Esta semana he estado pensando mucho en los cambios, en lo que podemos hacer para transformar al mundo. Estoy leyendo "The Freedom Writers Diary" (Escribí una entrada sobre esta historia en mi otro blog) porque quisiera presentar a la profesora Erin Gruwell como una líder que tocó mi vida. Tengo que contactarla y preguntarle si la puedo entrevistar. Espero conseguir una respuesta.
El Martes tuvimos un invitado en la clase de liderazgo. Un hombre afro-americano de 70 años que creció en el sur. Ya se imaginan la de cosas interesantes que tenía que decirnos. Como en esa clase tenemos que escribir reflexiones todas las semanas, pues les quiero dejar la que acabo de escribir. Pido disculpas porque está en inglés. Quisiera contar con el tiempo para traducirla pero no lo tengo. Para los que puedan leer, espero que les guste y alguno de los pensamientos les sirva para reflexionar también sobre sus habilidades como líderes y la vida en general.
Journal Entry #4
Today in class, we had a guest speaker, Dr. Charleton. He is an African American professor, who has held important positions in the education system and in city government (major). He told us some anecdotes about growing up in the south as a person of color. He was a musician so this made the stories much more exciting. The main part of his conversation was about success and leadership. I will use some of the phrases he said and reflect upon them:
I was born at the right time: The first thing that stroke me was when he said that he was born at the right time because by the time he left high school, the world around him was changing. I related this, to one of my reflections from class, when I wrote that in times of turbulence, leaders emerge because people need someone to guide them through the change process. Of course, like he said, people have to be willing to do something about it, to participate and contribute to that change. And just today, when I am writing this, I read an amazing quote from “The Freedom Writers Diary”. It fits this idea perfectly. “If you could live an eternity and not change a thing or exist for the blink of an eye and alter everything, what would you choose?” (Erin Gruwell)
The most important thing a person has is his or her character: As we already reflected two weeks ago, integrity is a key determinant of leadership. Integrity will set our consistency as leaders. Our character exists not only in and of itself, but also as an appearance to others. The fact that character exists both in us and in the minds of other people holds a powerful leadership lesson.
Personal vs. corporate excellence: I thought this was a really interesting point. Personal excellence is when we are the best we can be and corporate excellence is how good we are compared to others. I have been thinking about that for the past few days because I feel most of my peers don´t challenge me enough. I expected more competition and excellence in a doctoral degree, but what I should focus on is competing with myself, strive for excellence regardless of the performance of the people around me.
If we want to succeed, we need to stand out in something: That is exactly what I am doing. I am trying to stand out as much as I can and so far is giving me great outcomes. This week I got offered a GA position and was invited to represent the international student community at the university. Good for me!
Once you start seeing people like people, your perspective changes: I tried to be honest with myself and think about how much importance I give to socio-economic status and ethnicity and I know I have not reached excellence on that area. I have never really offended anyone, but I also have not tried to get close to certain groups of people to release myself from prejudice. I believe everyone has the same rights and that in the eyes of God we are all the same, but I know deep down, there are certain people that I don´t feel inclined to get to know or associated with. And like my friend AC told me last week, you never know who you will need some day.
If you can´t trust your people, you can´t lead them: This is a must. If you can´t trust your team, how are you supposed to motivate them and give them the tools to achieve a common goal? We should build an environment of trust.
Don´t underestimate yourself: It was like this statement was directed to me. The director of International Programs told me that I know more than I think I do. I came here feeling so intimidated by the professors, peers, everyone. It has gotten better, but only because I have compared myself to others and it shouldn´t be that way. Without knowing the capacity of others, I should feel self confident and aware of my strengths and capabilities. I have to work on this because, right now, it is not letting me participate appropriately in class.
Don´t let anybody get into your head: Wow! This phrase is so powerful. How many times do we let other people´s words and attitudes affect us? In my case, lots of times. People who are obviously bitter or envious and I know this, but anyways I let them ruin my mood. Like they say in my country: “Hay que bañarse con aceite”. Oh, but it is so hard sometimes.
Always try to make your boss look good: This statement makes sense when you have a boss that will appreciate and acknowledge your effort. But I can think of a few bosses back home that did not deserve this. I always did the best that I could but I made sure to let people know I was the one that did a great job, with the support of my boss maybe, but it was all on me.
Always expect big things: Powerful statement. I always tell my students that they should never settle for less than what they deserve as bright people. And in order to deserve great things, they must show great work and accomplishment. It´s all about the hard work. Looking at myself, who would have thought at 33 I would already be going for my PhD. Expect big things!
Empower others: When someone asked Dr. Charleton what is leadership to him, he said that it is about empowering others to help them be the best that they can be. Empowering can be so hard sometimes for perfectionists like me, but on the other hand, it is so rewarding when I feel I have helped people learn something that can make them better professionals.
What does a leader need? Capability, desire and commitment. Without one of these factors we can’t be effective leaders. Thinking about people back home, there are so many that have the necessary skills, the passion but the commitment… not so much. Specially the younger generations. I wonder why.
It was very enlightening to have a leader in real life come and talk to us. I hope we have more guest speakers during the semester. It is one of the best ways to learn what leadership is all about. After all, we can read the book at home by ourselves. Class time should be used to complement and put into practice the concepts. I hope our professor realizes this. I sent him an e-mail mentioning the subject but without being too straightforward because it seems people in Tennessee are as sensitive as people from my culture. So I have to be very careful about the way I say and write things.
