Final Blog

In my first post for this course, I wrote about how excited I was to learn about leadership.  I remember being very enthusiastic when reviewing the course syllabus since all of the assignments seemed worth my time and effort.  This course was very different from some of my other courses and I am enjoying the variety of subject matter the program has to offer.  For example, in accounting, I really enjoyed writing a paper about the Federal Reserve because it helped me learn all about how the banking system in America works.  In this course, the concepts and leadership principles that I learned about were so relevant and applicable to both my personal and professional life.  I really enjoy learning about new subjects but especially enjoyed this course because I have a plan outlined for how to actually improve my own leadership skills.  I also think asking people to be your mentor can be a really challenging feat.  I have so many coworkers that I have really good relationships with at work, but I never really formally engaged with any one individual and asked them to work with me.  This course helped open up that door and encouraged me to pursue a more formal mentorship relationship with my current boss, and one of my former bosses.  I also miss my relationship with my former boss from when I was an intern and love that I will work with him again on developing each other’s leadership skills.  When I reached out to him, I also learned that he recently took a new position at the company and is working with an entirely new team.  So, I think a familiar friend and face was actually something that he would benefit from too.  We already started discussing some of the challenges he has been experiencing in his transition into the new position.  For example, just three weeks after he started, his manager was laid off.  There have been a lot of layoffs over the past couple years at the company, and so the employee moral can be a little low.  We have been discussing ways to show leadership skills at a time of loss because the way you handle situations can ultimately make or break you in the organization.  There is a significant difference between Gen X, Y, and Z which can cause both friction and opportunity when they all need to work together in a corporate environment (Getty, 2015).  They have different education and grew up in different times which also will naturally impact how they process information (Getty, 2015). “Seasoned executives (40s and over) can use mentorships to help acclimate these younger employees in an unfamiliar corporate environment. Likewise, these same executives can benefit from exposure to new talent, and the innovation Gen Y and Z bring to the workforce” (Getty, 2015).  Surviving in corporate America isn’t easy, and especially now with the ever-changing, dynamic nature of social media and technology.  Having a strong support system who can be honest and help you become a stronger team player and leader is a good idea.  Those are the relationships I want to invest my time and energy into throughout my career.  My expectations for this course were met and I learned a lot of valuable information about how to behave and act like a leader.  One of my main takeaways is the importance of self awareness and that you will be judged based on the way you are perceived.  You might be a great leader but if other’s don’t perceive you as one, you likely won’t be successful at what you set out to accomplish. 

Reference

Getty, K. (2015, May 27). Why young workers make the best mentors. Retrieved March 03, 2017, from http://fortune.com/2015/05/26/kim-getty-importance-of-a-mentor/