Presentations

Presentations of the week: there were three and the one that I felt was the worst leader was Bush. The group gave situations in which he may have been a good leader or qualities but as an overall leader I think he was a horrible leader. I don't feel that he handled 9/11 very wrong. If what the group said about him knowing the people and didn't feel they were a threat then he is to blame for all the deaths in the United States. Everyone that has anger and hate towards those who are responsible for 9/11, you should include Bush in that. Also the group said that Bush Jr. used to write the speeches for Bush Sr. which in turn would say that there are too many connections from Bush to Bush that made 9/11 more an incident that could have been stopped before it happened.

Last Day of Class

On the last day of "learning" in class, what did we learn? I remember watching Mr. Fantasic Fox, but that was about it. It comes to what we actually have learned in class to what we need to learn in life. There are many times when we sit in class and we may think why am I here, I already knew this. Many feel that we have always thought we know best and no one else can teach us what we already know. I know that unless you were taking notes through out the semester, you may not know what is going on in the end of the semester. The thing this has to do with leadership is that great leaders might be able to tell you without having notes, or just looking at the schedule of the class. The ones who may be picked out of the class that would be considered leaders will more than likely be the ones that are making great grades, and have notes out the wing wang.

How we make decisions

When reading about how people think a quaterback may make its decisions, I think that most have to make them quick but they do it in different ways, because if they didn't then the games would always be tied wouldn't you think. You can't ask someone how they made a decision most of the time they don't know they just did, unless they plotted it out or something. Just like the soap oprea director, how do you tell someone that has to make decisions based on feelings and just knowing how it should be like. There isn't a certain way to make soap operas, because if everyone made them the same way wouldn't it just be one continous soap that you could watch all the time. Not everyone has the same taste, so why should everyone do things the same way?

Decision Making

So we had homework that was helping us make value trees and other decision making methods. This is great, but is this really something to do with leadership? When working on these homeworks and in class, do leaders really go through all these steps to make these decisions? Do all "good" leaders do this or only the ones considered "great"? There are so many ways to think about this decision making that it doesn't seem to make too much sense for it to be done. Think about the activity if a rational person would play a game. If everyone was rational then there wouldn't be casinos, or gambling at all. The chances that you win something will most of the time outway what you will win. The reason is how can someone make money if you can win more than they can make off of you? Most games if you realize make you pay more than what you are going to win, unless you have the lucky chance of getting that 1 in a million prize. So is there really in choice in life that a rational person would make? Do you consider yourself to be rational?

Rating your attributes

When doing the steps in class how we would rate the attributes that we found most compelling from the value tree there were a few things I learned/questioned. First, is every one's value tree going to be the same, even if you are working as a group? To this I thought well if you are working in a group, many may have the same idea but sometimes there are those who feel what they thought it better than they will fight their opinion until it is heard. Still does everyone have the same opinion? Second, When you are rating how important that aspect is, are you able to make your own decision on how important you feel an attribute is. I think depending on which department that you work in will determine how important each attribute is. If all you do is sit at a desk in the office and work on paper work then you would value comfort more than closeness to customers. Each group of workers will probably value the attributes a little differently, if not a lot different. So to actually do this homework that we were given will I think show how each of us think differently.

Decision Making

When making a decision there aren't many of us that will sit down and make a value tree for each one. The reason we don't though is because for the most part we do that in our heads. Most don't have to sit down draw out the pros and cons of situations. There are times when we might have to though because it may have more of an impact that we thought at first. Or we want others to see our reasoning behind the decisions that we are making. The value tree when done in class is simple, and simple is what we usually don't like to waste time looking at or doing. Many in today's society would like to get things done quicker and faster, but make sure they are doing the right things. The value tree will start to help those who aren't totally sure which way they should go into a direction that will help future their career or just how they are living.

New budget

The presentation of the new budget for education is disturbing to me. Why would you want to cut the amount of money you are giving for education when the person wouldn't be where he was today if he didn't have it. Not everyone can afford college I know I can't without loans and help from the state. This is something thy he may not have Bren thinking about when he made the budget but it I'd what he needs to consider now. There are many who think they won't be effected with this new budget because they are leaving the school. Everyone is going to be effected so we all need to help in whatever way we can. This is coming from a soon to be graduate.

Decision Making

When we make decisions about anything from buying an item to even deciding what we are wearing, we use heuristics. These are little mental short cuts that we use in decision making. There are many different heuristics that we use, even when making one decision we will use more than one sometimes. The brand recognition, the attribute recognition, and even take the last decision can be used when making one decision. For instance you could go to a store and need a new DVD player, so you first look at the one you replaced, why do you have to replace it? Was it a good brand name? Did it last a long time? So after thinking about what you "took the last time", you go for the attribute. Does this new DVD player have the capability to do blue-ray, or does it have recognized memory where it begins where you turn the player off at? When looking at these you will find some products that may have everything you need, so the last thing you may look at is the brand name. The brand name is something many may look at first but I don't even look at the brand names most of the time. The one thing that I know I look at before looking at anything else s the price. In class on Monday we didn't go over anymore of the heuristics, but I feel this may be the most important thing people look at this time when the economy is down. So my question is what exactly do you go to a store to look for first, how much it will cost you or what brand made it?

Crisis Leadership

The reason I think that Rudy was a leader from the beginning of his carrer. He was able to put so many people away will he was an attorney, then when becoming mayor he was able to lessen the crime on the streets, also cleaning up the city at the same time. He had prostate cancer, but at the same time he was cheating on his wife. Many overlooked that part because of his cancer, but they did see how he was a leader when 9/11 occured. He was acting as a leader that was more caring, wanting to make sure that the city was safe and that no one was flipping out and causing chaos. He was able to show people that he wasn't going to go run and hide when danger came, but to put out there that he isn't afraid of anyone and that he was going to make sure his people were ok before saving himself. He was able to make control out of the most chaotic even that had happened to New York in a while.

The fact that he was able to become two people at the same time and was able to not only put hiself after others, but to give more than he had before to his people when they need it is showing great leadership skills. To come in a crisis and be able to hold your self together is one thing, but to be able to pull a city together is another thing.

O Captain My Captain

In class on Monday we watched some of the movie the Dead Poet's Society. In this movie you have Robin Williams playing a outgoing professor at a school where it is more upright about it's teaching. He opens the minds of these boys up to a new world that is more understanding, and more "free". To the point of one boy finding a new passion for acting, and joins a play. After the disprovals from his parents his still participated in the play and ended up being taken out of school. The kid was so devastated that he ended up killing himself and the teacher was the one that was blamed for his death. The school let go of Robin Williams character and when he came to get his stuff the other kids in the class stood up for him and showed that he was a great teacher. This was to me the biggest part of the movie, when looking at leadership.

The reason I feel that was the best part of showing leadership is that you were able to see how he was able to open the eyes of kids at this school to show them that there is more than what their parents want them to see. He opened the eyes of the boys to where they could use the information in their lives to do other, greater things. To live for today, by the experiences of others in the past. To make something of yourself that you can look back on and say you are proud of what you did, and you didn't live one day of your life in regret. He was such an effective leader because he was able to communicate with the boys and get them to understand and follow the way he thought so that they could have a better life, one that they wanted. Being able to make someone decide that the way you are trying to get them to think is better than what they have been taught earlier in their lives, then you have become an effective leader.

Who do you admire?

When i say admire I mean in the context of looking up to? Does everyone have a certain person that they look up to? Is it always a good thing to have someone to look up to? What if that person let's you down in life? What if they treat you differently in person to what you have read? Is there someone that looks up to you some where in the world and maybe you don't know it. Do all leaders have to be a good person? Can it be someone that has done something wrong in life but you take it as a lesson of what not to do? How can someone they look up to if they haven't had a chance to meet them in person. I don't know for sure if I even have someone that i look up to but I guess this is what I am suppose to learn in this class. I have been thinking about it for awhile and I will have to make a decision soon since there is a paper to write. So can you truly look up to someone if you haven't met them in life?

Are you a struck follower?

I believe that many people are followers who do what they are suppose to but always put in our own way of thinking. I know whenever I do a job for the most part if I feel like I know of a way to so it better then I will try to implement my way. If it doesn't work the way I think it should then I will do it the way that I was told to, it may take a little more time, but it is beat to me to try to do something the way that will work best. So instead of being a follower that does the same thing as every other person, I like to be a little different. But is being different the thing that is holding me back in life? Should everyone conform to being just a follower? Would this make us a little more like robots that never improved on anything and we would all be living like cavemen? Someone has to take a chance and step out of that line, is it going to be you?

Step-down

The step down method is when you are trying to convience a person to buy or give you an item or money, they are more likely to say, "No" 5 times before they say "Yes". The way around this method is for you to start with the highest or most amount of items and work your way down by taking a little off at a time.

I did this in the job I worked with sellling knives. I would try to sell them a set that would cost almost $1000 and would work my way down to something that could cost as little as $42. While giving them the opition of dropping down, you also show them that there is a way to split the costs, that way it doesn't seem like they are spending all that money on knives, but also they are able to spread the 15 day money back for longer amount of days. The whole time you are in the process of asking them for their money if you shake your head in the motion for yes, they are also more likely to start doing the same thing. This all to me seems like a scam to me at times, also the reason I no longer work for that job.

Telemarketer

When reading about the telemarketer you can see how he has a certain way of making everyone get their stuff done. There were times when there were employees that felt like they couldn't make any sales, and that this was the worst job ever. There are times in every job that you may feel like this but unless you are able to pull through these times then that job may not be for you.

I had an experience that was like that I had to set up appointments on the phone with people that I didn't know too well and this was some what hard. To get someone on the phone and ask to come into their homes without knowing them while you are trying to sell them an item. It is difficult and if you cannot set up the appointments then you basically don't have a job. This was the reason I quit because I couldn't stand trying to go to someone I didn't know and sell them something I wasn't too sure was a good item.

Giving or Taking?

When you are doing favors for people, are you thinking, "If I do this then they should do something for me in the future"? You may not think about it when you are doing the favor, unless it was more of a if I do this then can you do that for me. So, when the time comes and you need a favor from someone, the first thing you do even if you don't think about it too much is try to find a time when you did something for them that way you make them feel obligated to do something for you. In my past experience I feel that no matter what I do getting someone to do something for me if like pulling teeth. For example:

I worked for 3.5 years at a place and I had covered almost every single person in that business for one or more shifts that way they wouldn't get fired, yet whenever I would need to find someone to cover a shift for me, I would have to ask everyone in the place, and usually not get anyone to cover for me. I only missed 2 days out of 3.5 years and that still didn't matter to the bosses when they went to get rid of me. Now after I am no longer working there, they can see how much I really did for the company and that they can't find someone to even cover the shifts that I used to work. This just goes to show that I was a great worker and that if I were to have been able to find someone to cover the shifts that I had missed, both were medical related, then they wouldn't have to hire 15 people, all which seem to have quit within weeks.

Influence

In the book the chick-whirr which is basically what the whole book is talking about. So this theory says that basically there is something in us that clicks when an action is done. Such as saying, "I feel fine" after someone asks how you are doing not matter how you feel. Or how about saying, "Thank You" after being given a gift even if you don't like it. This click-whirr that the book talks about is also something that I feel we were brought up to do, sometimes called manners. We learn these manners over the years and that is how the click-whirr has becomes stuck in our habits. So to say we all have a clik-whirr in us is true, but how strong we listen to that click is something that has been in our brains because of our up bringing.

What type of negotiation doe you use most

There are many ways that people go into negotiations that we think we know best what to use. I like to think that everyone thinks their way is the best way but if we all thought that way all the time then we wouldn't get anywhere. This means that we are always having to change something in order to make people happy. This doesn't mean that we are all people persons but we know that there are things that we have to do to get what we want. This to me isn't saying that I think we are all greedy but that we are understanding enough to know we have to change things to help better not only us but maybe the company too. So in each situation do you think you are using the same skills and tactics that you will use when trying to make people happy or just make things work out for at least the moment. So what kind of negotiation tactics do you use?

Exercise

For the beginning of the week we did an exercise where we had to act like the manager or the employee. I felt that there are times when these situations might occur but where I have worked the managers never thought they owe you anything. I liked my group, but I think it was easier for me than others because my guys were just easy to agree with. I was able to agree with a little to no improvement for the employee. Yet when I was the employee I got what I asked for and more than I was suppose to go for. They saw what an important person I was to the company so they didn't want to let me go. Yet in real life the company I worked for didn't know how much of a help and important person until I was gone. So why is it they haven't asked me back? Am I not good enough, they are still needing me because I see how they are still needing help to make things flow.

Lesson in learning

In high school we had a class quote, my class was one by Gandhi. It was one about being the change you want to see in the world. This is a qoute that I think a leader should know and stand by because if a leader isn't looking to make a statement about what they are trying to do then is that person really a leader or are they a follower? So to say you want to change something for the better but nit acting in the same matter, are you really wanting to see that change or just trying to impress people by your words?

New week

So according to the paper on the foreman and the other papers telling us who we are as leaders does this mean that leaders are those who are only able to do everything in our power to try to make things work? Or are we people who need to have certain traits in us in order to be leaders and there is no other way of being a leader. To say that a leader has to have the traits and then they can become a leader if taught isn't something I agree with. I think you can become a leader if the situation needs a leader and you feel that you are capable of handling those responsibilities.

Level 5 Leadership

What is level 5 Leadership according to me? Level 5, is that the middle the end or just the beginning of the levels? Why the number 5 why not 10 or 100 or another number? Level 5 according to the text was suppose to be the highest level and to me that could mean a lot of things. Since it is the highest then the leaders that they were looking at should be amazing, they shouldn't need to go to others for help, but everyone needs help every now and then.So to be a Level 5 leader does that mean you have to know everything and be perfect at anything that you do? Why is it that we judge people on numbers and scales when supposedly we can't tell someone what a leader is but who leaders are. So can you become a Level 5 leader or are you just a Level 4.95 leader?

Who are you? Jamie or Matt?

When reading the article, could you picture yourself as the outgoing type of person or the quite leader who thinks they know everything. To me, I feel that I might have a little of both of them in me. I like to go have fun when trying new things out but I also like to make sure that things are the way they were planned out to be. There are times where I need others to help me but there are other times that I know I am right and would rather not listen to what others are saying. I want to say that I am a little of both, but does that mean we all have a little of everything in us and we just need to dig a little deeper to make sure that we can show others and get over the fear of embarrassment. So, who do you feel you are more like?

What is leadership...to me

Leadership can mean a lot of different things, and like in class we went over what some of those characteristics are. But what does leadership actually mean to me? I feel leadership is the one thing that every person has in them, just some of us do not like to take that extra step to put ourselves in front of other people. There are many times when everyone has the chance to step up, but not everyone takes the leap. A leader could also be one without knowing that they are leading others. It might take a little time before some leaders can actually see that they are helping others and leading others. I personally feel that I am a leader, but a quite leader. What I mean a quite leader is that I don't like to put myself out in the open all the time, but if I feel like something needs to be said and noone else is putting forth effort then I will stick my neck out on the line. If everyone would feel like they are a leader then there could be situations that may have never had happened. I was wondering if there were others who felt like they were leaders, would much of our history still be the same?

Warren Buffett

When reading the article on Warren Buffett, I couldn't help but wonder how this man could just sit there when a tornado was coming. I think that makes him stupid in a way but he is also a man that knows what he is doing. There are those who don't even know who he is, which before I read this article I knew of him but not as much as I did when I was done with the article. My opinion of him is that he could be one of the best leaders in the world, he knows how to get stuff done, knows what it takes to get these things done and does his best to make everything fall into place. He is someone that many businesses should look to for information and help when the time comes and the business isn't sure what to do next. He is a leader that you could look up to because he isn't stuck up, and he doesn't mind sharing some of his information with others in order to help them become better at what they do.