The second video I watched relating to the topic of leadership discusses what the most important job of a leader is. The video states that being clear and giving your followers an easy to understand as well as see plan/vision is crucial in not only inspiring your followers. It also promotes mental health because there is no confusion or anxiety about what the goal or plan is. The video discusses constantly mentioning your vision in almost every interaction because it gives your followers a goal, as well as sense of purpose and they, are not aimlessly wandering around wondering what needs to be done. This will provide them not only with unity amongst themselves but will also make them gravitate towards the leader because he or she is clear, concise, and confident. Which are three crucial characteristics in order to be a great leader. If one is unsure of themselves or what their mission is their leaders will follow in suit and be discouraged. If you provide your followers with a clear goal and a path to get there they are much more willing to go the extra mile to get it done because it seems achievable.

The second video I came upon discussed the importance of leadership in everyday life. Many people believe as though they are not leaders which then changes the definition of leadership or what a leader is. If you have the ability to influence someone or are influencing someone then you are a leader because someone is following you. However, that doesn’t make you a good leader. True leaders have the ability to develop a community of followers, a community of performers, and most importantly a community of leaders. In developing a community of leaders you inspire others to be better thus allowing them the ability to inspire others and making the people they surround themselves with better. A culture of leadership is where you grow and change that is where one becomes a true leader. Finally, the speaker delves into the difference between leadership in sports and business. He discusses how leadership is different in sports because you are playing with a set of rules and plays and whoever is better able to execute their plays will win. Whereas in business there is no such thing. People are constantly trying to undercut one another, outsell the other business, and he discusses how as a leader in a business setting one must be able to roll with the punches and be ready for change.

After looking through Ted-talk videos and searching youtube for videos on youtube I came upon a video called Derek Jeter on Leadership. Derek Jeter who is a retired professional baseball player is arguably one of if not the best leader in all of sports history. Mr. Jeter was almost unanimously voted into the Hall of Fame with a 99.7% approval rating. In his time in New York, he was extremely successful obtaining over 3,000 career hits, 14× All-Star (1998–2002, 2004, 2006–2012, 2014), 5× World Series champion (1996, 1998–2000, 2009), World Series MVP (2000), AL Rookie of the Year (1996), 5× Gold Glove Award (2004–2006, 2009–2010), 5× Silver Slugger Award (2006–2009, 2012), 2× AL Hank Aaron Award (2006, 2009), Roberto Clemente Award. Some of these awards are given to Jeter based upon his athletic abilities but others such as the Roberto Clemente award are given to the man who best represents baseball, sportsmanship, involvement within one’s community, and the contribution to the team. In his interview, he discusses the leadership qualities he used to lead the Yankees to five world series wins. He discusses how when in a position of leadership it is crucial to lead in the manner which feelest the truest to you whether that be by example, vocally, or both. Two other major takeaways I got from his interview was know who you are leading and don’t be superficial. If you stay true to one’s self people will naturally gravitate towards you and feel the authenticity in your actions and words. In addition, if you know the people in which you are leading you are better able to gauge what leadership style to use as well as how to communicate with your followers. Due to Mr. Jeter’s profound leadership skills, he was able to achieve one of the most successful careers in the history of Major League Baseball.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first section of this assigned reading. The reason being as the title states it gave me a glimmer of hope that all things are possible and that one is able to get through their darkest days and after doing so there is light at the end of the tunnel. The article begins by discussing how the author was attending a conference in which one of the audience members stated that one person is not enough to evoke positive change in the world. The author responds by describing her medical condition called Perilymph Fistula which a disease that causes temporary paralysis. She goes on to give personal anecdotes to how we do have enough power as individuals to evoke change. She gives the example with the turtles being stuck in the railway tracks and how she had enough power to save their lives. She also dives into the fact that her disability has opened her eyes to how miraculous it is to be able to simply walk across a room and within each of us we have the power to change the world for the better. As she discusses each major historical figure that brought about major change did small acts of good and then one major act propelled them to fame.

In a time where our world is being crippled by a pandemic, it is difficult to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Many people feel stuck in our homes and feel hopeless in the sense that we are disconnected from our family, friends, and loved ones. Due to this many people are not practicing social distancing properly which is increasing the spread. Many people adopt the mindset it’s just me and even if I do have it, it will only affect a small number of people when that is not the case. In addition, in a time like this people feel as though they are too insignificant to make a change with their donation. As a collective group if we adhere to the CDC’s rules, donate, and practice social distancing we can combat this disease.

My favorite ad campaign was Kennedy’s 1960 presidential campaign video. President Kennedy is by far my favorite president due to the way in which he handled himself during the cold war and the way in which he combatted group-think and learned from his mistakes. He is the reason why group-decision making has changed for the better. Therefore I may be a little biased in my opinion but the reason why I enjoyed this ad was due to some of the psychological principles in the commercial. The ad was filled with upbeat music and repeatedly stated Kennedy’s name which refers to the mere exposure effect. In which the more you are exposed to something the more you become familiar with and begin to like it (the same thing applies when you listen to a new song multiple times). The commercial classically conditions us to associate Kennedy’s name with an upbeat happy song so whenever we hear Kennedy’s name we experience happiness because we are reminded of the song. Another reason why I find Kennedy and his whole campaign so interesting is because this is the campaign in which they televised debates. The studio with all of the lights is very hot which causes you to sweat. Kennedy took the advice to wear make-up whereas Nixon failed to do so. The people-watching on TV believed Kennedy was much more poised and made better arguments whereas the people listening on the radio thought the complete opposite. Due to Nixon’s sweaty appearance, it made him look as though he was nervous and unsure yet again showing more psychological principles.

Another reason why I enjoyed his campaign video is that it shows a variety of American citizens throughout the video saying that it is up to the American people of every race, religion, and ethnicity. They have the power to put Kennedy into the office which I believe resonated with a lot of people. The campaign video also discusses Kennedy’s youth as well as intelligence stating that he’s not too old to try something new and not too young to do something dumb and that he is the perfect age for the presidency. Another thing that stood out to me during his debate with Nixon was his push for equal education and how he wants all American children to receive a fair and just education. Essentially saying that we are hurting ourselves as a nation if we do not give everyone an equal education.

My favorite brand has and will forever be Nike. As a kid, all of my favorite athletes such as Michael Jordan, Lebron James, Derek Jeter, and many others were sponsored by Nike so I naturally fell in love with the brand. Their saying “Just do it” resonated very much so with me because it can be applied to all facets of life and the way in which to overcome obstacles is not to wait but rather to just begin and start “Just do it”. I am also a huge baseball fan and admire Derek Jeter for the way in which he played the game of baseball in his lengthy career. Jeter has always respected the game of baseball as well as any opponent he came across in his 20-year career. The reason why this ad speaks so much to me is that not only does it encompass Derek Jeter, Michael Jordan, Jon Lester, and my many other favorite athletes and celebrities. It shows a variety of athletes, celebrities, and everyday citizens tipping their cap to Derek Jeter in his final season as a Yankee. Tipping your cap in baseball is a sign of respect as well as a salute to the opponent and is one of the kindest gestures in baseball. It has this underlying message when it shows men, women, children, and celebrities of all different ethnicities and races that no matter who we are we can all agree that Derek Jeter played the game of baseball in the proper manner in his twenty-year career and how that can unite us over our differences.

This time for me has personally been very much so a struggle with my baseball season being ripped away from me and witnessing the same thing happen to all of my fellow athletes around the world/country. Sports to me was my life jacket and is what I had to look forward to at the end of a hard day. Being able to see 35 of my closest friends. Sports have the ability to unite people from different backgrounds, religions, races, and socio-economic classes. After the 9/11 terrorist attack and the Boston bombing, the New York Mets and the Boston Bruin’s hosted games at their respective stadiums and both crowds were erupting in USA chants. Rather than the fans cheering against one another, they were cheering with one another and those cheers were directed towards the United States of America. The same thing applies with the Derek Jeter commercial everyone puts aside their differences and all come into one in-group about the level of respect they have for Derek Jeter as well as his greatness.

This reading was a little difficult for me for whatever reason to understand and absorb the information, however, what I did understand from it is the role in which the leader plays in the leader-follower relationship. Most of the time people solely focus on the leader and the impact they have and I am not discrediting the leader by any means but a leader is not able to exist without followers because he has no one to lead. This reminded me very much so of the readings we had last semester that talked about citizen leadership as well as the Machiavelli Prince reading we had last semester in which he discusses the ways in which to lead. Machiavelli discusses how it is best to be both feared and loved but if you can’t have both it is best to be feared so people will obey you and fear the consequences of failing to do so.

Another thing that stuck out to me was this concept as a leader/businessman how it is best to know who you are rather than where you are going. The reason being if you know who you are then you have the ability to adapt to the ever-changing world around you. The example in which they have in the reading was Ford vs. Sloan in the automobile industry. Ford would only adapt when necessary and was very hard-nosed versus Sloan who was proactive in his ability to change with the times making him successful in the long run.

This reading assignment for me personally was very tough to stomach. I knew that Columbus was not the person who founded the Americas but rather it was Native Americans who lived there way before he discovered it. However, I was not aware of the sequence of events that took place after he landed in the Americas. Columbus was directed by his government to find Asia and bring back gold from there. He, however, landed in the Americas and came upon Native Americans. Within his time traveling back and forth between Spain and the America’s he enslaved thousands of Native Americans for Spanish use,  allowed his soldiers to torture, mutilate, and kill hundreds of thousands of Native Americans resulting in over 250,000 of their deaths (a genocide) completely decimating their population. The part that truly disgusted me was they enslaved these Native Americans to find gold on their own island and if they reached their quota they were given a ring to place around their neck. However, if they didn’t reach their quota their hands were chopped off and they bled to death.

I feel as though our education system has failed not only myself but millions of other students who were made unaware of Columbus’s acts of genocide. In elementary school, we were taught that Columbus was this happy go lucky guy who founded the Americas. We were only taught his accomplishments and were never presented all of the horrific things he and his soldiers did to the Native Americans. I feel as though this is a re-occurring theme such as our founding fathers who again were presented to us as the men who made America into the great country it is today and because of them we are a free nation able to enjoy life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. However, what we again were not taught is that these men did not believe these rights belonged to African Americans and they bought as well as traded slaves. Another example are pilgrims who are shown to us in school peacefully and pleasantly having Thanksgiving dinner with the Native Americans. Where in actuality they too committed acts of genocide against Native Americans and brought disease to them killing thousands. Their peace was purely from a political standpoint.

The first article that we were assigned to read I found extremely interesting as well as surprising. It was very surprising for me to think that government officials or politicians are elected due to the fact that they have a certain type of voice, their mannerisms are a certain way, how they present themselves, and their physical attractiveness/ body. The article discussed President Warren Harding who was arguably one of the worst presidents ever elected but because of his “Physique, bronzed complexion, sonorous voice, and smooth motions” he was elected as president because he had this presidential look about him. In addition, I found it very interesting that our brain fills in the missing pieces of our world due to the Gestalt principle of “closure”. In my psychology class, we were given a piece of paper in which a dot was placed on the page. We were instructed to cover one of our eyes and what ended up happening was the dot disappeared because my brain filled in that piece of missing information and assumed the dot wasn’t there. 

The next article discussed the Stanford Prison Experiment which I thought was so very fascinating. They selected a group of young males to participate in their study in which half of them would be guards and the other half prisoners. They set up in the psychology building all of the different aspects of prison. The goal of the experiment was to discover the effects of perceived power between inmates and correctional officers. What started as a simulation turned serious very quickly. The guards truly began to act as guards and the prisoners truly began to act like prisoners. They took to their roles as if this were a real-life event, not a simulation. They, unfortunately, had to end the experiment early but this type of experiment today would not be allowed due to the IRB.

In the article The Logic of Failure it described a multitude of failed experiments that were implemented in place to improve the quality of life for people in that community. In the introduction, it gave an example where state officials wanted to place speed bumps to reduce pollution in the air as well as reduce noise levels. So they as mentioned above-implemented speed humps and reduced the speed limit by twenty miles per hour in an attempt to reduce emissions and decrease the noise. What ended up happening is pollution increased, there was more noise, and shopping in that area became so hectic that it discouraged many shoppers from attending those stores again. What ended up happening is everyone migrated to suburban stores which caused a whole other influx of problems. They give a multitude of examples similar to this one both of which occurred in real life as well as in a computer simulation. They discovered that through these examples the best way in which to solve these problems is more thinking and less acting. Another example that stands out to me was a town in Southern Africa that decided to drill more wells to increase their water supply and a series of events transpired because of this. The increase in water supply meant their soil grew better grass which led to larger herds which led to overgrazing which led to their land becoming barren and depleting the cattle population. In addition, all of the remaining groundwater had been exhausted. Showing how implementing new ideas has a variety of effects both positive as well as negative.

This reading brought me back to one of our first readings this semester “Doing Good Better”. In this article, officials thought it would benefit many rural African towns if they took out their regular water pumps and implemented Play Pumps instead. The idea was for these pumps to be similar to a merry go round so children could play on the pumps and get water. What ended up happening was the pumps needed constant force in order to turn which was exhausting to the children thus leading adults to turn the pump. This was much less efficient and gave them much less water than they were originally getting. The reason for this as The Logic of Failure describes is 1. “Acted without prior analysis of the situation, 2. failed to anticipate side effects and long-term repercussions, 3. assumed that the absence of immediately obvious negative effects meant that correct measures had been taken, 4. let overinvolvement in “projects” blind them to emerging needs and changes in the situation, 5. were prone to cynical reactions.”  Whereas when careful analysis and research is conducted such as the deworming project a huge positive impact is made.