the L word
So I'm getting to work with people a lot more this quarter. I got on the study group bandwagon on day 1, and it has really made a difference. Learning to work well with diverse teams was something I really wanted to improve on when I came to school, and now I am getting a chance to do something about that learning goal.
Not sure how much I've blogged about it before, but I am in this program put on by the center for leadership (and blah blah blah, not sure exactly, but it's called CLDR, I think) since the beginning of school. It's had ups and downs. Working with the same group of people over time means that you have to resolve your differences, and learning all this stuff about how to give each other feedback all the time means you kind of have to be straight up with people, too. There's a bit of cache associated with being in the program, since most people apply, but there're only about 70 of us this year, and we're all in the same section for our organizational behavior and strategy classes. Our teachers like to throw around the word leader all the time to make us feel like we are somehow different from our classmates who are not in it. Sort of like Oh the Places You'll Go, but without the rhyming.
But I do find that I think about leadership (that's the L word, by the way) a lot more than I otherwise would. I think about what it means, how to be good at it, and what the bad kind looks like. I think about the value I bring to a new situation, how can I contribute, and how can I help the group function. I think about ways to experiment with what I do to break out of old habits and old ways of thinking, just like Mrs. Stanford would have liked. And even though it can get incredibly uncomfortable, I find that it's a defining part of my transformative experience thus far.
Recently, a classmate of mine went looking for the L in the leadership program I'm in. Our activities have begun to focus on a consulting project our teams are doing with social entrepreneurs leveraging technology. Sometimes, it does feel that we are going on a random walk (sorry, carryover from finance class). The linkages are not often apparent, the content is sometimes just plain huh? But I've begun to think of it in a different way. Somewhere between when we started and now, we went from being consumers to producers. What do I mean? I originally expected to sit in a chair, have the top of my head flopped open like one of those free water bottles companies are giving out these days, and just sit there while the leadership stuff just got poured in. But we are not empty vessels. There is no beanstalk in the sky, and these are not magic beans. It's confusing and often ambiguous, and sometimes there's no clear direction at all.
For lack of a less trite way of putting it: I think the L is in each of us. It's the way we approach new situations, what we do to make systems work better, and how we share what we're learning with other people. If we are to become the titans of industry that business schools expect us to be, should we not begin by taking ownership for ourselves and our own learning?
No answers yet for me. Still mulling it over. Meanwhile, I've been working on two cool projects this week. One reminds me of back in high school when we had to be parents to a boiled egg (I guess now, they're using sacks of flour "babies"). Interesting to see how other folks work. The two dudes in my team are very attentive parents. Me: not so much. Note to self: get in touch with maternal instinct.
Not sure how much I've blogged about it before, but I am in this program put on by the center for leadership (and blah blah blah, not sure exactly, but it's called CLDR, I think) since the beginning of school. It's had ups and downs. Working with the same group of people over time means that you have to resolve your differences, and learning all this stuff about how to give each other feedback all the time means you kind of have to be straight up with people, too. There's a bit of cache associated with being in the program, since most people apply, but there're only about 70 of us this year, and we're all in the same section for our organizational behavior and strategy classes. Our teachers like to throw around the word leader all the time to make us feel like we are somehow different from our classmates who are not in it. Sort of like Oh the Places You'll Go, but without the rhyming.
But I do find that I think about leadership (that's the L word, by the way) a lot more than I otherwise would. I think about what it means, how to be good at it, and what the bad kind looks like. I think about the value I bring to a new situation, how can I contribute, and how can I help the group function. I think about ways to experiment with what I do to break out of old habits and old ways of thinking, just like Mrs. Stanford would have liked. And even though it can get incredibly uncomfortable, I find that it's a defining part of my transformative experience thus far.
Recently, a classmate of mine went looking for the L in the leadership program I'm in. Our activities have begun to focus on a consulting project our teams are doing with social entrepreneurs leveraging technology. Sometimes, it does feel that we are going on a random walk (sorry, carryover from finance class). The linkages are not often apparent, the content is sometimes just plain huh? But I've begun to think of it in a different way. Somewhere between when we started and now, we went from being consumers to producers. What do I mean? I originally expected to sit in a chair, have the top of my head flopped open like one of those free water bottles companies are giving out these days, and just sit there while the leadership stuff just got poured in. But we are not empty vessels. There is no beanstalk in the sky, and these are not magic beans. It's confusing and often ambiguous, and sometimes there's no clear direction at all.
For lack of a less trite way of putting it: I think the L is in each of us. It's the way we approach new situations, what we do to make systems work better, and how we share what we're learning with other people. If we are to become the titans of industry that business schools expect us to be, should we not begin by taking ownership for ourselves and our own learning?
No answers yet for me. Still mulling it over. Meanwhile, I've been working on two cool projects this week. One reminds me of back in high school when we had to be parents to a boiled egg (I guess now, they're using sacks of flour "babies"). Interesting to see how other folks work. The two dudes in my team are very attentive parents. Me: not so much. Note to self: get in touch with maternal instinct.
posted by tiy at 9:20 PM
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