I'm well into the second term now and I decided to take only one course, 21st Century Professional. It took serveral weeks to really figure out what the class was really about. The course is supposed to prepare us professionaly for getting into the business world. We are focusing on three areas:
*Communication
*Leadership
*Career Development

We've spent a good amount of time working on Leadership and Career Development but haven't explicitly worked much with communication. Of course you can't really talk about Leadership or Career Development without using and building upon communication skills.

Our first weekend after the course began we all went on an Outdoor Leadership Experience weekend where we did a bunch of team-building activities and did the ropes course. This was a very valuable experience because it was a kind of "applied leadership" experience. Instead of learning a bunch of theory and then trying to find a way to eventually apply it, we used the theory to help us critically review our leadership experiences.

I'm really glad I'm only taking one class this term. It has given me a chance to kick back and think about things like leadership and my career. If I did what most students are doing I'd be taking a Statistics class and spending all my time on that class instead.

One of our deliverables was a presentation on a "leadership" book. I selected Noel Tichy and Eli Cohen's "The Leadership Engine." I think I chose the perfect book for me at this time. It was practical and wasn't too introspective like all those Covey-type books where they look at trying to figure out which of your character flaws are keeping you from succeeding. My guess the main thing keeping those folks is their poor choice of reading materials. That's a bit harsh but if they're going to spend all of their time wondering whether they have the personal qualities of leadership then my guess is they don't have them. Instead, they are George juniors who have been used to having things handed to them all their lives and then find themselves in the precarious position of actually having to become leaders.

What I am starting to realize is that leadership is not something that is going to be handed to you. No one is going to tap you on the shoulder and ask you to pounce into action. Leadership is a process. That doesn't mean that you have to spend your whole life studying the subject in earnest. It means you practice it and then teach others. I came across an article the book The Leadership Engine and it was entitled, "Those Who Can Do, Those Who Excel, Teach Others." That is pretty much what the book is about, teaching others within your company, organization, or community.

  posted by Jesse P Luna @ 15:33