Leadership: Part 1

As most of you know, I'm currently an M.B.A. student at ETSU.  I'm taking my last two classes of my program before graduation in May.  Anyway, one of the classes that I'm taking is an Independent Study course that will replace my leadership course requirement (lovely how course rotations never work out the way you need them to).  Over the course of the semester, I have been assigned 5 books along with 5 ten-page papers about those books.  So why am I blogging about this?  Well, again, as many of you know, I'm part of Phi Sigma Pi National Co-ed Honor Fraternity.  One of the legs of our tripod is leadership.  While most Chapters use this leg of the tripod as a service component of the fraternity, I believe that leadership should also be embraced.  This series of blog posts...well, let's just say it's a little bit of what I learned about leadership.  Maybe someone will read this and obtain some inspiration and resources on how to be a better leader.  More and more I'm learning the importance of leadership and how it really does affect my everyday actions.

Ok.  The first book I read was StrengthsFinder 2.0 by Tom Rath.  I actually had the pleasure of listening to Mr. Rath give an executive briefing while I was working as a tuition scholar during my first year of graduate school.  At the briefing, I bought this book, along with Strengths Based Leadership (the longer and more in-depth version of the two books).  I also was able to get him to sign both!  ;)  (Sorry, I'm a nerd.)  Anyway, most of you know that I hate to read.  So what compelled me, a broke graduate student, to buy not one, but two books at full retail price?  The topic he wrote about really intrigued me and sparked a great interest to learn more.

Both books talk about strength psychology and its application to our every day lives.  Rath continually brings up the example of how we as a society constantly try to overcome any personal deficiencies starting in our infancy even to when we are grown adults.  The strength psychology suggests that by focusing on our strengths instead of trying to deal with our weaknesses, we will grow more!  (I personally was interested in how this effective the workplace environment and how it could relate to potential leadership positions within an organization, but again, I'm a business grad student.)

So with the book came a special code that gave me access to the "Strengths Finder 2.0 Assessment".  Basically it was several statements that I ranked myself on whether I was most like the statement or least like the statement.  At the end of this hour long assessment, I was given a report with my "top five themes of talent".  Mine were discipline, strategic, achiever, futuristic, and focus.  Man did the assessment hit the nail on the head!  I had a lot of trouble actually writing the paper because it was hard to write about myself for an academic paper.  Anyway, I learned a lot of how I could apply (or in some cases continue to apply) these to daily tasks.

Now that you have read a short book report...why should you read it?  You might be surprised how much talent you truly possess that can be molded into great leadership strengths!  Ryan even took the assessment and read the shorter book.  It wasn't surprising that we had different themes; however, many of our themes complemented each other.  Which makes sense why we make a great pair! ;)  Anyway, if you are interested, the books are above.  I found them to be very interesting.  I also have copies that I would be willing to lend out to responsible individuals who will return them.  (Remember, they are signed!)

Well, that's enough for tonight.  Off to the next book and start of the next paper.  I've already read the first section and I know this one will be fun to write about.  I already have a couple of people in mind to recommend it to!

Resolutions Update

I don't know why, but occasionally I feel the need to do a resolution update.  Probably because I want to see how I'm doing.  ;)  But I get this urge to write at the most random times!  Anyway, here goes...

1.)  Start the Good Thoughts Jar.  I've been very bad at this one.  I believe the last good thought I put in my jar was the fact that Mary Ann was okay after her car accident.  I think that weekend I moved the jar up to my room, which rarely has pieces of paper to write on!  I think I need to move it again and put some more good thoughts in there!

2.)  Read the entire Bible.  Going strong!  I have kept up with reading every day!  I even got a digital badge for completing the "21-day challenge" that YouVersion had.  I'm learning quiet a bit.  To give you an idea of how much I've read so far I'll list a few books that I've finished.  I've finished Genesis, Exodus, and Matthew.  I'm still in the process of reading Psalms, Proverbs, Leviticus, and Mark.  (I get a variety of verses/chapters to read each day.)  I'm enjoying this resolution so far.  One exciting thing that I read in Matthew that I asked Ryan about and even looked on the notes section of the app is in regards to the resurrection of Jesus.  Maybe someone can help me out here because I had never read this before and it's never been explained to me.  I won't quote the whole thing because it's long, but here are the verses:  Matthew 27: 50-54.  Has anyone else remember reading about this before?  I'm just curious on the significance of these verses. 

3.)  Lose weight...a lot of weight.  As many of you can tell by my widget, as of the last time I weighed in, I've lost 21.5 lbs.  :)  What's even more exciting is some of the numbers I got back from my blood work.  When I started my program, my cholesterol was at 215 (for those not medically-versed that is a little bit high).  After a month later, my cholesterol is 130 (that's really good)!  I've also lost a total of 9.5 inches (cumulative measurements around the neck, arms, waist, hips, bust, and thighs).  I'm super excited and I keep on moving!

4.)  Be more creative.  Well, really the only thing creative I've done has been related to PSP stuff for the Big Brother seminar this month.  I did do a little craft in January.  Here's a pic.  It's really helped with another one of my resolutions!  :)

5.)  Cook one new recipe a month.  Ok.  In January, I tried a recipe using one of my meal replacements.  Let's just say that didn't go so well.  This month, I tried a new recipe for a Valentine's Day event.  Everyone who had them (not me because it had too many things I couldn't have because of the diet) said they were delish!  I'll probably make them again.  :)

6.)  Save some money.  Again...not yet.  :/  This resolution will be postponed until my tax refund check comes in.  :)

7.)  Drink more water.  I'm rocking this resolution!  I have at least 64 ounces of water each day.  Recently, both Ryan and I have noticed a change in the taste of our water here at work and at our house.  So we've been using Mio and Dasani Drops to overcome that bad taste.  So far my favorite of the Mio is Peach Mango and for Dasani it's the Strawberry Kiwi.  Grape is my favorite of the generic stuff.  :)

8.)  Be more appreciative. I think this one was a little harder to measure.  Let me ponder this one for a while and I'll get back to you on that.

9.)  Take more photos, and not just photos of my dog, Butch.  Nope.  I've done horribly!  Butch has some great pictures on my phone.  I need to start taking more soon.  Check back later.

10.)  Blog once at least once a ...month. This is one of the blogs for the month of February.  I'm sure I'll post again before the month ends.  I don't like counting resolution updates as a blog post for the month.  Anyway, I didn't want to go on my Valentine's Day rant again, so I didn't post them.  (Go check out my previous V-Day posts for those interested in my viewpoint on the day.) 


Well that's it for now.  Blog later! ;)