Class Reflection Blog#9

Taking this class made me realize a lot about different leadership styles as well as my own leadership style. I have gained knowledge throughout the semester that I can use in the future. The topics discussed in class made me realize how much the success of a group is not only dependent on the leader, but as a group as a whole. This made me think back to all of my past group and teamwork experiences and I realized that without the collaboration of the group, the final product would not have been as successful. Throughout the class we also related the different topics discussed to our personal experiences which made the class more relatable to everyone.

During the class we took a lot of surveys that helped us know and understand our leadership strengths as well as how we tend to interact with others. I thought these surveys were interesting. I was a little skeptical at first because I thought to myself, "how can just a survey predict my strengths?" After taking them, though, I realized that they seemed to be pretty accurate. For instance, taking the StrengthsQuest quiz, allowed me to learn and understand my own strengths. After taking the quiz, I noticed that my top five strengths actually did relate to my leadership style and how I interact with others. I think that my top strength, includer, best reflects how I generally work in group projects. For instance, in group projects, I think that everyone should have a part and no one should be left out which relates to my strength of being an includer.

One of the models during class that really stood out to me when it came to leadership as a whole was the relational leadership model. As mentioned from the reading, "relationships are they key to leadership effectiveness." This was one model that I emphasized on in my leadership plan. I think I can use this model throughout my life in almost everything I do. I think I have always done this, but now I will be more aware of it. Multiple minds coming together is better than just one because you have more creative minds coming together. Being an officer of a club here at OSU, I have already started using this model and applying it to how everyone on the board works together, which I believe will allow for the best outcome in the future.

Throughout the class, we also spoke about topics like moral muteness and target identities and how it can effect society and workplace. These topics might have been hard to discuss, but I liked how the class as a whole was open about discussing this and allowed for a open environment to allow others to speak up and share their personal experiences. Topics like these, I think are important when in a leadership position to better relate to others in the group. Overall, I think I learned a lot by taking this class. I learned about different skills and attributes that will best help me succeed in a leadership position. In the future, I will definitely use what I learned in this class in clubs, the workplace, and even in just society as a whole. I feel like, not only did we learn how to be effective leaders, but we also learned about skills that we can use in our normal day-to-day life.

Peck's Theory Blog#8

Scott Peck developed a theory in which groups of people come together through four stages in order to create an authentic community. I think that there have been many times throughout everyone's life when these stages have taken place, and most of the time unknowingly have taken place. Thinking back on my experiences, I think that a community that I have been apart that used this theory would be when I was on a competitive dance team in my freshman year at OSU called Buckeye Fusion. I think that from the beginning of the school year to the end, our team went through all of the stages of Peck's theory.

The first stage, known as pseudocommunity, occurs when a group first comes together and is getting along, but relationships may not be real or true at this point. I saw this when I first made the team. The team was full of girls who were returning and others, like me, who were new. We all got along at first because I think all of us new girls wanted to be accepted and feel like were part of the team. The older girls also got along because I think they wanted everyone to feel welcomed. I could tell it was artificial because no one really knew each other at this stage we were all still trying to get to know each other.

The second stage is chaos. During chaos different people may try to invade through harmony and put their opinion in changing the course of things. People start forming friendships and conflict can arise through conflicting opinions. I definitely saw this occur on my dance team. At one point too many opinions were being thrown out which went against the captains opinions. Cliques formed between different groups of people within the team who had their own ideas. Some people felt that they had a good or better idea than the captains causing conflicts in that manner.

The third stage occurs through the realization that these conflicts were creating barriers. These barriers would prevent us from reaching our common goal. For instance, on the team, there was a point before the competitions in which we all sat down together and realized that the fighting was doing nothing but hurting us. We came up with a consensus on how to handle things. Everyone agreed that in order to meet our goal of placing during the competitions, we needed to work together and let go of all preconceived notions. 

This realization led to the fourth and final stage of a true authentic community. After resolving the major conflicts, we came up with a plan on how to share opinions with the captains without disrupting practice time or creating even more conflict behind the scenes. There was still a little conflict, but, this time, it was handled correctly. Everyone was looking towards the greater good of the team as a whole instead of themselves at this point. This developed authentic community helped us realize how we can have a consensus that can benefit the whole team.

I think that throughout the year our whole team went through the stages of Peck's theory. I did not realize it until now, but I think it is pretty interesting how things changed as time went on according to the stages. The common consensus we had was to put our personal opinions aside and work together for the greater good of the team as a whole. I think it worked out for us in the end too, because we ended up doing well in competitions and placing in some of them. Using Peck's theory our team was able to ultimately reach our common goal and work together as an authentic community.

Target/Non-Target Identities Blog#7

Target and non-target identities directly play a role when it comes to privilege. Whether it is through race, nationality, sexuality, religion, or gender, privilege seems to play an role on how people view others who are not a like. Regardless of who the person is, if they are different from what is known to be “socially acceptable”, then there will be less privilege geared towards that individual or group of people. I think that privileges and target/non-target identities can vary from country to country but specifically looking at those in America, I think that the two identities I can most relate to are race and nationality. I think it is interesting how in my past experiences, that even though these coexist, I have been treated and seen differently in each situation. 

For instance, a target identity revolving around race and being a minority can have its negatives. Being brown skinned, I would probably be more likely stopped for a random check in airport security just because my skin looks different from the norm. I am also from Louisiana and have noticed a lot more stigma surrounding those who feel America is and should be a "white" country. Not everyone I know in the south feels that way but I have noticed that those in smaller cities in deep Southern Louisiana feel that way the most. I have a friend who lives in one of those cities that told me that if people in her town saw me, they would take one look at my skin color and judge me as being "lesser" than them.

I think that another privilege that some people take for granted is nationality. Even though I am Indian, I am still American born on American soil and because of this, privilege is favored towards me and others born in America than those who are foreign and who may have an accent. I have directly experienced a time when I noticed how this played a role in privilege in society. Once I went shopping with my aunt who had to return something. When my aunt went to the lady at the register, the lady immediately heard my aunt's accent and started to take advantage of her. She started to confuse my aunt by saying invalid things in a rude and fast-speaking manner. When I walked up, I listened to see what was going on and then I spoke up. Right when I spoke up the lady saw that I did not have an accent and she immediately changed her tone and started to be more cooperative.because she probably felt that she could not take advantage. I have actually seen this happen a lot to other people of different nationalities.

This immediately shocked me and made me realize that despite that I may be in a minority, and target group, for race, I am still privileged in the sense that I am in the non-target group for nationality. I think that these two groups definitely coexist. I experience both sides, privilege with nationality and non-privileged with race, but there are those who experience privilege in both spectrums and those who don't experience privilege in either.

LPI Reflection Blog#6

The leadership performance inventory (LPI) looks at how strong you are in different styles of leadership. After taking the assessment, my highest principles were both modeling the way and enabling others to act. My lowest  principle was challenging the process. I was not surprised by my results because, comparing to my StrengthsQuest results, includer and individualization were in my top five strengths and I think that this goes in hand with the enabling others style because those who usually enable others, build relationships and help make others feel like they are part of the group and making a difference. I think that the principle of modeling the way goes in hand with my leadership philosophy because I think those who are leaders should guide the way for their group members and be clear and consistent on their beliefs. I am also not surprised that challenging the process was my lowest because I have noticed that I tend to usually want to take the safe route when doing things so things can turn out well. I usually feel like there is more of chance sometimes to fail when challenging myself which makes me not want to do it. In order to work on improving this aspect I think I should take more risks and challenge myself to be and do better. I think that even though I may fail, some benefit may come out of it that can help me in the long run. I think I can also improve this by trying to fix things in a group or project that are seen as challenging and try to think of ways to improve them instead of just ignoring them and taking the safe route. I think that improving and continuing to do all of these aspects will help me in the future to be a better leader all around.

Random Act of Kindness Blog #5

A random act of kindness occurs when someone does something selflessly for someone else that makes them feel happy even if it is just a small act. A small act of kindness can go a long way. I realized that even though most of us may not specifically go out of our way to do a random kind act, we usually do something along those lines even if we do not think we are. For instance I can think of many times when I or one of my friends have gone out of the way to help someone out without thinking twice about it or cheering someone up through random little acts. 

For this assignment, I chose to cheer one of my friends and give her a confidence boost. My friend is in the middle of studying for her dental school entrance exam and I can see she has been stressed out lately over it. She has two more weeks until she takes the exam and spends almost every free time studying. I can tell that she is stressed and nervous and just needs a little confidence boost. So for my random act of kindness I decided to give her a bunch of snacks and chocolates that she loves and a note of encouragement for the exam explaining my best wishes and telling her that I think she will do well on the exam. I also know how much she loves surprises so I went to her house and set the stuff on her bed when she was gone and waited until she found it. When she saw the surprise, I could tell that she was happy and that it brightened up her day. She was not expecting it and was so happy when she saw it. She called me instantly when she found it and told me how this made her feel so much better.

After doing this random act of kindness and seeing her response, this also made me feel good. I was happy to see that I brightened up someone else's day and that made my day better too. I noticed that doing a random act of kindness can not only bring joy and happiness to someone else but also make you feel happy just because you were able to cheer someone else up. I know that my friend will do great on her exam and that she just needed more confidence and I think that with my random act she was able to realize that she can do it and she has people supporting her no matter what. Even though my act may not have been over the top, it is the little things that matter and will go a long way in the end and I am glad to have helped make someone else's day a little better. 

Here is a picture of my friend holding up one of her favorite chocolates that I gave her!

 

Moral Muteness Blog #4

I feel like most of us have probably been in some sort of situation in which we have participated in moral muteness, myself included. Moral muteness occurs when someone fails to voice a moral concern relating to various situations and issues from day to day life. I have been in some situations in which I have participated in moral muteness. One time when I was a hostess at a restaurant, I was working with another hostess and she was in the process of trying to find another job. She said that she had an interview for a higher position at another restaurant during the time we were working together so she told me that she was going to leave for 45 minutes to an hour. She said if the boss asked where she was to just say she went to the bathroom or something. I did not really go against this because I was new and she had been working there for a while before me. It was really slow during that time any way so it would not matter if she left. She was leaving during her shift and it obviously was not okay that she was not working but still getting paid for her shift. She did come back when she said and I did not say anything to the boss even though I was worked that shift by myself for that hour.

I think the reason I was morally mute was because I value the relationships I make with my coworkers. I did not want to cause conflict with her or anyone else and wanted my time working there to run smoothly. I was also still fairly new working there compared to the others so I was still working on building those co-worker relationships. I have always valued great relationships with others and try to avoid conflict and I think that during this situation I felt that this was the best was to avoid greater conflict and help her out by letting her go to the interview. Even though what she did was wrong because she was not working but still getting paid for her "time" there, I think I had also factored in the conversations I had with her prior to this where she told me she was not getting paid enough. She was a young, single mother and had a daughter to worry about so I think that is why I did not think much of being morally mute because I was factoring in my values of helping those out who may need it.

Implicit Bias Quiz Blog #3

I took three Implicit Bias quizzes which included Gender-Science, Sexuality, and Age. These quizzes consisted of multiple fast paced pictures or words that you would have to quickly relate to certain categories according to your instinct and reflex. I do not think I was shocked by any of my results. The results were what I predicted them to be for the most part which makes sense according to the way I grew up, my lifestyle, and what I typically categorize myself as.

The first quiz I took was the Gender-Science IAT. This quiz looked at whether or not I felt there is a link with women to liberal arts and men to science. My results showed that I think that there is little or no association between female and male with science and liberal arts. I think this is pretty accurate relating to how I think about things normally. Since I am a female and a science major, I am typically surrounded with science-related classes and situations rather that those related to liberal arts. I really have no interest in the liberal arts so I think that is probably why I also did not associate the liberal art words toward one gender over the other because I am not familiar with those words that much and am not surrounded by it. I think this is the reason why I feel that there is no association with gender and science or liberal arts. I am typically surrounded by both men and women in the science field and I think, personally, being a woman in the field allowed for this result of being able to recognize and correlate the science words with both genders equally. I think this result shows that I will be able to work with both genders equally because I do not see any difference in gender when it comes to liberal arts or science and I will be accepting of all genders no matter what the subject matter is.

The second quiz I took was the Sexuality IAT. This quiz  revealed automatic preference either to those who are straight over those who are gay. I was not that surprised by my results of being more preferential toward those who are straight. I do not think these results showcase that I have negative thoughts towards those who are gay because I respect and accept everyone equally, but I think that it shows which I would prefer based on who I relate to more and who I have been surrounded by more in my life. I think that I got this result because throughout my life I have been surrounded by more straight people. For instance, all of my family and close friends are straight and majority of the area I grew up in consisted of those who identified as straight. Additionally, I identify myself as straight so I think that also effected my results. Although my results show that I am more preferential to those who are straight, I do not think this will cause a problem when working with others. I have worked with both straight and gay people in the past and have gotten along with everyone equally. I personally have never had a problem getting along with and working well with those who are of either category and I do not think I will have problems in the future with people based on their sexuality.

The third quiz I took was the Age IAT. This quiz showed whether or not we had preference to those who are young or old. My results showed that I have slight automatic preference for those who are young. I find this slightly shocking because I thought I was going to have equal preference to those who are young and old. Instead my results showed a slight preference toward those who are young which, now that I see my results, kind of makes sense. Since I am categorized as young based on my age and surrounded by younger people around college on a day-to-day basis, I probably was able to recognize and identify better with those who are younger. Although, I identify and have preference towards those who are young, based on this quiz, I do not think these results will change the way I work with others. I have worked at a job before where I was one of two who were considered young and I still got along and worked well with those who were older. This is probably why my results showed only a slight preference to those who are young rather than a strong preference. I think the only reason I received slight preference toward those who are young is because I can relate to them a little better and I am also young myself.

Relational Leadership Model Blog #2

This is a link from Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix when the students have come together to train to fight against a dark wizard, named Voldemort, showcasing relational leadership:

I think this exemplifies relational leadership because even though they are all just students they have come together to train for something bigger. Harry Potter is showcased as the primary leader throughout and his style of leadership in this clip really showcases that he believes they can defeat Voldemort if they work together. He is a role model and has a vision to defeat darkness and believes that they can come together to do so. He includes and acknowledges all of the different aspects each wizard has to offer and is creating a personal relationship with each of them by helping them individually as well. Harry says things of empowerment to all of them and tells them that "every great wizard started of as students just like them." This gives them a sense of encouragement and keeps them fighting to work harder and learn more to become better in the long run. He also stays positive by giving positive feedback when someone succeeds and when his fellow wizards start to get discouraged, he thinks of ways to fix the problem effectively and encouragingly. Everyone really respects Harry as a leader and they have a bond with him. Harry uses this relational leadership with his fellow wizards to help reach a purposeful goal of ultimately defeating Voldemort which he knows will be best achieved if they work together with a common goal.

Introduction Blog #1

Hi everyone! My name is Shelvi Shah and I am a junior here at The Ohio State University. I was born and raised in Louisiana and came all the way up to Columbus to go to OSU. After two and a half years, you can still say that I am still adjusting to the winters! I am a biology/pre-optometry major pursuing to become an optometrist in the future. I really have a strong interest in this part of the medical field which would allow me to help people when it comes to one of their major senses of sight. I want to be able to help people see and experience things that they usually would not through clearer vision. I recently saw a video of a baby wearing wearing glasses for the first time and seeing things clearly. Her face lit up when she saw her parents clearly for the first time and that is the kind of help I would want to give to my patients. I also love to dance and have been practically dancing my whole life. During my freshman year at OSU, I was on an Indian/American fusion dance team called Buckeye Fusion. While being on this team, we competed against other collegiate teams around the nation. I also love to paint. Even though I have not be able to do it as much as I would like, I still find it calm and soothing when I do get the chance to paint and I always love seeing how my paintings turn out in the end. I also love to travel and experience new places, cultures, and their histories. I have traveled to many different places around the world but I still have other places like Greece left on my bucket list which I hope to go to in the future.

A leadership experience I have had that has shaped me was in high school when I founded a club my sophomore year and then was president the next two years I was there. The club was called Indigo club and it was a club that was primarily a way to help students in it learn more about Indian culture. Anyone could join and we had great success in membership. The club studied, discussed, and read about culture events and cuisine. Various Indian culture related events were put on throughout the year for the rest of the student body to get involved. All proceed from the events and food we sold went to Lion's Blind Girl's School in India. I learned a lot from this leadership experience. Since I was president, I was involved in event planning and overall experience in making sure everyone involved in the club and board has a role. I gained experience in working with others efficiently and effectively. I also learned that I can not do everything myself. This shaped me into the person I am today, because I realized that without the help of the other members of the board, as well as the members of the club, the events would never have been as successful as they were. I learned that working together is the best way to achieve better success. I always made sure everyone was involved and no one was left out. This aspect is a big part of who I am today. I always want to make sure no one feels that they are left out in any situation. I learned leadership skills in how to deal with conflict as well as learning how to resolve them. I loved being involved in an organization that was fun and charitable. That leadership experience as a whole helped guide and shape me to the person I am today.

Also to leave you feeling happy and smiling today here is that cute video of the baby wearing glasses for the first time! :)