Final Blog

When I first found out that I was going to have to keep a blog for this class I was not really sure what to think. I had never had a blog or even considered doing one before. The first couple of blogs were kind of hard to write. I did not really know how to go about writing a blog a first, but once we got more in to the class material it got easier to relate the class stuff to things I have experienced or seen in the real world. Once I started connecting the things in class to other things I was more familiar with it made it easier to understand the stuff that we were going over in class. I think it would have been nice if someone was reading over my blog all semester instead of just at the end to give me comments and help me with writing better blogs. I think that the blogging assignment overall was a good way to at least try and make us think about leadership and class concepts once we were done with class.

Paratroopers

For an assignment I had for class the other day I had to watch a video over military troops training to become paratroopers. I was amazed to see how many things that they do with their training can be related back to the business world. At the start of their training they have to be able to pass a physical test to see if they are prepared to start the actual paratrooper training. They also kind of do this in the business world when you first enter a job they make you take classes and then a test to make sure you know the product well enough to be able to answer any questions that a customer may have for you. The troops also received specific step by step instructions of what they are to do before and after the jump. In the business world you are given instructions of how a sales call should go and the things you need to do before and after you make your visit to the customer. At the end of the training the troops were given their paratrooper wings as a reward for passing the training. In the business world employees are given rewards such as raises or special recognition for their outstanding work in the field. Before watching the video I would have never guessed that their were so many ways you can tie military training into the business world.

The Power of a Smile

The other day I was sitting in my CSR 309 class listening to our guest speaker that had shown up to give a small company presentation. When she was finished with the presentation our prefessor asked her to take a step out into the hall for a minute. Once she had left the room our professor asked us to give her a standing ovation for her presentation when he brought her back in. Even though it was probably pretty obvious to her that we were asked to give her the ovation you could still tell that it had made her day by the large smile she had on her face. Not only did we make her day, but the fact that it made her happy made me feel like a better person as well. Seeing this really made me realize how easy it is for a person to change another person's day for the better. I know that it is not possible to give everyone you see throughout the day a standing ovation, but you can do small things like smile as you pass by someone. Its too bad that most people don't take the initiative to do these small effortless things that can give someone the extra strength they need to get through a bad day or week.

KIPP

The other day in class we watched a video over a program that I had never heard of before called KIPP. KIPP stands for Knowlege Is Power Program. Basically what the program does is set up schools in areas where people think that the kids have no chance of making it through school and doing anything with their lives. This is school is not like most schools though becuase it goes for up to ten hours a day, they have school on Saturday, and part of the summer. Most people would not think that kids would want to go to that type of school, but the leadership instilled in those schools by the programs founders have gotten both the teachers and children willing to dedicate those types of hours to make something out of their lives. I was amazed to see inner city children so motivated to do school work, but the program gives them hope when so many people around them are trying to hold them back in life. The founders of KIPP went out of their way to create this program not for themselves but to help guide the youth in the right direction to have a successful life.

Leadership Workshop

Tonight I attended a leadership workshop that really showed me alot of ways that I could improve myself and my leadership skills. I thought that spending 5 hours of my night listening to a guy talk would just be a boring waste of time, but I could not have been anymore wrong. Some of the quotes that he used that really stuck out in my head were "to inspire growth and development in other people you must grow within yourself", "Motivation is an individual responsibility", and "Stop trying to be perfect and start being remarkable". The things he talked about really made me rethink alot of decisions and events in my life and how they could have been different if I had only known those ideas.

Painful Memories Exercise

Today in CSR309 we did an exercise where we had to write down some painful times in our lives. Before we wrote down ours, the professor opened up first and told the class about things in his life that cause him pain everyday. I think that when someone is able to open up emotionally with people about such personal things it really makes you feel like you can trust that person. I have only had one other teacher or professor in my entire life that I truly feel wanted to connect with the students in their class. It makes me want to work harder for that person becuase I really do feel that he is working to make us better people instead of just showing up everyday to do a job. The exercises that he has provided so far have taught me more about myself as a person than I would have ever guessed I would have learned all year. I wish that all my classes that I have taken here at Purdue could be as useful for my future as this one is.

The Queen

Today in my CSR309 class we watched the movie "The Queen". This movie showed me that as a leader you need to be openminded when it comes to new ways of doing things. Just because one style of leadership has worked for awhile does not mean that it is always going to work. Also the movie showed me that you can't let your personal bias against someone or something get in the way of being an effective leader. In the movie the Queen of England lets her personal feelings toward Princess Diana get in the way of seeing that the people of England needed her to help them get over the loss of someone that was very important to them. Once the Queen realizes that even though her and Diana might not have always got along she was an important person and needed to be shown the respect that she deserved.