It's me against the world, not the world against me.

How this course changed my life.

I'll come right out and say it. This was the second time I've started CSR309. From the beginning it has been the same feeling, that there isn't enough time. Even though it is a leadership class, I learned something a little more useful to me. The power of time management.

Throughout the semester I have been plagued by poor time decisions. Missing classes to make up work I should have done before, writing papers while at my job, and generally scrabbling for every second I could grab. Not because I had a schedule that demanded it, no, but because I make a poor use of my time. Staying up late, partying when I shouldn't, video games; all massive wastes of time that I could have used for something more productive. Something that would have lessened my stress in the long run instead of merely that day.

Before this class my thoughts had always been: I need more time, there isn't enough time, how does anyone do this on time? It was really only in during the span of this class that I was able to metaphorically and literally get my feet under me. Proper time management, being where I needed to be, and actually knowing what I was doing there. In order to become a better leader to others, I had to be a better leader of myself, and that meant better budgeting of my time. While this may not have been the intended lesson to be learned in this class it is a very powerful lesson to learn. I'm only upset that it took me so long to finally understand it.

Like I said this was the second time that I had started CSR309, I knew what was coming, I knew there would be a time to stand up and take control, but I didn't take that opportunity, I wasted it. On the thought that there wouldn't be enough time for me to be an effective leader, I wasted it because I thought that I wouldn't be able to be available enough, I wasted it because I thought that I couldn't do a good enough job.

I know now that there is always time to be exceptional, as Mr. Feinberg says, "This course can change your life." Being able to take charge of myself, to truly be in charge of my own life, to me, is a much needed and hard fought lesson learned. This course did change my life, and I'm glad I stuck it out.

Wishy-Washy Leadership Types

As a leader you have to make decisions. Whether it's about a school project, or the decision to make a critical business move, you have got to be quick and ready with your decisions and follow through on them.

One way or another, you will have to make a decision, your team looks to you for that very reason. You are in control of how the team focuses it's energy, and how they will in turn achieve their goal. That is why you were elevated above the others in the group; through your decisions and actions you place your team on a path toward success or failure, and to stumble in your decisions means that you can't even start.

I'm the boss!

You will do as I say, when I say it. A mindset that inspired "Heavyweights" (1995) the best movie featuring a weight loss camp in America.

During the movie the campers angered by poor conditions and 'heavy' sanctions set by Camp Hope owner Tony Perkis, revolt against him, all the while accomplishing their goal to win the Apache Relay race. It's a heart warming story of a group of misfits overcoming adversity through team work. But they still failed their leader set goal, the true reason they were at Camp Hope. They did not lose the weight (at least not right away) they failed. Because of bad leadership.

Perkis saw their failure as a lack of effort and a front against himself as leader. He was trying to help them lose weight with the Perkis Method and they were going to do it together! Perkis's goal for the group was so different that it drove the campers to revolt, and drove perkis insane(r).

The Fold

When a leader is to willing to compromise, they can compromise their entire team's effectiveness. A leader who isn't in charge is no more a leader than any stranger off the streets.

It may seem like the opposite of empathy, when in reality it is not. A leader may be empathetic while still refusing to fold on what they have decided must happen. Making an employee work late, or making a scholastic team member repeat an assignment may seem heartless, when in reality it is necessary for the success of the business or team as a whole.

Change

A good leader must be able to accept and even encourage change. Change is always happening, when a business or team does not change they tend to get left behind.

For example...

Empathy

Putting yourself in someone else's shoes. 

A good leader has to be able to understand what their team is going through. What trials and tribulations they may be experiencing, and then act accordingly.

That is to say a leader can understand, not that they will fold.

When an issue arises they as a leader will have to make the tough call, whether they try to work around the situation or not is a matter of judgement. 

An example of this is whether a manager will allow an employee to miss work based on an issue. It will always come down to whether or not the rest of the employees can manage without them. Can that person be missed, can the machine that is the team work without them. Often others on the team can cover for the missing person and they can miss work. 

Sometimes they can't, and that is the hard decision that leaders must make.