Blog Entry 11 – Big Picture Leadership

As the semester comes to a close, so do a lot of other things in life. Friendships, housing contracts, and seasons of life are all coming to a close. When I think back about what this semester has entailed, I realize how quickly it has gone by. I can think back and remember most of my accomplishments, while at the same time be left wondering how I am already ending my junior year of college! One of the most important things that I have learned throughout this entire second semester of my junior year is that analyzing the big picture is key to leading myself on a daily basis.

A lot of the time I will get into the mindset that my opinion does not matter. My vote does not matter. I do not matter. And then I combat those feelings by realizing that if everyone had those thoughts and acted upon them accordingly, nothing would get accomplished. I realize that everything that I do makes a difference, even if it is a small one. I set multiple goals for myself throughout this semester. I succeeded in some of my goals and I failed in other ones.

One of my main goals was to always get to bed early. My plan was to get to bed by midnight on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays because I have to get up at 8:00 a.m. on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I also wanted to get to bed by 11:00 p.m. on Monday and Wednesday nights because I have to get up even earlier on Tuesday and Thursday. I was very successful at fulfilling this goal for the first two weeks of the semester. I think I only missed one or two days, and I did not miss my goal by much time at all. I began to think that the amount of sleep that I was receiving was not as important and I fell off of the track. I recently got a device called a fit bit. It tracks my sleep and I realized that instead of sleeping around 8 hours like I wanted to, I now sleep only around 6 hours a night. This is something that I am not proud of because I know that it is affecting my health. If I am going to lead myself properly, I need to get enough sleep now to prepare myself to be healthy in the future.

Another one of my goals this semester was to work 50 times at Bob Evans. I am a full time student and I wanted to set the bar high for myself. I just looked around at other Purdue students and realized that a lot of college students are simply lazy. I knew that if I used my time correctly and followed a strict schedule, I would be able to accomplish my goal. I had to work 3 days a week and two of the weeks I had to work 4 of the days. I am happy to say that we have exactly two weeks left until finals are over and I have worked a total of 45 days! I am one day ahead of schedule with 6 days of work left. This means that I will likely beat my goal. I set this goal for myself because I wanted to be financially prepared for this summer. I knew that working only one or two shifts at Bob Evans would not make that much of a difference, but if I worked 50 or more times…. then that would make a BIG DIFFERENCE!

The video below shows how important it is to think about why you are doing what you are doing. I know that I had to keep my mind on the big picture to get out of bed every day and go to work. I live 20 minutes away fro Bob Evans, so a forty minute drive and getting up super early was not at the top of my priority list.

This work ethic that I had this semester ties back to my belief that every little thing makes a difference in someone’s life! I know that the little things add up. My opinion matters. What I say matters. What kind of a difference I can make matters.

Blog Entry 10 – North Leadership

When being a leader, directing followers in the right direction is what matters. Being a leader includes letting go of responsibility to empower the followers. Trusting followers to complete the tasks in front of them takes trust and time, but is the only way that followers can grow. In class, we learned that leaders need to show the followers which was north is! How does the leader expect you to complete your tasks? What is the reason behind completing these tasks? What is the overall goal of what you are doing, or your overall mission?

Telling followers what you expect as a leader is essential. Employees can achieve great things if they have the right tools and learn how to accomplish their tasks efficiently. Without any direction on which was is north, they are left swimming around in an open sea like a lost fish! Mr. Feinberg discussed why it is so important for leaders to lead with direction and tips along the way. One the the things that he referenced during his in class discussion was something that I had never heard of. He discussed how we as people, need to BE A TRIM TAB!

If you are like me, you have probably never heard of what a trim tab is. A trim tab is the name of a small piece on the tip of a ship that can dramatically change the ship’s course in the water. Here is a quick clip showing more about what being a trim tab is about and how it can greatly affect a ship and your life!

What I take away from the trim tab concept is that by making a small incremental change in your life, you can drastically change the outcome. This comes into play in the business world with employees choosing to all do their best to make their company better, and it has ample effects throughout the company. This comes into play in leadership when a person chooses to consistently make better life decisions and make small incremental changes to greatly improve their well being. This can include consistently going to bed on time, eating healthy, completing homework way ahead of time, studying for exams throughout the whole semester, complimenting others, etc. The list goes on and on about how every person can be a trim tab in their life and others!

Blog Entry 9 – Discussion and Gossip

Discussion. Discussion is such a unique thing. Discussion creates opportunities for closed doors to open and for relationships to be built upon. I have learned throughout my college career how essential discussion is. Living with other humans is not always easy, but having fruitful discussion and taking the lead in creating a discussion tends to mend relationships, rather than hurt them. I passionately believe and know that it is essential to talk with others to learn what their perspective is on a situation and why they believe that way. This is important because once you understand their perspective, you can begin to understand why the have acted in a certain way or believe what they believe.

Leading a relationship is though work. Taking the lead on solving a problem is not an easy task, but almost always results in emotions being let loose and understanding on both sides. You see, when I came to college I did not understand this concept as much as I do now. I was very confused when I ran into people who acted certain ways that frustrated me. Why do they act that way? What good are they doing? I wanted to be a leader in the house that I call home, Fairway Cooperative, but I had personal issues with some people and I was not sure how to best handle it. In the Bible, Matthew 15:18 says, ““If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.” This verse has helped me learn that I need to talk to my brothers at Fairway when they have done something that is out of line, when I believe it is best to talk to them about their actions.

Taking this course of action has proved to be very fruitful. I have realized that having these conversations has not always changed the other person’s perspective, but it leaves no doubt in my mind that they know how I feel about a situation. Through having conversations with other guys, I have learned why they have issues with certain actions I have taken. Sometimes it is not the action I took that upset them, but their perceived reason of what was behind my action. I once received a review from a house member that was quite unpleasant. I discussed matters with him and identified that I could explain my reasoning behind certain decisions better and he in turn would have a better understanding.

Eliminating gossip is key in leading relationships or mending broken ones. Gossip churns up strife and anger between humans. Instead of gossiping, I believe it is best to go straight to someone and talk to them about what is bothering you. Talking behind someone’s back creates a lack of trust. I am not perfect at this at all, but I know that I have learned from past experiences that gossiping is not the solution to a problem. Leaders lose respect from followers when they begin to gossip about others. A great question is.. If someone always gossips to you about others, what are they chances that they do the same to you behind your back? Instead of gossiping, discussing things with one, two, or even three people can create very productive results from a  relationship standpoint!