Confidence

            In this video Prof. Baba Shiv goes over the importance of confidence and the effect that it can have on a leader and his or her followers. When a leader is put in charge of a group of people it is important that they act like a leader. People look at a leader for guidance, when in charge of a group Prof. Baba makes it a point to show us that we must transfer our own confidence to those below us.

            I think that Prof. Baba gives a good example of when having confidence is crucial. When he talks about a military commander be shows us the importance of confidence, someone like a military commander will have the lives of others in their hands so it is important that they do not fail to portray confidence. I often knew this when I was in the military but sometimes did not follow through, it was always hard for me to tell those which were older than me what to do and how to act. My military experience was in an air traffic control facility and not a battle field.

            Although an air traffic control facility can feel like a battle field it can be very different in some aspects. Overall the concept was still the same, we all had responsibilities and we all had the lives of others in our hands. I can recall a situation when I was new to working in the tower, on this day I was working ground control which consisted of controlling the aircraft which were taxiing through the airfield. I was still relatively new, I was bit nervous but I tried to sound as confident as possible. I remember having to ask a group of pilots to park their aircraft in a location which they usually do not for a temporary amount of time because we had a lot of foreign traffic in route. One pilot questioned why I was doing things differently on that day and I did not convey enough confidence so this pilot wanted to verify with their supervisor on what the issue was. This pilot slowed traffic down enough to where it became a snowball effect which caused the air field to get severely backed up.

            This is an example of what lack of confidence can do, when your troops no longer want to follow you mass delays can occur and people can be scared for their own safety to follow your lead. During this situation there were many emotional reactions which came with it but it seemed as though they all revolved around fear. During this situation I felt worried, stressed and inadequate, I felt at that young age that I was not good enough to be able to hold these types of responsibilities. This is a constant fear that comes with not having confidence, the feeling of not knowing rather you are good enough can take its toll on a leader and then be reflected through the performance of the group.

            As time went on I feel that I have grown as a person, confidence is something which I am much more comfortable with. Confidence is not always automatic but it is much easier to convey when I am an expert on the subject matter. As a T-ball coach I am tasked with the job of teaching my four year olds and transcending my own confidence to my team so that they want to get up and play. In this situation my job is to teach the kids they are capable of completing any task which they put their minds to. Many times I will instruct the kids on their task and for them to complete it I must sound confident and assure them that I am confident in them. Every age group is very different and you must learn how to push them in the right direction.

            I can recall my first game with my team, we had spent the last two months training them and assuring that they will be able to play well. Before the game started I looked at my team and told them to just have fun out there on the field, this game was all about fun and learning to love the sport. Throughout the season I made sure to never scold any of the children, I knew that it was my job to build their confidence in themselves first. In this situation confidence transcended into fun for my whole team and I could not have been happier with the result. During this time my confidence and my teams confidence brought out some special emotion in me which I had felt during other leadership roles. I had a feeling of honor, pride and most of all I felt very accomplished. It was important for me to feel this way because this last year coaching t-ball had to be one of the most rewarding things that I had ever done in my life.  

Collaborative-Decision Making

            Stewart Levine gives a road map towards resolution in our text, in this book we talk about the craft of resolution and different ways that we can work towards making a decision that everyone will be satisfied with. One of the seven steps of resolution is called “listening for a vision of resolution”, in this step we are taught to listen so that everyone’s concerns may be heard. When we are getting stake holders involved we are now listening to everyone that is part of the team and working towards the best decision possible. When we are listening for a resolution that benefits everyone, one of the questions which we have to ask is if the “preliminary vision fits everyone’s view of the outcome” (Getting to Resolution pg. 137)? This is an important question to ask because as stated before we want to make everyone a part of the team. It is important to get the opinion of everyone who has a stake in the organization because they have a different point of view than you might have and diversity has been known to create good decisions.

            At my job I am constantly faced with many different situations, the job of a Rail Traffic Controller requires someone to move trains in the fastest way possible across America while still favoring priority trains. I have had situations in the past where I have needed to collaborate with many different people that had a stake in the mission. I was faced with a scenario where pushing a priority train would help us make this particular trains scheduled goal; the only down fall was that it would put into jeopardy making goal on about 8 non-priority trains. I gathered a team of individuals who all had a say in the matter and we began to discuss the issue at hand. Eventually we came to the conclusion that laying down the whole railroad for one train was not the most practical solution and decided we could make up some time on our priority train later on. This was an important decision because we saved the company some money and we increased all of the stakeholder’s bonuses in this instance. As a team we made a decision and stuck to it, we took a risk but it was a risk that we all agreed upon which made our resolution much better in the long run. Since we all came to the decision together there was no bad blood between our groups.

            There were many ways that including the stakeholders helped us out in this situation. As I think about it I realized that

-          We were not worried about any repercussions because everyone was on board with the decision.

-          We had the investors on our side and happy to comply with the situation.

 

-          We were given more leeway because all of the stakeholders knew what we were trying to accomplish at the moment.

 

-          We were much more efficient because we had a workable agreement, a shared vision and minimized conflict.

 

-          We were able to be much more creative with our options now that we had the blessings of the stake holders.

In the long run, throughout this whole ordeal I knew that our team work and collaboration helped us achieve our objective. When we brought in everyone that would be involved we all felt a weight come off of our shoulders, we no longer felt the pressure of making the decision on our own and having to face the repercussions later on. We were able to focus and make the best decision possible. The only other person I feel that could have added to the strength of our team was our liaison between the company who’s product we were shipping and our company, unfortunately he was not available on this day. Being able to keep everyone informed is a key part of the resolution process.

This resolution process has shed light on many ways that I have done business in the past. It has taught me many things I like to think that I will use it in the future when working towards a resolution; I will make it a point to have a positive attitude, listen to everyone and also include all members. Sometimes taking on all the decisions yourself can be very stressful and hurt everyone in the long run.  

 

  Reference:

Levine, S. (2009). Getting to resolution: Turning conflict into collaboration (2^nd Ed.).San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.

 

 

 

 

Ten principles of new thinking

            About seven years ago I purchased my first home at the age of twenty-two, I was extremely excited that I had the opportunity to make an important investment in my life. I knew that I wanted to get involved in real-estate since I was young and I saw this as my opportunity. I was in the military and at first I knew that this was where my family would live for some time.  Unfortunately I received the news that I would have to transfer to a new duty station a lot sooner than I had expected. I was a bit worried since I knew the home was not ready to sell since I knew it was a fixer-upper and I thought that I would have more time to work on the house.

            I figured that I would take all of the money that I saved from my last deployment and invest it into this home so that I might be able to make a profit when I sell the home. Eventually I figured that I would rent the home since the housing market had crashed and I knew I was not going to get my money’s worth. I found someone who I thought would be the perfect renter; I later found out that I was very mistaken by choosing this person to live in my investment. As soon as I moved out of state to my next duty station she was always late on rent, and I later found out that the furniture that I had let her borrow was destroyed by her cat. Eventually I was tired of her not being responsible and decided to evict her. This is when things got bad, she ended up becoming a squatter in my house and stopped paying rent.

            I was twenty-four years old at this time supporting two different homes and a new born on the way. This conflict was extremely costly, a lot more than I preferred and I eventually had to let the house go to foreclosure. This was a very costly conflict but it was a huge learning experience; if I had the Stewart Levine’s ten principles of new thinking I know things could have been different.

            I think that if I would have believed more in my product, which is my home; I could have sold it right from the beginning instead of trying to rent the home out until the market came back. “Believing in abundance” (Getting to Resolution pg. 47) is one of the ten principles of new thinking. When you believe in your product enough to where yourself and others can get what they need; your product will seem like it is worth much more.

            Another principle I could have used is the principle of “Creating partnership” (Getting to Resolution pg. 47) and “forming long-term collaborations”. These are principles that anyone in the real-estate business should definitely consider. By collaborating with others I could have found a way to get cheaper labor and probably have completed many more projects. If I would have been able to network to a more extensive level then I know that I could have gotten much more value out of my house then I originally thought.

            Throughout this whole process I learned a lot, the ten principles of new thinking require you to learn and be open. I feel that I should have been more optimistic throughout my process, I needed to be more open throughout this whole ordeal. I feel that the new way of thinking is a way to open up the possibilities which many times people in the past might have missed out on. Making decisions and handling conflict can be a lot easier to handle if we can adapt a new way of thinking. Stewart Levine gives us a good map to follow when pursuing a much more successful outcome. 

 

 

 

Reference:

Levine, S. (2009). Getting to resolution: Turning conflict into collaboration (2^nd Ed.).San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.

 

 

 

 

             

             

Protected Values

            Protected values, my way of understanding this is that these are decisions which I make that will never change. I will never have to think twice about making these types of decisions because these are part of my personal values. These values are imbedded into who I am and I can never waiver from holding these protected values to the highest regard. I know that I want to be a successful person but I also have limits to what I will do to attain these goals.

            This is a good subject to go over because it seems that many times once someone gets a taste of success they can become addicted to this feeling; avoiding the thought of selling your soul to become richer is one which must be talked about in business. We have to have boundaries which will not be jeopardized for the sake of some extra earnings.

            With that being said I have given great thought to what my own protected values are as I have become an adult. Some of these values I picked up recently and I think that as a humans, the older and more mature we get the more important our values can become. One of my values which I have gained and would like to have the strength to stand for in my future; would be to have any products which I ever produce to be American made.

            Far too often we forget the importance of having pride for our country and supporting our country. I do see the importance in participating in the global economy but I also see that our nation is weakening because more and more citizens no longer have a sense of pride for their country. If I was to ever become a manufacturer I would make it a point to make sure that I tried my hardest to have American made products. Many people see the negative in this because it might not be as cost effective and it might hurt some of my company’s profit; but there is also a lot that a company can gain from having American made products.

            If we think about which country has one of the largest populations with at least a high school diploma, I think that the USA would definitely be amongst the top countries. It is weird to me that we purchase so many items from countries which only have good educational systems in place for the wealthy. Another reason to support USA products would be the fact that many buyers do have pride in their country and like to rally behind a quality product even if it cost a bit more. It would bring me great pleasure if I knew that I was contributing to our economy and keeping more jobs in the USA to make us a stronger country.

            Another protected value of mine which I know I will not waiver from is being able to not take advantage of the less fortunate. We always hear about companies taking advantage of everyday people which do not have much to offer. How many times do we see these payday loan companies making a fortune off of people who are down to their last dime and their last choice? I think that it is insane to charge someone over twenty percent in interest for a loan that will be paid off within two weeks. This makes me sad because you see people and families who cannot get out of a financial hole because they are reduced to these types of options. If I could provide a service that would charge half of the interest that these other companies are charging, I think that I could make a huge difference by sticking to my values.

            Companies in today’s day and age are ruthless and business men can also follow suit. I have seen too many examples where people will make deals with others knowing that a bad business move will not only hurt this person but it will hurt those that should be left out of their loved ones mistakes. Many times we see families use their children’s credit to apply for loans and many times these creditors know exactly what is going on. One value which I would never compromise is brining family members into a problem which might go south. As business person I might miss out on a lot of money but at least I would  know that my conscious would be clear and I never let my strayed from my values.

            I think that many times we all need to stop and remember why we got into certain businesses and who we were when we were just getting started. In life, even outside of business there are certain values which do not even require a decision to be made because these are part of our values. Dan Gilbert talks a lot about the decision making process which we have, he talks about the irrational decisions which we might make. These irrational decisions are due to many of the values which we have, rather we make good decisions or bad decisions our values and our protected values play a large part in the decisions that we make.

 

Reference-

Hooch, S., & Keunruther, H. (2001). Values and Decisions (1 st ed., Vol. 1, p. 45). Hoboken: John Wiley and Sons.

 

 

  

Deception In Negotiations

            Negotiating, this would be one of my weak points in life because sometimes I feel that I am just too nice to be a good negotiator. It is hard for me to lie or mislead a person yet I know that it has to be done from time to time to get an advantage when trying to make a deal. During negotiations there are many ways to try and evaluate information, it is important to evaluate all of the information so that others do not take advantage of you. I know that I am not the type to mislead someone in a negotiation but I do know that I have learned many lessons in life and I do not let others take advantage of me during a negotiation.

            In our Wharton text it talks about the different ways to evaluate information during negotiations; one that I found very important was establishing trust. This in my opinion might just be one of the most important techniques, I feel that this is important because if we do not trust the person we are making a deal with than nothing will get accomplished. This is why when you go to those small used car dealerships many times deals are not completed unless the buyer has their own issues like horrible credit and they need someone to sell them a car.

            Paying attention to non-verbal cues, so it is said that some people are able to detect when others are lying. This would be a very great tool to have when in the process of negotiating, clues to look for would be increased blinking or changes in respiration. If we had the power to tell if someone was lying this would increase the chances of establishing trust and it would also increase the probability if making good deals throughout life.

            Keeping records and getting things in writing, if we lived in a perfect world this would not be necessary. Unfortunately we do not live in a perfect world and it is very hard to establish trust with a complete stranger during a negotiation. This is also a way to keep future negotiations from going sour, if everything is in writing than there is no confusion and no room left for arguing about a past negotiation.

            Ask direct questions, this technique might have saved me a lot of grief in the past, sometimes it is important to drop the barriers and ask direct questions. We all try to be as polite and as nice to people during negotiations as possible but there does come a time when it is best to ask honest questions no matter whose feelings get hurt.

            I recently purchased a 25,000 dollar car from a used car lot, they seemed credible and they only sold high end cars which made me feel more comfortable. As soon as I drove twenty miles off of the car lot my brand new car showed the transmission was malfunctioning. I was told that this repair would cost me 8,000 dollars, I was very upset by this. The person who sold me the car at the used car lot was unwilling to work with me at first, this made me even more upset. The next day I called the owner and told him that they were not going to rip me off and I told them that I would have every news station from the Dallas area in front of their lot and that they would never hear the end of this.

It seemed that my negotiating tactics worked and they decided to fix my car, I did have to go to great lengths to get my point across but it seemed like I was left with no choice. Negotiating can be difficult but sometimes it is a necessity, to avoid situations like the one from the used car lot I will keep these techniques in mind to get the fairest deals possible.   

 

 

Reference:

Hooch, S., & Keunruther, H. (2001). Deception in Negotiations. In Making Decesions (1 st ed., Vol. 1, p. 196-197). Hoboken: John Wiley and Sons.

 

 

 

           

Frame Blindness

 

            Frame Blindness, this most likely occurs a lot more often than most people would believe. To have frame blindness means that you are most likely not seeing yourself or your organization how others are viewing you. This can lead to catastrophic failure, to not see what you are doing wrong with your organization is the true meaning behind frame blindness. When an executive thinks that there work is complete and is overconfident with their work this can lead to an organizations growth stalling.

            What I am taking from this week’s reading is that according to the “Wharton” text we need to continue to understand that our organization always has room for growth and it can sometimes be good to never feel like you work is complete. I have seen it all too often in my life when people who are over confident usually end up losing because they cannot see their flaws or they lack the ability to ask for someone else’s opinion.

            Fortunately for us; Wharton’s text on making decisions comes with a solution to this problem which we call “frame blindness”. There is a way of managing these frames to avoid the “traps” of frame blindness, for us to manage these frames we need to take a step back and understand that we must analyze our own work from time to time. To avoid these traps one step which we must take as leaders is to see the frame by conducting a frame audit. As I mentioned before this is when we take a step back and create a picture to see our frame, I see it as a critical thinking session on paper.

If we can surface our frames than we can understand the elements, the important features and the optional features of our frame. Taking the time to create an illustration of our frame will put our ideas and our work into perspective. I recall a time when I was a lot younger and I was going through an intense air traffic control school in the military. I had eight hours a day of air traffic control being crammed into my brain for ten straight weeks, it was a very tough school with a test each week which decided rather or not you would be able to advance each week. I knew that I needed to create a strategy so I made a chart that would surface my frames and present my different challenges visually. Creating this chart helped me organize my thoughts, find what was important for me and then put my plan into action.

Creating this frame audit helped me in many different ways, this frame audit also helped me Identify and change inadequate frames. Not only did presenting my work see what I was doing right, it also helped me see what I was doing wrong; by seeing what I am doing wrong I am avoiding the trap of running into overconfidence and the illusion of completeness. I feel that many times I am lucky in life, I feel this way because it is easy for me to see and admit to my mistakes. This has not been an issue with me I can remember many times in life where I have been put in charge of a situation and I still ask for the opinions of my subordinates. At my job I am in a unique situation because my title has given me the opportunity to be in charge of people that might have been working for the company since I was in diapers. I do understand that I am in charge but I am also able to lower my pride and ask the opinion who has been working in the field for a much longer time than me. If we can identify and change inadequate frames than we are avoiding many of the traps which people in charge can fall into.

The most important step to avoiding frame traps in my opinion is to master techniques for reframing. When I left for boot camp at the age of eighteen I was thrown into a world which I did not understand; I know that the first couple of weeks of boot camp are meant to break me down. After boot camp was done I then understood that I was broken down to the core and the remolded to become the person that I am today. This is what we need to do when reframing, we need to find the good and the bad in the work which we are doing and then master the technique of reframing ourselves and our work.

When I think about what this exercise has taught me about myself I think about what has made me who I am. As I mentioned before I am not the type of person who is not overconfident or blind to my mistakes. I usually am the first one to admit when I have done something wrong and I am always looking to hear the opinions of others. Some might see this as a weakness but I see it as a strength, I am constantly challenging myself and trying to improve myself as a person and a leader. Every year I have improved myself and my goal is to never have the illusion of feeling like my work is complete.

 

Reference

Hooch, S., & Keunruther, H. (2001). Reflective Versus Expedient Decision Making: Views From East and West. In Making Decesions (1 st ed., Vol. 1, p. 109). Hoboken: John Wiley and Sons.

 

 

 

 

Too Many Choices

            Sheena Lyengar goes over something which I feel closely relates to my current life, Sheena goes over the obstacles and disadvantages of having or making too many choices. At my job I am in charge of moving America’s freight in the form of trains across the country, one would think that this would be a simple task mixed in with a couple of intricacies. Sheena said that the average American makes about 70 choices a day, I on the other hand feel like I am making about three to four hundred choices in an eight hour period. There are so many decisions and choices which need to be make at work that by the end of eight stressful hours I am losing my focus and I feel a mental strain. Incorporate this mental strain with the amount of choices which need to be done outside of work and this can account for me wanting to skip the world market food emporium with 100 different types of jams and drive me straight to the Aldi store with only one type of strawberry jam.

            This busy and choice filled way of working is a typical day in the life of many professional Americans and this is why Sheena’s presentation makes so much sense. In the study that Sheena completed she realized that when we are offered or forced to make too many choices and decisions our brain can only keep this up for so long. Our mental capacity for the day can easily be reached if overwhelmed, once this point has been reached I make it a point to head straight to my couch and stare at mindless television until my mind has relaxed enough.

            So as aspiring leaders and future business professional we have to ask ourselves; how can we stop our consumers from feeling this way? Sheena Lyengar gives us four methods for helping businesses avoid causing their consumers to make a mad dash for the store exit and hang around a bit longer to spend some extra money. Her four methods consist of cutting the amount of choices at the store so people can hone in a lot easier on one product to purchase. Categorize items to help consumers make easier choices, Sheena believes that this will help us tell items apart. Concretize items to make them real; Sheena believes that if people can understand the ins and outs of a product and they can grasp the concept of the item than it becomes something real and perhaps something worth spending money on. Sheena’s fourth method is conditioning, if we can condition people to hang around longer by slowly working them up to more choices than we might not lose them in the process.

            I think that these are all great methods, I can truly see myself putting these methods into practice and saving a business extreme amounts of profit. If I could use two of these methods for my own decision making purposes and finding a way to utilize these methods of my own organization; I would look for ways to cut the amount of choices and condition people to want to make choices. I think that if I can cut the amount of products available so that I can provide a lower price to the consumer; in the long run I will condition them to buy more because the less things cost the less amount of decisions need to be made. When you are spending less at a store you are not as worried about staying within your budget, there are less choices to be made for the average American if they do not have to think how a shopping experience will affect the rest of their week.

            I feel that today Sheena has provided me with four new tools to use in my everyday life. As she mentions in her presentations these are all methods which we can use for ourselves not only for business purposes. I see myself heading to the nearest Aldi from now on after a stressful day at work; I think I have found my solution for those days when I have reached my “making choices threshold”. I will no longer spend that extra time at the store making choices for things that do not matter too much for me. From now on I see myself going to the World Market Emporium only if I am in the mood to take a stroll around the store and kill some spare time wine tasting and perhaps buying some specially aged cheese from Italy. My days of making too many choices will be cut down when necessary and enjoyed only when wanted.   

 

By: Alberto Gil

MSLD 632

                

Making decesions

            Decision making has never been an easy process, there are so many “what if’s” involved in the decision making process. In our text it describes a way to put these “what if’s” into a sort of mathematical formula which might help us decide what is the best path to take when making decisions.

            The first step in the decision making process according to our text is to make an accumulation of knowledge. A firm which is trying to make a decision on which company they choose to use in a partnership might go through a trial period. Through a trial period a company can gain data on a certain service which they are receiving from a company. In the example used in the text a company is torn between two different providers, they are uncertain of who will give them the best coverage. The formula in the text works well because they use this trial period to make an educated guess on who will be the best provider.

            Once this firm has gone through the trial period they can then apply this knowledge into the formula which researchers use to solve multistage problems. They take the facts that they have on a prior providers potential for one year and then they take the accumulation of knowledge from the second provider and apply the potential for profit in one year. Once their formula is in place they are able to use information to decide if the new provider will offer them better coverage which will in turn give them a higher potential for profit.

            This is an interesting way of looking at decision making, in some ways we all use formulas when making decisions. In life we weigh the pros and cons of a decision and then come to a conclusion. I think that a lot of the decision making I make in life are either split second decisions done without much thought of decisions based on my passed experiences. During my decision making process I also incorporate how my feelings are on certain subject matter, it is usually an uneducated guess when I make decisions in this matter; this would be an optimal way of making decisions.

            I do believe that the formula in which researchers solve multistage problems would truly improve the types of decisions that I usually make. I think that if I actually get an accumulation of knowledge at the beginning of each decision that I make; I might see things in a much clearer light. As humans we make brash decisions and base them on emotional content rather than knowing the facts. If we take the time to stop and think about the future outcomes of our decisions instead of living in the now; better choices can be made. If I were to use this formula it would also increase my ability to succeed at forward planning, “studies find that people generally can plan no further than just one step beyond the current decision” (Wharton).

            One thing that I have found myself very interested in lately is current events and politics, I think that when you look at the politics of a country you can see where the future is headed. If I am using optimal dynamic decision analysis I am able to understand the future a bit better by looking at current events. Many times decision makers use these techniques to understand which route might their investments take based on the world around us. This is definitely a technique which would be very valuable to me, I would definitely apply this technique to the way that I make decisions for a company or myself. If we pay attention to current events we are empowering ourselves, to know the future one must have a good understanding of the past and present. I believe that if I am making decisions using this technique than I can break the pattern which many people have of not being able to think one step ahead.

 

Reference:

Hooch, S., & Keunruther, H. (2001). Bumbling Geniuses: The Power of Everday Reasoning in Multistage Decision Making. In Making Decesions (1 st ed., Vol. 1, p. 45). Hoboken: John Wiley and Sons.

 

The Dimensions Of Leadership

In chapter twelve of the leaders guide denning goes over some very important dimensions of leadership. Every leader needs to have a certain guide line which they follow to be successful, there are core values which need to be upheld every time someone takes on the role of a leader. Being a leader is a big responsibility, as a leader you are in charge of a team of individuals that look up to you to make the right decisions which will guide the team to success. In chapter 12 there were three particular dimensions which I know I will use in the future and reflect on these techniques to guide me on the right path to being a better leader. In my opinion the three keys to being a leader are connecting with your group, being free of your ego and being a leader which has feeling.

Leadership that connects is supplied by a leader which is interactive, a leader that connects has their own agenda but they are also interested in seeking the opinions of others. A leader that can connect with their group on different levels has many advantages; once a leader is connecting with their team they can learn from their view points. Seeing solutions for different obstacles through the eyes of all of your team members can have a very successful effect on a project and on the moral as a group in general. When a leader is able to connect in an effective way they are also able to connect to an audience and get their point across. Being able to get your point across and effectively convey a message to your audience is what being a leader is about.

Leader ship that is free of ego, this is a leader which is trying to make a difference in the team. This type of leader is not looking for a return, better yet their goal is to give to the team and make things run as smooth as possible. A leader who is not concerned with their ego is even willing to suffer through loss or humiliation to attain the goal of the team, this is a selfless person who tries to make everything around them better. As Denning states we have seen leaders like this in the past who have accomplished great things; leaders like Martin Luther King Jr and Nelson Mandela would be amongst this list of ego free leadership.

Our third dimension and I believe the most important dimension which is leadership that has feeling. We have all been moved by leaders who believe in their cause, this is important as a leader because a leader must be able to motivate an audience. I believe that there are many leaders that complete their job without passion, they finish their task because they have to not because they want to. Many times people are driven to finish a task because they are driven by a paycheck; I feel that this type of leader does not put in any feeling to what they are doing. A leader that completes task by pouring their heart and soul into a project is a leader which can create something special. These types of leaders are not motivated by money, what pushes these types of leaders is the fact that they know they are working towards something that might make a difference.

The three dimensions of leadership which I mentioned above are in my opinion are some of the core characteristics of great leaders. Leaders that have made a difference in this world know how to connect to an audience, they are free of their egos and they lead with feeling. I think that if I incorporate these three dimensions into my own leadership skills I can someday make a difference in the way things are done. Every leader who cares about their team and their work wants to make an impact. If I can add some of these leadership dimensions to my vast repertoire of leadership skills than I think I can be a great leader someday.    

 

 

   

 

public speaking

            Talking to a complete stranger, this is not an easy task for some people; for others it is hard for them to keep to themselves when in public. I always wondered why certain people were good at speaking in public and what made them so good at sparking a conversation with people around them. Sometimes people are only good at one or the other, for example I feel that I am good with talking to strangers but I get nervous when I am speaking in front of a crowd. I have never felt like I am able to work a room with ease but I do feel confident about myself.

            When reading our text called “Messages” I began to understand what some people might go through when trying to speak to strangers. People that are not good at sparking a conversation with strangers usually feel like that person is not interested in them. They feel like they are not smart, or they feel that they are boring and do not know if anyone would be interested in them; this is what rejection can do to someone that is not confident in themselves. I found this learning lesson from our text interesting because this is the way that I feel when I am in front of an audience.

            According to our text the key is to reframe rejection, we have to realize that the ideas which we are creating in our minds are usually not true. “We are mind reading when we say that someone might not be interested in us”(Messages pg.207), we are truly never sure of what someone is thinking at all. The reason for rejection might be because the other person might be afraid of strangers, they could be worried about other things which they might have on their mind or they might have a very hectic schedule this particular day and no time to chit chat. There are many reasons which can cause someone to reject a conversation, the key is to not view it as a personal issue.

            I think that growing up in a city where there are millions of people and you are constantly in contact with them by riding the subway and taking the bus everywhere you go; being social might come naturally. On a subway conversations are sparked on a daily basis, people complain about how long they have been waiting for a train, how dirty the subway station is and even how dirty the person sleeping next to you might be. This has helped me immensely in my life, I am very social amongst strangers and for the most part I have always been. My upbringing has given me the opportunity to feel that when I am in public I am not worried about what other people are thinking about me because I am so used to constantly being around others. My next step in life will be to get accustomed to feeling this way in front of an audience.     

Reference:

Mckay, M., Davis, M., & Fanning, P. (2009). Negotiation. In Messages, The Communication Skils Book (3rd ed., p. 207). Oakland, CA: New Harbinger.

 

 

                                                                                             

Learning Stories

            For this story I am going to use Denning’s example (Leaders Guide To Storytelling pg. 186-187) of how a positive story from the past in someone’s memory can become a learning experience which can one day save their lives or the lives of others.

 

 

            As a child I grew up in New York City, there were many years when we had very extreme winters. Driving in the city during the winters was never easy, people had to be extremely careful and have prior knowledge on how to react in case of an emergency. When I was a kid at one point my dad was a cab driver; being that he was a cab driver he had extensive knowledge of driving around in the city and he knew the safest way to handle every emergency.

            I remember that as a kid he would always tell me safety tips about driving and what to do in different situations. He once told me about an incident where the temperature had fallen below freezing, there was a lot of moisture on the ground because some of the snow that was already out had melted while the sun was out. At the time he did not realize it but all of this moisture on the ground had frozen over and became black ice. While driving around that night in his big white 1980’s era Lincoln town car he would run into a surprise that he would be ready for.

            He told me that he was driving on the highway around two in the morning, there was almost no one out on the road which was surprising for NYC. As he was making a turn on the highway he felt his car start to drift, he immediately knew not to panic and he said that he calmly and continuously tapped the brakes on his car. He eventually came to a stop in the middle of the highway after sliding in circles for a couple of hundred feet. He felt lucky but he knew that if he had panicked and slammed on his breaks he would have slid right into a brick wall which lined the side of the highway. This stuck with me as a child because it was one of the few stories which my father’s life had been in danger.

            As a kid it was uncommon to learn how to drive in the city so I never got the chance to have my dad teach me how to drive, I am sure that he would have been a great instructor. I joined the military at the age of eighteen and by nineteen I was able to afford my own car. I taught myself how to drive which was kind of scary but with the help of a few friends I ended up being just fine.

            When I was twenty years old my duty station was switched from Bremerton, Washington state to Pensacola Florida. I was excited to leave the north and I had to find a way to get my car to Florida so I decided that I would make a cross country trip and experience something new. I decided I would stop by home in New York first though, it would be a good halfway point where I can relax for a couple of days.

            I decided to drive across the northern portion of the United States during December in a Ford Focus. This probably was not the best idea, but the views I had seen where breath taking and worth all of the trouble. It seemed that I was doing just fine until I got to Montana; it was a great drive and it seemed like there was a lot less snow. It was sunny and I thought that all was good, little did I know that the temperature outside was well below freezing and I would run into some black ice myself. As I was making a big turn on this highway I started to realize that my car was turning by itself. I was sliding out of control at about sixty-five miles per hour and it was a scary feeling. I almost began to panic but then for some reason I thought back to my dad’s experience while sliding on ice. I calmly tapped my breaks and eventually I slowly came to a stop, on this day there were also no other cars on the road. I quickly turned my car around and continued on the highway, my life had been saved.

            I felt so lucky and I immediately called my dad and told him what happened, he was happy that I was still alive and doing well. His story had such a huge impact on me and it became such a good learning experience that I was able to react the correct way when faced with an emergency situation. Stories like this can have a big impact on people, stories like this are a great way to learn valuable lessons which might come in handy one day when you least expect it.

 

Reference:

-          Denning, S. (2011). The leader’s guide to storytelling: Mastering the art and discipline of business narrative. San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons/Jossey-Bass

 

   

High Performance Teams

            Hi performance teams are interesting, in my opinion it seems like they have been around longer than we have known to even call them a high performance team. These teams are very similar to the teams that people form in a community, people are in high performance teams because they want to be not because they are forced to be in them. Like a team which is formed in a community people on high performance teams have a passion for what they do, they also take on the moto of “all for one and one for all”. I see high performance teams as a group of people that want to come together for the greater cause.

            There are many elements to a high performance team, one element is that they all have a “shared passion”(denning), this reminds me of the many little league baseball teams that I have been on in the past. I remember how strong a bond we all had as kids wanting to attain the same goal of being champions, we all knew what we wanted and on separate instances we would all rise to the occasion.

            When I was Thirteen years old I was part of a championship team that went undefeated that year, no one could match our teams skill. A big reason for this was that we would rapidly adjust to the shifting needs of the team, I see this as an important element for a high performance team. It is important because we would never let the next man down, when one of us failed the other person was there to pick them up. Another important element to our team which resembled a high performance team was the fact that we got better as the season went on, we saw our few mistakes and worked hard to get better at our sport each day.

            My time on that team was very meaningful, it was an incredible year and to this day; sixteen years later I will never forget the good times and the friends that I made that year. It seemed like we were all so passionate about the same thing and winning was the top agenda for all of us. We shared the same values, this was what started our amazing bond, without these values which we shared we would not have had the strength to come together and do something so special.

            Being on such a powerful team at such a young age showed me what it truly meant to be on a successful team, it was going to be hard for any other team to ever compare to what I had just experienced. Later on in life I had been part of what our text calls a work group, this is a group that even though they might be labeled a team; they are far from it. A work group has people that report to the same person and do work together but they do not depend on each other. It is more of an everyman for themselves type of work environment. I see work groups as people that are part of a team but are only interested in their own advancement, needless to say that I never really liked work groups.

            It was not until many years later when I joined the NAVY that I felt like I was in a real team again, the only difference was that the NAVY was more like a community. I was never asked to join this team I just became part of it by volunteering, I knew I wanted to do something different and this community accepted me in. Every person in this community had a different job; on our boat which we called home it took everyone’s skill to survive each day. We had people who would navigate our boat, people that would cook for us, people that supplied us and people that would defend us in case the need for that came. We all shared responsibilities and we would take turns standing watch; I had once again found what it was like to truly be on a team by joining this community. I will never forget my experience in the NAVY, it changed my life and molded me into who I am today.   

 

Reference:

Denning, S. (2011). The Leader's Guide to Storytelling: Mastering the Art and Discipline of Business Narrative (2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

 

Ethics

            Ethics in this world is something that is very important, rather it have to be ethics involving a family, a team or even a business; ethics are an essential key to success for these groups. Anytime there is a group which is brought together to complete a task there needs to be a certain code in order for there to be success. This code which is needed would be viewed as ethics, there are three basic components to ethics which firms must use if they are to survive in todays’ very competitive market.

            Trust, this is the general expectation among members that their fellows will behave ethically (Denning). Without trust people would not be able to form partnerships or team members would not be able to get the job done if they cannot depend on the person which they are working with. Trust in my company might just be the most important component of ethics, working for the railroad is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. When working for the railroad if you cannot trust the person you are working with your life will be at risk. Every year people die on the railroad because someone in their team made the wrong decision or they were careless.

            Loyalty, the acceptance of the obligation to refrain from breaching one another’s trust and to fulfill the duties entailed by accepting that trust (Denning). Loyalty to my company is important but then again I think this can be improved, I have seen a growing trend of nepotism at work. I feel that even though people are favoring their family members for promotions I see this as a lack of loyalty to those that have put in the hard work for you. I recently noticed that there is a twenty-eight year old recently promoted high position supervisor with only three years of railroad experience and a father which is in a very high position. This position usually goes to someone with about fifteen to twenty years of experience, I see this as a slap in the face to those that have poured their blood, sweat and tears into a company. I think that this good old boy system is very damaging to a company and I have seen many good talent walk out the door because of this system.

            Solidarity, caring for other people’s interest and being ready to take action on behalf of others, even if it conflicts with personal interests. This is very important because a company has to care for its employees, I have always felt that when employee morale is high then a company has a better chance to succeed. I think that this should be taken into account at BNSF railroad also. This year was a record breaking year for BNSF, we had more business than we knew what to do with it. Because business was so abundant train velocity slowed down due to all of the rail traffic, slower train velocity affected operations year-end bonuses tremendously. This last year BNSF handed out the biggest bonuses ever to top company officials, and also the smallest bonuses to the people who did all of the hard work. I understand that a lot of the money stays at the top but I do feel that the operations officer should have changed this bonus system on behalf of all of the hard work which operations department put in.

            I see that BNSF was built on good values and it is a very successful company but I do think that BNSF needs to take a deeper look into the ethics which Denning showcases in this chapter.

 

References:

Denning, S. (2011). The Leader's Guide to Storytelling: Mastering the Art and Discipline of Business Narrative (2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

 

     

Body launguage

“Hey Alberto you are working so hard today, how about you take a break from all of this tedious work?” Those are the words which came out of friend last week, I then responded by saying “well I have to continue to make more money so that I can continue to grow my investments”. I was being honest with him, but I could sense a bit of discuss in his voice; I noticed that he did not want me to keep working so hard. What I should have said was “Thanks for your concern, it seems like it is getting harder to find a friend that is willing to support me in my goals”. If I would have said that to my friend maybe I would have been able to see if he was a “meta-messenger”. “A meta-message is a way to say something covertly that usually people are afraid to say directly” (messages). Usually meta-messengers can use this technique as a way to attack you covertly and discourage you from accomplishing your goals.

            There are many things that people say and do in an inconspicuous manner, people sometimes wear their heart on their sleeves for the whole world to see. If we are to see what people are truly thinking sometimes we have to dig deeper than what they are saying through their words. We can see what people are truly trying to say through different methods like body language, studies have shown that over fifty percent of messages is shown through body language. Body language is what people do when they are trying to pass a message along with their hand gestures, facial expressions, legs, feet, posture and breathing. Body language and body movements can be passed on from parent to child through social kinesics, this is how we as humans learn many of our body language gestures.

            Another important factor in body language is the way we use space with our bodies, this is called “proxemics”. “Proxemics is how far you stand next to a person when you talking to them, how you arrange the furniture in your home, or how well you respond to others invading your territory” (messages). Many people are not comfortable with someone getting to close to them, I like to tell people they are invading my bubble if they get within my comfort zone. I will usually laugh when I tell them this to keep the mood light but I am also being very honest. I might joke with Wife when I say this to her but only because she knows that for the most part there is no bubble when it comes to her. Many people will let you know through body language when you have invaded their space by also creating space and taking a step back. I remember seeing this happen on the subway a lot when growing up in New York City, I figure I might be used to people being close to me since I am from the city rather than someone that grew up in the suburbs.   

            Aside from body language there is different ways that we can also express ourselves and in some ways it is through words; although the words are important, the tone is the key to this type of communication. Paralanguage is a way of expressing yourself through different tones in your words, some people are good at using different tones to convey a message but others might come across as being monotone and people might find them boring. There are ways of correcting your paralanguage, recommendations for this include recording yourself and then listen to hear what you dislike about your voice. I always remembered that as a child when I would talk in front of my class that I had a very monotone voice, this always bothered me because when I talked to my classmates I could recall being a good story teller and at times entertaining. I made it a point to study myself in a speech class in high school by recording myself, in this class I was able to pick up on my failures as a public speaker. By improving my public speaking skills I was able to improve my confidence and increase my chances of becoming a better student and teacher to those around me.

            Picking up on how people act through more than their words is essential in today’s world, learning to pick up on what people are saying about themselves through “hidden agendas” is another way of learning how someone is truly feeling about themselves. Hidden agendas are seen every day, you see and hear it from the person who just wants to talk about how good they are to the politicians on the television that are trying to push their agenda. Many times at work I will hear people talk about themselves and how great they are, I never really gave it to much thought until now but I can see how a lot of people like to talk about themselves including me.

 I think that for the most parts humans want to have self-worth and many times this is achieved through the validation of others. Maybe everyone should read and understand the book messages, it is important that while we become educated that we reflect on ourselves and realize our own weaknesses and strengths.      

 

Reference:

Mckay, M. (2009). Body launguage. In Messages, The Communication Skils Book (Vol. 1, pp. 59-89). Oakland, CA: New Harbinger.