Adapting to New Cultures

This week in Bluechip was all about learning to adapt in different cultures. We found that this was very hard to do even when were we just playing a simple card game but by different rules. We all broke up into different groups and we were given a rules sheet to read, only when we were trying to figure out the game , we could not talk. Once we thought we knew how to play, we started playing in silence. Depending on if you “won” or “lost” you would either stay at the table you were at, or you would move to a different table. This means that we had a new player at our table every round. This person would have to play by our rules without getting a clear overview of how we play meaning they simply had to just adapt. At the end of the game we were asked why playing this game was important and we all had a pretty clear view as to what they wanted us to get out of it. We learned a lot from this game, and we can now have a better understanding of what it feels like to have to be immersed in a new culture without previously understanding how it works and what their customs are.

            For example, this year coming to the University of Arizona all the way from Chicago was a complete culture shock. I was not really sure how different the people here really are. At one point last semester, I was very close to transferring because I felt very out-of-place and I wanted to be back in my comfort zone in the Midwest. After deciding to come back on a whim, I realized I just had to adapt a little bit more to the way people live out here. I am still not 100% used to it, but I am getting better and I have become a much stronger person because of it. I feel like I can do anything after I’ve overcome the obstacles of living in a new culture.

            Another time when I had to adapt to a new surrounding was when I was in high school. I had one group of friend that I always hung around and had a good time. But one day, a friend from outside that group asked me to hang out with her group of friends. Of course I agreed, and there I went. I hung out with her friends, and they all did things way differently than my other group of friends. I soon came to find out, I liked the way this new group of friends did things, and I started hanging out with them more often. That group has become my best group of friends yet! I am so happy I adapted to that culture and took a risk.

            In all, from the game we played in class and my own real-life experiences, I have realized how hard it is to adapt to a new culture. I will always have respect for people coming into our country and having to adapt to our ways. 

Personal Vision Statement

This week in BlueChip, we talked about vision statements and how to write one effectively. Prior to this class, I had heard of a vision statement but I had no clue as to what one actually entailed. This week I learned that there are two types of vision statements, one being organizational and one being personal. An organizational vision statement is a statement exemplifying how great your organization is. For example, a sorority’s vision statement includes what that sorority specifically involved in and what they care about as a whole. It is not based on a specific person’s beliefs like a personal vision statement would. A personal vision statement revolves around one specific person’s life and how they envision it to be in their future.  Many people’s vision statements are a good indicator of what their goals are and what they want our world to be like in the future.

            When I think about things that I want to include in my own vision statement, I always include something to do with bettering education and making young people feel like they are worth something so they can live a fulfilling and successful life. I believe that these are my beliefs because I have watched too many people go down the wrong path when they could have done something useful with their lives or they could have at least still been alive today. I also want to educate young people about hardships of others and make them look at their life from a different perspective. I have learned to do this, and because I have, I have become an open minded and caring person who believes everyone deserves happiness. I believe that by everyone thinking like this, we could make a huge difference for our youth so we can have strong leaders for tomorrow.

            When I think specifically as to what I can do to make my vision statement a reality, all I can think about is becoming a teacher. I have been a teacher ever since I was a little girl, but I was just never paid for it. I remember teaching my little brother math and I just remember the pure satisfaction of knowing that he can succeed because of me. I came to realize my greatest joy in life is to help others attain their personal goals. I will do whatever it takes as a teacher or as a friend or as a sister to make sure that they attain their goals so they can be as happy as I am. I believe that by helping each other attain their personal goals, everyone will be happier and we will live in a much more peaceful and loving society.

            With all of these goals included in my vision statement, I will be sure to enlighten anyone who reads it with what I believe will make for the best future. I have learned so much as to what a vision statement is, and it has helped make mine unique to me. 

Finding the urge to fight toxic leadership

            Experiencing toxic leadership is one thing but experiencing the actual force that causes you to stand up and fight can be an entire new experience.  On the other hand the experiencing what makes us stay with a toxic leader can be poisonous it.  We may choose to stay with a toxic leader for internal reasons like psychological feelings like needing an authority figure to replace parents and or caretakers that have structured our lives for so long we have failed to learn independence.  Pragmatic reasons may include simply earning money to continue paying the pills and earning money and maintaining a stable job.  Next we may stay for existential reasons just to have the sense of belonging and avoiding the fear of loneliness and isolation.  There are also external reasons like uncertainty due to fear of loss of security and psychosocial reasons, which include the need to meet society’s standards of achievement and increasing self-esteem.  The last external reason is the feeling of being unfinished in an unfinished world.  Whatever reason it may be, finding the urge to fight it must come from some driving force. 

            These driving forces to speak out may include proximity, information, cost, and the identification with the victim.  Being in close proximity to the toxic leadership will most often result in the chance of someone to speak out.  In order to speak out one must be sure they have the right information, being accurate will give rise to confidence and build the urge to fight.  Emotionally we are humans and seeing other people get hurt is tough but many also weigh the costs because if it is too high many people will refuse to speak up.  One must remember there is power in numbers and whoever is leading this “rebellion” must have strong qualities to convince his or her followers that they will win and do the right thing. 

            Growing up and witnessing even the simplest things I would feel guilty.  If I saw my brother steal something from the candy store or even from our own kitchen I had this urge to say something to him, but was nervous of the outcome because he was older and more intimidating but he was influencing me and showing me anyone could get away with it.  But I had the information, I saw it with my own eyes but he was my brother how could I turn against him.  These situations are always tough even if they are minute but doing the right thing should always be a priority.  In high school I was driving with one of my girl friends and she backed up into a nice car.  She hit it pretty hard and was just planning on leaving.  Fear of karma I convinced her to turn around and find the owner, the lady who drove the car lived in my town, if I didn’t say anything I wouldn’t be able to face her later.  Toxic leadership is a strong influence but a terrible odor.  It is best to find the urge from somewhere and do what is right because it’s not worth it if you will feel guilty and unsure of what to do.   

Toxic Leadership

            This week in Foundations of Leadership we learned about toxic leadership. There are many types of toxic leadership that should be looked out for in certain situations. Many people fail to recognize these characteristics and it can have a harmful effect on the group itself or the people the leader is trying to lead. I have had an encounter with two of these types of leadership and these situations have helped me to understand what to look for in a leader.

            The first type of toxic leader I encountered was the Bully leader. I was in fifth grade and I remember having a group of friends that I always spent my time with. There was one girl in particular who had to be the leader at all costs. We naturally allowed her to take charge and she led the group in everything that we did. Eventually, she became a bully. She would always make fun of the girls in the group that did not have the “cool” clothes or the “cool” lunchbox. This brought down the girls’ self esteem and therefore forcing the girls to want to leave the group. And now without her followers, she had nothing. Clearly, groups with a Bully leader do not stay together and do not have positive outcomes. I am glad I learned my lesson early on, and now I know that if I were to lead a group I would not use the bully technique.

            The second type of toxic leadership I learned not to take part in is the controller leadership style. When I was on the dance team in high school, I had a coach who had to be in control of EVERYTHING. If I were to ask to make up a sequence for a routine, she would always want to see it before I taught it so it could fit her standards. Half the time she would change the ENTIRE sequence and turn it into her own. She also never allowed anyone else to have a say in what we wore on Fridays. She would always make us wear these ugly, itchy polyester uniforms that no one liked. No matter how much we complained to her that they were uncomfortable to wear during the day, she would not let us wear what WE wanted. It was always her way or the highway. The lack of leeway made me think that when I become a high school coach, I will ALWAYS make sure my team has a say in what they do and wear otherwise it will cause resentment.

            Clearly these types of toxic leadership cause dissatisfaction for the group members. When someone is in a leadership position, it is their responsibility to make sure their members are happy and have a say in what goes on in the group. I have definitely learned my fair share about toxic leadership growing up and I know now that one day I will know exactly how NOT to run a group and instead adopt new ways of leadership and apply them to the group I run. 

Taoist Leadership Principles

This week in Blue Chip we talked about Taoist Leadership Principals. Although the list of his principals is much longer, we only talked about 6 of the principals we thought best reflected our views in Blue Chip. One of the two principals I thought was most relevant to everyday life was principal #47 called Here and Now. This principal basically states that a leader must know the obstacles that are obstructing the group from attaining their goals now, rather than having idealist views about the future. In my life this has happened a few times. Recently I was pondering about what I wanted after college graduation. I thought about getting a good job and having nice things to go along with it. Sure these things are nice, but I was not thinking about the here and now. In the present, I had a huge exam that I had not done much studying for. I then thought of the Taoist principal and realized I had to pass this test in order to reach my goal of the finer things in life.  Clearly it helps to live in the present and overcome obstacles that will lead to the future rather than thinking too far into the future and forgetting about what is going to get me there. 

The other important Taoist principal I thought was important was principal #54, The Ripple Effect. The Ripple Effect states that if you are a positive influence in the world, it will rub off on everyone else and the ripple effect continues. I believe this is so true for many reasons! For example, one day in high school I was walking past a girl down the hallway and I really liked her shirt. I then smiled at her and acknowledged that I liked her shirt and kept walking. After passing her, I heard behind me that same girl’s voice. She went right ahead and complimented another girl on her shirt while they passed each other in the hallway. My act of kindness and positivity clearly rubbed off on others and it put everyone in a better mood including myself.  It is clear that one act of kindness can lead to many great acts of kindness no matter how little it is. My philosophy is if you can make at least one person smile during the day, you have done your job. Of course making many people smile is even better but if you could lift one person’s spirit it is a job well done. Clearly this Taoist principal is important in my life and I believe if everyone displayed this kind of positivity, great things will happen.

The Taoist principals are wonderful to live by. They are insightful and powerful and should be used by everyone in the world. Not only do the principals work in leadership situations, but more importantly they work in every day situations. There is nothing better than to make someone happy and to be living your life to the fullest in the present rather than searching for the good in the future. 

Social Change Model and my life.

            This week in the foundations of leadership class we talked mainly on the Social Change Model that we analyzed in our reading. The Social Change Model is built on the basic premises that the model is inclusive, views leadership as a process rather than a position, and promotes the values of equality, social justice, self-knowledge, personal empowerment, citizenship and service. In the model there are seven key values that include: Consciousness of self, Congruence, Commitment, Collaboration, Common Purpose, Controversy with Civility and Citizenship. All of these factors contribute as to what makes change possible in our society today.

            Out of the seven values of the Social Change Model, I have used Congruence the most in my life. For example, I was the captain of the varsity dance team my senior year in High School. It was up to me to keep order among a group of 17 girls at practice and at competitions. Of course there were always arguments between 2 or a group of girls and it was usually up to me to be the peacemaker. I had to use the skill of Congruence by not choosing sides but rather coming to a collective decision in the situation.  With congruence, I had to make sure I heard both sides of the story before I could make an informed decision on the matter. I had to be honest with the girls because then the best decision could be made for the sake of the group as a whole. Being a team captain was very challenging, but the skill of Congruence helped me be the best captain I could be.

            Another value of the Social Change Model I utilized was the skill of Collaboration. Collaboration is a vital aspect if you want to have a successful dance season in the world of competitive team dance. Collaboration definitely helped us reach our goals in 2010 by winning the State Championship! Through Collaboration, we as a team all put in our own ideas as to how we thought our pom routine could be better. We all sat down one day at practiced and just brain stormed ideas until we all came to the conclusion as to what is best. This method resulted in the winning of the state title and allowed us all to feel as though we all contributed to winning state. Clearly Collaboration was the key to our success last season and will continue to help well into the future.

            In all, the Social Change Model has helped me tremendously reach my goals personally and with a team. There are many things I learned about leadership because I was able to base my leadership skills off of the different values of social change. The “Seven C’s” of the Social Change Model clearly demonstrates what it takes to create a change or reach a goal in a specific situation and people everywhere should study these seven values so that change in our society can happen in a faster and more beneficial way. 

Myers Briggs personality test and me

Leadership has and always will be a huge part of my life. After taking the Myers Briggs personality test I came to realize why leadership and responsibility is a natural part of my personality. On the test, I turned out to be a ENTP and after figuring out what these mean, I was able to figure out my 8 mental functions and how I can relate them to my everyday life.

My top mental function was Extraverted Intuition. This means that I create possibilities for the future and spontaneously recognize patterns and connections. For example, I recently was interested in the sports broadcasting network called CatNation here at University of Arizona and I immediately contacted someone that could help me reach my goal of becoming a sports reporter for CatNation. In doing so, I was offered to shadow CatNation this Friday to go behind the scenes and fully understand what it takes to be a CatNation reporter. Because I noticed the connection between my extroverted style of communication skills and love for being in front of the camera, I was able to determine what I want for my future.  My personality profile fits this situation perfectly.

In contrast to my number one mental function, my last mental function is Extraverted Sensing.  This can be described as being alive in the moment and aware of what the senses are able to immediately experience. I am clearly the complete opposite of that. I plan everything out before I do it and make sure that I am always setting myself up for the future. Many of the decisions I make depend on how it will affect me in the future. For example, my friend loves to take pictures and is always documenting our every move. We always go to parties together and the flash is always going off. It is hard to monitor what pictures are being taken and put on Facebook so me, having Extraverted Sensing last, I always ask her not to put the ones making a fool of my goofy self up on the internet. I partially do this because I don’t want my friends to think I’m a complete nut, but I mainly do it because I don’t want my future compromised by my crazy photos. I would be devastated if I did not get a job because of one crazy night in college. This is just one example of many that represent how I live my life not in the moment, but for my future.

Obviously the Myers Briggs personality test can tell someone a lot about his or her personality.  I noticed many things about myself I never really noticed before and it helps me make sense of my day-to-day actions.  I believe that putting a meaning to everything you do makes someone a more mature and self-confident person.  When a person understands the root of what is causing them to act in a certain situation, that person is better able to evaluate themselves and everything around them.