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"Have you heard of honesty?"

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The Most Astounding Fact...

Here is a short clip from one of my favourite leaders of science, Neil deGrasse Tyson. I love this short speech, because it not only embraces how I feel about the value of knowledge of the universe, but also what it means to be part of something bigger. Everything is connected, and we want to feel relevant in this world. We still want to stand out, and make a difference and we are encouraged to go out there and be leaders and inspire change, while still appreciating where we came from.

"Many people feel small, because they’re small and the universe is big, but I feel big, because my atoms, came from those stars. There is a level of connectivity. That’s really what you want in life, you want to feel connected, you want to feel relevant."

-T

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Today in our Cultural Differences class, our professor focused on analyzing our business personalities from a Myers-Briggs point of view. We got to take a look back on our results from our Myers-Briggs test, where I scored as an INFJ... Introvert - Intuitive - Feeling - Judging, being my most prevalent way of thinking (as are most CEOs... so I think I have some good prospects ahead of me!!)

I have always known I was introverted and shy. Ginger says a lot of people perceive introverts as being stuck up, because we don't say much at first. I completely agree, as I have been through this scenario many many times. I can't even tell you how often I will be talking with coworkers or friends (mainly girls) who tell me after we have grown close, "I thought you hated me when I first met you". Wow. What a terrible feeling, to come across as someone who is so judgmental and standoffish. I think I have developed a bit more of an extroverted, friendly approach as I have matured, but I still embrace the introvert in me. 

Myers-Briggs is so important to understand the personalities of who you are working with. Introverts work differently from extroverts... Sensing approaches tasks differently than the intuitive mind... If we can all get a sense of our inner most habits and personality traits, working in teams would be a lot more successful. I just wish we could have analyzed ourselves a little deeper, earlier in the course. I think then, our teams would understand how to get along more effectively.

I love this Ted Talk by Susan Cain. It truly embraces everything I feel about being introverted and really speaks to everyone on how we all have to embrace our strengths, and stop trying to force people to be someone they are not.

Susan also has a book called Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking, which I can't wait to read.

Again, here is the link for the free Myers-Briggs test, and if you are really interested in the test, look into the more in depth test! The psychologist in me definitely encourages it!!

http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/jungtype.htm

http://www.myersbriggs.org/

-T

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I came across this article tonight through Alison Simpson, what a great read. These are definitely some key traits of the most inspiring people I know. I definitely see myself possessing some of these great characteristics, but I know that I have a lot to work on. I can't wait to apply these and see what changes come from them.

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oh the difficulties we sometimes face...

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Week 9 - Teamwork

Working in teams can be very rewarding, but can also be pretty difficult. I love being able to collaborate with others, and build something using everyone’s particular strengths to get the job done. Unfortunately, this is only guaranteed to be successful if everyone has the same motivations and ultimate goals. It is extremely undesirable to work in a group where everyone is on the same page, but there are times when you may find yourself burdened with individuals who are not as dedicated to complete the task or project as you are.

What I have learned over the past three weeks, is that every individual in a group has particular strengths and works at different paces. In order to be successful, one must allow enough time to complete their own tasks. Working in a large group can be difficult, as there are so many people contributing to the same task at the same time. After initial contribution, it’s beneficial to a team to divide up the tasks, so that each individual can contribute based on their strengths. For example, if a few people are better at presenting, let them handle this part and assign a more creative organized person to put together the power-point slides, while others type up the report.

This may sound perfect in theory, but may not always work in the real world. However, I think to keep organized during the next Leadership Adventure Trail, I will focus on this mentality, so that I don’t get overwhelmed with all of us trying to take on the entire project at once. I want to feel like I contribute equally, especially when working with such a spectacular group of individuals, so I will keep the focus on my strengths to complete this next task!

-T

“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much” ― Helen Keller

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Week 8 - Solving the Problem

Thursday we got to meet with Alison, our Adventure Leader again. I don't think I had been that nervous since starting my program, than when I had to stand up in front of a real VP from the industry and give her suggestions on how to solve a critical issue, as if it was happening right now.

The most important lesson I took away from our meeting with Alison, was that when you are facing both a leadership and operational issue, there are many factors to consider. Usually when you are faced with a problem, the solution isn’t going to be black and white, and you will have to make some really tough decisions along the way. The most important thing to do is to be genuine to yourself and your leadership, and be the type of leader that you would follow. Sometimes you have to face those really tough decisions, and even put your career on the line, just to gain the trust and support from your team to turn things around. Everything I have taken away from Alison, I will keep in mind as I develop as a leader for the future.

To grow as a leader, I really wish to work on how to deal with conflict. It is one thing to come across as a confident, trustworthy leader but when you are stuck facing really difficult tasks or faced with a team who is under motivated, it is really hard to figure out what direction to go. I have had a few of these issues in the past couple weeks myself, and I find that I get to a point where I no longer know how to deal with it, and as much as I try to be a leader, I just run away from the problem instead of being able to deal with it head on, to avoid confrontation.

After our presentation, I realized that we had done a good job of presenting our information and answering Alison’s questions. We knew what we our message was, but in the end our presentation was missing a few key pieces. We forgot to outline the strengths and weaknesses of our solution, and we also forgot to tie the whole thing together and explain clearly how our ideas solved not only our leadership issue, but our operational issue and helped promote our goal. As simple as it was, we just forgot to fully follow our template, and rushing through our presentation was the reason why we skimmed over important pieces of the story.

When my first group approached Alison, we didn’t only ask specific detailed questions, we also were curious about her values and how she sees leadership. It was really important for us to get a sense of how she sees the world, to get an idea of how she realistically may work to solve the problems she was facing. I think with the next Adventure Leader, I will definitely stick to using some of these same questions.

            1. What are your strengths as a leader?

            2. What values are most important to you as a leader?

            3. What is your motivation as a leader?

So far, the Adventure Leader meetings have been one of the most interesting projects I have ever done in any program. I have learned so much from taking this approach to solving any problems and what it means to be a leader. I will continue to be inspired by Alison’s leadership approach as I finish my studies and start in the industry myself.  

-T

“We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.” ― Maya Angelou

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Week 6 - Meeting with the Adventure Leader

Today we met with an incredibly inspiring, wonderful leader in the marketing industry named Alison Simpson. She presented us with a leadership issue she encountered when she was working for Enterprise Creative Selling, where she was promoted from VP of Client Management to President of the company in less than 4 months. At the time motivation was low, they were at risk of losing major clients and something had to be done or the agency would eventually risk closing down, and 40 people would lose their jobs.

Our team took away so much from talking with Alison for only 25 minutes. She had such an inspiring positive energy. I could tell she was a very creative and innovative leader, who was extremely motivated and passionate about her work. She had very deep values and philosophies which she lived through every day with her personal self and it showed through in her work as a leader. I think that was the most important take away from our interview with her, that being a genuine leader and inspiring through your personal strengths and values.

I think that I will use some of her philosophy in my own personal leadership development. My values are very important to me and I know that using them and living through them like Alison does so passionately will help develop trust with everyone in my life. I will be able to use those along with my strengths to encourage and develop genuine leadership and inspire change through my core personal beliefs.

I’ve learned through working with my team, that organization is key. Staying on track and having a plan to get things done in a timely matter is very important, or you will shift away from the problem that needs to be solved. Communication is also very important, being able to clearly get your ideas across is important and being able to discuss your thoughts openly is very effective. A facilitator is also very important in a higher performing team, you need someone to keep things going and layout what needs to be done to keep on top of your goals.

The next time I am in a team, I will definitely bring my organizational skills again as a facilitator to keep the team on track. I will try to bring a little bit more passion and creativity to the development of ideas as well as encourage trust through empathy and honesty with myself and team, and our communication of ideas.

-T

“Others have seen what is and asked why. I have seen what could be and asked why not. ” ― Pablo Picasso

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Week 5 - Problem Solving Template

This week, we went through the Problem Solving Template more in depth. It was really interesting to really analyze a leadership problem in depth and realize how much is actually going on. Once we got through the problem at this level, we were able to come up with a strategy to put a plan into action to solve our issue.

I think the most advantageous part of using a template to work through an operational and leadership issue is that it keeps you on track. You have everything set out in front of you to help gather the information that you need to work through the problem. This way, you don’t trail off and get distracted and end up including a lot of unnecessary information that will not help you work through the issue.

The problem with using a template would be that it may not apply to your situation directly, and may include more information than necessary. Instead of getting to the point or being creative with your decision making process, being forced to stick to a template, you may include information that isn’t helpful and miss out on some information that you should have used if you hadn’t been strictly following a guideline.

When using the template this week, I found it very hard to stick to what was being asked and go step by step slowly, instead of getting ahead of myself. I would often think too far ahead and miss vital information, instead of just focussing on what the task was asking of me.

I found it very beneficial to go through the steps though, because it helped focus on what the real issues were. I often forgot that operational issues focus solely on the main business aspects of the problem and not the people. I learned a lot from using the template and including more information that I usually would have missed by thinking too far ahead.

I definitely think that leaders need to be able to clarify core issues and identify innovative ideas to resolve them. Without being able to pick apart a problem and realize what is below the surface, you will never be able to get to the root of the problem. If you can identify the main cause of your main issue, then you will be able to solve so many more things at once. Not only will your group or business be operating more successfully but also you will be able to achieve your main goals and develop stronger leaders for future situations.

The template definitely aids in this by getting you to look deeper into the problem and think of ways that solving one of those issues, will be able to eliminate the rest. It helps expand your thinking, and deal with the issue as a whole rather than in small parts.

I think the most important leadership idea is change management. Leaders and even group members need to be able to recognize the need for change and also be able to manage change. Business environments are constantly changing, sometimes rapidly, and it is important to know how to adapt to this in an efficient and successful way. Without change we would have no progress, which is important in growing and achieving new goals.

-T

"Your success in life isn't based on your ability to simply change. It is based on your ability to change faster than your competition, customers and business."

— Mark Sanborn

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Week 4 - Leadership Ideas

This week, we focused a lot on case studies. Analysing a variety of situations and developing action plans based on operational and leadership issues. We looked at some key elements that were important to include in solving leadership dilemmas:

Key Leadership Ideas

Vision and strategy: Create a vision and establish a strategy to get there

Team development: Select, build and inspire a high performance team

Change management: Recognize need for change and manage change

Conflict management: Recognize conflict and manage conflict

Leadership communication: Listen and speak to inform, guide and inspire

Authentic Leadership: Be aware of self, develop self and lead as you are

Followership: Build a climate that empowers followers as leaders

Creative Leadership: Inspire creativity and innovation through the culture

Ethical Leadership: Be and build integrity, transparency and honesty

Virtual leadership: Use technology to build distant relationships virtually

Leadership Motivation: Engage stakeholders through intrinsic and extrinsic motivation

Global Leadership: Leading teams within a global environment

Developing Leadership Diversity: Encouraging and supporting diversity for performance

Shaping Culture and Values: Building and aligning culture/values to a common vision

One idea that I was naturally drawn to:

Authentic Leadership:be aware of self, develop self and lead as you are.

I think the most important leadership qualities revolve around authenticity. If you don’t respect your self and express yourself through your values, how do you expect t anyone else to? How can you build trust? Honesty is very important in building stronger relationships and gaining trust from the people you want to work with you to obtain your goals and make change with. I believe in this leadership idea because self-respect and honesty are two of my top values. I believe in living up to this every day, and I try to be myself. With that and my empathy, I am extremely approachable and people trust me.

One idea I didn't quite understand:

Developing leadership diversity: encouraging and supporting diversity for performance

When I read this one, I wasn’t quite sure how it had to do with leadership. As I did some more research, I think I have understood it to mean encouraging a diverse work environment and team. Whether it be cultural diversity or professional diversity. I guess that can only come from the top-down. If managers and leaders are not embracing the positive investment of having a diverse team, then they won’t have one. I think diversity is important in any case, since a team with a wide rage of ideas, cultural and educational backgrounds, and thought processes will help add more creativity to projects and more tasks done, since every has their variety of strengths and weaknesses. From Strengths Finder, I learned that working with individuals who balance out your strengths will help you to become a successful team. For example, since I am futuristic, working with Activators will help turn my visions into reality, by getting the plan in motion!

-T

“We have to dare to be ourselves, however frightening or strange that self may prove to be.” ― May Sarton

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