Traits that a Leader Needs to be Successful

This week we were asked to read about Ms. Abell and Donatos Pizzeria. Her story is a fascinating one, as well as an inspiring one for other women such as me. While there were many interesting parts to this reading, the part that I found most interesting was the one in which she spoke about what traits are necessary for a leader to have to be successful.

In the words of Ms. Abell, they are, "character, conviction, courage, and compassion." I have dubbed them the four C's of leadership. It is so important to me to have good character, and to be myself in every situation I find myself in. Knowing that she believes the same is quite a refreshing find, considering most of our leaders today often sacrifice their character with dishonesty and a loss of integrity. I greatly enjoyed her quote about character as well. She said, "You can always do what you say you're going to do, but doing it when you say you're going to do it is important." People often forget the importance of dependability in a leadership situation and this is a nice reminder. The next "C" was conviction. According to Ms. Abell you must have a passion for your career or you may as well not do it. I completely agree with this because I believe that someone who wakes up every morning excited to go to work and hungry for success will be much more productive than someone who hates their job and is only doing the minimum that they can to get by.

Also important was courage. Ms. Abell says she believes in "having the courage to dream, the courage to act on that dream, the courage to confront others and the courage to be confronted, which is a more difficult one sometimes." This was so inspiring for me because I have such big dreams of being a surgeon that some people don't take seriously. For instance, I was being interviewed for a scholarship and when I told the panel what I wanted to be when I graduated college, the two women on the panel nodded and smiled, but the man on the panel laughed at me; I being too afraid to stand up for myself let him laugh. I have the character and I have the passion but without the courage I may as well forget about it. The final trait was compassion. I greatly appreciated this trait because I believe that often in the business world, people forget about the consumer and the people who make their business possible and only focus on making money. The way she makes sure she listens to others and puts herself in other people's shoes is something everyone should do no matter what their career. I in particular appreciate this trait because it is the main trait in my own leadership style. All in all this was an empowering and simply fantastic read. If I could pick one leader to emulate right now at this moment, it would be Jane Grote Abell.

Miss Representation

After listening to our speakers in class last week, we watched a movie called Miss Representation. It was all about women in the media and the way they are portrayed as opposed to men. As I watched this video I, and many of my classmates, were disgusted by what we saw.

We watched as the women in magazines were digitally altered to look more aesthetically pleasing; whether their eyes were made smaller, or their neck was made longer, or imperfections in their skin were retouched so that it looked flawless, each one was changed in some way. Seeing this made me understand that the perfect woman doesn’t exist. Every single "perfect woman" has something, according to society, that is wrong with her appearance that must be fixed whenever she is put into the media. But not only must a woman have a flawless appearance, she must also dress a certain way. Women in magazines, commercials, etc., all have the same low-cut tops and short tight skirts or other bottoms. Even most women on the news channels dress this way. Furthermore young girls see all of these women multiple times on a daily basis. These are the women they are modeling their bodies and minds after. It is not a wonder that girls today are so unhappy with themselves. They are trying to become this perfect woman that they can never be--that no one can ever be.

I came to the conclusion that this kind of advertising must stop. But this raises the question, who is it that is creating these kinds of advertisements? I found out from the movie that almost all advertising boards in America have women hopelessly outnumbered by men, sometimes with only one woman on the board. It is clear that in America we have men marketing to men. Furthermore these men obviously don't care about the youth of America, particularly the girls. So what do we do? Every big movement that has ever happened in this country has started with a small group of people who believe in change. If women can begin to work together to educate other women on the injustices of women representation in the media, then perhaps this will result in the birth of a new movement to completely rethink the standard of advertising in America.

"Leading" Myself

When I look back on all the different speakers I have listened to, the stories that they have shared, and some of the readings that they have brought with them, I notice that I have made some changes in how I go about my business each day. They may not be profound, life-altering changes, but they're a start. Every speaker is very different and yet somehow they are all the same. Each is one more push, one more pull, toward my final destination as a woman leader. I feel like a kid again, riding on a bike with training wheels; and someday soon those training wheels are going to come off. Then it’s the familiar scene, the parent holding on to the child until she gets her balance and then lets go and off she goes, a little shaky at first but she gets the hang of it. Then she's on her own, but she doesn't worry about how to ride a bike anymore, because once you learn, you never forget. To me, it's the same way with leadership. There will come a day when the teaching comes to an end, and I will have to go off on my own, a little shaky and unsure, but with everything I've learned about leadership for balance; and after a time I'll get the hang of it and I won't have to worry about whether or not I am being a good leader, because I will always carry with me the knowledge that I have learned and will never forget.

Of all the lessons I've learned, there is one in particular that stands out to me. I remember Betty Montgomery talking about a man who said about her, "She did a pretty good job--for a woman." "What a horrible insult," I thought, "to take a compliment and twist it around to mean something completely different." Betty Montgomery said that she had thought basically the same thing and was angry at first; then she thought about it differently. Looking at the man's background and the time period in which he was born and raised, he would've been shocked and appalled to have to ask for help from a woman in a higher position than he. Then she said, "You know, this man, in his way, is giving me the highest compliment he can possibly give." And with this new view of the situation, she wasn't angry anymore. This story really stuck with me because of the way she took something seemingly bad and turned it into something good. I valued this lesson so much that I applied it to my daily life.

There is a professor who I previously did not get along with, and who every student in our class disliked at one time or another. At first I focused on how angry I was when the professor would say things like "this was the highest grade in the class, but it's not a very good grade so I wouldn't be proud of that," and other such lovely sentiments about the things I would turn-in. Then one day, as I was getting more and more frustrated with this professor, I remembered Betty Montgomery's story. I decided that this professor wasn't doing this out of meanness, this was just the way the professor was, and it was just their personality. In this professor’s way, they were actually being nice to me.  Once I discovered this, my whole view of the professor changed. Instead of resenting the professor, I embraced the professor--figuratively not literally. I began visiting the professor in their office to get to know them better. This also helped the professor to get to know me better. I learned to ignore the professor’s strange negative statements and instead focus on their better qualities to see that I really can get along with them quite easily. Today I have stopped being so sensitive in regards to what the professor says and visit them in their office on a weekly basis. I ask questions all the time and I always get a very helpful answer. When others students ask me how I can stand to go talk to this professor, I simply tell them that they have to get to know the professor before they revert to being angry all the time. However it seems that anger is much easier for them than learning to like someone, but hopefully someday they will figure it out like I did.

I have also made various other little changes along the way. From the speakers I learned things like not to wait to be asked to do something and that it is okay to take risks. From the readings I learned things like the importance of taking time out of my day simply to reflect on what I am doing and where my life is headed. I ran for a seat in Otterbein's Senate without being asked, believing there was a good chance I would not make it. Now I hold a leadership position as a student senator. This would never have happened if I had waited for someone to ask me to run, or if I was too afraid of losing. In regards to my reflection time, I have discovered that there are things about my career goals that I want to change. Maybe I don't want to spend the rest of my life in school to become a doctor or surgeon. Maybe there is another place where I would be happier and if this is the case, maybe I can be a better leader in another area. If it had not been for our first class reading, How Will You Measure Your Life, I would never have made myself sit down and think about the things that are truly important to me. As I have said, this class really has changed my life in small ways. However it takes small things to make big things. After using this exercise to reflect on what I have learned, I now see that all of these small changes will add up to one big change; and this change will be the new and improved, much more confident and happy, me.

A Mentoring Session

Today I, and several other women from our class, completed the mentoring part of our group project. We met with four girls from Whittier Elementary and discussed with them different characteristics of leaders, good leaders and bad leaders, and the kind of challenges women face when they are on their way to becoming leaders, just to name a few. I know all of us really enjoyed our time with the girls and they seemed to enjoy it too. The girls actually asked if we could do this again sometime. The fact that they wanted to do this again really made me feel like we made a difference in these girls' lives; maybe not a big difference, maybe not even a small difference.  Even if the only thing we accomplished today was the planting of a seed, a seed of new thoughts and new ways to see themselves and the world around them, I believe our time spent with them was well worthwhile.

The girls were very surprised to learn about the glass ceiling, being so young they had never had to think or talk about this before. It was actually quite hard to explain because we couldn't give them a good reason why men are often paid more than women when they are doing the exact same job. They had, however, felt the cold shoulder of discrimination before, though they did not know it. Many times they had been told by boys in their class that they couldn't do something or participate in an activity simply because they were girls. Even at this elementary school age, boys have already developed the habit of putting themselves above girls. This is an issue that must be recognized by school officials if this is ever to change. We talked to them about this and told them they are just as special and talented as boys are. They really seemed to enjoy this one-on-one girl time because Club Whittier is primarily made up of boys. They are outnumbered at least five to one and often even more. Being outnumbered as they are, we wanted them to know that there is network of women out there that they can look to for guidance and support, and I believe that they took this idea to heart.

I learned a lot from these girls today and I hope they learned as much from me. They took me back to a time when the world was so big and mysterious, a time when there were many things I didn't understand, or so I thought. I learned that many of the political leaders of our country, regardless of the party, are actually good people who try to do the right thing but sometimes "it just doesn't happen." I learned people who follow bad leaders are actually just a bunch of "goons" who don't know that they are doing bad things. I also learned that "if you want to be a leader, you have to be a leader for yourself first." In my opinion they have a better grasp on the world than I do. They made me ask myself, why do I always see the worst in our leaders and not the best? Why do I assume everyone who has ever made a horrible mistake is a bad person when I am clearly not even close to being this perfect good person that I envision a leader to be? Why do I try to prove myself in the eyes of everyone else, when the first person I should be proving myself to is me? I learned I need to take a step back sometimes and reevaluate myself as a person as well as a leader. I learned so much about leadership today, not from any book or prestigious speaker or special conference; I learned about leadership on the floor of a dusty old gym from four very special girls who taught me to look at the world through different eyes.

The Changing Face of Medicine

For my book report, I am reading a book called, The Changing Face of Medicine.  It is a book that follows women doctors and the evolution of Health Care in American in recent decades.   According to Karin Muraszko, the chair of the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Michigan, the book "seeks to understand the reasons behind the meaning of, and the ultimate outcome of, the feminization of medicine." Although it reads like a very long report, it presents very interesting information in the form of statistics and questions to be answered. Normally something like this would put me right to sleep because I don't like books that seem like a long list of facts, however this is so well written that I feel more like I'm reading the "story" of women in medicine instead of just a bunch of statistics, which are kind of sprinkled in to reinforce what the author is saying. All together it makes for one delicious read, although not for everyone I'm sure.

In the beginning of this book however, an interesting idea is presented that should make everyone stand up and take notice. Wake up ladies! There is a very prominent and widely accepted theory out there that is trying to undermine our value as women and as workers! It maintains that "increases in the representation of women in an occupation are related to declines in the status of the field. The underlying idea here is that women constitute a surplus labor force, and that they enter professions only when more desirable workers--namely, men--are no longer interested."  Unbelievable!  According to this theory women are only allowed to enter a field after men have moved on to something new. What does this say about the leaders of the women's movement? About our breakthroughs in the field of business? In the field of politics? In any field the women before us have strived to make something of themselves in? People who believe this theory basically believe all the progress women have made since the beginning of time has been dependent upon changing fads and the whims of the male race as a whole; as if they have simply allowed women to progress as far as we have, as if they have allowed us to fight for what we believe in, as if they have allowed us to waste our blood, sweat and tears to get to where we are today.  I don’t know about anyone else but I find this outrageous.

The authors of this book do a beautiful job refuting this theory with respect to women in medicine.  Any declines in applications to medical school completed by men are mirrored by declines in applications completed by women.  This can easily be seen as a response to the economy.  Furthermore the decline seems much greater because of the abnormal increase in male applications in the 1970s which can be attributed to the draft during the time of the Vietnam War.  In addition the field of medicine has retained the same status and prestige that it has always had, even in these hard times.  These reasons clearly show that women’s entry into the medical field is not because of the flight of men to other fields, but simply a fluctuation in the lifestyles of different generations.  Every possible piece of evidence in support of this theory the authors have refuted and I commend them for that, but this is just one career field.  What about the many other career fields out there that women have entered and those that women are still trying to enter?   What about the women’s movement as a whole?  Who is going to stand up and defend the progress that women have made in the United States? Who is going to tell everyone the truth?  The truth that women have never been dependent upon men to make themselves a strong presence in the labor force and we never will be.  It is the duty of the next generation of women to defend the honor and the hard work of the women leaders who have come before us.  We have more opportunities now than we ever have before, and we must take advantage of these opportunities if we are to continue on toward the day when women are recognized for the progress we have made and looked upon by men as equals and nothing less.

Club Whittier

One of the best activities of my week is going to Whittier Elementary School as part of a community service group to teach and play games with fourth and fifth graders. If anyone who knew me really well saw that statement, he or she would probably not believe me because I usually don't get along with children of any age. Sure children are nice and everything but to be quite honest, I normally don't have the patience to deal with them. Since I began attending Club Whittier this has all started to change.

Every week I walk into a gym full of hyperactive elementary school children who are there simply because of all the fun they have with each other and with their Otterbein University leaders. When talking to the veteran leaders of Club Whittier, I asked them why they chose this service out of all the others to choose from here on campus and the answer was generally the same; they fell in love with these great kids and with the program itself because it allows for the promotion of community service at a young age, while at the same time providing the students with a safe place to unwind and just have fun. It is something that the children look forward to each and every week and it's no wonder they are always so excited to see us. Every time I go I can't help thinking what a good experience it would have been for me to have something like Club Whittier at my elementary school and how I am so glad I am able to be a part of this experience now as a college student. "Better late than never" as the saying goes.

Furthermore I feel as though I learn as much from the children we teach and play games with as they do from me. I now know what it is like to be in elementary school today and what kinds of problems the children are facing. I know what is important to them; what makes them happy and what makes them sad. It's as if I'm learning how to connect and communicate on different levels with different kinds of people, which is essential in the adult world. I'm also learning how to be a more firm and assertive leader because if you are not firm and assertive, the children do not listen to you and things quickly spin out of control. However, if you are too assertive and come off as mean or stern the children will dislike you, and this isn't a good position to be in when you want to work with them and help them. My time at Club Whittier has taught me that I need to find a healthy medium between the two so that I can stay in control, but also seem friendly and helpful to the students I am working with. Club Whittier is a wonderful community service opportunity offered by Otterbein that I think every student should experience at least once. From the perspective of a volunteer, it is turning out to be one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.

What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?

Today I went to the, What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up? First Year Experience Event put on by the Center for Career Planning. I was attracted to this event not only because it was during one of my very few open time slots in the week, but also because of the event's description. The description read, "Students will explore their interests, skills, values and abilities in an interactive workshop using career and personality assessments. Topics will also include creating a 4-year plan and exploring Otterbein majors." This sounded perfect for me because I've been curious about exploring careers in other majors and because of this I decided to attend.

I will admit I was a bit disappointed by the event. This supposedly hour long event only lasted twenty minutes. Furthermore, the description was not correct because there were no interactive career and personality assessments used, nor was there any exploration of Otterbein majors. There was a simple PowerPoint presentation which, while the speaker was very engaging and upbeat, did not provide me with as much helpful information as I had hoped. I was introduced to the career process that I should be following over my four years here at Otterbein; however I was hoping to get more out of this event than the same basic information that the Center for Career Planning has on their page on Otterbein's website. The one extremely helpful tidbit of information that I gleaned from this event was the fact that Otterbein has a link to the Focus2 career assessment on the Otterbein website.

With this piece of knowledge I have spent the rest of my evening going through the Focus2 career assessment to figure out whether or not I am making the right career decision. I have discovered that I have exactly, and I really mean exactly, split interests between Intellectual (Sciences and Math), and Artistic (English, Languages and Arts). However even with these split interests my values and skills remain the same and in all instances I was given medical careers as my best option. This has helped to reinforce my decision to pursue a career in medicine, but it has also opened my eyes to some different career choices within my field that I had not considered before. All in all I'm glad I went to this event because I believe this one random fact that led me to find the Focus2 career assessment may have really helped me to rethink my college and future career.