October 30th

  Throughout the past few classes a few guests have come in to our class to speak about  leadership, and it really has been wonderful lessons in the sense that it has made what we had been  learning very real. There was a lot to draw out of these huge figure`s talk about their personal life stories and the way they have taken on leadership. It has been really inspiring to hear about the strategies and attitudes they had taken that has contributed to their success, and  it has been really helpful in connecting what we have been studying in class.

  I was especially impressed by the speakers that came today, despite their background being something  less familiar to us compared to the  past few guests. Perhaps it was the way they talked, with the right kind of enthusiasm, and vigour-not too much that it was overpowering but not too little that could have made us bored. I thought the partnering between the two speakers were great too; they supplemented each other`s talk which made it very clear for us to understand the whole picture, and the balance of speech when they gave descriptions  made it easy for us to get a grasp of the story without having such a one-sided view. 

  The message Mr. Daisy sent to us was very valuable I thought. Suddenly being a president of a school with a  failing system in a country which you aren`t familiar at all was, though he retold in a comical way, was no doubt a daunting task. The way he approached it was by taking a step back to understand the environment, culture, people then addressing the problem WITH the people. Now, this is a wide spread teaching; to not blindly go in to an unknown land and suddenly try to take power over it, thinking that you know everything that needs to be done. However, it`s easier said then done, and to actually take that teaching to heart by implementing it-that`s a different story. To some people it may come naturally, but to some I think it takes enormous amount of self control and patience to do so. The way Mr. Daisy  tried to tackle the problem by involving the people, encouraging them to speak out and actually reflecting their opinions in restructuring, like he said creating"ownership" among them, was spectacular. To make reforms from the inside, meaning shifting the people`s paradigms was probably the key success to saving the school. Now with the environment where the faculty`s opinions actually mattered, even if there is to be a down turn in the success of the school in the future,  i`m confident that with the cooperation they will be able to overcome it.

 What I wished to ask, but was cut off due to the time constraint was, if there was some kind of impact or change in the students attitude since Mr. Daisy stepped in. Since Mr. Daisy was the present it is natural that  he mainly deals with the faculty board, but upon hearing about how he usually had lunch with the students, showed how much he cared and valued the students themselves. Perhaps his attitude toward the students, or individual communications  he had with them has contributed in motivating them in someway? Or  maybe the way he requested for  the faculty to be more open with ideas and to have more dialogue during the decision making process has generated to the students and encouraged them to do the same? Or perhaps the fact that the school was succeeding, the results of the school itself has been a factor to change the students attitude or feelings toward the school? Anyhow, I believe that there is some sort of story on the students side and I wished to hear more about. 

  I hope we will be able to, with the power of what we have learnt in class and through the lectures the past few guests have given, take to heart a few messages on good leadership and be able to apply them in our future. Thank you Ken for brining in all these guests, it has been a very valuable experience for all of us and i`m sure each of us has brought home a little something to ourselves that would be both useful and important to our lives from now on.

Leading At The Edge #5

   The real life stories featured in chapter #10 Tenacious Creativity, were simply amazing. I was especially impressed with how Callahan managed to survive on the raft for more than a month! Left with more water to spare too! ( This story reminded me a lot about the book I read before, The Life of Pi. It`s one of my favourite reads, so whoever is viewing this blog, I highly recommend you to take a look at this book:)). The endurance of Callahan, combined with immense self control played a big as part of the success in survival, as the his creativity I did think. I don`t think I would have the will to restrain my self from eating up or drinking the food and water that was stored.
  Although there was a lot of focus on teamwork being able to come up with radical ideas, because there are more heads together than just one. However, I think that being alone can sometimes prove to be more effective. I have seen that there is a tendency for people to rely on others and not try to for themselves when in a group. When alone though when a problem is needed to be solved, you only have yourself to rely on and you are forced to come up with some sort of miracle. I actually do have a lot of these experiences actually, though definitely not as heroic as the stories in the book. I think it is related a lot to the other quality of not giving up, that was referred to in the chapter, but when you are in a difficult situation if you think long and hard enough you somehow find a way. By not panicking and thinking systematically you really can find  brighter prospect to things.
  I think part of the leader`s job is to bring out that creativity in people. We can`t just let them and be, and hope for a miracle idea to strike them. I think the leader`s attitude that encourages and values participation, creativity, voices of individuals on daily basis is what helps prepare for dire situations where we need to draw on each`s ideas. The leader`s role is vital at the very time of the predicament too; they must be open to other`s opinion and have the guts to follow another`s idea.

October 18th

  For the beginning half of the class today , we gathered in our research writing support groups to discuss about our extended outline. The day before, Koji, Takehiro, Izumi and I had got to together, as well as shared our outlines on google docs so I think we had a rather good head start. We already had our technological devices ready for working as a group, and decided to check, peer-edit each others work through sharing documents on google drive (Something I learned the previous semester).  We already are showing signs of excellent team work I think. I feel pretty confident about this group; we have an clear idea of how we are going to work as a group and motivation to improve our work as a team. 
  I`m a little worried about my essay though, because I don` t have a very solid thesis statement. My thesis statement is formed by basically two guideline questions, but i`m not very sure whether they fit together as one statement. I think through further research on the topic it would make things a little more clear and easier for me to work on. Hearing other`s presentations on the topics was a great way to get an image of what was to be addressed in the essays. The problems of the essay being to broad and vague came up, and it seemed like each of us had to keep our focusses narrower as well as more to the point. It is difficult still, trying to picture what each of our essays would be discussion,  but I think with further sharing and feedback from our members we would be able to clarify those doubts. Another thing I realised today, was that my argument needed to present some controversial ideas too, to strengthen my argument. Also, remembering from my first term lesson, I need to  keep in mind the importance of topic sentences. I tend to stray away from the main focus throughout the paragraph.   I am pretty excited about what I will be able to discover through researching and forming my ideas on technology and leadership communications. I hope that through the process I would be able to improve my essay writing skills as well as deepen my understanding on the topic.

Leading At The Edge #4

  It is an ongoing battle in one`s head I think,  balancing between taking a risk and playing it safe. We have to constantly weigh out our options, whether we take risks or not. What I find most effective when  I have to make my mind in a difficult situation is to remember the words my mother taught me to ask my self. "What is the worst that can happen?".This of course for  situations where there is a prerequisite that a certain risk should be taken. It is the sort of line dropped to  encourage you to go for it. For example when I was younger, I remember being afraid to raise my hand in class to say something. By asking my self the question , What is the worst that can happen?" I realised that the only thing that could happen was possibly being a little embarrassed facing the crowd(maybe get some sneers from fellow classmate boys),  and that the gains would be much bigger, with me learning to overcome stage fright, making my voice heard by others, showing participation...etc. The same goes with the time I was hesitant in making long term commitments like joining various school teams or out of school activities. Though at first posing as obstacles that may be hard to overcome, when you see some positive qualities in it, that is when you take a risk.  I have seen that risks based on good intentions taken for yourself often times work for the better, making you stronger to adversities and expanding your potential.  My mother always taught me to be a risk taker.
  The situation is different though when the risk taking involves not only you. More so when your life is at stake like Shackleton`s expedition.What you can manage and deal by yourself may not be what others can handle, in order to change the risk factor into positive results. When you are alone risk taking means challenging the boarders of your capacity, which your are aware of, but when working as a team, you do not know what those boarders of others are. It is hard to draw line on whether to take risks or not but I think instincts play a big part in this.
Risks are an inevitable part of living, living ambitiously, and as the book says, leaders must learn to be comfortable with the discomfort of risk.  Weighing the possibilities, evaluating the consequences must be constantly done, but when there is momentum, I believe that we must have the courage  to take a step.

Risk taking image on Stanford Technology Program:

Leading At The Edge #3

  The read on the chapter about conflicts gave me an opportunity to think again about conflicts within a team. Examining Shackleton`s story, it seems especially vital to them to deal with conflict because conflict can easily lead to a life and death matter. Slight disagreements about what may seem to be the littlest thing to us, such as who gets the last piece of biscuit, can lead to a nasty battle. Especially when survival is involved,  the want of small things even can be reason for dispute, and for those small things dispute can evolve in to a full fledged violent threat. During Shackleton`s expedition, even truces that were formed through talking things out were temporary and often found broken which caused more conflicts. I imagine that  conflict resolving would be one of the top priorities for leaders in such a situation where men are cold, hungry and constantly on the brim of death. Conflict is something that cannot be avoided in those predicaments but depending on how it is managed, damage can be reduced  to a great degree.
  Whenever I find conflict within a team, I try to take everybody`s mind of it by concentrating on a different issue or issue some off time to let off steam. It is effective in that everyone can refresh their minds and hopefully see a new perspective of teams, but like Shakleton crew, if we were faced with survival issues I don`t think it is easy as that. As quoted from the book, "The Challenge is not how to eliminate the conflicts but, rather, how to manage them in productive ways that strengthen bonds among team members"Sometimes the conflicts can`t be escaped and must be addressed immediately. I have a tendency to hush up the conflicts, but it is true that the conflicts itself can`t be eradicated, and the win approach to it would be to leverage the conflict to creating better bonds in the team. The approach I take now is basically shutting out the main issue here, and it isn`t very productive. By hiding from the main conflict, one day the little tremors may accumulate and cause a big disruption to the team.

October 7th

  The concept of "flow" by Mihaly Czikszentmihaly is very much like gratification I thought. It perfectly explained why we can be so engrossed into something to the point of us losing the sense of time. He defined this "flow" as something that occurs when sufficient skill is matched with sufficient challenge. This concept of flow really clicked with my understanding of gratification and I felt enlightened from the very abstract perception I had about it before. A leader being the one to provide those that he/she works with the opportunity and autonomy to find flow within the tasks given was absolutely the right way to put it. I think all what I have been talking about channeling energy towards a goal or sharing passion can be summed up to this concept of "flow".
  We also talked about managing conflict today. Megumi announced that she felt no conflicts whatsoever. At least she didn`t regard conflicts as conflicts in a negative way, merely obstacles to overcome. I was amazed at her positivity; not everyone, hardly anyone I should say can deal with problems the way she does and have such an joyous outlook of issues. I do believe too, that conflicts can be a key to solving things and opening up new doors. It can be a initiative to talk about the problems that lay in the team , what their initial goals/commitments as a team were, and as a result enforce a stronger, better team.
  In truth though i`m afraid of conflicts in a team. For one, conflicts are memorable. Conflicts big or small can linger in ones mind and lead to misjudgement of one another in the future, slowly corrupting the harmony of a team. The memory of conflict could be so bitter that in attempt to avoid it, refrain from relationships with certain people or not speak one`s mind about important issues.  Another, is that conflicts can make horrible turns in certain cases. The argument can heat up so badly that it could go astray and be  a battle about and entirely different issue. This one incident can lead to damage beyond repair of the relationship and trust between members of the team.
  Conflict though is inevitable. As much as I dislike them I have to deal with them. Without conflict nothing develops. I guess it all depends on how you perceive things. Whether you take it as an factor for down fall or as an chance for opportunity, it is up to you to decide and change the course of things. Based on the evaluation test we did in class for conflict management I would like to  rethink my way of dealing with conflict.
  Right now, what I find particularly effective is to just take time off from working as a team. Whether the conflict is between the team members or something entirely different, conflict creates tension and reduces productivity(at least at that moment). Taking a break from the pending issue, refreshes and energises everyone allowing them to start anew with a rational mind.

Leading At The Edge #2

  Focusing on  team work in this chapter, I realised how recently I had only been looking at how teamwork functions from the leaders point of view. So starting off with the main question, what makes a good team? A good team can be evaluated in many ways, such as by how well they can produce results, whether each member is fully utilising their ability or by how good the chemistry between the members are. A factor which I think is common to scoring on these criteria is team communications. I`m not talking only about friendly communications, but just personal everyday interactions are vital in creating a good team spirit. Leaders can create a team atmosphere but certainly can`t just lead the way of a group of people who has no sense of unity. Active engagement to is necessary at the basis to build feelings of affection, trust, respect for each other.
  The example of the Hanoi Hilton Prison, where the prisoners communicated through tapping was just amazing an amazing story. There must have been someone who initiated this movement and channeled the negative energy to this kind of interaction. That person is probably what I would call a leader in the situation. This story also perfectly exemplified the need for members to communicate actively to create a strong bonds. It also proves that not only face to face interactions, skin ship such as shaking hands or hugging  can contribute to constructing strong ties. If you think in context of everyday life in modern days, perhaps the use of social media and ICTs play the very same role. It would be interesting to research the how communication technology contributes to the work of a leader and a team.
  Another thing I found particularly interesting about this weeks chapters was the mention of the third party. Shackelton created the Directive Committee, which was an inner circle of key advisors, in order to  maintain morale and at the same time seek solutions to ensure the seaman`s survival. It is vital I think to have another trustworthy person/team that can give you a different perspective and monitor your actions. A leader must have the open-mindness to listen to others, and actually make it a point in doing so by appointing another to be the other eye and brain.

October 2nd

  It surprised me how different each of us in the group scored on the negotiation evaluation test. I had most points on compromising, Joki most on collaboration, while Johnny had the highest for competition and hardly any for avoiding. It showed us just how different our negotiating styles were. Looking at each category,though not all of them were ideal styles, they did have their pros. Each category  had the potential of  being highly effectively depending on who you were dealing with. Personally I did not view the competing style as a favourable, for it seemed too aggressive, cunning, putting your interest before anything else. However if you think about it sometimes it can`t be helped if it is a life or death matter an issue that was an pending emergency..Same goes to the avoiding style. The avoiding style does not have a good image if it`s just looked upon as a way to shy away form the argument and not face the important issues that needs to be discussed. If the opponent is someone who wouldn`t back off from the negotiation though, if that person continues to press a point that is to your disadvantage, the best option may be just to leave the negotiation. This may be a difficult task  for people who have a fight-to-win mind set but being able to back down when necessary is also an important skill.
I think to be able to be aware of these different approaches and being able to use these versatile styles depending on the occasion helps you become a stronger negotiator.
  Finally we talked about leader ship as a whole, what makes a good leader. All three of us in the group had had experience, or was currently experiencing a team sport  in " bukatsu",  so our values seemed to come a long that angle. Throughout the discussion we agreed upon a good leader to have the quality of sharing the ultimate goal among fellow members. I had the perspective more on sharing the visible goals, such as an upcoming match or test-those that would motivate the others to work  for it. However, Joki pointed out an interesting view on not only posing the goals itself, but how that could be achieved. Each person had different methods of tackling a task, but there was a need for everyone to be on the same ground. Maybe individual ways were okay if it was  an activity that you do on your own, like studying, but when it`s a team sport(activity) it`s different. Being on time, coming to practice without fail all contributes to the team mentality, enforcing a stronger bond and trust among members which is absolutely important for a teamwork. He also emphasised that there was a need for constantly letting team-mates know, showing them the way things were , the commitments and obligations, until it becomes natural to them. The leader always must be clear on the motives and verbalise, as well as set example of the process, never letting anyone fall behind. Keeping stride is important when working as a team I believe.
The most basic then, if a leader is to guide the team mates in a certain way, is to spread the inner passion to them. Un-doubtly the leader has a strong passion for what he/she does, but there is no point if he/she cannot share upon with the other members. If they do not have the ability to share upon the rest of the members, the energy in you can back fire and lead to your frustration then to demotivation. Being able to envision the passion with your teammates is an essential skill, and it is an on-going process for me learning how to do just that.