muti is performing his “role” as the leader, he seemed too “commanding” (Talgam, 2009). This was a metaphor that leaders should take part of being a leader, but to not over-do it. I can relate and understand this message as an academic advisor. For instance, I can warn and encourage students to take a class that is rarely offered, but I should never force them to actually take it because the academic plan belongs to the student- meaning it’s their plan, and they can take the class however they want it.

Several of Talgam’s examples provided some importance of empathy. In the very first visual for example, it showed a very happy conductor that “went” with the music, but doesn’t seem to fully perform his “job” as a conductor. Talgam stated that this was a partial success (Talgam 2009). As a leader, it is important for leaders to not be too direct, but they need to have the ability to connect and share the feelings of others. I use this all the time as an academic advisor. Especially during difficult times, I try to relate with the student’s situation, keep in mind of it and implement all these into my solution. However being too empathetic can also be dangerous in leadership. As Talgam stated, “people can get annoyed” (Talgam, 2009). Personally, I believe that this is a similar saying to actions speak louder than words. Like the video, though being nice and happy is good, it only aides leadership. Followers are looking for actions, so it is critical for leaders to keep directive and empathetic leadership in balance. At the same time, being too nice can lead followers to take over too much to the point leading becomes difficult.

References:

NPR. (2008). A Small-Town Fire Chief Juggles Big Responsibilities. Washington D.C. doi: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94011870

Talgam, I. (2009). Lead like the great conductors [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/itay_talgam_lead_like_the_great_conductors/transcript?language=en#t-246000

MSLD 511 Module 4- Locus of Control

In previous entries, I’ve mentioned that I am someone with a caring, empathetic nature. Because of this, prior to taking the Rotter’s Locus of Control Scale Test, I assumed that I would side more towards the internal locus of control. By definition, internal locus of control is the mentality where leaders openly take responsibility for their actions and follower’s outcome. As Northouse stated, leaders who side more towards the internal locus of control tends to favor participative leadership, which involves leaders and followers to share thoughts and opinions and integrate them in decision making (2015). This is something I do daily as an academic advisor. Despite students having specific rules and procedures, it is important for me to consider student issues and preferences. For example, when a student is newly admitted to the university, we are required to make degree maps, or a recommended schedule of classes. Though these are my recommendations, not all students can follow them. For instance, I have many students who work on second shift, and they cannot take live-session classes due to the lack of availability in classes in earlier parts of the day. As a result, it is important to adjust with their situation for effective decision making. Not doing so will result in a poorer road to success, which I take responsibility for.

The Rotter’s Locus of Control Scale Test consisted of a scale of 0 to 13, where lower scores indicated that internal locus of control is stronger. My results were surprising. I scored an 8, which is slightly more towards the external locus of control. In contrast to internal locus of control, external is the mentality where leaders believe that outside forces are responsible for an outcome. Those who side more towards external locus of control tends to favor directive leadership, where leaders provide a set of rules and regulations for people to follow (Northouse, 2015). After putting more thoughts into why I scored an 8, it makes sense since advisors are only assisting and recommending things to the student. In other words, the result of success is more based on student choice and actions. A good example that demonstrates this is when students disregard my warnings. It’s rare for students to do this, but whenever I catch required classes that are rarely offered, I forewarn my students and encourage them to take the class at a specified term. When students disregard my warnings, the ending result will be a very angry or stressed student. They may blame me for the struggle, but it is important to keep in mind that it is the choice or any outside event they had that initiated the problem.

Though I may have scored more towards external locus of control, the conclusion drawn is that we switch sides depending on different scenarios. For my job, I can be at fault for providing inaccurate or poorly delivered information to my students. However since my goal as an advisor is to assist students with their plan, it’s mostly up to the student to get the desired outcome. In my opinion, I don’t believe that leaders who fall strongly towards external locus of control mostly prefer directive leadership. In fact, a lot of my advisement is still more towards participative leadership. For example, I have students who end up in problematic situations due to how the university runs. To resolve or at least ease the problem, I usually become empathetic and caring since I can relate to from my past and current experience as a university student. In the end, I try to come up with solutions that will benefit the student, myself, and the university.

References:

Northouse, P. G. (2015). Leadership: Theory and Practice 7th ed. Los Angeles, CA:Sage Publishing

MSLD 511 Module 3- Directive and Supportive Behaviors

My position as an academic advisor demonstrates a perfect example of both directive and supportive behavior. It is something that I use and rely on daily when advising my students. Of the two, my job mainly consists of directive behavior. By definition, directive behavior is the one-way communication where leaders point directly to the activity that followers need to complete (Blanchard, 2008). As academic advisors, students and their success is our priority. To make this possible, we assist and guide our students from the day of their admission to the day they graduate.

Though any people-oriented position requires directive behavior, I believe that supportive behavior is what really drives both the leader and followers to success. By definition, supportive behavior is the two-way communication where leaders help followers feel comfortable to receive participation and response from their followers (Blanchard, 2008). According to empathy and job behavior researcher Parkash Singh, behavior is what people actually do. In other words, what’s going on inside one’s head affects how people act and perform (2014). Aware that our delivery of communication and services correlates with behaviors and reactions of my followers, it is important to perform more than the task itself.

The talk from the latest discussion board post demonstrated this importance. Though Greg Bock, a Fire Chief from Alton, Illinois manages and plays the role of the “big boss” in his department, he didn’t want his coworkers to have this mentality. Instead, he showed his care and concerns: which included the 30,000 residents of Alton, “I’m not there to flex my muscle and show you who the boss is” along with how you must treat people like “they’re your best friend” (NPR, 2008). If ones break down the roles of fire departments, we all might say that their goal is put out fires. However when thinking critically, this involves more than just putting out fires. Almost every case of a fire will involve people. People that are in distress both physically and mentally from the fire. Bock was able to carefully identify this, and expressed his need of care for everyone: both in and out of the department.

Similar to Bock, I too follow a similar approach. From past and current experiences, I fully understand the various situations students go through. As a student, I look up to my advisors: believing that they are always there for me when I need the help. However during my time as an undergraduate student, I was constantly treated in a rush, resulting in lack of advisement and more stressful issues. Now that I am an advisor, a leader in my small community, I do not want to be viewed as someone who’s merely there to “get the job done”. I truly do care about my students and their goal of success. As a result I often relate my experiences to similar situation students. This establishes a comfortable, caring environment. Like a mirror, students often react positively back- resulting a more fluid environment to perform my job efficiently.

References

Blanchard, K. (2008, May 25). Situational Leadership. Leadership Excellence, 19.

NPR. (2008). A Small-Town Fire Chief Juggles Big Responsibilities. Washington D.C. doi: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94011870

Singh, P. (2014). Employees' use of empathy to improve their job behavior. The International Business & Economics Research Journal (Online). Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/docview/1525361493/abstract/2F2815C3B74C411EPQ/1?accountid=27203

MSLD 511 Module 2- Reflecting on Leadership Traits

In the previous course (MSLD 500), students were assigned a project to study on a topic that ties with critical thinking and leadership. For the project, I decided to study on the importance of empathy in leadership. I learned that empathy not only establishes better relationships, but it also serves as an opportunity to gather data: which is necessary for effective decision making. In conclusion, leadership is more than just “getting the job done”. I see this clearly in my position as an academic advisor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Worldwide (ERAU). Though it is important to proactively assist students with general questions, it is also critical for me to maintain a strong relationship and aim for the success of my students.

Northouse provided a list and description of five major leadership traits: intelligence, self-confidence, determination, integrity and sociability (2015). Of the five, I heavily rely on sociability. Sociability is the most critical of the five traits because without it, I wouldn’t be able to perform my job. My position is entirely people-oriented and since students rely on me from the time they are admitted to the day they graduate, it is important for me to maintain a strong relationship to work efficiently.

Keeping in contact is one thing, but for any people-oriented position, it is important to be empathetic. Most of my students admire me for having this trait because I truly understand the feelings students go through: especially when students are dealing with frustrating situations. I often share my feelings and relate students’ issues with my personal experiences. For instance, I often have students complain about our Pacific Time versus Eastern Time (where most ERAU services take place). To ease the stress, I share some feelings of frustration due to the fact that I am a current student and also have to deal with the same problem as a staff. I also try to give a good laugh to my students by saying things such as, “even staff are students too!” to help them understand that we’re not simply here to “just get the work done”, but to show that we care.

The care shown strengthen our people-oriented business and encourages students to comeback and even recommend our campus to other potential students. It is a positive image and keeps us going. Another example that demonstrates the importance of having various traits in leadership was from a spokesperson from a TED video I watched for my previous assignment. Linda Cliatt-Wayman was a former principal at the Strawberry Mansion High School in North Philadelphia. The school was “broken” by the time she first started working and was heavily influenced by the high crime rates and deep poverty in the area. Rather than students and staff complaining and trying to ease their situation, they instead “just got their job done”. Wayman knew that a leader cannot work alone and focused on everyone and everything involved to reverse the damage the school had. Though training and building renovations were involved in the process, Wayman stated that the most important thing she did was to show and establish a caring and positive environment for every student at the campus. As a former student of North Philadelphia herself, she truly understood the hardships that the Strawberry Mansion High School students had to go through. To show this care, she used her personal experiences as data and implemented it to make effective decision making. In the end, Wayman was successfully able to increase proficiency in various studies as well as removed the title of the most dangerous school for the first time in five consecutive years (2015).

References:

Cliatt-Wayman, L. (2015). Linda Cliatt-Wayman: How to fix a broken school? Lead fearlessly, love hard [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/linda_cliatt_wayman_how_to_fix_a_broken_school_lead_fearlessly_love_hard?language=en

Northouse, P. G. (2015). Leadership: Theory and Practice 7th ed. Los Angeles, CA:
     Sage Publishing

MSLD 511 Module 1- Two-Way Street

As Northouse stated, leadership wouldn’t be possible without influence (2015). Influence is defined as the power to change or affect someone (Influence, n.d.). Northouse’s statement is true since the goal of leaders are to motivate and point groups to specific directions. While influence mainly acts as a force generated by the leader, influence also takes place with everyone involved in a group.

Due to the fact that I just got my first bachelor’s degree, I never really got many experience in the workforce. However I see influence involved almost daily as an assistant campus director at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Worldwide (ERAU). Though influence might be something that often occurs from the leader or a group, it actually revolves with everyone involved in a group. For our campus, students are what triggers me to influence my boss.

One of the biggest things I’ve done to influence my boss was to let him know the importance of keeping in touch with neighboring community colleges and potential students. When I first started working for the university, I often heard my boss mentioning about the declining numbers of new admissions. After a while, I realize that one of the things that lacked for our campus was the number of times we attended events outside of our school. I asked my boss about this but he admitted that he doesn’t attend every college fairs anymore due to the lack of table visits and low numbers of the students actually applying for the university. I found his statements to be false and while looking at other ERAU campuses in Washington states, they are attending various fairs: which indicates that there good reasons to attend them. As a result, I decided to attend as many of the fairs we were authorized to attend.

Though I was somewhat expecting similar descriptions as my boss stated, I was surprised by the number of interested students that came up to my table. The interesting trend I found was that these students came up letting me know that their friend previously saw my table (word of mouth). Another group of potential students that came up were ones either already aware or are students for ERAU. However most were surprised to see me since they didn’t know that there was a physical location and that most thought that ERAU Worldwide only served online classes. Most of the ERAU students were ERAU Worldwide Online students: another branch of ERAU Worldwide. Most of these students became Worldwide Online students due to the word “online”, however they prefer face-to-face contact and didn’t know that physical locations also serve online classes.

While I attended as many events, my boss came up to me and let me know about the steadily increasing number of admissions. He was surprised how attending outside events really do impact enrollments. Though he still doesn’t attend events, he is making more effort into finding events that I can attend.

References:

Influence. (n.d.). Retrieved June 8, 2016, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/influence

MSLD 500 Module 9- Course Reflections

The Leadership Found’s in Research course was an overall excellent experience. Since this class was my very first graduate course, I was initially worried about the level of difficulty, my lack of work experience, and the “different language” that might have been involved. Perhaps the most positive aspect of this class is that it helped me overcome these fears, and this wouldn’t have happened without the discussion board activities.

Personally, I found the discussion board activities to be the most helpful thing in this course. Unlike undergraduate courses, a lot of the questions are opinion-based and these questions cannot be answered in a sentence or two: resulting us to really let out our “true knowledge”. For instance, when I used to study for my undergraduate exams, most of it was memorization. I honestly didn’t bother to learn all the details and just recognized keywords. For example, if the answer to a question is diversity, I know that this is the right answer because the definition in the question contained the word “multiple” or “culture”. If we were to change this question in the same manner as our discussion board questions, it is for certain that we don’t completely know the definition of diversity. We are forced to think critically, which establishes a more detailed answer.

While establishing the environment to think critically helped me out in this course, reading and replying to others were also very helpful. Though the majority of other answers all mentioned the same or similar answers, some students looked at the questions at different angles. Both replying and reading these comments provided us more opportunities to think critically again, which resulted in richer knowledge. At the same time, having the opportunity to read and reply to these comments made me overcome my fears since we are all learning from each other.

I honestly cannot think of any negative things in terms of course contents, however things could have gone bad if the professor didn’t reply soon enough or understood the students’ struggle for the course. As a full time worker and student, the balancing of time can be challenging. I am aware that most Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Worldwide courses’ assignment due dates are at midnight Eastern time. As a student in the Pacific coast, this would have been a challenge since this meant that I only have roughly three hours each day to complete all my assignments. I am usually slow-paced in completing my assignments and usually require an hour to eight hours to complete one assignment. Since the professor considered and adjusted to those in the Pacific region, I was able to study and complete my assignments with ease.

MSLD 500 Module 8- Good Presentation Design

Whether it is something persuasive or informative, the goal of any presentation is to effectively deliver your knowledge to the target audience. Most of us probably came across horrifically boring presentations to the point we daze off or become distracted in something else. Almost always, the ending results we get from the audience is the lack in absorption of the presentation (memorization). Boring presentations can be a dangerous situation for leaders especially since it their goal to gather as many people to look up to and support them. To avoid this situation, one critical quality all presentations should have are something interesting.

Interesting elements of a presentation can come in various forms, however the one thing they all have in common is that they target the potential interests that the audience has. Classroom sessions provide a perfect example. Almost always, most students are stressed and bored since the topic is often something irrelevant to their goal or interest. With most professors aware of this, they often input something eye-catching such as a discussion, story, or image. For instance, I had several professors back at the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Daytona Beach campus often implementing video clips from popular television series. They are often funny enough for students to engage in, which often results in better attention and stronger abilities for students to absorb information. Adding interesting elements is most important at the beginning of the presentation since this will allow immediate attention to the presentation.

Though adding something interesting is good, it is important to make sure that these interesting things are relevant and for your audience. For instance, I had a professor back at the Daytona Beach campus who was a huge fan of DreamWorks’s Kung Fu Panda. Though I was able to make some connections to the lessons, most examples from the film were irrelevant and the professor often ended up being too carried away. This is a dangerous habit to have in any presentation since relevance is an important quality in any form of communication. Having relevance to the presentation provides the audience the mentality that you truly understand the topic, but relevance also maintains your audience’s interest. Though implementing Kung Fu Panda might be funny, it is important to keep in mind that not everyone has seen or like the movie.

When it comes to visual presentations, design matters. From numerous experiences, the one common mistake I see is too much information shown. Personally, I believe too much information is not only is confusing, but it also “gives out” too much of what the presenter needs to present. The goal of the presenter is to explain as much as they can without the dependency of the visuals. Too much dependency in my opinion represents uncertainty or even laziness of the presenter. This might be something important to consider in leadership since these two characteristics can lead to some dislike from your followers.

 In addition to design, quality is also important. Quality can refer to the information or images provided in a presentation. It is important to always ensure that the information you implement in presentations are reliable and dependent. For example, when providing charts, perhaps receiving them from government websites might be more reliable than charts from someone’s blog since the source can be altered by anyone. How the chart looks is also important to consider. It is important to make sure that the chart is not overflowing with details to confuse your audience and is clear from any flaws. For instance, I came across numerous presentations where pictures were overstretched to the point they were pixelated and hard to read. It is also important to make sure that the pictures don’t look squashed since this too will cause some difficulty and look unprofessional in general. This can be dangerous in leadership since professional image usually establishes trust from your followers.

Lastly, the language of the presentation is also important to consider. I had a project one point during my undergraduate days where we had to make a presentation on a business park and airport expansion to the elderly citizens of Volusia County. Our goal of the presentation was to ease the anxiety these citizens had: such as noise, safety concerns, and the loss of land. During the making of the presentation, I constantly got in an argument with a group member also part of the project. He had the part to discuss information on runways, but as a pilot, he added very complicated terminologies as well as unnecessary numerical information. Though the information he implemented in the presentation might be helpful, it is important to keep in mind that our target audience are general elderly citizens and that not all had prior pilot or aviation-related experiences. For any presentation, you need to consider your audience and not yourself. Similar to the Kung Fu Panda example, it might provide examples and might be fun for the presenter, however not everyone watched or like the movie and it can only cause confusion to the audience.