Lucas and Gerber

Dean Lucas and Robin Gerber for one of my favorite speakers this semester by far.  They seemed to be so motivated, down to earth, and hard working.  I loved hearing about how it took them a while to find themselves as far as a career path. After I graduate I really dont know what to do and now i feel a  lot better.  I really enjoyed listening to your concepts about leadership.  Robin Gerber has written books and Dean Lucas is a Dean.  Both of these are wonderful accomplishments.  Being a woman in a leadership role is very hard and i admire the roles that these women have taking.  I loved their points about having authencity.  This one thing that i think every leader should have and they touched on it greatly.

Guest Speakers

Robin Gerber and Dean Lucas were great.  They helped me realize that I have to do something that I am passionate about and find the job that fits me.  A couple of years ago I still did not know what my major was going to be.  I was nervous and I felt pressured.  My dad was like why not be a doctor or a lawyer? At the time I was running track and I did not feel like I could balance that and a very hard major.  When I heard that Robin Gerber dropped out of college I was ecstatic.  Look at this woman she has written books and has been a great leader.  I really enjoyed her as a speaker.  She was very funny and down to earth.  Dean Lucas was just as good as Ms. Gerber but I do not think she spoke as much.  Being a Dean is a very big step.  A lot of the times women are principals but when you go to college it always seems to be a male dean.  Also I think that it was a great opportunity to hear from someone who helped write our text.  We were really able to learn about what she think a leader is made of and the necessary skills a leader should have.

Guest Speakers: Robin Gerber & Nance Lucas

I have to say that I really enjoyed our guest speakers Robin Gerber and Dean Nance Lucas. I took so much away from their discussions and I liked how they answered our generated questions. I thought that I learned a lot from them since they emphasized the importance of being authentic and to do what is right for you. There are so many times where I have thought of being a doctor or lawyer, but deep down I knew that I didn't want a career as either of those. Being an educator is what is "right" for me and I know that because I am passionate about it and wouldn't mind doing it for the rest of my life.
I found Robin Gerber to be completely real. We often see our "leaders" as infallable people who always make the right decisions, but, I thought that it was interesting that Robin actually dropped out of college. (Not quite something you hear all the time). I gained a respect for her because of it, too, because she acknowledged in herself that she was afraid, but took control of her fear and knew that she had to go back....to make a difference in the future.
Dean Lucas was amazing as well. I learned so much from her, especially when she talked about balancing family and taking risks. She made a comment, "pay attention to your own happiness." I believe that one statement embodies what it means to be successful. In our text Closing the Leadership Gap, Wilson describes in an entire chapter just how important authenticity is. I liked how all of those underlying themes were presented through what we've been reading this semester and our guest speakers.
:0)

Komives

I personally enjoyed reading about the strengths and weaknesses.  In my other leadership class we took the strengthquest test and my top 5 strengths were communication, relator, restorative, harmony, and activator. When we took the test and came back to class to discuss the resuls the facilitator explained to us why it was strengths and not weaknesses. To often people look at what they are week in instead of what they are strong in.  also with the the strength and weaknesses groups are able to help one another.  Someone maybe strong in one subject and someone else in another subject so it adds a lot of diversity to the group. italso helps the group as a whole become strong.

Blog Eight: Komives part II

While I was reading, the strengths and weaknesses section stuck out to me the most. In the book it says, "The irony is that some of your strengths, if overemphasized, become your weaknesses, and things you consider weaknesses may actually be seen as strengths by others" (Komives, pp122). I couldn't agree more with that statement since I sometimes focus all my energy on what I could improve on, my weaknesses, and so I forget to act on my strengths. I think that strengths and weaknesses are a funny concept since what I could see as my weakness could be someone elses strength, a balance. Continuing my reading, I found that you exercise your leadership skills when you self-aware and can identify what your strengths and weaknesses are but using them both when working, especially with others, towards a common goal.
I have learned that when managing my own weaknesses, it is important to manage them so that I don't continue to hold myself back from what I could achieve with my strengths. I found that to be one of the biggest lessons that I've learned from this section. Too many times have I kept quiet during a group meeting when I knew I had good ideas or picked a job for a group project that wasn't one of my strengths because I was too afraid to speak up. I also learned that by recognizing my strengths I could then use that to manage my weaknesses, like learning to overcome my shyness by picking the presenter job or creating the posters, etc.
I was able to take away a lot from this weeks readings and I look forward to our speakers on Thursday also! :0)

Jerri Bird

Happy Halloween everyone!

I agree with Sable and Kelly. I enjoyed Jerri Bird but it was hard for me to follow her. I did enjoy her talking about her experiences living in the middle east. It is so cool that she has lived in or visited every Middle Eastern country except for 2. My grandparents travel all the time all over the world and it is great to hear their stories. I think its great that Jerry Bird is doing a lot to help the women over there. I found it very interesting the stories she heard from these women, esp their thoughts on American women. Its fun to have these women speakers come in and tell us their stories. This way we can hear experiences women have in leadership and we can learn from them.

Guest Speaker

I agree with Sable about the guest speaker. Although I really liked what she had to talk about, I did feel that it was difficult, even for me, to pay attention. However, I really liked hearing about her accomplishments as a woman because it gave me insight to what I could maybe one day accomplish in my own life.
When it comes to the guest speakers, I'm sure like others in the class, want someone that is upbeat and funny but also gives a strong message across to everyone. I think that maybe in the future of this course that when the professors look at the different women that they bring to speak, maybe have a mixture of presentation styles since I know not everyone is the same when speaking to a class. :0) But I enjoyed all of them none-the-less and I also look forward to the Dean coming to speak this week.