Blog 9

At the start of the semester, I wasn't really sure how I would feel about the class. I was excited to hear that it wouldn't be following the same class structure as usual, and would instead be  discussion based. While I did appreciate that, I also underestimated how much I would take away from the class as well. I learned quite a bit about what it means to be a leader, and how different leadership styles can lend themselves to different scenarios. Through this, I was able to evaluate myself and see what my shortcomings as a leader may be.

Through the weekly blog I began to be more critical of my ideas on leadership, while becoming more open minded to others. Reading other students blogs allowed me a glimpse of a situation I wouldn't normally be placed in, and I was able to see how somebody else reacted and how it worked out for them. This alone is something I plan on taking away from this class, as I've never really been good at looking at a situation from a perspective other than my own. By being able to better accomplish this, I have noticed that I began becoming a better leader, just by becoming a better listener. By sticking with this, I believe I will have an easier time leading groups in the future.

Another big take away from this class is the activity we did about two weeks ago; where we were divided into different cultures and had to build a town. I had never really thought about how or why some people may see the system as unfair, but when I was casted as a Black person I was exposed to it. I had always heard of the stereotypes, but never really thought about them or how they can affect peoples lives. I always believed that since I don't have any stereotypes going through my head, nobody else does, but that was incredibly naïve of me. I see now that just because it hasn't happened to you doesn't mean that it doesn't happen at all, which seems like a very selfish way to word it.

My final take away has to do with how I view others. Like I said above, I usually only saw things from my perspective, and wouldn't understand how other saw things. However, after a few moments in this class I realized that I must be able to do that. If I kept going in life only accepting my view then it would be impossible to be an effective leader. To me, a leader is somebody who can see all sides, and knows when to concede leadership to somebody with a better perspective on how to handle certain situations.

This class to taught me a lot about what it means to be a leader and how to best suite oneself for the role. Not only did I learn about what techniques and strategies leaders use to improve themselves, but also how I can improve myself in everyday life.

Peck's theory

When looking at Peck's theory, I find I can easily apply it to my experience first joining my student organization, Camp Kesem. In brief, Camp Kesem is a national organization that was created to service the population of children affected by a family member’s cancer. We put on a weeklong sleep away camp for the kids, and then follow up through the year until next camp. For my first year, I was very uninvolved, at least until I got to camp. Upon arriving however, I began to join the community.

When I first got to camp after the 7 hour drive from Chicago, I felt like I wasn't truly part of the community. I didn't know many people, so it was kind of awkward for me, as I was definitely part of a psuedocommunity. We were all very courteous to each other, while also avoiding any type of conflict not to step on other’s toes. As I became more comfortable at camp and with my fellow counselors, there was for sure some chaos. There was some jockeying for power amongst some of the newer counselors, which is too be expected. Luckily, we took the path of emptiness, and we were able to overcome our barriers and communicate for the good of our cabin unit.

Around the second or third day, we were able to set our egos aside and look past our previous first impressions and start to work together. We were able to make a lot of progress towards making the camp a better place for the kids. Finally, by the fourth day we became a full-fledged community. We began to work together to overcome our issues, instead of just trying to solve them on their own. While it was tough, it was necessary, as we became a much better group, as well as more productive.

Once we reached a full on consensus and were all on the same page, our work became much better. We were able to anticipate each other, and jump out ahead of any problems that could have arose. It was also a much better feeling knowing we were all in agreement.

Target Identities

Growing up I always thought my issues and problems that were insurmountable, but that couldn't have been more wrong. I'm a white male, and I took that for granted for more than half of my life. I was never bullied for my skin color, or face challenges that others may have faced because of my gender. I can't even begin to comprehend how growing up with either of these target identities being different would change the person I am today. Nihal's story in class was very interesting to me, and made me think about how lucky I am to be born with the opportunities I had. Being born the way I am allowed me many opportunities that I may not have had I been born with either a different skin color, and/or different gender. Just by looking at me, the majority of people will have no preconceived notions of who I am, unlike they may have for others. However, this isn't always an advantage. One of the non-target identities I identify with deals with my father abandoning my mother and I shortly after my birth. Because of this, I faced many other challenges that most of my peers did not. While I consider this to be one of my defining traits, nobody can tell this just by looking at me. I struggled growing up because of it, which is a struggle nobody can know unless I tell them about it. I guess that it just shows how you can never really know somebody without taking time to learn about them.

LPI test

Regarding my results to the LPI-leadership performance inventory, I wasn't too surprised. I ranked highest in Encourage The Heart, which is what I expected. I always try to be supportive and inclusive to everybody whenever I can, and am very vocal about my support for others. As for my lowest, it was very close between Inspire A Vision and Challenge The Process, but I was one point weaker in Inspire A Vision. I can believe that, because I wouldn't really call myself a "call to action" type of leader; I consider myself the type of leader that can take inspiration and channel it well. I wouldn't have been surprised if I was weakest in Challenge The Process however, as I don't usually look for new ways to do things. In order to improve in the Inspire A Vision category, I feel as if I need to find something I am very passionate about, and will be able to inspire others to act on it more effectively. As far as Challenge The Process, I feel like I can improve by looking at things differently from how I normally do, and attempt to find a new way to overcome a challenge.

Random acts of kindness

For my random act of kindness, I was able to help my roommate get into the sport of boxing. He had expressed earlier to me that he had an interest in learning how to box, but nothing had ever come of it. Recently, I had to take a trip back home to Chicago for a few days, and while there, I was able to find an old pair of boxing gloves I had bought but barely used. Upon returning back from home, I presented him with the pair of gloves (I had bought them new for $75) for free, as well as took him to the rpac and taught him the basics of boxing. We plan to go back regularly, so I can teach him to eventually spar. My roommate isn't the first person I taught, as I used to teach classes whenever the main instructor wasn't able to, but doing it again recently reminded me of how much I love to box, as well as how much fun it is to teach others. It is decently something I plan to do more of in the future.

 Included is a picture of the gloves I gifted him.

Moral Muteness

At first, when asked to write on the topic of moral muteness, I was kind of at a loss for what to type. I like to think of myself as morally strong, and resolute in my virtues. But, then again, why would I want to think otherwise of myself? Everybody always likes to think that they would step in and help if they saw something the felt to be morally unjust. So after thinking about it all week, I still wasn't sure about how to approach the subject. I couldn't think of a time where I saw something I deemed wrong, and let it slip by. Then, I finally remembered an event from three years ago where I stood by and did nothing. My best friend and I had bought cheap tickets to a Chicago Fire friendly against the Mexican soccer team, Santos Laguna. Our seats just happened to be right in the middle between a large contingent of Mexican-American Fire fans, and Mexican-American Laguna fans.

I vividly remember seeing a Laguna fan aggressively approach the side that the Fire fans were on, and next thing I know, there is a huge fight happening between each side. Since I used to do mixed martial arts, I didn't really have an aversion to fighting or getting hit, so I've never really been afraid to step in and break up a fight when it needs to be done. However, this time, I stood and watched it all unfold. The worst thing I remember seeing that night was a Laguna fan laying on the ground while three Fire fans simultaneously kicked him. I just kind of stood there and watched as security slowly broke up the different fights that had branched off from the larger one. Normally, if I see a fight happening I try to step in and stop it, as most of the fights that happen here at OSU are between two drunk people, but I'm still surprised at myself that I saw it and didn't do anything to step in. I also find it incredibly interesting that I had put the incident completely out of my mind until this assignment brought up moral muteness. It makes me wonder what other incidents of moral muteness that I have tried to forget. Now that I have remembered it, its been weighing on me lately, and I wonder if I would have done the same thing. I do feel shame over it, despite how long ago it happened, as my mother raised me to act if I see moral injustice.

Implicit Biases

For my test on implicit biases, I took the age test, sexuality test, and race test. I wasn't really surprised about the results on the age test, as I scored "little to no automatic preference". I grew up in an area with a healthy mix of young and old people, and would spend a lot of time in senior assisted living home, so I was well exposed to elderly people. For the sexuality test, I scored "Strong automatic preference for straight people to gay people".  This test was the most surprising to me, as I was a theatre kid in high school, and as a result spent lots of time around gay men and women. I thought I was going to score a little to no preference, due to high school experiences. As far as the race test, I scored a "moderate automatic preference to European Americans to African Americans". I'm a little surprised about this one, but not nearly as surprised as the results of the sexuality tests. The community I grew up in too wasn't too diverse, so I was only slightly exposed to African American's until I went to high school.

Overall, I found these tests incredibly interesting, as I had thought I wouldn't have any preferences, but I can't exactly be an unbiased judge.