Last night we talked about competitive advantage. What do we have that makes us special? And more importantly can we communicate that to someone else if presented the opportunity? And maybe even more importantly, can we make that opportunity occur? You can make that opportunity more likely to occur by being persistent, putting yourself out there, and improving yourself to make yourself more desireable to an organization--build up that resume and get it out there for everyone to see. But once you've got your foot in the door, what about the rest of you? And what about the next door, and the door after that? You have to go through a series of doors to actually be where you want to be.
Doorway 1: The human resources robot filters resumes and allows yours to come through.
Doorway 2: A person reads it and doesn't throw it away.
Doorway 3: Someone else reads it and still doesn't throw it away.
Doorway 4: Someone else reads it and invites you for an interview.
Doorway 5: You get to the interview and they don't send you away immediately.
Doorway 6: You're in the interview and they ask you about yourself.
So you need to have something prepared for that little window of opportunity. I have a competitive advantage and disadvantage at the same time. I am an American who will be applying for a job in a foreign country. The good side is that I stand out from other applicants. The bad side is that many of my accomplishments may be unfamiliar to people outside of the United States. For instance, ask anyone in Europe if they've ever heard of Purdue University? My GPA means nothing over there, the average person on the street wouldn't know what it is. I may also have to combat negative stereotypes. So I am mostly at a disadvantage here, for which I must compensate even more. The fact that I cannot just talk about what I've done in the past and expect them to be impressed, makes this a real challenge. I will have to rely solely on my ability to exude character and confidence, which so far, isn't that great.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Friday, January 25, 2008
Self-improvement
Recognizing and accepting one's own shortcomings and compensating for them is a sign of good leadership. Take, for instance, the story of Dr. Goodspeed and his owner's manual from Assignment 3. What started out as an attempt to find a capable someone to fill a position by giving them tips on "how to work" the CEO, became an acknowledgement of his own flaws and an opportunity to recieve feedback from collegues and constituents and to improve.
As we discussed in class, you may pre-disposed to certain behaviour, but you can either control that behaviour or let it control you. Self-improvement starts with Self and ends with Improvement, which in fact never ends. What does this mean? It means first you must know your Self and your tendancies, strengths, weaknesses, disposition, etc. Once you know your Self and realize and accept all these things, then you may begin the never-ending process of Improvement.
At this stage in life, many of us (us meaning people my age) are still getting to know our Self. College is an ideal opportunity for this--you can test your strengths and weaknesses and gain a keen insight on the concept of identity. The entire college experience is a self-assessment in a way, in which one can discover potential to change, improve, or compensate for one's own shortcomings.
As we discussed in class, you may pre-disposed to certain behaviour, but you can either control that behaviour or let it control you. Self-improvement starts with Self and ends with Improvement, which in fact never ends. What does this mean? It means first you must know your Self and your tendancies, strengths, weaknesses, disposition, etc. Once you know your Self and realize and accept all these things, then you may begin the never-ending process of Improvement.
At this stage in life, many of us (us meaning people my age) are still getting to know our Self. College is an ideal opportunity for this--you can test your strengths and weaknesses and gain a keen insight on the concept of identity. The entire college experience is a self-assessment in a way, in which one can discover potential to change, improve, or compensate for one's own shortcomings.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Intention
Leadership is about intentions. On Wednesday the 9th, we had our second class. The purpose of that class was to teach us about the importance of leaders and what it takes to be a leader. During that class, a number of people tried and failed to take on the role of leader. They would stand up and try and give us a reason why we should follow them and why they would make a good leader. All of them failed. The next class, Feinberg talked about one reason this occurred: these people could not convince the rest of us why we should follow them. In other words, they could not establish credibility. Having begun the book for the class and after considering the material discussed in class, I have reached the pivotal conclusion that a good leader must have true intentions...This is not really a pivotal conclusion, it is actually a rather obvious one to most people.
When you think about classic examples of leadership, it's simple. Martin Luther King, Jr. wasn't out to make a name for himself, he was working for a cause. Many people who call themselves leaders are in it for self-gratification as opposed to serving others, bringing about change, or solving problems. They want to "make it" and leading is simply a means to an end, a vehicle to move up the food chain. That is not true leadership. One must be able to convince people that they truly believe in a cause and they're not just in it for the glory. The book talks about qualities that people look for in leaders that they would willingly follow. The key word, it says, is "willingly." One of these traits is honesty. Honesty and integrity are at the root of one's intentions. Someone who lacks these traits will almost certainly be lacking of good intentions which means constituents will not trust them enough to follow them.
Page 6 of the book: "They understood that Dick was there because he wanted to be there, not because it was on some career path to a higher position." When you have admirable intentions, people will follow.
When you think about classic examples of leadership, it's simple. Martin Luther King, Jr. wasn't out to make a name for himself, he was working for a cause. Many people who call themselves leaders are in it for self-gratification as opposed to serving others, bringing about change, or solving problems. They want to "make it" and leading is simply a means to an end, a vehicle to move up the food chain. That is not true leadership. One must be able to convince people that they truly believe in a cause and they're not just in it for the glory. The book talks about qualities that people look for in leaders that they would willingly follow. The key word, it says, is "willingly." One of these traits is honesty. Honesty and integrity are at the root of one's intentions. Someone who lacks these traits will almost certainly be lacking of good intentions which means constituents will not trust them enough to follow them.
Page 6 of the book: "They understood that Dick was there because he wanted to be there, not because it was on some career path to a higher position." When you have admirable intentions, people will follow.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Setting the stage
Feinberg asked us a some questions on the third day of class. Why should I follow you? What have you done with your life so far to show me that you are a good leader? Our first assignment was to find out how many seconds we have left to live, which was meant to make us conscious of the fact that we only have so much time and that it is our job to make the most of it.
As this is my first blog entry, I am going to begin by discussing my experiences in the past and putting them into context of leadership. So far my understanding of leadership is making the most of every single opportunity; in particular, the ultimate and singularly most important opportunity of all: Life.
Life is a wonderful opportunity that each one of us has been privileged to receive and experience, so it is only fair that we cherish it and respect it for the gift that it is. That is, by making the most of it.
So what have I done with my life so far??? I came to Purdue because it was the furthest place away that I could convince my parents of letting me go without stating a particular career path or even what I was going to study. (I am from South Bend, so not very far). Also, my best friend from high school was going to Purdue so I thought that if it was good enough for her, it was good enough for me. Sounded like a good idea at the time. So far, not so good on the leadership.
I messed around for a year at Purdue before realizing I wasn't doing a whole lot with my life, but still not sure what exactly I wanted to do with it. I decided to fall back and re-group. A change would do it; so I changed schools, moved to Fort Wayne, and went part-time at IPFW for a year and worked.
Still not good enough. I was starting to get a vague idea of wanting to make something of myself, but something else needed to be done. Maybe moving to another city in Indiana wasn't a big enough of a change. So I decided to move to London. Not move-move but just sort of go there for a while. I had never lived outside the state of Indiana, let alone outside of the United States. In fact, I had never even been out of the country at that point in time. I applied to an American school in London, one that happened to do a study abroad program with Purdue. This was not a coincidence. It was also not an accident that the classes I took there were ones that were approved by Purdue's CSR department for retail management. I knew I wanted to come back to Purdue eventually, I just wasn't ready. I had to do something first. That is leadership: doing.
By now, it's no secret that I am very proud of myself for this bold move even if it might seem small in the eyes of others. It may not seem like much, but I think it's an okay start for 21 years of age. Of course, I could be doing more. There is always something else you can do to make the most of life.
As this is my first blog entry, I am going to begin by discussing my experiences in the past and putting them into context of leadership. So far my understanding of leadership is making the most of every single opportunity; in particular, the ultimate and singularly most important opportunity of all: Life.
Life is a wonderful opportunity that each one of us has been privileged to receive and experience, so it is only fair that we cherish it and respect it for the gift that it is. That is, by making the most of it.
So what have I done with my life so far??? I came to Purdue because it was the furthest place away that I could convince my parents of letting me go without stating a particular career path or even what I was going to study. (I am from South Bend, so not very far). Also, my best friend from high school was going to Purdue so I thought that if it was good enough for her, it was good enough for me. Sounded like a good idea at the time. So far, not so good on the leadership.
I messed around for a year at Purdue before realizing I wasn't doing a whole lot with my life, but still not sure what exactly I wanted to do with it. I decided to fall back and re-group. A change would do it; so I changed schools, moved to Fort Wayne, and went part-time at IPFW for a year and worked.
Still not good enough. I was starting to get a vague idea of wanting to make something of myself, but something else needed to be done. Maybe moving to another city in Indiana wasn't a big enough of a change. So I decided to move to London. Not move-move but just sort of go there for a while. I had never lived outside the state of Indiana, let alone outside of the United States. In fact, I had never even been out of the country at that point in time. I applied to an American school in London, one that happened to do a study abroad program with Purdue. This was not a coincidence. It was also not an accident that the classes I took there were ones that were approved by Purdue's CSR department for retail management. I knew I wanted to come back to Purdue eventually, I just wasn't ready. I had to do something first. That is leadership: doing.
By now, it's no secret that I am very proud of myself for this bold move even if it might seem small in the eyes of others. It may not seem like much, but I think it's an okay start for 21 years of age. Of course, I could be doing more. There is always something else you can do to make the most of life.
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