Journal 3!!!

Sept. 3rd — 9:40am

For class today we took a quiz on our reading and discussion about the Odyssey and Telemachus’ leadership development in particular. I’m happy to say I totally aced that quiz but I’m praying it wasn’t just some fluke. Anyway, after the quiz we went over the answers and further discussed the meanings of a few Greek words.

• Aidōs = Shame
• Menos = Courage/Mental Activation
• Kratos = Power

In our small review of the previous reading we discussed how Athena was able to give Telemachus such good guidance. We said that based on her knowledge of Odysseus’ character and abilities, she was able to infer that Telemachus would take after his father in many of his personality traits and abilities. She was confident in her ability to know what he was/is capable of even he didn’t know it himself. By knowing this she was able to be a good mentor in his journey to reaching each benchmark of becoming the good leader he was born to be.

A key point Professor Sandridge made was that “identifying with the mentee can help you know what to say to help them.” By connecting on a deeper level and applying your own experiences and knowledge of the situations and circumstances your mentee is facing, you can build the credibility as a good mentor and provide valid advice and guidance. Much like Athena was able to do for Telemachus with her own experiences and knowledge of Odysseus.

For our in-class exercise, we had to reflect on ourselves. See what I did there? Haha reflect… mirror picture…no? Ok. Anyway, we were asked to rank leadership behaviors in order from 1 to 6 with 1 being what you’re best at and 6 being what needs the most work. My list varied from the others that I was placed in a group with because it seemed that what I was good at, they struggled with and what they were good at, I struggled most with. You’d think that it was a good balance but not when you’re the only one in the group that seems to fall short in certain categories that everyone else seems to thrive in. For me, the leadership behaviors are ranked as follows:

1. Telling stories they can relate to in order to model behavior.
2. Understanding what the mentee is capable of.
3. Activating the mentee’s sense of shame for self-reflection.
4. Giving clear instructions to carry out behaviors.
5. Helping form partnerships that solidify reputation.
6. Helping build a support structure/crew.

Naturally the story telling behavior would be ranked number one because I love to provide examples for situations and share a little too much about my own experiences as well in order to connect and give advice. I tend to be an open book and overshare about my life when given the opportunity. i’m not totally sure if it’s a good or bad thing but I do naturally and its a part of my personality. Number 3 was something that everyone else in my group seemed to struggle with but I don’t really have too much of an issue with it because I am open and honest about things. I do worry about hurting people’s feelings but if it’s going to ultimately help them in the end then it’s worth the momentary wave of self-loathing. My last two were placed their because I don’t always have the best judgement of character and I’m not always aware of when is a good time to walk away from those that aren’t beneficial to your life. I tend to always want to see the best in people and refuse to let go of it even when its way past the time of letting go. These are definitely things I need to work on but that’s why I don’t feel confident in providing a mentee with a strong support system/partnerships.

Ways to accomplish the leadership behaviors according to the class:

(Numbers will correspond with the list above.)

1. Look at skills that are lacking and reinforce them/ get to know them
2. Become well versed in history and public figures to establish factual stories.
3. Be REAL!!! / Know you will hurt their feelings but it will help them in the long run. / Prepare them for the words of others.
4. Have a lot of life experience that you can refer back to.
5. Pair with people that have the same mindset and goals but don’t expect very much.
6. Meet more people yourself to provide more options of partnerships. / Invest time in building. / Develop a network. / Introduce to people around you.

After class we did a brief review of what we talked about and were given the assignment of Ch. 3 in the online textbook!

Sept. 6th

3:00pm

Ch. 3

Becoming a “Master Harmonizer”

After church today, I came home a took a nice nap only to wake up and remember I had homework :( so I sat up in my bed, pulled up my computer and opened up to chapter 3 to see what this week’s assignment was. Focusing in on the types of leaders and how each kind is beneficial, steps one through three addressed just that.

Step 1 — Give an example of an “insider.”

At church, a married couple named Pam and Dwight are co-leaders of the youth group for ages 11–18. They have a high level of authority and maintain a reputation of trustworthiness. Their kids, Lakin and Tré, are what I would consider “insider” leaders. Their parents are so highly trusted and seen as great people of God that naturally all of the youth would gravitate towards them for those same qualities in an age closer to their own. Both Lakin and Tré are youth leaders and next in line to inherit the head position of the youth department if they decide to do so. Needless to say they have a head start to gaining the respect and trust of the youth because of their parents establishing that already. An “insider” leader is someone who has lived within the situation in which they are leading and have some sort of inheritance to that which they are leading or to the experience and I believe Lakin and Tré fit the bill as “insiders.”

Step 2 — Give an example of and “outsider.”

The first person to come to mind for me would be Avery. Avery is a 16 year old girl that I am very good friends with and had the pleasure of playing volleyball alongside. This past season, I was team captain and I had an obligation to look out for my team but unfortunate Avery got injured during a game and tore her ACL. Despite this injury, she attended every game and cheered us on from the sidelines. Though she was not captain and had not played very long, she stepped up and coached the girls on things they could do better that she noticed by watching off the court. The outside standpoint gave her an opportunity to see what she couldn’t on the court. By not being able to be an active player, she was able to be an active teammate. She couldn’t understand what it felt like to run the plays on the court because she was not an insider but she was able to lead us on how they should look due her being on the outside.

Step 3 — Advantages and Disadvantages of being an outsider.

I think as an outsider, you can see things from an alternate perspective because being inside all of the time, you lose sight of what things look like to those who stand outside. However, being an outsider means having a high hill to climb to gain the respect and credibility that insiders have handed to them. Outsiders seem like they would be able to pair people well due to their varied knowledge of people rather than one specific way of life or group that they’d been around since birth. They’d also be good at problem solving because they won’t have one limited solution but multiples that have every opportunity to work in favor of the mentee.

Now in step 4 I had to talk about divisions and by abilities to merge the gap.

• Three divides that bother me right now include racial inequality, lack of women’s rights, and people’s unwillingness to understand others.
• I can try to bring about reconciliation by refraining from holding in my voice about these topics that concern me and by setting an example as to how to listen and attempt to understand the various view points regarding a single situation/topic.
• Opportunities I have to do this would be through social media and through asking questions to people whom I know differs in opinion with me in order to understand their side of the story.

Step 5 was to finally read Binti!!!!!

Sept. 8

9:40am

Discuss Binti!!!!!!!!!!

In class today, we got to talk about what we thought about Nnedi Okorafor’s novella, “Binti.” Various students were asked to discuss passages that spoke to them and that they thought displayed a stage in leadership development for Binti. Various lessons were learned throughout the book and mentioned in class as well. We all learned that in order to be a successful leader of people, one mus posses both qualities of an outsider and an insider. Alongside this, we learned that though others may be against you like Binti’s family were against her going to Oomza Uni, you can still persevere. Binti did this by leading a peaceful reconnection of the Meduse and the Khoush people over a misunderstanding of each other’s character and behavior. Lastly, Professor Sandridge mentioned solitude. As defined by google, solitude is “the state or situation of being alone.” Professor Sandridge stated that “good leaders have solitude.” For Binti, the desert was her solitude because she was able to make her own decisions without the voices of others in her ear and found her independence there in that place. We must find our own solitude in order to discover our independent thoughts and abilities.