Week 2 blog reflection

This week, we learned about the differences between management and leadership.  Throughout the readings I also considered my own personal strengths and weaknesses regarding both management skills and leadership skills.  In one of the articles I read, it talked about how management usually comes before leadership.  When you read about these concepts, it does sound like it would be more logical for management to come first and leadership would eventually follow.  Through my own personal experience, I have had a lot less experience with management and more experience with leadership.   For example, when I was a student at Rutgers University, I joined a student organization called RU for Troops.  This organization was designed to help veterans transition back to an academic life at Rutgers.  The objective was to aid their process in getting accustomed to everyday life as a student and also helping them with their course work.  I got very involved in the club and attended every weekly meeting.  When the time came to elect a new president I was ready for the challenge and was voted into the position.  This was a great opportunity to grow my leadership skills.  I gained experience in recruiting others to join a club with a shared vision of giving back to those who scarified for our country. 

I also had the chance to bring new ideas and concepts to the club and so started partnering with other student organizations to help drive awareness and gain new members.  I got us involved with campus blood drives, fundraising events, and strategic partnerships.  We grew club activity and involvement and I was so happy to be leading a group of students in supporting our troops and veterans.  I also helped recruit students to expand the subjects we tutored in, as the program was entirely voluntary and so it was important to share our vision and objective in order to get people on board.  By the end of my term we had over 50 members and were tutoring in over 7 academic subjects.  This experience was very helpful in developing leadership skills.  I feel like I can expand my management skills and am looking forward to learning more about ways you can gain management skills both in and outside of work.  

Week 1 Blog Reflection

After reviewing the course description, outcomes and assignments, I am very excited to be taking the leadership course as part of Centenary’s MBA program.  In looking at all of the courses within the overall program, I believe this is a course that will directly tie to anything I do both in and outside of my job.  As a consultant at Verizon, it is very important for me to strengthen my leadership skills.  Even after just the first week’s discussion post I can see that there will be a lot of interesting discussions for the class.  I enjoyed writing about what it takes to be a leader, and also seeing the overall discussions posted.  Topics like these are broad and sort of open ended and therefore make for some really different thinking and engagement. 

                I actually have used blogger.com once before in the past, and also for a similar exercise.  I took a class in undergrad at Rutgers University where we also were asked to keep a blog so that we could reflect on our experiences throughout the duration of class.  It made sense for that course, especially because the class was all about writing for game design, which was an entirely new concept to most people taking the course.  It was a great opportunity to reflect on the course challenges, as it wasn't an easy task to both create and design a card game and board game.  I remember that being one of the most difficult classes I took and I really enjoyed it because it challenged me to think differently and creativity.  I also like the idea of keeping of a blog for courses because it offers a record of what you found interesting, difficult or entertaining.  As example, I was able to look back at the blog I had already published on blogger.com.  I had completely forgot I had even done the blog, as it was several years ago, but I was so pleased to be able to review my writing and refresh my mind with that course. 

                In this course, I expect to learn about what it means to be a leader.  Already in the first week we learned that there are many different meanings to being a leader and also how someone can become a leader.  I hope to learn more about my own leadership capabilities and better understand my own habits and leadership style so that I can use that to strengthen my own skills both in and outside of work.  One of course objectives is evolve as a reflective leader through self-reflection and practice.  I think having the tools and forums to explore your own leadership style is so important as people who are more self-aware also tend to be more successful.  Currently, I am not in a leadership role at work, as I am newer to the position and younger in my career.  However, I believe this course will encourage me to take on other kinds of leadership roles such as in organizations.  I recently learned about a program at work that encourages women to connect.  There is also an entire leadership board for that program as well.  I think by taking this course, students can become more open minded about what is means to be a leader and identify new opportunities to lead.  Leadership is an important skill and I think having more leaders in the world can make everyone more successful.  I also think creating a development plan will be a useful component of this course.  We try and create development plans at work, but often not enough time is spent on them as the primary focus is put on the performance agreement and review.  I think this course will help reinforce the importance of having a plan for development, and using it to grow and sharpen leadership capabilities.