Sandberg, MichaelBUS 3211

My Super-Fantastic Final Reflective Essay

If you are the type who likes to skip ahead just to see how long the document

you are about to invest the next moments of your life in, I'm sure you are thinking,

"Holy Hannah!! Did J.K Rowling write this?" The answer is no. Although my essay

will not be about a greasy British wizard who duels all types of evil while forming

lasting friendships with old bearded men and two side kicks, my essay will surely

entertain you. The sole purpose of my reflective essay is to talk about me, myself

and I. Oh baby! Basically, I will demonstrate the knowledge and skills that I have

acquired so far while studying in BUS 3211. I will admit I was a bit apprehensive

about taking this course. I did not know what to expect, if I would enjoy it, or if it

would be worth my time. The end of the semester is finally here and I truly have

been buried by the fascinating knowledge I have acquired. Throughout this

entertaining essay you will see how I have developed in the areas of course

objectives, key leadership competencies, and a futuristic vision of how I plan to use

and apply my new knowledge. How exciting! Let's begin.

The first objective that I will address is leadership theories. Get this; I have

learned that people back in the day actually believed that leadership was something

you were born with. This theory, known as the trait theory, is all about believing in

the ability to be born a leader. This theory cracks me up. Imagine this: a woman just

delivers her first child, back before technology to inform you of the child's gender

before delivery, and the doctor shouts, "It's a leader!!" Thank goodness over time

researchers would suggest that this is not the case. Leadership is something to be

developed and learned. Others believe that although leadership requires certain

traits and characteristics, it can vary from situation to situation.

The idea that leadership varies from situation to situation is called the

situational approach theory. Involved is a contingency model of leadership that

helps you understand what situations you will work most effectively in by rating

your least favorite coworkers! How bizarre is that? The model helps you find your

LPC score. I was able to actively learn about this model in class when a group in our

class presented chapter three. There was the self-assessment to find your LPC score.

I scored a 59, which means I could be either a relationship or a task-oriented

leaders. Being able to be either allowed me to learn further on the styles I could

potentially possess. The information I gathered was that when your score is low it

means you are more concerned with tasks and when the score is high you are more

concerned with relationships. While further mentioning my knowledge on theories

is admitting that I have not quite been able to grasp a good understanding of

situational approach theory just yet. In my notes I have it written down that in the

situational approach goals are empowerment. When a leader possesses all the

power, the followers can be constrained and frustrated. Followers need to be

allowed to develop their own power. Have no fear, I may not have learned that all

too well yet, but I have however understood another theory a bit better.

During a group presentation we learned about path-goal theory. Within path-

goal theory is the idea of something called the expectancy theory. I was excited to

hear this because I had learned all about the expectancy theory in my MGT 3680

class. Based on learning about expectancy theory twice I was able to do better on

my quiz in that class. I wont argue with that! I have also seen the expectancy theory

in my own life.

At one of my three part-time jobs, working as an artist for a framing company, I

have seen the affects of expectancy theory. I am definitely someone who loves

rewards, feedback, and praise. I got involved in this company due to the fact that my

friend owns the company. I had helped him start the business from the ground up. I

helped in almost every single decision. I created the artwork and advertised it. I was

very motivated and excited to think I was able to work along side one of my best

friends whom I assumed valued all my hard efforts. The day came when we had to

discuss payment. I was informed that I was only going to be receiving ten percent of

sales. I was stunned. Without me, there would be no art, no advertising, no

customers, and especially no company. Ten percent? Was he serious? After going the

going the rounds and battling it out, I realized that I was expecting to be paid more

than what was being offered due to the fact that I felt I did most of the work.

Needless to say my performance and dedication to the company decreased

dramatically. Expectancy theory in my own life, who knew!?

While working for this framing company I have also seen both participative and

achievement-oriented leaderships. Starting up this company and being hired early

on left my tasks a bit unstructured. I was not sure the direction of the artwork my

boss wanted me to take. Luckily, we set up sessions where we would work together

twice a week on the artwork where we would both put in our input and create a

fusion of our ideas resulting in both of us being happy with the finished product.

Once the products were created, I knew I had all the skills to create the artwork and

possessed the knowledge needed on how to market it. I needed my boss to

communicate to me his confidence in me to have us complete our goals. We have

only been working together for one year and have already made a good start. All the

styles of leadership and the communication involved in my job as well as others are

so important to being successful. Learning and applying this information is

incredible.

Truthfully, when it comes to topic of leadership theories, this is the majority of

the knowledge I have accumulated thus far. My notes have not been as in depth as I

would have liked and my retention on the subject is not that great. However, I can

proudly say I have been learning so many other great things about leadership. I have

learned about what makes a great leader. Things like, the ability to communicate,

having emotional intelligence, and understanding the difference between a manager

and a leader. I loved learning that managers can do things right, but leaders do the

right thing. In class, we received a movie reflections assignment on the movie, It's A

Wonderful Life. In that assignment we had to identify bad leadership examples in Mr.

Potter and the good leadership qualities in George. This assignment truly helped me

gain a better understanding of leadership.

Leadership I have learned has so many factors. Leadership is about having a

vision and being selfless. Doing what is good and not for selfish reasons. George

Bailey was an incredible example of this. He gave up his dreams and money for his

honeymoon to help the town he grew up in that had investments in his father's

business. George took over the company and helped the citizens in his town live the

lives they deserved. He treated them as people and not just a thing that gives you

money like Mr. Potter seemed to believe. Through observing Potter I gained a better

understanding of the types of negative leadership. These examples include being

callous, insular, and corrupt. Mr. Potter kept the money he knew was not his. He

tried to cheat others out of their money and treated them horribly without any

feelings of guilt. George, on the other hand, was loving and kind. I can't forget

mentioning Clarence. He was an angel in the film who effectively used the power of

story telling to help George get back on track.

Seeing these examples in the film has really helped motivate me to see things

more clearly as a leader. Whenever I want to do things with self-desire or without

any regard for others I am reminded of Mr. Potter and the way he lived his life. I

would much rather be like George Bailey who had many who loved him and

followed him. George wanted to bless those around him. I want to do the same.

Someday I hope to become the leader George was and have the profound influence

on others lives the way he did. That movie is easily one of my all time favorites.

Speaking of favorites, one of my favorite topics I have learned about so far is the

different ways leaders communicate. Communication is an extremely crucial part in

effective leadership. However, communication is not just a thing, it is a process.

There are even forms of communication. I have come to learn that there are three

main forms of communications styles in leadership. There is democratic,

authoritarian, and laissez-faire. I remember the day I first learned about these

communication styles. Doctor Canary had us do a self-assessment. The self-

assessment was called, Leadership Communication Style Preferences Inventory. The

assessment is designed to show us our preferred method of leadership

communication. I am a jump-to-conclusions type of guy. So I looked at the

assessment and thought I am most likely a fan of authoritarian because I had an idea

that laissez-faire from economics means leave things alone and democratic is not

my political views. I definitely did not have the best reasoning for jumping to

conclusions, right? Once the assessment was completed I was stunned! The test

showed I was a fan of democratic leadership communication. I was sure this was a

mistake! I was determined to learn about the styles to prove the test was wrong.

I began hunting through the text and learned that democratic did not mean what

I thought. I learned that the democratic style is a beautiful way to communicate in

leadership. The democratic style involves two-way communication, provides

positive feedback, and rewards good behaviors. I am all about that! Out of curiosity I

began reading about authoritarian, the style is assumed I would like, and learned it

was my least favorite. Authoritarian is the type of communication my grandfather

uses. My grandpa does not ask, he tells. You see, he was an attorney and not to

mention a father of eight eccentric children. I now, understand why he prefers his

method of domination. How else are you to maintain order in your home? Learning

about these styles helped me to understand why he and I so often butt heads. I am

not a fan of feeling dominated. Often times, in the work place, I let my bosses know

how I appreciate being communicated with. I tend to be a happier worker when I

feel respected and treated like a partner as opposed to a pee-on. Learning about

these communication styles has given me the missing piece to the puzzle as to why I

was having issues at work or discomfort in my grandfather's home.

Another realization I had when learning about the communication styles was

why my boss at the Deseret Dairy and I seemed to keep failing at getting projects

done. I never understood why we could not seem to stay on task. The self-

assessment helped me to see why. My boss, Bill, is a laissez-faire leader. He goes

skiing on a weekly basis. He comes into work unexpectedly. Co-workers often joked

that he needed to have a calendar saying when he would be "in" rather than "out"

because it would be easier to understand. When my boss needed me to get a task

done he would not be firm with me. Bill would avoid conflict and never punished me

when tasks were not being completed. I learned that I needed feedback as a

follower. I felt that without feedback I had no further direction. Uncertainty would

prevent me from tackling the next task. Discovering the communication styles has

given me new insight as to how I will now be able to go into the work place and

communicate with leaders on how I need to be communicated with. In addition, I

will have a better knowledge of the preferences people have in regards to

communication styles with me as a leader and will hopefully be able to adapt to

their needs.

When in the second half of the semester we were given the assignment to watch

a few more movies and do some movie reflection write-ups. There were two movies

that had a heavy impact on my learning the importance of communication. The

movies were Coach Carter and Apollo 13. In Coach Carter we observed the

importance of communication is transformational leadership. Coach Carter used

contracts with his team to help them develop their true potential. He held them

accountable to hold up their end of the contracts. He knew that he could get them to

college and to perform better as a team on the court. He defended them to the

principal and the city when they all thought that the team players had no futures.

Coach Carter refused to believe that. He encouraged them to be better. He motivated

them and helped them grow as a team. The team began to communicate better when

they played against other schools and began winning games. The team members'

grades went up, they graduated high school and some went to college. Coach

Carter's leadership communication played a big role in the success of his followers.

The movie was inspiring for me to see how communicating with others with respect

and with a vision could help transform the lives of others.

In Apollo 13, I learned the importance of communication in a different way. In

Apollo 13 you really see the impact of communication in completing important

tasks. I especially learned the proper ways to communicate when in a team. Three

men were sent to the land on the moon. During their mission they ran into

complications. However, they had an amazing group of people who worked on Earth

to help them with the problems that came up. In the movie, the astronauts had to

rely on the communication and skills of others to bring them home safely. They

were in danger. They had to let the support crew know what situations were

happening. The support crew would then collaborate and work together to find a

solution. The support crew once worked together to create a device that would

solve the astronauts' problems by only using the supplies and elements they knew

the astronauts were in possession of. The suspense was high and I was biting my

fingernails off! Once the crew had found the optimal solution, they would then

communicate to the astronauts step by step instructions to completing what was

necessary for their survival. Tom Hanks even had to step up and emerge as a leader

to communicate with the two other men who were also on the Apollo 13. He spoke

up when things were needed. He communicated quality information and orders in

the right moments. Without the effectiveness of the communication between the

support crew and the astronauts, they would have never returned back to Earth in

safety. Hooray! I actually surprised myself when at the end of the movie I was

moved to tears. I am pathetic, and proud of it. Who would have thought a two and a

half hour movie on astronauts could be so informative on the importance of

communication in leaders and teams? I don’t know what surprised me more, the

information I learned from the film or the fact that I actually enjoyed a movie with

Tom Hanks.

In all seriousness, both of these movies have taught me a lot about

communication. Communication is an art. Communication needs to be done with

respect, with purpose, and with those who are in your team. The power of

communication is endless. Learning how to communicate well can help anyone to

complete hard tasks and even change their lives.

The goal for me in this class is to become a better leader. Thinking back on my

own leadership experiences I have realized specific things in my leadership that I

am proud of as well as things I could improve on. A practice we did in class early on

in the semester helped me to see that right off the bat. In the activity we were asked

to write about our best and worst leadership moments. For my example of

successful leadership I wrote about the time I was in a sports marketing class in

high school. As a class we needed to come up with a charity event and execute it. I

was in charge of the promotion. In order to be successful in promotion I needed to

know all the other elements of marketing. I had to communicate with all the

different groups to see what was being planned about to best advertise it. Within my

group we needed to collaborate on cohesive designs for posters and flyers. In the

end the charity event was a huge success. We hosted a student vs. faculty basketball

game to raise money for the Make A Wish foundation. We raised $800. The event

was amazing. The event would not have been so successful without the forcing of

communication between all the groups and the "system-ness" approach. I had to

step up and help establish mutual purposes and have all the groups work together

to reach our goals. I was able to lead by example and show people how I would like

them to work.

In a more recent example, I have recently been working for a company that sells

framed LDS temple artwork. I was hired on as the main artist. After the first few

months, the owner of the company was losing faith. He did not know how to earn

money, where to sell, how to build the products. I decided to step up. I began setting

up weekly meetings with him to communicate what he would like to get done. I felt

like I was the one who possessed the greatest number of traits and took leadership

into my own hands. I developed my own products, made phone calls, went and

displayed my artwork with local wholesale stores. After a few months I landed a

deal Tai Pan Trading. I was able to get our prices down to sell at wholesale pricing

by working with a framing company who offered to give us 50% off their framing

prices. I then could help inspire and motivate my boss to build a website, find the

proper ways to build our products, and get them made and sold to Tai Pan for our

first big deal. I needed to establish a goal and find ways to execute it. I had to learn

to work well with others and establish good business relationships. I was able to

learn the importance of communication and vision when it comes to starting a

business. I wanted my artwork in members' homes. I know the power of the daily

reminder a piece of artwork can have on someone's life. The vision that I had

created in my mind is what helped me in being a better leader.

Where I feel like there is room for improvement, when it comes to leadership

goals, is gaining the confidence to speak up when needed. I tend to get really

nervous and shy in big group settings. For example, right before it is my turn in a

group presentation my palms get clammy, my throat goes dry, and my butt cheeks

become instant maracas and shake out the nerves! Needless to say, I need to

practice public speaking and stranger interaction to develop a comfort level with

open communication with people in the real world. Knowing that communication is

crucial in leadership, being able to do it comfortably is important.

Luckily, after one of the lectures received in class we learned about how best to

emerge as a leader. I took notes of the subject and found it very fascinating. In

emergent leadership one must: participate early and often, focus on communication

quality and quantity, demonstrate competence, and help build a cohesive unit. Once

I wrote down this list I decided I needed to think about how I emerge as a leader.

Participating early and often is one thing I have always been good about. I am what

they call a, "chatty Kathy". I think that is what they say anyways. I am usually full of

ideas and like to throw them out there to get the juices flowing. Participating also

involves volunteering for tasks. Volunteering for tasks is where I can fall short

sometimes. I generally like others to pick what they feel they could do best then I

pick up the slack. However, this occasionally puts me at a disadvantage. I often get

the part no one understands or the most grueling section of a project. Due to my lack

of speaking up I don’t always get to put my best qualities where they would benefit

the group the most. Rather than letting some dry future accounting major take the

task of designing the PowerPoint presentations, I should jump up and say that I am a

very visual and creative person. I would then need to demonstrate my competence

by informing the group that I worked for two years as the media presentations

creator for the Deseret Dairy. I would then continue to show competence in being

confident about my abilities to create the most visually stimulating presentation the

world has ever seen!! Ok, I got a little carried away there. You get the idea.

The knowledge on how to emerge as a leader will help me a lot in the coming

semesters that are filled with group projects. In the next group projects that come

my way I will be more vocal. I will try my best to deliver a good amount of quality

input. I will openly admit where my strengths are and try to put them where the

group needs them in order to create an A grade deserving project. Not stirring up

contention and helping to build everyone up so we have a cohesive unit will also be

applied in the upcoming projects.

Becoming an emergent leader, however, will have its challenges. As do all things

in life. Nothing good ever comes easy! There are things I need to be mindful of when

trying to become an emergent leader. In my notes, I have noted that I need to avoid

assuming the role of the "joker". After the lecture I found that I tend to play that role

when in groups. After hours of brainstorming, brain farts, and listening to ridiculous

ideas, I go into a goofy mode. I like to lighten the mood and take a mental break. I

start spouting off irrelevant things and laugh for a while. I need to work on this in

the future to avoid wasting time and really focusing on completing the task at hand.

As mentioned earlier I too, would need to stop indicating that I am willing to do

whatever I am told. Being willing to do what I am told puts me into the follower

position. I do not want to be there. I want to be a leader. I need to be competent and

take control of where I can be best put to work. I will be more of an asset when

doing group projects. My fellow classmates better watch out, this boy is emerging as

a leader!

While trying to become a more emergent leader, another area I would like to

acknowledge that needs work in becoming a better leader, in general, is learning to

think more open-mindedly and appreciate all spectrums of ideas. They say the apple

never falls far from the tree, right? I come from a family of authoritarians. I would

like to get rid of some of my authoritarian tendencies. I am guilty of talking down to

others when I feel I am right. I like to punish those who do something I deem as

wrong. How funny is that? I am a hypocrite! I expect to be communicated with

democratically, and yet I have authoritarian leadership traits. Seeing the execution

of a vision needs to be more important than being the one who has the ideas or

solutions. Luckily for me, being more ethical is not something I have to add to my list

of goals to develop as a leader. I feel like I have not only a beautiful head on my

shoulders, but a virtuous one. However, when learning about ethics in leadership

and followership, I discovered a few surprising challenges.

Leadership and followership both possess ethical problems and dilemmas. Let

me start with the issues of ethics in leadership. In class we had this class reading

assignment called, Icons and Values: Communicating Ethical Leadership. To be

honest, I learned nothing from this. This is sad, but true. I have the reading

comprehension the size of a pea! Not to mention I felt the whole article was written

in gibberish. Nothing was clicking. I remember it was supposed to increase our

understanding on the three kinds of values in ethical leadership. The values were

rational, emotional, and spiritual. Thankfully, in class, Doctor Canary gave some

further information on the kinds of values. I was able to learn from my notes, as well

as from her lecture, that rational values are the what and how we do things,

emotional values are involving the sensitivity of the emotions of those involved

inside and outside of an organization, and spiritual values are concerned with the

long term and big picture. Thankfully, we then participated in doing a case study on

the Pambina Pipeline. The case study helped tie everything together for me.

Gaining this information was done by getting into my leadership group and

completing the assignment. We read the case then had to discuss a plan of action. It

was then that I began learning. When a problem occurs within an organization,

ethics and values are tested. A plan of action needed to be created. By creating the

plan of action I was able to see the difference in the values that were needed. The

values would be displayed in the actions to clean up the mess, to alert the

community and stakeholders in the company, and to set up prevention procedures

to guarantee a better future for the company.

The case study was not the only assignment that helped. A second movie

reflection assignment on The Devil Wears Prada really helped me understand the

ethical challenges of leadership and followership. Miranda was the head honcho of

Runway magazine. She demonstrated the challenges of power and privilege.

Miranda was in total power of the company. Anything she said, goes. With that she

was able to dictate what shoots were going to be done, what clothes she would

wear, who delivered a book, and eventually abused her status with requiring

unreasonable time and tasks of her assistants. Miranda expected Andrea to do her

kids' science project and check the brakes on her car. These things should never be

on a job requirement list. This is why it is also important for followers to be ethical

as well.

Andrea and Emily had many things expected of them. They had to dedicate their

entire lives to an unhealthy extreme to following Miranda's orders. I have learned

that it is important to show obligation and obedience to your leaders but by only

doing what is necessary. Otherwise, horrible consequences may result. Andrea lost

her boyfriend and was beginning to get confused on who she is due to always

blaming her choices on her job. Through completing this assignment I began

noticing these issues in my life.

For instance, I am an avid tennis player. I compete on tennis leagues year round.

While learning about the challenge of power as a leader I began to see ethical

challenges. In recreational tennis you are required to call your opponents shots.

Unfortunately we cannot all have those cute ball kids, umpires, and amazing hawk

eye technology to do it for us on a local level. Therefore, you always have the power

in the decision making for your opponent. This can get tricky. You can be neck and

neck in an intense sweat-dripping-from-the-brow type of match. You want to pull

ahead. The opponent strikes an incredible backhand down the line landing close to

outside edge of the line. Here is the dilemma. You don’t have the technology or super

hero eyesight to correctly call the ball in or out. What do you do? Do you take

advantage of the situation and call it out resulting in your point? Or do you let the

opponent take the point due to uncertainty?

When I play I have my teammates and family watch my matches. With so many

people watching my matches I take it as an opportunity to demonstrate the beauty

of ethics. If I am not sure where a ball landed deeming it in or out, I let the opponent

take the point. I feel it is better to lose the point than to potentially cheat for self

gain. Doing so shows my teammates that that is how the game should be played. I

would hope in return my opponents do the same for me. Playing with good ethics

always makes the game more enjoyable.

During this semester we were asked to complete a Local Leader Project. Team

Testosterone decided to interview Bill Beene and one of his followers, Jolene

Newman. During our interview with them we asked Bill questions about ethical

issues he had faced while being the plant manager of the Deseret Dairy. Bill told us

the story of a time when they had shipped out fruit drink mix that they later

discovered had little pieces of metal in it from equipment malfunctions. Rather than

ignoring the problem and thinking about the money they would lose in bringing

back the shipments, Bill knew he wanted to only provide those who received

products from his plant with the best product even when the products are given for

free. Bill had volunteers come in and sift through the mix and take out any metal

filings they could find. His story was very inspiring and by doing this project helped

me to learn that ethical problems will exist in the real world. I need to mentally

prepare now to be the ethical person I know I can be. Bill's leadership is indeed

inspiring. I was glad we did this project so I could see how problems can be created

and resolved in ethical ways.

In addition to the challenge of being ethical as a leader, it is also a challenge to

being ethical as a follower. While doing another of the movie reflections for Enron, I

learned of the challenges that can be faced when avoiding mental shortcuts. Mental

shortcuts hinder our decisions when others influence us. In Enron, I learned of the

mental shortcut of authority. The mental shortcut of authority involves allowing

ourselves to do things that those with authority ask of us. We don’t doubt or think

about the actual task they ask us to do because we believe that they will always be

right or ask us to do things that are needed. We can be guilty of overlooking the

content or the messages of those in authority as mentioned in the text. I saw that

authority mental shortcuts are in the documentary because a lot of people seemed

to be overlooking what was going on just because of the person they were receiving

the directions from. In the text it says that, "the higher the perceived status of the

persuader, the more likely it is that the targets will comply." In my jobs and in my

jobs to come I now know that I will need to avoid thinking of those in authority as

perfect figures. We are all human and even those with authority can be imperfect.

Leaders can go astray and it is my job as a follower to not be guilty of the mental

shortcut of authority and be sure to really analyze all of the messages and task I

receive from those I work for.

Overall, knowledge from this course is a big factor in what can make life more

enjoyable. Using the knowledge of how to be an effective leader or follower in all

aspects of life can be very rewarding. Already from this class I feel like I have began

developing better communication skills. By creating teams and doing projects

together in my team, I have been forced to communicate with people I have not

known for long periods of time. I have learned that by being open and allowing

opinions to enter discussions, projects can benefit from allowing new ideas and

ultimately enhancing my end result.

During this course I have also begun to understand the application of the topics

discussed. In my application paper, I wrote about a man who uses "taming the

grapevine" techniques to overthrow the perception that younger generations are

lazy. Kiisel, demonstrates democratic leadership with Theory Y applications. Kiisel

found that through communicating with the misunderstood generations he was able

to figure out that the younger generation is not lazy, but in fact very advanced and

prefers to do things in the current ways. He was able to learn about Evernote and

the time saving capacities that provides as opposed to the old pen and notebook.

The article was inspiring in showing me that a little communication and adapting

your ways of leadership can go a long way. Being able to adapt to different kinds of

people and figuring out if people are task or relationship oriented is key in knowing

how to motivate and direct your followers. I have begun to understand that figuring

out your goals and visions are crucial in motivating others to see what you are

seeing and use their own abilities to help move to work along.

On a more personal note, I am feeling really lucky and blessed to have come to

understand the knowledge offered in this course. I am a member of the Church of

Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I am also a human being who experiences same

gender attraction. What!? Can the two exist one in the same? I believe it can. The

topic of same gender attraction is one that has caused a lot of controversy,

disagreements, and suicides. The world is constantly trying to push people into

cookie cutter molds of straight or gay. If you don’t fit one of these molds you are not

being true to yourself. I could not disagree with this statement more. Molds should

not exist. They force people into certain lifestyles. I am an individual who embraces

identity. Although many would agree that it is not possible to be an active member

of the LDS faith while being attracted to the same gender, I say why not?

For many years I have written blogs directed at the members of the church who

are in the same boat. I write to those who want to be valiant members but not be

afraid to talk about who they are as individuals. This year I was filmed to document

my journey as an active member who lives with same gender attraction. This video

will soon be released to the world for the Voices of Hope Project. In addition to the

video, I have spoken in several church houses about the situation. I believe that

information kills ignorance. For the past few years I have been told I am a leader in

this area. I am a leading, living example that it is possible to have strong beliefs in

my gospel while still accepting who I am. Due to my beliefs I choose not to actively

pursue the desires of the natural man within me. Rather, I allow it to be apart of me,

and move on. There are many characteristics in each individual. Why let one small

characteristic direct whom I choose to be? I have taken it upon myself to continue to

publicly announce who I am and the life I choose to live and hope to inspire those

who want to do the same. I want my followers to know that there doesn’t have to be

one way or the other. There is only the option of being you. With this course I can

now even more effectively help those around me who want to know more about my

choices and lifestyle. I will be able to more clearly state my vision. I now have the

understanding that a vision needs to attract people and energize. My vision needs to

create meaning and bridge the present with the future. With the skills increased in

typing these five thousand page essays my ability to express my thoughts will

enhance. I will be more comfortable to speak publicly to all types of audiences and

settings. These traits will greatly help the leader I choose to be.

I want to be a source to those who feel lost. I want to be able to encourage and

motivate them to be the people they know deep down they truly want to be. The

battle of spirit and natural man is tough. There is hope. I now pray that I will be able

to apply the information I am soaking in to the best of my abilities to keep on going

as a leader. I have seen the impact I have made on the lives of many and hope to

continue doing so.

Some of the best things I have learned so far in the second half of this semester

are realizing the importance of diversity, how to promote effectiveness as a leader,

and how to be in teams while avoiding the pitfalls. A group presented on chapter 10

and had us do an evaluation on our perceptions of diversity. I was surprised when I

ranked fairly high. I honestly didn’t know where I would fall on this scale. When it

comes to friendships I have found that I become friends with those who appreciate

similar things as I do but I love when others have opposing opinions. I love to have

healthy disagreements. I am one, however, who is guilty of only making friends with

those I feel understand and can relate to me in terms of self-pride. I like people who

know who they are and are proud of it. So when learning about diversity I didn’t

know if I would be heavily in favor or against it. Turns out, I am all about diversity.

Bring on the different!

I have learned that diversity has many benefits. Diversity helps in bettering

decision-making, greater innovation, and resource acquisition. You would assume

that this would all be common sense. I had no clue diversity would have such an

impact. Moving on after this semester with this knowledge will help me as a leader. I

intend to someday possibly own my own business. Knowing the impact of diversity

will hopefully help me in hiring those who have similar skills but come from

different backgrounds and cultures. Doing so could benefit the company.

When a leader with followers, I have learned not only is it important to have a

diverse team, but also it is also crucial to promote effectiveness. Promoting

effectiveness as a leader is done by: treating others fairly, being kind, listening,

appreciating contributions, and engaging in reflective practice. I have loved learning

this. It is always good to know that being good to others also benefits you as a

leader. Learning the practices of effective leadership was a good reminder to be

better when in group assignments. I have found it is tough to always be kind when

doing assignments you hate. However, with this knowledge, I now know that in

order to be an effective leader I need to suck it up and be fair, kind, and appreciative

to everyone in the team. I have a feeling that if I can apply this in the future I will

have better results with group projects and ultimately better grades. Well, if there

were better grades than the A's I already receive. Hope you caught on to that

sarcasm.

Once in the dreaded group projects and working with a team I have also learned

from this course the potential of pitfalls. Pitfalls can occur as an individual, in pairs,

and even in teams. Learning about the pitfalls in the lecture presented by the

fabulous Doctor Canary was very humbling. While learning about the pitfalls I

learned I was guilty of a few of them and may have been hindering the overall

success of my tasks. From the lecture and the notes taken, I have learned that I need

to be careful with my inappropriate humor. When in teams I also need to stop

withholding information out of fear of speaking up to add to the diversity as well as

potentially offer information that others might not know. I have never admitted to

being perfect in teams but by the lectures received in the second half of this

semester I feel like I will be able to dramatically improve my group performance.

As I hope to make an impact on others through who I am on the inside, I also

want to be able to make a difference in my own life based on the outside. During one

of the group's presentations they covered a concept called "liking". Granted, when

they talked about liking, they were referring to it as how to avoid being influenced

by mental shortcuts. Liking suggests that we are more easily swayed by those we

find attractive, similar to ourselves, complimentary, familiar, and even associated

with good things. The text recommends that we think hard before we allow

ourselves to fall victim of these conditions. I, however, am going to take that

knowledge and apply it for my own benefit. I have noticed over the years that this

concept is accurate.

There was a time three years ago when I was looking for a simple job to earn

some extra money. I was the classic fresh out of high school poor kid who had been

enjoying the summer hiking and blowing his savings account. I knew it was time for

a job. I did not want to work on Sundays. I discovered that Maceys, the grocery

store, was never open on Sundays. I had hoped to be able to apply for a cashier or

front-end position. Maceys was only hiring for a position in the cooler. I did not

want to work in the cooler but decided to apply anyways. The day came for my job

interview. Just picture it; there I was sitting in a big white room used for storing

extra holiday supplies while being interviewed by the classic big-haired blonde with

a gritty voice. She was very impressed by me and loved my appearance. She said

that because I was so outgoing, charming, and attractive that she had to have me

upfront! She said that she would start me at the same pay as those who worked in

the cooler, who actually got paid more than those who worked upfront. I got the job.

Getting the job at Maceys supports everything covered in the text. The text

mentions that those who are attractive are more likely to get hired and paid more

money. The text also says that it is almost impossible to prevent us from falling into

this mental shortcut. How wonderful! I know that this all may sound very selfish and

I may even be abusing the knowledge learned but hey, it is a tough world out there

and knowledge is power as they say!

Starting now and continuing on into the future, I am going to try to keep up on

my appearance. I used to do it for vanity reasons and as a defense mechanism for

the emotional abuse I received as a child. I was always told I was fat. I was the "nice"

friend with the good personality. I was the one who never got picked first. I was told

I would be better looking if I only could drop 20 pounds. Truth is, I did. I let the

words of other spiral me down into eating disorders. I lost 45 pounds in high school.

I have been able to keep off 30 of it healthily. I no longer participate in eating

disorders. I have channeled myself towards fitness and exercise. I just completed my

sixth marathon this past weekend. Running, cross training, and eating healthier has

allowed me to shed and keep off the pounds. I have been happier, more confident,

and have never been turned down for a job that I had a face-to-face interview on.

Realizing all this makes me want to continue to pursue the healthy lifestyle. I now

can have a valid argument in defending my position when others attack me on

spending $90 on a hair cut and color. I am ridiculous, I know. I whiten my teeth

every six months. I take the stairs instead of the escalator when available. All of this

will now be continued for the benefit of my future. I want to be able to get the jobs I

need. I want to be paid more money. I want to be successful. Here's to my future

looking good!

In the future I hope I will also be able to continue applying these newly

developed bits of information in all aspects. Not only as a tennis teammate, or a

leader for members of the church who experience same sex attraction, but as a boss

or teacher. I am currently a professional photographer. I would love to someday

own my own business where I hired and send out photographers to photograph

clients based on their needs. I hope to be able to communicate with them in ways

that will allow me to run a successful business. To understand the crucial

importance of being united and allow people to have their ideas heard and put to

work. I would love to create a work place where people felt comfortable to express

concerns and thoughts. In a related school course I have learned the importance of

employees having a voice. I would hope to be a good leader and hope my followers

feel what I am doing is in the best interest for everyone.

To tag team along with that, I hope to use my knowledge on the tricky challenges

to ethical leadership to avoid any shadowing of the challenge of consistency. This is

especially the case if I were to become a teacher. I know that I am prone to picking

favorites. I would have to beware of making sure that I am being consistent with all

my students. Not favoring one over the other. This is an area I definitely need work

on. My potential future students deserve someone who is fair. They are young and

would most likely be too afraid to speak up about the inconsistency. I would have to

take the responsibility upon myself to be the best leader/educator to those children.

That is enough about the future. Let me inform you of the here and now! Time

for the present, woohoo! Who am I and where do I fall on the scale of key leadership

competencies? I can more easily tell you where I land on the weight scale. However,

that doesn’t mean I would tell you more proudly. Still working off those pounds

created from pre-final stress and group projects! I am known for always sharing the

T.M.I. However, that is just the kind of communicator I am.

In terms of communication, I would label myself as a proficient communicator. I

would like to go as far and say that I am a proficient-advanced communicator but for

the sake of being completely realistic, I will go with proficient. I am one who uses

communication 24-7. I am a photographer who needs to listen to clients needs,

understand what exactly it is they are hoping for, express to them what I can do for

them, and then execute what we have discussed. I am also a full time student who

participates in many group activities. I truly believe I am able to get my points

across as well as my ideas and benefitting the group with my willingness to share

thoughts. Writing blogs and case write-ups are things I do every week. I believe to

be a really good writer full of voice. The reason I did not pick advanced is due to the

fact that occasionally in the work environment when uninterested I tend to have

selective hearing and don’t always get out of meetings what is needed. I also have a

tendency to get nervous and bad anxiety when speaking in a professional setting.

When it comes to social and leadership skills, I would honestly admit that I am a

proficient. I am a very personable and social character. I am an extrovert by nature. I

know when it is allowed to act certain ways in certain settings. I definitely

understand leadership philosophy in being able to motivate others for a greater

purpose. I am not afraid to take the lead on issues and work with others to get

things accomplished. I generally prefer to be a group leader in school assignments,

mainly because I feel I possess the most leadership qualities in groups. However, I

am still young with much to learn. I currently possess only the skills in social and

leadership abilities in the situations I face in school and daily life. I am not confident

enough in my leadership abilities in the work force to be deemed advanced. I work

for the Deseret News and rarely socialize with my coworkers or talk about issues I

would like to change or address. I feel like the minority with little voice. Therefore, I

am underdeveloped in social and leadership skills in professional settings. Hopefully

in the near future I will be able to apply concepts learned from the second half of

this semester to advance to the advanced level. Practice makes perfect, or advanced.

You get the idea.

When it comes to ethics I believe I would still fall under the category of being a

proficient. The only reason I withhold myself from the category of being advanced is

on the occasion I tend to abuse certain things about work. I show up late for work

when I know my boss does not care. I will take an extra long dinner break when the

work is coming through at a slower pace than usual. I should be on time regardless

on if I know it does not matter to my boss when I show up. On a brighter note, I am

generally a man of integrity. I only accept money for the time I spent at my desk. I

never take from my office what is not mine nor do I plagiarize or cheat on school

assignments, tests, or activities.

Global awareness is definitely an area I could use a lot of improvement in. I

would be generous to even claim myself as an introductory. I know fractions of

Spanish from my early high school years. I know next to nothing about other

cultures. I have never had a desire to learn about other cultures. The subject has

never been important or interesting enough for me to take the time to educate

myself on such facts. I am a passion driven person. When something interests me, I

will take all the time I need to educate myself. If I don’t have the natural interest,

trying to turn on my brain to have it soak it in is next to impossible. I am easily a

selective learner as well as a selective listener. I have not yet spent much time on

improving myself on global awareness this second half and therefore could not

promote myself up a level.

Now I am going to shift gears to focus on my abilities and skills that focus more

so on the problem solving side and less on the human interaction side. I am going to

begin with my skills in critical thinking. I am confident in saying that I feel I am an

advanced critical thinker. I have developed to see so many different sides of things. I

am big into analyzing situations. I take my time to make decisions. Sure I can be an

impulsive buyer, but when it comes to real life situations, assignments, and

problems with my jobs, I am really good at thinking things out. My skills have

developed over the years as I started my own personal photography business as

well as took on the challenge of graduating high school with my associate's degree. I

am not afraid to challenge myself and take on tasks that involve a lot more thinking.

Weighing out the validity and credibility of sources is something I do all the time. I

like to live my life to the best I can. That burning desire requires putting a lot of

thought into all the decisions you make in life.

A part of being good at problem solving involves something called information

literacy. I believe that I am proficient in this area. I try my best to find the most

accurate information from very credible sources when trying to locate and provide

data in all fields of life. When hunting for information on the best cameras and latest

technology for my photography business I wouldn’t try to read about cameras on

walmart.com. When doing reports for school I realize that Wikipedia is not always

the most credible source with entirely truthful information. I feel like I am good at

knowing what sources will provide me with the proper information I desire. I then

can be confident in the facts I have acquired. I do tend to use information heavily in

my career as a photographer, but I have not yet engaged in internships or worked in

big companies or organizations to feel justified in labeling myself as advanced.

The course, Do You See What I Am Saying, has truly inspired me to become a

better leader. I have learned so many things that I never thought I needed to know. I

am thrilled with the amount of knowledge I have acquired from this class. Before

this class I was more passive in groups and would tend to be a push over. In

positions at work I would stay quiet and be told what to do. I am beginning to feel

confident in knowing that I can improve as a leader at school in projects and at work

as an employee. Knowledge truly is power. I feel like I have more power now than I

did when I started this semester. The future will see me being more open to

communication. I will speak up. When I speak up it will be with kindness, quality,

and respect. I will more effectively lead others in various situations that life throws

at me. My grades will improve, the quality of my group work will improve, and my

skills in communication and leadership will improve. I have already begun to see

myself blossom.

All in all, I feel pretty good about that place I am at in life. I am not professing to

be greatest leader the world has ever known. I am not Steve Jobs, Martin Luther

King, George Bailey, Coach Carter, nor am I a strange wizard in a 900 page Harry

Potter book. I am simply a dashing young college student who ambitiously

attempting to work three part time jobs while attending the University of Utah as a

full time student and writing a fabulous almost 30 page reflective essay on the new

knowledge I have learned in BUS 3211. I, however, am not claiming that I am

content to remain where I am at in life. I want to grow, learn and progress as a

leader in this world we live. Each day presents an opportunity to become better.

With that said, the semester is over and I cant wait to see what the future has in

store for me. The world better watch out. This extraordinary student is becoming a

leader.