What advice do you have for young women leaders?
Work hard, aim high and try again. This is something that I try to aspire to everyday. As a child, I was very, very shy up until about 9th grade. I had a teacher that was one of my biggest inspirations. He taught us to stand up for what we believe and to never stop fighting. He used a dry erase board instead of a chalk board and everyday he wrote “Work Hard, Aim High, and Try Again” and asked us why he did it. We all had theories and he indulged us, but never divulged the answer. Some of us tried everyday for a year to figure his true purpose and he just shook his head and laughed. The end of the year came and we all sat excitedly waiting for the answer, but most had lost interest .I am naturally curious, so I knew I had to figure it out. He never told us. So, I went to see him on graduation day to see what he really meant. He said that his mentor had done the same thing when he was in high school and he wanted to continue a tradition. I asked the meaning of the lesson and he smiled, and told me that the phrase itself was a motivator and he wanted us to persist in our inquires and continue with his puzzle. He meant to make a mark on us, he wanted the phrase itself to be a motivation to uncover the meaning of the phrase. (I hope that makes sense) He also said I was one of the very few (about 6 in 20 years of teaching) that ever came for the final answer. Since then, I have always taken the long road to figure out the puzzle and it helped me find a way to help others do the same.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Monday, March 16, 2009
Reflection 7
What do you think makes you a productive leader? How do you get things done... and is there anything you'd like to do better?
I am a productive person, overall, because I organize my tasks according to importance and by due date. I really have to concentrate on the tasks to do them efficiently. I am constantly making lists. I have a planner by day, by week and by month and all of my assignments are color coded. I have to write any online notes, because I cannot study from my computer, there is too much distraction to be had. (By the way, YouTube’s sole existence is to distract every college student from their work. YouTube is the bane of homework’s existence). So, when it comes to being a leader, I follow the same path and since I am leading a group, YouTube is far, far away. I try to organize the purpose of the group and find the best way to get to our goal. Then, I work my very hardest, doing everything I can possibly do to accomplish what needs done. I was taught that all that matters is winning, so for a long time I had many misconceptions about the meaning of reaching the goal. So I guess I need to work on not needing to be number one at everything, and being more trusting that people will do what they said they would do. I definitely have been taught to trust through experience and I have had several experience that back this theory up, but as I have moved to college, every group I have worked with has really come through and my trust has severely increased.
I am a productive person, overall, because I organize my tasks according to importance and by due date. I really have to concentrate on the tasks to do them efficiently. I am constantly making lists. I have a planner by day, by week and by month and all of my assignments are color coded. I have to write any online notes, because I cannot study from my computer, there is too much distraction to be had. (By the way, YouTube’s sole existence is to distract every college student from their work. YouTube is the bane of homework’s existence). So, when it comes to being a leader, I follow the same path and since I am leading a group, YouTube is far, far away. I try to organize the purpose of the group and find the best way to get to our goal. Then, I work my very hardest, doing everything I can possibly do to accomplish what needs done. I was taught that all that matters is winning, so for a long time I had many misconceptions about the meaning of reaching the goal. So I guess I need to work on not needing to be number one at everything, and being more trusting that people will do what they said they would do. I definitely have been taught to trust through experience and I have had several experience that back this theory up, but as I have moved to college, every group I have worked with has really come through and my trust has severely increased.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Reflection 6
What do you think so far about Madsen's book? How have you seen yourself or other women around you represented in the stories of these women presidents?
The thing about Susan Madsen's On Becoming a Woman Leader, I really can not relate in the slightest to these women, other than being a woman myself. The book itself has some interesting roots and the point that Susan is trying to make is obvious, and she is clearly trying to lead other women to successfulness, or at least share how these ten women did so.
The stories are, however, a step backwards, in my opinion. The really take away from the book and its meaning. If it was called “A lifetime with…” or something of the caliber but this book focuses the too much on these stories that aren’t entertaining and all they do is repeat the “moral of the story” for example, instead of just saying lying is bad, she says lying is bad and this is why… story of boy who cried wolf (Brother Grimm), one-eyed cat (Paula Fox), and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain) and three pages later, still trying to prove that same point. It takes away the attention and the fact that none of the stories ever connect really turned me off.
The writing is good, the like how her words flow, but as for the “story”, she side-skirts a lot, and I feel that the book could be reduced a few chapters and a few “select stories” from each president.
I would rate this book a 6/10 and would not re-read it, nor recommend it to anyone. As I said before, I cannot relate myself or anyone I know to the stories of these women, other than we are women, and we have to work to get where we want in life.
The thing about Susan Madsen's On Becoming a Woman Leader, I really can not relate in the slightest to these women, other than being a woman myself. The book itself has some interesting roots and the point that Susan is trying to make is obvious, and she is clearly trying to lead other women to successfulness, or at least share how these ten women did so.
The stories are, however, a step backwards, in my opinion. The really take away from the book and its meaning. If it was called “A lifetime with…” or something of the caliber but this book focuses the too much on these stories that aren’t entertaining and all they do is repeat the “moral of the story” for example, instead of just saying lying is bad, she says lying is bad and this is why… story of boy who cried wolf (Brother Grimm), one-eyed cat (Paula Fox), and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain) and three pages later, still trying to prove that same point. It takes away the attention and the fact that none of the stories ever connect really turned me off.
The writing is good, the like how her words flow, but as for the “story”, she side-skirts a lot, and I feel that the book could be reduced a few chapters and a few “select stories” from each president.
I would rate this book a 6/10 and would not re-read it, nor recommend it to anyone. As I said before, I cannot relate myself or anyone I know to the stories of these women, other than we are women, and we have to work to get where we want in life.
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