I watched a TED talk by speaker Simon Sinek called, “How great leaders inspire action.” I must say, this talk was actually very quite interesting. So he presented a model called the “Golden Circle Model” for how leaders inspire action. And so this model has three separate circles organized by WHY, HOW, and WHAT and apparently those three components sorts out how any organization or any person function at its highest potential. Also, according to him this model is the pattern that all leaders and organizations follow; WHAT they want to do, most know HOW they aim to do it but few are don’t know the WHY they want to do what they do. He explains this by giving an example and using Martin Luther King. He says that what Dr. Martin Luther King believed was that there were two types of laws in this world: those that were made by a higher authority, and those that were made by men. So MLK had to constantly speak about what he believed in until it resonated with the others and that is how he was able to get thousands of people to come here him speak because they could link themselves with what he believed in.

So basically it is by inspiring others that leaders are able to their followers to take action and that this the fine line between leaders and those who lead; leaders are those who have an authoritative status while those who lead inspire. So we tend to follow a leader not because we have to, but because we want to. So to be able to inspire those who lead we need to figure our WHY.

I watched a TED talk by speaker Simon Sinek called, “Why good leaders make you feel safe.” I really enjoyed his speech. He basically talked about why he believes that leaders should be more than just authority figures; that “leadership is a choice. It is not a rank.” In his message he points out altruistic figures such as Mother Theresa and Gandhi. I believe he chose those figures specifically because they are ultimately altruism incarnates. They exemplify sacrifice and selflessness which are qualities that humanity should attempt to achieve and aspire to have. He says that good leaders worry about others before they worry about themselves.

He goes on to correlate this with the workforce and why employees trust their bosses (leader) with their job and not only count on them to make the best choices for the company but for them as well too. He connects this with the example of the army and how troops are expected to follow their leaders into battle and trust their decision-making skills with their lives. So in his speech he explains why organizations should make their employees feel safe because that is key characteristic of a leader. He then goes on to describe that in the business world, people are awarded bonuses for sacrificing others for their own benefit. This method are not characteristics that will truly inspire people to follow. This shows that the real dangers of humanity is injustice and lack of empathy towards another person. 

Link: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/why-good-leaders-make-you-feel-safe-simon-sinek

The “Impossible” reading was an interesting read. It was very compelling and relatable especially with what is going on in our world right now. Something that stuck with me was when he said, “The problem is not that we have so little power. The problem is that we don’t use the power that we have.” This quote reminded me a lot of Nelson’s Mandela’s quote: ” Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.” These sayings to me implies that we are able to do a great deal but we are afraid to take the responsibilities. It’s easier not to be responsible. This is because most of our society is set up to reward conformity. This reading made me reflect on how I think about what I can do to make a change in the world even if it is on a small scale and even about change in general on a global scale as well as how huge of an impact activism can have.

This one of George W. Bush’s campaign ad v. John Kerry during dangerous times. I favor this ad because it focused on resolving domestic issues during that time. It seemed like it was inspirational as Bush was displayed as a leader or a “hero” of some sort.  At the beginning of the ad, Bush confidently walks in as if he basically has already secured the victory. Then he appears in some scenes in front of the microphone speaking to the public which I guess shows that he is a poised speaker. Overall, I think this ad did a good job of targeting the public with the background music, sound effects, and the powerful image. This ad does its job of effectively making it an ideal political advertisement and sending the message that basically if you vote for Bush he will offer you a peaceful and secured future. That was the vibe I was getting from this ad.

One of my favorite ads happen to be a Thai life insurance commercial. I remember when I was younger and I saw this ad in passing on Facebook and it was the first thing that came to mind. The message in this ad is heartwarming and it does an amazing job at moving you to tears because of how powerful the message is. This ad gets you to think and was inspiring to watch. So I think that commercials should go for this type of approach. It went to show how the little things always counts and how much you can make an impact and have an influence in someone else’s life.

It doesn’t matter whether you are the the poorest or the richest, but your attitude towards life and the things in life is what has meaning. Your attitude is what impulses you in how you want your life to be. That ultimately, in the end, in life it all comes down to being happy. By loving, respecting and helping others we’ll be able to achieve our main and only goal in this life, which is happiness. That is the life worth living.

I enjoyed the Harvey reading because it explains and asserts why leadership is fundamental. I especially was interested in how he presented the theories that supports leadership. In the leadership cycle, I was most absorbed by the question: “Where are we going?” When examining leadership it is important to understand this question. It is important to be conscious in figuring out the steps needed to achieve your goals because then it is just going to be blanketed statements with no actions on how to bring about change. I think that this is the first and crucial step that is necessary in becoming an effective leader.

I thought that the Zinn reading was really interesting. It brought across some interesting topics on historical events and how we should view them. In my history classes in high school, I was taught and had always known to some degree that Columbus was evil but I had never learned all of the specifics and the extent of the harm he did until now after reading this article. Reading the horrible history between the Europeans’ invasions of the native’s land and the malicious killings and burning of their crops and villages was very appalling.

It actually is crazy how we are not taught more about the evils that Columbus inflicted on the indigenous people. In one section of the reading it mentioned that by 1650 there were no more Arawaks or their descendants left on the islands because they had all been captured and killed. It is time for our educational systems to stop whitewashing the history and teach the truth about the colonization of the Americas and we should also eradicate Columbus Day.

In my Leadership 102 class, that was the first time I was introduced to this experiment and even after reviewing it again in the reading, it still baffled me. It is alarming that this experiment revealed human’s hidden capability to act sadistically or submissively if social conditions change and are permitted; this is what happens when one is given power, and how easily humans succumb to the evil side of their psyche. I guess that is the dark side of human nature and if you don’t understand it than you’re vulnerable to it. But I’m not gonna lie it was interesting to see how easily the human psyche given repetitive abuse is conditioned to receive it and accept it. It really spoke volumes of the relationship between the abuser and the abused.

The planned two-week study simulation ended only after 6 days…so imagine what would’ve happened if they hadn’t canceled the experiment. Also, It wasn’t specifically mentioned, but the ‘John Wayne’ guard portrayal seems to show how the attitude and behavior of one dominant person can affect or even guide the behavior of others, prisoners. This just goes to show how much humans in general tend to be followers rather than leaders.

I found the The Christopher von Rueden and Mark van Vuaght reading to be interesting. I don’t remember ever discussing large scale versus small scale in the leadership classes that I’ve taken so it was interesting to read about the implications. This reading reminded me a lot of my previous leadership 102 class with Dr. Harwell where we focused mostly on how there are different leadership styles and how they are used for different situations respectively. An idea that I was familiar with and could relate to in my 102 was the “mismatch hypothesis” mentioned in the reading. This reminded me of an activity that we did in Dr. Harwell’s class where we had to list the important aspects or physical attributes of what a leader possesses and listed them on the board.

Personally, my thoughts on what a leader possessed went straight to dominance and being physically fit and basically correlated a leader as masculine. I wondered why people are already inclined to generally view men to be leaders and the reading’s evolutionary explanation about gender touched upon that. I think it is more important when selecting a leader to judge them on their intellectual capabilities and their success rather than physical aspects. Overall, in this reading it was just interesting to see how much of the leadership we see in LSS is a result of the SSS.

I found it to be very interesting to learn about the specific types of dilemmas in this reading as most of them were concepts I had never learned before. It was interesting to think about all  these dilemmas because I could think of personal experiences in my daily life where the concepts and situations appear in my interactions with people. I was most intrigued by the concept of the Chicken’s dilemma. I remember I was doing a plank competition with a friend to have the record for the longest time and at one point we both agreed to try to quit and drop at the same time but there wasn’t enough trust and because of that lack of trust aggression showed and at that point someone had to back down and give into what the other person wanted.