Weaknesses are worthy

The most thought-provoking blueprint experience for me was participating in the strength-finding test. However; more memorable than the test was the ideas the speaker focused on, "Americans focus too much on improving their weaknesses, not their strengths. Some people, take Tiger Woods or Shaq for example, are made to play certain sports. No matter how much heart someone puts into a sport at practice and games, they will never be as good as the person who was born with that talent. " Sure, it makes logical sense. And the world tells you you need to be the best at something.

I disagree. So what if your not the best player on the team? Rather, your the one who everyone comes to for encouragement. You keep up the motivation on the team and keep the spirits light when practice gets hard.

I agree with the speaker that everyone has strengths and that it requires a strong leader to find those strengths in people. Utilize your strengths-but not to be the best. Use them to do what you like and like what you do.

Final Post

My favorite part of the Blueprint experience was when Prof. Pentz came to speak to us about communication and how to more than effectively, but engagingly speak to others and be able to convey our ideas, hopes, and visions. Not only did I learn a lot and have a very enjoyable session, but I've found after this event I really enjoying speaking to other people and have been able to utilize what she taught us. I've become a more effective communicator and am now more often able to engage and motivate people for clubs and other organizations in which I lead.

Define Yourself

Time goes really fast, tonight comes our sixth session, also the last one.

Looking back on the Blueprint program, I have learned a lot from it. There are various speakers along the time, focusing on different areas about leadership. But there's one important aspect they all mention, that is courage to face failures. No matter doing scientific research or giving public speech, there are always obstacles and even failures. A leader is not the person who never fail, instead, the greatest leader has often faced the most severe difficulty. But the point is, don't let failure define you, but let it teach you. And you define yourself. I think this is the most important inspiration I've ever had from Blueprint.

Failures

I can't recall which student leader mentioned it, but the topic of failures really got me thinking of just how valuable those experiences are. She briefly commented about the importance of acknowledging your failures and being able to talk about them to others proudly--not to be shameful of them.

Up until now, I didn't see it that way. I never saw it as a negative experience, even though I may have been upset about it, but there's no way it would've ever crossed my mind that failures are beneficial.

Just as I've found that testing the waters and doing things out of your comfort zone help you to grow, failures do so in a similar way. Not only do you gain your experience of going through the process of "trying out" for whatever it might be so that you can look back and learn from it (what could I have done differently? What will I change next time?), but you personally have to deal with failure. A friendly reminder that we're human. But at least for me, I know that getting over it isn't that simple, especially when you put a lot of time into something, give it your all.

It's about not being afraid of rejection, not feeling vulnerable. Putting yourself out there and giving it your all takes guts. Not being ashamed of rejection takes even more.

I have a funny feeling that we'll be experiencing more rejections that victories in life (assuming you push yourself and put yourself out there). The sooner we learn how to deal with it and turn it positively, the better.

Live for the Present or the Future (only partly)?

Okay, so I was in bed but I had a sudden urge to write something on the blog so I got up. (It's not true.)

So anyway, we talked about how present is the only "real" thing out of past, present and future and therefore we should all live in the present.

I generally agree with the point: We should all be living in the present. In the end, you don't really know when you're going to die and you don't want to leave any regrets. (Let's just get the past out of the way. I don't think we should really dwell on the past at all, apart from learning from it, although it's pretty hard sometimes and I do it all the time.)

But a part of me wants to say sometimes you have to endure whatever you don't like in the present for the future. I think people have a tendency to do what's pleasant, quick and easy for the present. That's certainly the case for me which have caused me much trouble in life. (Or maybe I shouldn't be attending UVa with this kind of mindset?)

If living in the present means only doing what's enjoyable in the present, I don't feel like this is the best way to tackle life at all because yes it is pleasant for now, but it's pretty obvious you'll suffer in the end like I did and do.

But what fascinates me is that in the today's talk as well as in life in general, there are "successful" people who say: "Yeah, the door opened up to me as I went along." I guess that's the ideal case of living in the present working out for the future.

So I guess my question is:

How should you live your present so that you don't have any regrets behind, but things work out for the future in the end?

Or more broadly:

Do you agree/disagree (at least partly) about living for the present alone?

Any comments are welcome.

Cheers,

Yongjin

I do not consider myself a controversial person in the least, so this post is going to be a challenge for me.

Sometimes I swear. Sometimes I swear a lot. Sometimes I don't think that there's a word better than "damn" to express what I'm feeling. Sometimes "crap" doesn't cut it. Yeah, there's a time and place for everything, and when cursing isn't appropriate, I would not recommend doing so [out loud] -- BUT, under appropriate circumstances, I sometimes find myself at a loss for better word than "shit".

I don't know how else to disclaim my post other than: I'm sorry if I offend any one...I don't condone swearing?

On what is probably a more controversial note: I need to leave Newcomb early tonight...and I apologize for my lack of a blog post last meeting -- I totally blanked.

Acknowledging Your Weaknesses

The example in the book about Rudy, to me somewhat leaves out an important factor. There is no question he is not the best football player in the world, and that perhaps his time can be better spent elsewhere. However, maximizing productivity using the talents we naturally have ignores the idea that we do not enjoy doing what we can do well. There are certainly numerous statistics showing that employees enjoy their jobs better when they are doing something they are good at, but in the case of Rudy he followed his passion. We may not all be the best at what we want to be, but if we acknowledge that there is no reason we cannot follow that path despite that. True, it may not be the most efficient use of our time, but efficiency should not take precedence over that which we want to do.

This reminds me of another example I heard along these lines from one of my professors. A student of hers wanted to be an artist, but she was not very talented in this area. Instead of giving up, she worked hard to cultivate some kind of artistic talent. She now waits tables in New York and only occasionally has her pieces displayed in small galleries. There is no doubt she would be more successful doing something else, but she is happy.

The last session was all about being satisfied with a half full glass and building upon that to fill the entire glass. I thought it was an interesting theory because while analyzing ourselves, we often feel it is important to assess our strengths and weaknesses, and build upon our weaknesses and not our strengths. While I believe there is nothing wrong in doing so, it makes more sense to effectively utilize what we have rather than what we do not have; it is basically an efficient means of using our talents. If we instead start focusing on developing more strengths and do not give full attention to the ones we already have, we don't do justice to them. And remember, 'what you don't use, you lose'.

Communcation Speaker

Our second speaker, Marcia Pentz, was outstanding. I was blown away by her effectiveness in each and every word she said. Comparing it to our first speaker, who at the time I thought was decent, there's no comparison. Not did Marcia make me want to listen to her (which is a difficult task, when it's 6pm on a Wednesday) but my eyes were glued onto her and I couldn't wait to hear what she was going to say next. Her points were substantial and helpful, and I felt that when I walked out of the room I had learned quite a bit. I wasn't too crazy about the activities we did, but I did appreciate the time to stand up, stretch, and take part in the the speech. Hands down the best speaker yet, including our third session--for me, it'll be hard to top her. I loved (although not having to do it at the time) how she made us make a 60s, 30s, and 1 sentence gist of our main activity--genius. Now, I'm finally noticing how often those come in handy....on a daily basis, truly. No longer am I sloshing through that. First impressions of your organization are crucial when it comes to recruiting other students to take part.

Session 2 - Strength Finders

I just want to comment for feedback. I feel like the results from Strength Finders are accurate in the sense that we are presented with the results, try to convince ourselves that we are somewhat like what we are presented with, and then believe it in the end. We are, by no means, limited to our five qualities, but the labels seem to restrict us. I don't think it's a good indication; I sort of think it's unnecessary.

happiness, expectations and performance

Something for the group to consider:

For most people ...

Expectations has a positive relationship with Performance (i.e. the higher you expect to achieve, the higher the likelihood of greater achievement; conversely, if you have low expectations, your achievement will likely match)

Expectations has a negative relationship with Happiness (i.e. happiness comes from meeting or exceeding expectations. if expectations are set low, much easier to be happy. If your sole expectations were to have food and a warm bed, you'd likely be happier than having expectations of all As and perfection)

Where is the optimum level of expectations, one that optimizes both performance and happiness?

accrochez votre char a une etoile

There is a picture of a starfish lying on a beach. The caption reads: just because you think you're a star, doesn't mean you're going anywhere.

Another poster has a picture of a snowflake: Always remember that you are unique, just like everyone else.

I'm curious about the dichotomy of maturity and immaturity, or seriousness and frivolity. Clearly there are those among us who take ourselves far too seriously. Equally, there are many among us who take very little seriously. Where is the balance between being forward thinking, achievement-centered and tight-lipped on one side, and realizing the ridiculousness of our situation on the other.

A third poster has a picture of fries: Not everyone gets to be an astronaut.

How do you find the balance between bacchanalian frivolity, detached passivity and ambitious purpose?

To be Strength, or to be Weakness?

Firstly, sorry about the lack of posts from me!
So, session 3. Strength "finder."
I actually agreed with all of my themes, especially because they were loaded with what i'm generally known for, like positivity and someone who is able to listen and empathise. From the questions that were asked, I feel like I need to work on being an 'achiever'; however, i've actually already started doing that from the start of the semester through a variety of ways. Hopefully it'll work - we'll see!

It was actually a great idea on Donald Clifton's part to come up with focusing on strengths. As someone pointed out during the discussion parts of the presentation, we never think to focus on our strengths because we've always been told that we can improve our weaknesses and get better at that rather than carry on 'being good' at something. I think that focusing on my strengths is something i've ignored academically, but not otherwise. I've noticed that i've played my strengths (my themes) to my advantage when it comes to activities and organisations that i'm involved in, but but with my classes - which I now admit is a problem.

I disagreed with the fact that you shouldn't still focus on your weaknesses. As they say "practice makes perfect" and this definitely rings true. Try memorising french verbs, or practicing a sonata on the piano - it takes time and effort. You can't just give up simply because it is not one of your strengths. Perhaps the idea was that you just have to keep in mind you'll never be working to your maximum efficiency if you don't focus, and specialise in an area of strength.

Peace out :)

This Week's Topic

As a reminder, for your blog posts this week, try and make a controversial post about a topic you are passionate about, if possible, with a connection to leadership and whatnot. The goal is to put a thought out there that you're willing to defend that others might disagree with, so that at our next meeting we can get some stimulating debates going. To make a post, you must first click 'sign in' on the top right hand corner of the blog homepage, then from your dashboard, click 'new post' under the Blueprint Weekly Blog. If this isn't working out, just make your post as a comment to this post.

Last week's speaker taught us that while Public Speaking is an innate art, we can all improve by following a few simple steps such as self awareness, eye contact and various other gestures. Overall, it was also interesting that while most of us think of Public Speaking as a rigid technique, we have to alter our way of speaking depending on the audience and the duration of our speech. I would like to summarize what she taught us, in three points:
- Know who you will be talking to.
- Know how you will be talking to them.
- Know what you want them to get from your talk.

Meeting, The Second

Marcia Pentz definitely made me pay attention to what she was saying, and kept the audience engaged the entire time. One of her point was that leaders must lead by example, and she did just that. Her talk was so effective because she was utilizing the same public speaking techniques she was talking about, which really drove each of her points home. I especially liked how she pointed out that every time you speak, you are doing public speaking. This is particularly important to remember when you are a leader, because you become the image of an organization. As soon as you are an icon, you are a subject to be judged and everyone who sees or hears you will be evaluating you and, by association, your organization. It is easy to forget this when you are not at a podium or in a meeting, and thus a lot of people lose the esteem of others just by a careless comment in an informal setting- you never know who is listening and what might offend them.

Decision Making

This past summer, I read I book called Blink, by Malcom Gladwell. In this book Gladwell describes the hidden power of the adaptive unconcious. Basically, many researches (psychologists and behavior economists) have found that humans have an uncanny ability to make quick, rapid-fire decisions little background information. Surprisingly, the adaptive unconscious works miraculously well. In one study, researchers showed three, ten-second clips of teachers lecturing to random students. The students were asked to rate the quality of the teacher, and, despite seeing the teacher interact in just half a minute, the ratings were almost identical to those made by students who had the teacher for an entire course. Later on, a two-second clip was shown to a second group, and even their ratings were almost identical to those of the teacher's students!

This idea has relevance in leadership because everyday, leaders make important decisions. From CEOs in the boardroom to coaches on the b-ball court, leaders make key choices to ensure success, often with little time to spare. In Blink, Gladwell argues that intuitive, instinctual thinking is just as important as logical, calculated reasoning. In this era of technology, with instant feedback and results, I believe this assertion rings true now more than ever. What are your thoughts?

Session 1 - Teresa A. Sullivan

The most enjoyable part about our first large group meeting was the biography that I received on Teresa A. Sullivan. I had no idea of her except for the fact that she is our president next year. Now that I am knowledgeable about who she is precisely, I am more than proud that she will be representing me and my fellow student body of the University of Virginia. She is an admirable woman. The qualities that the speaker revealed about Mrs. Sullivan impressed me. I like that she can be the "least threatening person alive" but still "gracefully aggressive" at the same time. She seems very personable and understanding, and I would love to see her on grounds and actually relay my concerns or thoughts to her.

The speaker's advice about how to become an effective leader resonates to this day. It motivates me to practice and reinforce my leadership skills throughout the days, even when I am not explicitly in a leadership position.

To impress your audience

The topic last week was pretty interesting. Those small tips about standing, gesture and even volume will help a lot in future presentation. Personally, I was very impressed by the lady. Being a leader, I feel like the way to speak is sometimes more important and powerful than what you said. It seems ironic, but true. Only those speeches with both strong insight while well presented will be recognized by its audience. Same thing even happens in class. Those classes taught by a wonderful professor with lively atmosphere will certainly last longer in my mind, at least he/she keeps me awake. Applying thus small strategies in future presentations, I'm sure, it will make a difference.

Quality Leadership

First off, I apologize for the late post, that was not my intention and I hope it won't happen again.

What I found most interesting from the speech last week was how employees in leadership positions are encouraged to use positive reinforcement to compensate for the lack of financial incentives due to the economy. In a perfect world, this is something we would continue even if we were not in the financial position we are in now, but it seems as though if this were implemented successfully, morale in the workplace would actually be higher despite the potential for lower pay.

Another thought I had, which as I was reading through other entries seemed to be a common theme was how important admitting your mistakes really is. It amazes me how easy it is to blame someone else, but when we are working on trying to develop stronger leadership characters we need to always be aware of the responsibility for mistakes. Even if does not appear to be my fault, I may not have looked at the situation from all perspectives.

The only criticism I had for the speaker was that I would have liked to have heard at least one negative aspect of the president-elect. No one is perfect, and while I don't doubt her exceptional qualities, having some negative aspects would make her seem like a more realistic and relatable person. Still, I look forward to hopefully hearing the president-elect speak for herself soon!

What I found extraordinary during the last session was how well our President-Elect fit in with every one of the qualities described of great leaders. It seems like Terry Sullivan will be an exemplary leader, which is great for our university.
I think the bottom line of all the qualities of good leaders is to foster an environment where others do not hesitate to become good 'followers', at the same time as contributing individually. I would only be a good team player if I understand that I am being valued as part of the group, and it is essentially the job of a leader to make that happen.

Useful Tips

In the speech last week, I think those two sentences below are the most helpful:
"Good job!", as a leader, we should learn to appreciate and praise other people's efforts. Such positive feedback is important to keep a team going and to form a united and friendly team atmosphere. Everyone's longing for success, but not every effort pays back. Personally, I think achievement is not just about success. Even resulting in failure, if we can learn something and make some progress from it, that's an achievement for me. Thus, it's not only important to praise others, but also important to say "good job" to ourselves.
"I made a mistake.", sometimes, it's hard to apologize. But remember, apology do not necessarily mean "deny ourselves". On the contrary, if one's confident enough to apologize, which also means that he's ready to shoulder the responsibility and is on the right track to improve.
These two sentences, of course, are just little pieces regarding leadership. But if we can start small, and keep working on it, we'll see that "leaders are not only born, but can be trained as well".

Focus!

Since many of us have been talking our interpretations of leadership and the intrinsic qualities that leaders have, I though I might expound upon one that hasn't been mentioned. Its called focus. As a noun, a focus means "the point where rays of light, heat, etc. or waves of sound come together, or from which they spread or seem to spread" or "the starting point of an earthquake," as per the dictionary. But as a verb, which makes more sense here, it signifies "to direct one's thoughts or efforts; to concentrate." All leaders need to have the proper focus in order to concentrate on the specific goals of a group, be it a team, company, or student organization. While this attribute often goes unnoticed, it's something that aspiring leader must carry with him/her through all their endeavors: an undying tenacity to do what needs to be done, in the proper manner, time, and place.

Just to give an example, I lacked the proper focus needed to make this posting sooner (sorry Travis), because I was entirely preoccupied all of last week with watching this music video.

Taylor Swift and Beyonce: WATCH OUT.

Leadership: an Individualistic Endeavor?

I feel as if the point of a leader is to be an individual and take charge of the human, financial, resources and other capital, direct and organize those pieces. In Commerce one day Professor Kemp discussed how in mergers there is never a merger of two equal partners, in the end one organization will take charge of the new engagement. I'm not saying a leader shouldn't listen to others and coordinate with them, in fact, those are key qualities of a leader, but these aspects don't always get the job done well or efficiently, or even at all. I know from personal experience sometimes the group just has bad ideas and at times, or even many times, a leader has to shake them up and organize them to task so the organization can at the very least continue, possibly even thrive. However, a leader who doesn't listen is probably a bad leader - not always though - and a bad leader can almost be as bad as having none at all. I definitely believe our speaker made some valid points, but I also feel, to some extent, she demoted a leader to just another group member who may happen to exert a little more influence than the rest of the group and doesn't want to hurt others feelings, and I don't believe that is the point of someone who leads. The point of a leader is to lead.

Bro'Hill

Hey guys!

Great posts so far!! Travis has already contributed 2 posts, so I thought I would leave something to show you all that we're actually reading these!

Since most of the people in our group are first years, you probably would rather eat anything BUT O'hill and Newcomb meals. However, I wanted to say how much that one meal at O'HIll means to me. I felt like a kid in a big giant candy store, that has not only candy but EVERY FOOD YOU COULD EVER WANT!

And don't worry, I made full use of my visit....I helped myself to two very sizable portions of Ice Milk (WITH oreo crumbles, of course!)

KEEP POSTING :)

What It Takes to Be a Leader 101

What I appreciated most from her speech was her description of our President-elect Sullivan. As Sullivan is new to the University community, we all are not familiar with her as a person let alone her leadership style. By describing positive leader traits--such as, a good sense of humor, attentive listener, gracefully agressive, among many others--and attributing them to Sullivan provides us with a real manifestation of the great leader we are striving to be. It's likely that we all do not wish to lead exactly as Sullivan does (or how we were described she does), as leadership styles are personal. However, many leadership qualities are universal, and she acts as a role model for those traits, if no others. Among everything else, we leaders have a better idea of who our incoming President is as a person, which is valuable in itself. To be a great leader, one must know what it takes. She told us. And to increase our understanding, she brought the characteristics to life through describing the applicable ones that Sullivan possesses.

{ Mardi Gras }

I liked how she made a point to remind us that being a leader is not actually about yourself. A lot of attention is paid to leaders, how they act as individuals, and leaders themselves are usually trying to think of ways to make themselves better executives. Still, ultimately leaders should be the people most able to ignore their own lives in the interest of the group they are the head of. The easiest way to do that, is by finding something that you are truly passionate about, and possibly care more about than the other aspects of your life. Obviously that would be the dream project of everyone to head, but as long as you can get excited about some aspect of the group or event you are in charge of, then you are going to want to stay connected to the rest of the group, to inspire others, to be aware of the public face of it, to always keep learning about it, and to talk about 'we' instead of 'I'. You can really tell when a leader is actually excited about and invested in their project, and it makes such a difference. If you are only in it for yourself then you will end up making decisions for your own benefit, which may be detrimental to the overall goal. Having basic humility would make most of the things on that list a piece of cake



...and seeing that it is Mardi Gras, why not treat yourself to some right now?
Get excited.

"I'm Sorry I Made a Mistake"

It's funny to think that these six words are at the top of the list of what a good leader - and follower - should be saying. But it's true.

We need to accept criticism (even if it's from ourselves), as it promotes an open environment to talk about issues, and not just someone's personal ability. In the grand scheme of things, how important is it for the Committee Chair to think you're on top of everything, only to find out that you've been missing deadlines and bringing the entire committee down? In my opinion, not very important. Yet this desire within ourselves to please others is so strong, there is a certain compellence to.... well.... stretch the truth, to say the very least. Admitting mistakes may seem like it closes many doors, but it actually opens many more. A group can collaborate on how to fix it, and a solution can be reached a lot faster. Most of the time, a problem comes up because someone can't handle it on their own. An open environment is key for finding answers together, and working together alike to find the best solution.

I'm Sorry I Made a Mistake. Let's work together to figure out how to solve it, and prevent this from happening in the future.

These words should be ingrained in every great leader's mind.

To Blog or Not To Blog

In an effort to increase the transparency as to what is expected from you for this blog, here are some guidelines:

Why am I doing this?
This blog is intended to be a forum for reflection and should facilitate the development of ideas generated through your Blueprint experience. It's also a place for you to share your thoughts and feedback with others, perhaps letting you get to know others in the group more intimately.

What should I write about?
There is no right answer to this question, but the general idea is to write about something that interests you and either is a result of or relates to the Blueprint program. I suspect the 'easiest' thing to do will be to write a response relating to the week's speaker, perhaps discussing a specific point that you found informative or disagree with.

How often am I supposed to make a post?
We expect one post for every week there is a speaker.

How long should the post be?
Up to you, five sentences is the absolute minimum though. Ideally I would say 5-10 sentences would be sufficient. However, if you don't have much to say, you're not going to be penalized for writing under 10 sentences.

Are you grading this?
Absolutely not- this is not meant to assess each of you, rather it's intended to help you all internalize what you've learned. However, if we see you're not making posts or writing only a sentence per post, expect to hear from us.

What if I'm uncomfortable posting my thoughts for the group to see?
No problem, just write them down in a format you will be able to show to Carter or myself just so that we know you've been keeping up to date, and let us know that you have done so.

I still don't get it
Just send myself or Carter an email, and we'll help you out.

Going Down the Rabbit Hole

Greetings everyone, if you've made it this far, congratulations and welcome to our group blog. We'll talk about the intent of this blog and what we expect from you all after our first session. You don't need to post anything before then, but if something is on your mind that you'd like to share with the group before then, go for it.