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.

Guest Speaker Jerri Bird

Ms. Jerri Bird has accomplished a lot in her career. As professor Scott mentioned she was a bit different from the other guest speakers. She was really calm and had this mono-tone speaking voice. I did like her points but I feel as though her presentation would of been more effective if she had been more enthusiastic. Also some of the presentations that were presented last week were good. I personally enjoyed the one about the principal. It seems as though the principal was really down to earth and straight forward which I think are great qualities of a leader.

Guest Speakers

I really enjoyed the guest speakers. I thought the first lady was very inspiring and very funny. I enjoyed listening to her talk about how she got where she is and about her experiences. I was surprised that she was able to meet with all those women and I thought it was great that she engaged us in her speech. I enjoyed the next two women who talked together. Even though they have different political views, they still seem to work great together. They both had amazing stories to tell and I was very grateful that they were able to come to speak to us.

Self Awareness

I think Kelly and Sable have good points about knowing yourself before you lead others. I think that is the most important thing about leadership. Sometimes when people are attempting to lead groups they lose what they believe in just so that they can get ahead. As leaders we are all different and unique that is what groups work. You play roles within the group and if you have have a strong sense of who you are to be able to perform your roles well.

This Weeks Reading!!!!

I just want to comment on what Kelly mentioned about knowing yourself first. In my other leadership class we discussed this as a class and we all pretty much agreed that this is really important for anyone. I believe that you should know what is going on within yourself before you try to correct others. Yes we all have our problems but I think that we should try to solve our own problems before we try to solve other peoples problems. Many people are able to keep their problems to themselves but sometimes eventually your problems can interfere with other things. Personal problems can make you lose focus and hender yourself from doing what it is you might want to do. Not all people are like this but I do think that any leader should know about themselves and their problems before they help others.

Also I would just like to say that I really enjoyed all of our guest speakers. They were so posititve and it shows how everyday people can slowly change something in the world. All of the guest speakers were down to earth and had a lot to share with the class. I couldnt believe how many powerful people that our first guest speaker had met with. Everyone was a true inspiration.

Blog Seven: Komives Chap 3

The first sentence in the "Knowing-Being-Doing" section of chapter three states, "Individuals involved in the leadership process (leaders, members, co-creators, and so on) need to know themselves well before they work with others to influence change or achieve common purpose" (Komives. Pp76). I couldn't agree more with that statement since there is no possible way that anyone could contribute to a group or purpose without first knowing themselves and who they are, their beliefs, etc. To be knowledgeable, to be aware of yourself and others, and finally acting on your beliefs is critical in making change, and this is equally important as related to women and leadership.