Leading The Way

Tying it All Together

2009-04-18T12:28:00.000-07:00

Well, first off I want to extend a huge thanks to Dr. Feinberg...this was by far the most enjoyable class I have had while I have been here at Purdue. My hat goes off to you. I never missed a class this semester (which usually doesn't happen), but it was hard to stay away because each class was very unique and was actually something that I will use throughout my life.

Becoming a leader starts from within. You need to find yourself and have attainable goals before you can go out and start making a difference. What difference will you make? Will you have followers? These should be just a few of the questions that we start asking ourselves today, in hopes that we will make something of ourselves in the near future. For most of us this semester, that future is approaching very soon...the real world is closing in on us, and what are we going to do with the lessons that we have so newly learned? Leaders will take that initiative and run with it.

It is all about being proactive. Actively seeking for opportunities and when those opportunities arise, jumping on them and making something of yourself. That has always been a downfall of mine. According to Feinberg...I have "sat on my leadership ass" for too long and have always waited for opportunities come to me...that's probably why none of them have. I need to take the initiative to make things happen in my life, and I think I demonstrated my growth in this area through the Career Fair this semester. I have always wanted to get into medical sales after graduation, and through interviews at the Career Fair, I will be working for Abbott this summer as an intern in their Columbus, Ohio location. This is my dream job! I am taking my life in my own hands and I'm no longer going to let other determine what my future will hold, I am my own leader, and I WILL make a difference in the lives of others.

Thanks Feinberg for a great semester and for making 309 an enjoyable experience.

Morgan

Pain

2009-04-13T21:05:00.000-07:00

My pain resembles a lot of the pain that was discussed throughout class today. In some cases it is reassuring to know that I am not alone in these particular cases, but I also realized today that there are a lot of people out there that have pain that is stronger than mine. When I was asked earlier on in the semester to write down what pain I have, there was no question what I was going to write down. My pain has been with me since I was a little girl, but has become more severe over the years.

In dealing with my pain, I am definitely a leader. I have had to make choices at a young age that no person should have to make...but to me I'm glad that I had to face those situations because it has made me a stronger person today. I have learned that you can't dwell on the past, always look to the future...yes bad things have happened to me, but I look at what positives came out of that particular situation. I have definitely become a more independent person, I know what I want out of life and what I don't want, and I am completely confident in myself. I have led myself to become something better than I could have ever imagined: a hard-working, loving, and caring individual. My past pain has allowed me to take the lead of my future, and there is no turning back. The power of my future is in my hands...what will I do with it?

Decision Making

2009-04-07T07:44:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of class yesterday, Feinberg started out his Decision Making lecture with the quote, "If you want to be a good leader, make good decisions." Many things came to my mind when I started to think about this, but one thing in particular that I really have an infulence on is my position at work. With being an Assistant Manager at Maurices, most would think "Hey it's retail it can't be all that hard." In all actuallity, I am challenged at work each and every day. My manager told me before I took the position that the Assistant Manager position is probably one of the hardest positions in the store. While only working part-time, you are still expected to be a manager and to coach and train associates while also keeping your stats above the store.

The one thing that used to be a challenge for me was making visual decisions on my own. I am a perfectionist and I am always worried about messing something up. I hate being wrong, and would much rather have someone help me through something than to try doing it on my own. I have come a long way in this area, because I now know that in order to learn the right way of doing things, you sometimes have to make a mistake. You only learn from failing, and as long as you learn something from that...I don't see it as a bad thing. If I want people to respect me as a leader in my store I need to show them that I can make good decisions that will have a positive impact on our business. I might not always do everything the right way, but I always back up what I'm doing with a reason...and more times than not, my reason is legit.

I must be making the right decisions when it comes to work considering I just got my yearly review last week, and I am the only associate in the store that is above the store in all statistics. In addition to this, I also improved all of my numbers from what they were at this time last year!

The semester is coming to a close!

Morgan

Living Obituary

2009-03-25T12:36:00.000-07:00

For the living obituary assignment I had the pleasure of interview one of my very own group members: Heath Carpenter. Heath is in a couple of classes with me, but I have never taken the time to sit down and get to know a little about him. Heath and I talked for awhile after class one day and gave each other pretty much a play-by-play of our lives. Heath and I have a mutual friend so it was weird to me that I had never met him before. During our conversation, I found myself wanting to learn more and more about him. Everything that he was telling me was truly taking me by surprise. How could someone so young already have been through all that he has? Heath is truly a remarkable person and anyone that has the chance to sit down and talk with him should run with that opportunity. During our conversation Heath really made me think about what I am doing to make a difference in this world, because he has. For those of you that didn't get a chance to read my living obituary on Heath, he had to overcome many obstacles in his life and because of these obstacles he has learned many lessons. Heath uses the experiences that he has had to help others overcome some of their problems, he is a true mentor. I was nervous about writing this living obituary for one reason and one reason only: I wanted to make sure that I did Heath's story justice since I was so moved by how he is using his obstacles to teach others how to overcome their own.

He truly is amazing and I hope each one of us leads our life in the direction that he is taking his. Heath Carpenter everybody...Team Wicked Awesome!!

-Morgan

WOW...I'm a procrastinator

2009-03-12T07:38:00.000-07:00

So, I admit it. I am a huge procrastinator. I never used to be like this, but I can pinpoint where at in my life that this became a huge issue...like a year ago. I completely slacked off in school one semester...or many...but 2 semesters ago I won a cruise through the company that I work for and it was going to set sail the same week as finals week. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity that not even my manager, who by the way is awesome, has been able to experience. I arranged alternate times to take my exams early with my professors and they were all very willing to accomodate me in this situation. They were so willing to help me out why was it so hard for me to at least put some effort into studying for the exams? I let my excitement for this upcoming event completely blind me for the generous favor that my professors were giving me...and how did I repay them? By getting a horrible grade on their exam...all because of procrastination. Yes, I have a lot on my plate with school and working part-time and trying to get involved in extra activities on campus...but I let that all get the best of me.

This semester most would notice that my mortar board is pretty much completely filled with black ink. This is a sure sign that I am trying to overcome my procrastination habit, and trying to get my life and priorities on track. The order of importance and urgency for me is key...assignments have due dates and with having to work I need to make sure I stay on top of these tasks and get them accomplished in a timely fashion that will get me the grade that I want in my classes...which are all A's. I'm shooting for a 4.0 this semester since I was just shy of that last semester, but that surely won't happen unless I stick to giving myself written reminders and due dates in my trusty ole mortar board!

Have a great and safe Spring Break all!

Morgan

Recognized

2009-03-05T07:38:00.000-08:00

To my surprise sometime last week as I was reading through the many e-mails that I recieve in a day, I came across one of Feinberg's messages that had a list of people who he thought deserved to be on his Wall of Fame list; my surprise was that I was on it. I knew that I had put in a lot of time into this paper and made sure that I analyzed the different thoughts between the movie 'The Queen' and the first couple class periods. I was getting pretty used to Feinberg hating my papers, no matter how hard I tried. But what was I doing to make sure that my writing would improve for the next time Feinberg got ahold of something that I wrote? The answer: nothing. Once again, I am sitting on my leadership ass and not trying to make myself better, or in the words of Feinberg, "Changing my life."

Along with being on Feinberg's Wall of Fame, another thing also surprised me that day in my e-mail. That was a message from my group leader telling me congrats on being on the Wall of Fame. Wow! That definitely caught me by surprise! Not that because my leader isn't awesome or anything, but because how many people actually take the time to congratulate others for their accomplishments or awards that they get. The answer: Not many, and I have a leader who does recognize those for their accomplishments- our group is lucky...and wicked awesome! Along with the recognition, my group leader also asked the 3 of us in the group that made it onto this Wall of Fame to help her in the writing of our first Group Memo. As a group we met to discuss ideas and opinions about the article and then the 4 of us have arranged a time to combine all these ideas into one fantastic paper...Wall of Fame worthy!

Recognize those people who are working hard and doing a great job, wouldn't you want someone to do the same for you?

Morgan

Sat On My Leadership Ass

2009-02-27T20:22:00.000-08:00

So as many weeks of class have passed, I am asking myself why the hell didn't I get off my leadership ass and stand up in class that day to become a group leader. I was intimidated by the number of people in the class and let that get the best of me...or I guess point out the worst of me. As I look back to when these "leaders" told us their leadership stories, I actually have a story to tell...unlike most people that stood up while the rest of us just sat there. Like Kirk said, we should always be prepared to tell a story; and most that day were not. The few that didn't sit on their leadership asses and actually had something worthwhile to say, got their deserved position as a group leader...one of which being my leader, Tricia Coonan.

Because of my inability to get over the fact that the size of our class is so daunting, I have had to set some rules for myself in terms of not meeting my full potential, and by that I mean my full leadership potential.

*I will no longer sit on my leadership ass
*I will not be intimidated by the size of a group
*I will not doubt my ability as a leader
*I will not stand to always be someone's follower, but to be someone's leader

As to the rest of you that decided to join me in just sitting there that day...do you have a better story? I know that I do, make something of yourselves and always have a story to tell!

Morgan

Leadership Within Groups

2009-02-17T07:52:00.000-08:00

At Monday's class I was kind of surprised that nothing was said about the groups until after the class was already over. Professor Feinberg said that not one group leader had come up to him asking him for time in class to make sure that everyone was put into a group...and if this didn't happen then everyone (but the group leaders) would lose 5o points right off the bat. Even though no one had asked for time in class I was rather shocked to find out that they had already been communicating with eachother and had put everyone they thought was registered for the class into groups. How they were able to get a list of all the people in this class was beyond me, and I know that my group leader went right after class and sent us all an e-mail welcoming to our new CSR 309 group. We've already been communicating back and forth about the next class project and Tricia made it a point to ask us all for our opinions and encouraged us to communicate back and forth with each other about possible materials to bring on Wednesday for Tower building. Stepping back and getting input and feedback from others shows a strong and wise leader, and it also shows that she really is looking out for the best interest of each group member. Bring on the Tower building!

Kirk Weisler

2009-02-13T09:39:00.000-08:00

Many of us went into Monday night dreading having to go to class for 5 hours, but I think most would agree that those 5 hours were well spent with Kirk Weisler. There were many things that Kirk talked about in regards to leadership, but there were a couple things that really stuck out in my mind when he was talking about them. "Inspire not require." It is easier to inspire someone to want to do something than to require them to do something. As a leader you want to really got your team excited and motivated about a certain topic, otherwise if they aren't enthusiastic about it it could probably turn out horrible and they won't be interested in it so they will put little effort into that job. Inspire them to learn don't require it! Another important thing was that leadership doesn't just happen, it is a day to day process. You can want to be a leader, but you must work at becoming that leader and take the steps you need to to get where you want to be. It won't just happen...at least not for most of us. Kirk also said that one of the most important things as a leader is to grow yourself. Don't just settle to be an average leader, because in most cases you won't succeed. Make yourself better by challenging yourself in different ways, be able to talk about something interesting...be able to tell your life story.

Made Others Shine

2009-02-04T16:36:00.000-08:00

Leadership was very evident toward the end of class today. The last group really impressed me with some of the ideas that they came up with in how to do the task that was given to them. Matt got everyone involved, and in doing this they all were able to shine and be their own leader. He helped to get the ball rolling and once it was he passed it off to others and let them do their part in the task at hand. I true leader helps each of their team members shine, and that was pretty evident in group 3's performance. I think we were all floored with what they came up with. They made it fun to watch, we learned something (even about them as individuals), and they made sure to let us know what was going on and what they were thinking; which was most important. The other 2 groups shut us out, what kind of leaders are they? Ones that will do all the work, take all the credit, and listen to their own ideas...I think so. The had a different way of doing things and executed their plan...which is what a leader is supposed to do!

Leader vs. Follower

2009-01-28T16:34:00.000-08:00

In class tonight, a lot of our discussion was based on whether we thought being a leader or follower were better roles. I agree with what was said about leaders and followers both being important because without followers a leader can't lead, and without a leader followers have no one to follow. I would consider myself to be both a leader and a follower. I decided to be my own leader after the first day of this class when I submitted the first homework assignment even after the due date. Since I wasn't aware that there was anything that needed to be turned in, I went home right after class and did the assignment even though I wasn't sure if I would get credit for it or not. At least I did it right?! Some things are better late than never...except for coming to class of course. In other ways I am a follower, but that usually happens when I am unsure about something so I just follow along with what everyone else is doing. This class so far has taught me a lot about myself and also what I want to get out of life- and the effort that I should be putting forth to getting there.

Brought This to Work

2009-01-22T16:01:00.000-08:00

So being that this is a leadership class and that I am an Assistant Manager at a clothing store in the local mall, a lot about this class so far has motivated me at work. After seeing all of those individuals get up in front of class during the first week and have the class completely ignore them, I had to ask myself is that what the associates do with me when I try to coach and train them? Well with just coming back from Christmas break, I had noticed that our credit card performance as a team had gone tremendously when I had left, and my first shift back I alone got 2. In our manager meeting that Monday we made that our focus and I told them that I wasn't going to settle for getting 5 in a week like they had done when I was gone, so they were all going to have to pick it up, and if they didn't the Manager told each of us that she would write us up. I had to become the team leader, the team motivator and get these girls back on track. After all, this is part of their job specification and if the standards aren't met by each individual that could mean that we would lose our jobs. So through constant motivation, reminders and teamwork we have almost pulled out our week in credit cards!

Chaos

2009-01-15T17:08:00.000-08:00

I think we can all agree when I say that leadership was lacking this week in class. There were some of our classmates that took it upon themselves to get up and try to make something of the class and also to make sense out of what was being asked of us as a group. To most of us, we are used to the first week of class being all about going over the syllabus and having the teacher pretty much spoon feed us. Our professor didn't show us a bad leader, just a different way of leading, a way in which many of us are not use to. I know for me I like direction and it was driving me crazy not knowing what the heck was going on. This experience in class though did teach me to go home and take the initiative and make sure I understood exactly what was expected of me in this class and when everything was going to be due. I had to become my own leader because obviously the professor was trying to teach us a valuable lesson, no matter how crazy it drove me.