Chapter 7-Conflict

In chapter7, it was mentioned how he faced and overcame conflicts during a time of crisis.
He had learned and understood team work is critical to the survival of crews and the most effective conflict management from the fate of Belgica. I can understand team work is very crucial when you are at the edge, however, is it really possible to not losing yourself, having empathy and maintain a will to survive all along especially when there is a involvement of life crisis. I presume it was because Shackleton could successfully conquer the critical time. He had a great know-how and experience to get over the hurdle. What if it's me or you whom in the same kind of situation as Shackleton? Are you be still willing enough to take care of others and maintain yourself? There is a great gap between our ideal and the reality. So that I think it would be really hard to act always based on what you think the best. There is a proverb "Every man loves himself best at long last" in Japanese. People more or less have a priority in oneself and it can easily get bigger and more powerful when it faced to a huge suppression of desire. Therefore, what Shackleton managed to do is not indeed what everyone can do in the critical state.

As for myself, I am having a heavy homework for one of my class and it has been a big concern recently. It's kinda slowly gnawing me mentally and physically hahaxD
It is not a matter of survival or anything but I can see everyone in my group is gradually losing themselves including myself! LOL I will remember to be empathetic and put my self into others shoes for avoiding myself from being too emotional and blinded to only focus on myself.

Leadership -  Hereditary or Acquirable??? 

                                                       

Good night everyone!!!
I have been thinking about my essay topic to be narrowed down to comparing of two theories of wether leadership is hereditary or acquired. Along the process of looking for some good sources, I have gradually noticed that there is not much source for the theory with the concept of leadership is acquirable. Therefore I will be changing my topic but I found some intreating sources regarding those two theories even though the number is takes way over one another, particularly in relation to the theory of leadership is  hereditary.

Theory 1 (Leadership is acquired!!!)

The quality of leadership is acquired from being influenced by surrounding situation in everyday lives. (focused on childhood.) eg, Shackleton.

The influence of environment, surrounding people,education etc…

→Without influence, leadership does not occur. In other words, leadership is the act of influencing outcomes.

One of John Maxwell’s more famous quotes is “Leadership is influence. Nothing more, nothing less.”

Theory 2 (Leadership is heredity!!!)

there are obvious genetics:Dyslexia for example.

that can alter how you think and approach situations. this is hereditary. Such types of traits can give someone a "brain" for leading... Not saying that they would be a good leader... but the potential is there.

                                                                            I personally think and desire it is to be that theory1 is more trust worthy. 

According to Dr Heifetz a professor at Harvard University, leadership is totally can not be defied as one's nature and it can possibly acquired through long process.

umm,,, I though this is very interesting...

For more details, you can visit NHK Hakunetsu Kyoushitsu to watch a video clip of his lecture on leadership. It is composed of several section and each topics relating to leadership is very interesting.

Team Work

Waky Waky! everyone! Morning:)) and T.G.I.F!!!! haha I've had a looong nap in the evening so that no feeling sleepy at all... I hope I'm not gonna sleep in today's classes...
Anyway, while I'm struggling to get some sleep, I decided to spend this time effectively by posting on my blog rather than just staying in my bed and count thousand of sheep. 

Anyway, I have been researching about "team work" related to by research writing.

To work together successfully, group members must demonstrate a sense of cohesion. 

Cohesion emerges as group members exhibit the following skills:

• Openness: Group members are willing to get to know one another, particularly those with different interests and backgrounds. They are open to new ideas, diverse viewpoints, and the variety of individuals present within the group. They listen to others and elicit their ideas. They know how to balance the need for cohesion within a group with the need for individual expression.
• Trust and self-disclosure: Group members trust one another enough to share their own ideas and feelings. A sense of mutual trust develops only to the extent that everyone is willing to self-disclose and be honest yet respectful. Trust also grows as group members demonstrate personal accountability for the tasks they have been assigned.
• Support: Group members demonstrate support for one another as they accomplish their goals. They exemplify a sense of team loyalty and both cheer on the group as a whole and help members who are experiencing difficulties. They view one another not as competitors (which is common within a typically individualistic educational system) but as collaborators.
• Respect: Group members communicate their opinions in a way that respects others, focusing on “What can we learn?” rather than “Who is to blame?” See constructive feedback in the process section for more details.

We have learned mainly about what is required to be a good leader. For next step, what kind factors does each one of members need to crate a good team work? It is specifically pointing out group works conducted in a team. 

 While I was looking for some sources, I have found out interesting cartoon animations from YouTube. Hope you like it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_Psl0nFEzw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5L8Em5vU0FU

Is it only me who sees a small Shackleton in the little ant leader in second animation...:)

Optimism.

In chapter 3, the author mentioned another good quality for leaders should possess. It is "optimism" and I have researched about it deeply from out of my curiosity.


What does mean to be an optimism person?
Optimism comes from the Latin word optimism, meaning "best," which describes how an optimistic person is always looking for the best in any situation and expecting good things to happen. 
Optimism is the tendency to believe, expect or hope that things will turn out well. 
Even if something bad happens, like the loss of a job, an optimist sees the silver lining. For me, getting laid off was the catalyst that allowed me to start my own business. As I packed up my office, my mind was already whirling with the possibilities ahead. Without that push, I may never have made the leap to self-employment. Losing my job was a good thing after all.
Being optimism means being positive thinker!

"Before you instill optimism in others, you first find it in yourself..."
This is what Shackleton did while the crisis. It is as contagious as smile and moods as we previously learned in class. In the book it says he never gave up his hope and did not let his brief go way so that his strong will to survive gradually spread to others. 
I guess it is the most significant reasons of factor that lead them to return alive.

How come "VISIBILITY" is important to be a good leader?

      Hi there, I am feeling really sleepy but try to finish up heaps of my homework as much as I can...:( In the midst of depression and exhaustion from all those works, I don't strangely feel reluctant to read "Leading at the edge". I wonder why. I suppose it might be because you are able to learn so many new and significant things from the book and also can gain a grate crews and tips for a personal growth. Of course the fact of a non-fictional shackleton's legendary story is one of the most interesting points of this book but above all, shackleton's talents natured in himself which can been seen particularly in his leadership is so amazing that I greatly attracted every time I read this book. Even amongst those, the most interesting skill which got me surprised was him maintaining his Visibility throughout the hardship. Like we discussed during class today, I think visibility means to being more recognizable by others. The leader who works with others rather than just giving a order. In fact, shackleton minimized his and people's social status and equally gave a job to them as well as to himself. This is what we call "team"and"cooperation". They worked as "one". It was definitely not a"them and us situation".

       Therefore, when the time of I am being a some kind of leader, I will keep this thing in mind and try to be as cooperative and considerable as I can rather than being just bossy and offensive, and also not to leave tasks entirely up to others.

　　　　　　

　　　　　            　×

  　                 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

　   leave entire things to others...x(　　　　　　    ×

                                                     Being aggressive and offensive...x(  

↓　　↓　　↓

            One For All, All For One　　　 

What is required to be a good negotiator?

Happy New Year to all! May the year of 2014 will be happy and fruitful for everyone :)

  It's been a while since I last posted. For my first post of this year, I've selected a topic of Negotiation skills as we all have been working on previously. Through the reading "Developing effective negotiation skill", we've already found out what kind of qualities helps us to be a skilled negotiators. I personally thought those skilled negotiators really are like mentalists as they seemed to frequently use variety of techniques rerated to phycology during their negotiation. That is to say, they always carefully concern about how their behavior will be affect on people's feeling such as language use, tone and facial expression. Imagine you are to focus on those factors all the time during a negotiation, it would be very hard to maintain your concentration while you even have to seek informations and details to consider what is really the best outcome for both parties. I suppose that is the big reason why there are so many senior people who have been using those techniques and their skills for over years but who are clearly far from its perfection. 

   Skilled negotiators tend to approach people with a clarity in unoffensive way while using testing understanding and behavior labeling. They also try the hardest to avoid making a negative mood when it comes to take an opposing position as well as giving their internal information for making other parties feel secure. At the same time, they try to make other to be active rather than giving to much thinking and free time. A grate negotiators are excel in dealing with people and keep a good balance between tactics and compromise to reach a Win-Win situation. One more important point I've figured out from the negotiation activity we did in class on Monday, to close to a good negotiator, you have to become a good listener. You cannot make demands on one sided and neglect other's deal. You gotta respect others and try to reach the best outcome for both sides. Here are an awful example of negotiation which I've found on YouTube. It's got me laughing at the moment. Check this out!

The negotiation process - Funny Real Estate clip