Prompt 9 - Overview

It's been a crazy semester, inside and outside of this class!

This class was entirely different from what I anticipated it. I can't even say what I was expecting from it, but suffice it to say, it completely defied my expectations and kept me on my toes with each class. Yes, there were days where I felt we were just there to take a personality test and let that be our big takeaway from the class, but there were a handful of other days where I was more motivated than ever to learn about the true meaning of leadership, something I've been fascinated with as of lately. Anyway, I've learned some invaluable information that I'll carry with me and implement into my leadership from this point forward.

Speaking of the aforementioned personality tests, I think the one that has made a huge impression on me as well as everyone else is StrengthsQuest. When it came down to it, I was confused about why some strengths I was aware of prior to taking the test weren't in my top 5, but after sitting on it for a while, I realize the 5 strengths that I came up with are all valuable to how I view myself as a leader. For instance, my top strength is Harmony, and I'm a huge proponent of finding middle ground and hearing all voices that want to be heard. It hadn't actually occurred to me how much it really explains who I am in a leadership setting.

Finally, the two weeks we spent covering topics such as moral muteness, target and non-target identities, among many others, are the two weeks that will stick with me the most and include topics we spent more time fleshing out since I think they play an integral part to leadership. Realizing that you can't listen to one story and run with it is an important anecdote I'll remember when I'm put in a leadership setting. Coming from a family that has amassed many target and non-target identities, these two weeks of class were easily the most motivating for me to involve myself in, and thus the material covered will make the largest impression on myself and my personal leadership philosophy.

Overall, I'm happy I've taken this class and everything that I'm taking away from it. If anything, the one takeaway I'll have from this class is that everyone is different and we all view things differently, but in the end, uniting with one common goal in mind will eventually prevail and all differences will be forgotten about.

THATS ALL FOLKS.

Prompt 8 - Peck's Theory

A community I could best fit within the framework of Peck's Theory is the social committee I serve on in my fraternity. Serving on this committee has taught me so much about how to handle differences and work past struggles. Starting out on this committee was easy, myself and the 4 other guys were unified with the goal to create events all brothers would enjoy, but we all learned the hard way that we'll have to deal with impositions from others not on the committee that would ultimately challenge our decisions and strain the pseudocommunity originally created.

I specifically remember days out from an event, some of my brothers were upset with how it was handled. We had to deal with those opinions as well as work internally to fix the damage caused. Eventually, we came around to the thoughts of those opposing us and used them to better the event and strengthen our connection with the rest of the fraternity. This could be explained by Peck's third stage.

Consensus plays a huge role in how we handle things on this committee. We may not all agree with one another, and we may have people who don't agree with us at all. We've learned to take the voices of those dissatisfied and turn them into something positive. Hearing all voices, whether they be in opposition or not, helps strengthen the overall process. 

Prompt 7 - Target & Non-Target Identities

I loved class last week, it was definitely a subject that hits home with me, so I'm very appreciative of the discussion on privilege and the eye opening activity we started class with.

One target identity that I could align with is my background (i.e., where I come from), because it's from a very small town in Southern Ohio, an area that most of my friends joke around with me being known as generally uneducated. Something else about where I come from is that people slap a race label on the public school system. For instance, my cousin was telling one of her friends where I was from. The conversation went as follows:

Cousin: I'm just spending time with my cousin.
Her friend: Where does he go to school?
Cousin: Chillicothe
Her friend: Oh, so is he black?

Assumptions like that aren't uncommon regarding my high school. Despite being biracial myself, and coming from a school that was probably 1/3 black, it was hard for me or anyone else who I went to school with to escape that identity imposed upon us.

A non target identity of mine is being a (visibly) white male. It's a privilege bestowed on me that I don't stop to think about often enough, considering many people are faced with oppression based solely upon the color of their skin. Considering we have a systematic racism problem in this country, and I'm biologically biracial, I don't realize how often I take my white privilege for granted that my dad or any of my family may not be get to experience.

 

Prompt 6 - LPI Assessment

My two highest leadership styles were Model the Way and Enabling Others to Act. Neither of these (which had identical scores) surprise me in any way. First, I'm always one to set smaller goals under the umbrella of a much larger one to make it much more achievable, and I always try to stick to a clear vision without ignoring the process of how to get their. I always try to set a standard that includes me leading by example so the others around me do the same. Secondly, I strive to hold inclusion to the highest order because I firmly believe that if you're inclusive, everything else falls into place when trying to enable others. I try to build an effective framework that has everyone working well together and always emphasizing the importance of the effort of the group and never a single individual. These two styles describe me very well and I'm not in the slightest surprised as to why they are my highest. They both play into one of my top strengths: harmony because I'm always looking for consensus and making sure the inclusive aspect is always in play. 

My lowest leadership style was Inspire a Shared Vision, this shocked me because I feel it plays highly into the hands of my highest two styles. My only takeaway from this, and is something I wholeheartedly agree with, is that I'm not very futuristic. I'm very much so in the present at all times, even when I have a goal in mind that can't me met in the future. I suppose one way I could better exercise or work on this style is to work on my goal setting strategies so I'm able to better see into the future without letting go of the present. 

Prompt 5 - Random Acts of Kindness

Who else enjoys the satisfaction of rolling up to a parking meter with 30 minutes still left before it expires?

For my random act of kindness, I and a few others in the class took on a simple yet rewarding gesture that I know everyone enjoys. We picked this random act because of its simplicity yet it's something that's pretty universal. I went to a couple of meters on 12th and High and filled them with change, and hopefully the people who took advantage of my act will eventually pay it forward.

All in all, what I took away from this is that it's always nice to pay a random act of kindness forward, even if you're not entirely sure if it was intentional or not. So I urge anyone to do this one sometime. It's simple and inexpensive, and it'll make someones day!

Proof! - P.C.; Muyao Shen 

Prompt 4 - Moral Muteness

Sometimes I think to myself, "Do I really have to speak up here?" or "Can I really make a difference by speaking at all?". I for one, have a hard time approaching conflict and oftentimes look at saying nothing at all as taking the high road and, in a twisted way, making the situation better. I'm not sure why I'm oftentimes mute in situations that conflict with my personal values, and as I said, I usually chalk it up to just being afraid to speak up. I'm working to become a better judge as to when I should intervene, but so far, I'm failing. One specific, and recent, situation that speaks to my habit of being morally mute is the time me and some of my friends were approached by a homeless man on High Street.

We were right across the street from the Union and myself and three other friends were standing in a circle in the middle of the sidewalk, it was probably around 9 at night when this happened. We were all dressed nicely from our Monday night chapter meetings and had just grabbed dinner. Two of my friends saw someone they knew and waved her over, I didn't know her that well but we all began to talk about our weekends. I turned my head, on instinct for some reason, and noticed a man creeping up behind my friend Jimmy. I didn't want to make much of his presence, so I didn't bring attention to him, even though I had a bad feeling about him being behind us. Before I had turned my head and made eye contact with him, it looked liked he was ready to reach into Jimmy's pocket and steal his wallet. Finally he inserted himself into our circle and cut right to the chase: "Excuse me, does anyone have a few dollars to spare so I can get a cup of coffee?" he said. I said "Sorry, I don't carry cash usually!" and my other friends agreed. I lied to him, which instantly made me feel terrible, but he looked ready to steal from us until I noticed him. Why would I give him money? The girl my friends waved over spoke up and said "I'm sorry we only carry our school IDs usually!" and the man's facial expression turned from a crooked smile to a complete scowl. He responded to her with "So what the hell am I gonna do since you won't help me? I'm homeless!" and charged towards her. Shell shocked, I just stood there even though I was the closest one to him and could have stopped him. Luckily, my friend Mike intervened and pulled her out of the way. The man stormed down High Street screaming at us with every stride. She was terrified, and I felt horrible for letting it shake out like that. We wound up storming back to the Union and finding her someone to walk home with.

So, my moral muteness comes in two forms in this situation. One, I didn't speak up when I noticed the man ready to steal from my friend. I could have made a point of it, and we could have walked away before he inserted himself into our circle. Two, I allowed myself to be a bystander when he was ready to harm one of the people I was with. Like I said in my introduction, I'm always afraid to insert myself in a situation when I feel it could be better handled by someone else. But none of us there were prepared for that to happen, and they handled it better than I could have imagined handling it all by myself.

Moral of this story: be weary of your surroundings, and never be a bystander if someone is in harms way. Whether it be making yourself a part of the situation at hand, or informing someone else more capable, NEVER be silent. The guilt you feel after being morally mute in a situation such as this is immeasurable.

END!

Prompt 3 - Implicit Biases

The first IAT I took was the one regarding skin color, and it told me that I have a moderate preference towards lighter skinned people over darker skinned people. This surprised me because I grew up a part of a predominately black family, and I don't exhibit any biases today since I'm biracial. I may or may not have made too many errors on this (when they flip the categories it threw me off) so this result may not be very accurate. I wouldn't consider myself biased towards one skin color at all. Did anyone else take this one?

I then took the age IAT and, unsurprisingly, it told me I have a slight preference to younger people than to older people. I'm by no means an "old soul" but I don't have any issues communicating with people older than I am, but I can understand where the IAT results come from. I think in this day and age we have proclivities to associate ourselves more with people of our generation and may find older people intimidating to communicate with, and sometimes I find myself in that place. I'm sure someone else in the class got this result. What do you think?

Finally, I took the IAT on sexuality and I'm not entirely shocked by the result that I have a slight preference towards straight people. While I don't think these biases are problematic, I think most people are socialized early in life (depending upon your family, so I won't overgeneralize this) and carry these biases, even if they don't realize it, later in life. I'm not letting this result detract from anything in my personal life, however.

Overall, IAT's are slightly aggravating to me because they bring to the surface unconscious biases that many try to combat because it's not how they would like to carry themselves. I think some of these implicit biases results are a product of errors in testing but I think it's interesting where we all fall on the continuum, and whether or not if we agree with that placement.

Prompt 2 - Relational Leadership

With a more recent example, McFarland, USA (2015) is a great movie full of examples of the Relational Leadership Model used throughout. In this movie, Coach White is settling into a new role as a PE teacher and self-proclaimed cross-country coach, the latter is something not exactly within his element. He coaches a team of predominantly latino boys, and they aren't very experienced. They come in last place at their very first meet, and the team suffers a few other setbacks throughout the season. Finally, they qualify for the state championship. The clip below (you can stop at 2:30) comes after a moment in the film that disengages the boys from the process (you'll have to watch it to understand), and Coach White uses relational leadership to bring them back to the purpose that's been there the entire movie: winning the 'ship. The entire movie is based around trying to bring about positive change to the group as a whole and the individuals a part of it, which is why I feel it best exemplifies relational leadership.

Prompt 1 - Introduction

Hi everyone, I'm Jonathan.

My mom and I!

I'm 21 years old, and I'm from Chillicothe (the first capital of Ohio). Some of my hobbies include sleeping, eating, running, and beer. Lots of beer. I try to stay pretty active throughout campus so I'm involved in a few student organizations as well as Greek life. I sometimes struggle to keep it all straight but I've managed to keep it all together so far. I love everything I'm involved in and I refuse to accept that I only have three semesters of undergrad left. I'm studying Public Health and I would like to go on to get my masters of Healthcare Administration. My favorite color is green, my favorite food is pizza, and I love movies and all sports (except soccer... sorry). I have a twin brother as well as three other older half siblings and a couple of nieces and nephews. 

As for my favorite Leadership experience, far and away, it's the LeaderShape Institute. The Institute was something I decided to apply for last minute and miraculously got chosen to attend with 58 other Ohio State students. At the end of the summer, we were all bussed to the middle-of-nowhere Camp Joy and were planted there for an entire week with hardly any connection to the outside world. We were all relatively strangers to one another, so we had to get to know one another pretty quickly in order for the week to go well. At LeaderShape you were tasked to find your passion, find your voice, and to better understand what kind of leader you are. Through lots of activities, personality tests, and times of introspection, the week left me me with crazy passion to come back to campus and leave my mark. Sounds sort of cheesy, but anyone else that went would likely tell you the same thing. I learned the power of being vulnerable and always viewing it as a strength, never a weakness, and I came back to school with a group of friends with relationships stronger than I thought would be possible after just a single week. To top it all off, Luffy (Lauren), was there and I'm sure can speak to it as well. If you have any questions about it, ask me! I love to talk about it, and I encourage anyone looking for this kind of experience to please please apply! The application should be opening any day now, so be on the lookout for it at leadershape.org! 

My LeaderShape family. Peep Lauren Luffy in the front! :)