Changing the World

This blog might be the last blog for our class. So I want to write both about what we learned this week and what I think "Change" can do to our world.

Change. This is what we learned this week. Change can happened in personal, organizational, or positional. It doesn't matter that it is hard. It is matter that what is changing. The change can start from your inside or might be outside which is your personal change (attitude). The change can be positional when there is someone lending to the change.

We are all changing everyday. It is from the appearance to characters. It is depends on the environment we live in.The world is changing everyday as well, but human can be known as the main impact. Natural disaster in Japan is the newest appearance change in the Earth. It also came with changes in thousands family and thousand lives. Do you believe you can change what happened in Japan? We can't change what happened, but we can save a live in Japan. Instead of holding on to some usual fun activities, we can sacrifice and donate. This action can change a live. This is also one action of changing yourself and it is the first step of changing the world. So...Change is good!

Let's get Ethical!

Every week when I write a blog, I said this is my favorite topic which I like the best. This week, I would say this blog might be the best among others (even compare to some topics in the future). 

I learned a lot about Ethical after the lecture on Monday. The guest speaker was so impressive. I would say he is the best speaker in this class. I could say everyone trust his examples. He made the listeners feel comfortable and a connection. 

There are two quotes which I learned from him:

• ·         More time means more difficult
• ·         Trust is the oil which make things go smooth

I could apply all of these quotes to not only my leadership role but also my life. For example, one person in VSA Presidency set up a time to meet up and discuss. However, this person usually didn’t show up. I wanted to tell his/her to be on time and do what he/she said he/she is going to do. But I was afraid to make a comment because I don’t want to make a negative feeling to that person. What do you think? Is this considered as unethical? I would consider it as an unethical action. I should make a comment to his/her right away and it would be easier to say. I might not hurt his/her feeling if I tell him/her from that day.

A small act can lead us to an unethical act. For example, we usually use our neighbor wireless. What do you think? We are stealing our internet connection without paying!!

Ethical can be applied to a very minor problem and a business world outside. I believe practice being Ethical is a necessary thing.  From the time I was baptized, I realized: Unethical can only help me in short term. Ethical is what I need to be succeed in a long term and get closer to our Heavenly Father!

What kind of leader are you???

Can you answer that question?
Probably some of you can, some of you can not (because you are not in our class. Ha). There are four situational leaders you can become:

1. Supporting
2. Coaching
3. Delegating
4. Directing

These are also four different way to approach the problems. Which one is the best one to be a great leader?
I would never know until I was in some situations in Wednesday lab. For example, in some of the problems, you can use supporting and coaching at the same time. But sometimes, I can't use coaching.

Coaching sometimes may be too harsh to talk to your team members. Directing may get people thought you are trying to teach them what they already know. Supporting only may cause people don't concentrate in their tasks, etc. Therefore, I believe a great leaders is the one who have all of these four. He/ she can combine these four ways to a big and greatest way to lead their team members.

I think delegating is my leader style. Now, I need to remind myself to blend these four characters to be a better leader  in the future!

R...A...C...E!!!

R...A...C...E.....!!!!
Yeah, that is the fastest way to do a case.
R means Research
A means Action Plan
C means Carry Out
E means Evaluation

This week, I had a chance to solve a case about Marriot School problem in lab. I think this was very interesting to be a part of a team and did some brainstorm.  Each of us  make the "RACE" better. We followed the R A C E steps, and we wished we have a chance to Carry it out to the real life. However, as I been researched about Marriot School GPA, I realized they actually  set a goal for their student GPA. For example, they set a goal of having an average 3.5 GPA. Therefore, they will do a curve in any business program to make their goal happen.

From my research I realized the case we were given is not exactly right and we also have to do the research before we can analyze the problem. Anyway, it was a great practice for not only me but also our class. It makes me think about it a lot during the week about the power of a team work. I just saw a promotion on the I-15 high way: "A team is better than a group of individuals".

I believe we can apply this quote and the RACE plan to our leadership role. Right now, VSA still looks like a team, but sometimes it is a group of individuals. In my opinion, I can apply the RACE plan to VSA situation right now in order to solve any problems!

GO RACE!

Time Management!

That’s just what I want to learn in this class. I’m always a bad planner. I tried so many things to improve my time management skills. I quite succeed in the first and second month of this semester. I wrote down everything I want to do the next day, and they are my goals for the next day. It became my habit for quite a long time. Then, I had to work and start to lose my planner habit. I thought I can just remember all and do it to save sometimes (write down to my note book). And yes, I was definitely wrong.  On the day I did my presentation, I thought I have at least one hour to prepared. Then, I didn’t have time to prepare and did badly in my presentation. 

This is a lesson for me. Even I know I’m not going to have a good grade, but I learned to get back to my planner note book as soon as possible. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said: “One always has time enough, if one will apply it well.” I agree with Johann quote about time. We need to apply our time more efficiency and more helpful.  Other than that, we are time-wasters.

I also really like the Time Management Sheet, because I can actually look at it and see how many hours I am in a time-waster role rather than in my leadership role. I have started print out a lot of time management sheets to keep track of my hours each and every day. Hopefully, I can bring that good habit to friends around me.

Public Speaking!

I have learned how to do a presentation in a business casual, but I haven’t learned how to be a great public speaker. The lecture really helped me in improving my public speaking skills. I usually shy to stand up and talk. I think it is a challenge for me, but there is a tip: “Practice, practice, practice”

We all know it is very difficult to get attention from a public place. There are several ways which I learned to get attention from audiences; such as story, video, stats, or experts.  From our last lab, I think all of my classmates did great on their presentation. They used pictures or stories to start their presentation. I can see everyone was very confident. That’s what I need to improve. 

I didn’t have a chance to do my presentation, but I’m going to plan and practice more for my presentation. I would definitely need to use the tip “Practice, practice, practice.”

Relationships related to the leader Pyramid?

Once again, I want to say I learned a great principles from the last class lecture, which I think very impressive. I wrote down every new things I learned as usual and applied it to myself: 


5 Stages of Relationship:

1. Surface: This kind of relationship happen everyday when I interact with store clerks or waiters.
2. Structure: This kind of relationship happen when I share my common interest or activity with others. They can be VSA members, my co-workers, or classmates.
3. Secure: This kind of relationship happen when people want to spend time together with me, For example, my friends in my ward invited me to a formal dance
4. Solid: This kind of relationship happen when I can completely trust in my friends. I share with them everything, which I hide from others 
5. Significant: This relationship is the highest stage. This is the point where I immediately think about my other half. He gives me beyond reason and lift me up to a level, which I could not reach without him. For instance, I couldn't have that happiness in me without him. I would definitely feel stressful because of school and work. Surprisingly, I am happy, full of energy, and ready to serve others :).

I wrote about 5 stages of relationship because I want to see what is the relationship between me and other VSA presidency right now. Sadly, I can say I have a structure relationship with some members and secure relationship with some members. I believe a strong relationship (solid) also is the main key to become a great leader.From the last Monday, I have another goal for myself: increase any present stages to at least one stage higher.


Let's talk about the Leader Pyramid. I will explain the reasons why I said 5 stages of relationship related to the Leader Pyramid. There are also 5 levels in the Pyramid, which I think relationship in every stages likely to have.

1. Focused on results: That's absolutely true. In each surface relationship, I always focus on what they do and what I can do.
2. Accountability: It is also true. Because as I work with my co-workers, I usually think I have to responsible tasks and don't think to make it better.
3. Commitment: The people in the secure stage are naturally commit to have a great time when they want to spend time together
4. Positive conflict: This is a stage where I and my friends begin to closer and we share everything. So, I will not surprise when conflict happen, because through solving the conflicts, I can understand more about them. That's the main point which bring us together.
5. Trust: is also the highest level in the Leader Pyramid. Trust is the main basic to build a great leader, and also a great partner.

These are the reasons why I said they are related. So, I think I need to change my relationship stages with others first, before I can change my Leader Pyramid. In conclusion, I gained a great lesson and great goal myself this week by doing a teamwork activities with classmates!!

Life love to have conflicts! :)

I learned from our lab this week: Life is not perfect without conflict. That’s so true because conflict can help us have a better understanding and better communication with others. I usually tried to avoid conflicts as much as I can.  It is true in some cases, but speak up is the needed actions to resolve any problems.

For example, one of the greatest leaders in Vietnam is Ho Chi Minh. You might or might not know him. If you don’t, you can look at him through Vietnamese currency J. There are several reasons which make him become the greatest Vietnamese leader of all time:

-        -   He is the one who can affect everyone in our country by being a humble leader.              

-        -   He is the model for every Vietnamese to follow by the way he served his country: he went to so many countries to find the best solution for Vietnam at that time. He also can speak fluently more than 10 languages

-          - He knew Vietnam needs a person to stand up and combine two sides of his country. Then, he was the one resolve the conflict happened at that time.

I believe a person can people resolve country conflict would definitely consider as the best leader. Even he passed away, but we always think about him and want to say thank you. Today, thousands of people still come to see him in his house every day.  Vietnam owes him so many things, which we couldn’t count.

I applied what I learned in the lab this week by doing the internal control for VSA Club. I think it is very important, because my job can help everyone closer. I know our club has many things going on inside: conflicts, disagrees, and gossips. I feel it is my responsibility to change what is happening right now. I want to be a person stand up and fix all of those things. I also believe conflict is sometimes a good thing to help us know each other more personally.  That’s how I apply what I learn to my leadership role. I might not be perfect, but it will get better. J!

Strength or Weakness?

Honestly, I'm very interested in this topic. I have been taught that I have to improve my weaknesses, but I have never figured out that I also have to focus on my strengths. For example, in my Interview Assignment, I was always talking about how I can be like him and what characteristics I can change. By doing so, I can be an affective leader. Do you think it is right or wrong? Think about it a moment and answer why before you read the next paragraph?




......
- Did you answer right or wrong?
......
- Why did you choose to answer right/wrong?
......




Now is the time for my answer:


I would answer it is both right and wrong. It is great to know his strong characteristics which make him become an awesome leader. That's right to follow and try to improve. Why not? Trying doesn't hurt anything. I also think it is wrong when I apply his leader characteristics in my leadership role before I use all of my strengths. I think I should improve and expand my strength first. Then, I can improve any of weaknesses which can affect my life.


I believe I can affect people around me by my own way and by my own strengths. Because I learned from the class lecture on Monday: If I can focus on my strengths, my weaknesses will get better


I wrote down my strengths: work hard, planning, consult, and patient. I have been thinking about what can I do to apply these to my leader ship role. And yay! I found a way: I wrote down all mistakes in the last VSA party. I asked some random people who were there in the party about what they like and don't like. Then, I found the solutions for each mistakes and way to improve good stuffs in VSA party. I know I couldn't apply all of my strengths yet, but I will!!

Servant - Leader vs Serving - Leader

We not only had a wonderful chance to know about so many wonderful stories in our lecture on Monday but also had an opportunity to serve students on campus on Wednesday.  They taught me two important concepts of a great leader: Servant-Leader and Serving-Leader.

Talk about what is the definition of a servant leader.  The servant-leader is a servant first, and it begins with the natural feeling. Joseph Smith is our humble servant. He would never yell or control his followers. He didn’t used force to make people listen and follow him. He used love!

How about a serving-leader? It’s also related to love. They have a desire to serve and to build a relationship with people around.  It is the key to happiness.

I applied both of them to my leadership role this weekend. As I wrote in my paper on Wednesday, my three goals are:

+ I will ask how everyone is doing, give them a smile, and a big hug on my Vietnamese Tet Holiday party.

+ I will take out trash for people when they are done with eating

+ I will try my best to bring our Holiday spirit to everyone

                It was a great experience for me. I felt very happy when I did these activities. I enjoyed it very much. I just learned one thing: I can happier when I make people around me happy. It was funny when everyone didn’t expect to have one person (me) to help them clean out the trash and ask them some questions about the meals.  I felt I brought the Vietnamese Tet Holiday spirit to people by a warm welcome hug.

                I apologized every that we were running out of foods. It was our fault in predicting in the number of people coming. After the event, I learned so many things from my mistakes. I wrote down all the mistakes to improve our next event. I promise to myself: I will try my best to give people a great time in our party!

Perfect leader of all time - Jesus Christ.

         We have been discussed and learned more about our best leader of all time – Jesus Christ. He is a perfect model for us to follow.  He contained five main characteristics of a great leader: motive, vision, challenge, example, and serve.

         Talking about motive, Christ had a good purpose for us from the day he is on Earth. He wants all of us to be happy and lead us to our Heavenly Father.

         His vision is about peace, service, and community on the Earth. He saw the day when all human can be together in heaven with Heavenly Father – peaceful and happy. It was the main key which helped him got through all the pain and suffer. He knew, in order to work for something, he has to see it first.

         He accepted the challenge from God to come down to the Earth and changed thing. He encouraged people and challenged the unrighteousness.  From this point, he set himself as a perfect example just like a drum major lead the parade.

         He served others so they may act and know their heart. He taught me how to act, how to serve, and how to know each heart. Love is also very important. Without love, he couldn’t lead anyone.

For instance, as we discussed in the lab about his example, my group had a chance to discuss about his story in Mathew 21: 12-14. The story is about when people used the temple as a place to buy and sell. It also mentioned that these people just like thieves. Jesus was very disappointed and wanted to lead them back to the main point of a temple. The blind and the blame came to him to be healed.  From the story, I can see he is the righteousness and made him as a model for others. I also learned love was his greatest attribute. He loves his own enemies. I’m wondering at the same time: “Will I able to do that?”

         We all know love enemies are a very hard thing to do. But nothing is impossible. I’m not an exception. I always try my best to not having any argument with that person (in VSA) and create a peace between us. Life is also not easy, that person do bad thing behind me, but I know I shouldn’t do the same thing like him/her. The only things I can do are pray and show love.

         I took the leadership role as a Vice President of VSA, also means I accept the challenge to be a better leader, a better person. I learned to show love to everyone around me. I cared more about VSA’s activities, such as helping plan for our Tet Holiday activity next week and choosing songs for this event. I learned to ask for help from VSA members. I called them to help our event can go smoother and have a better connection with every members

         On Monday, I learned from the virtue of Nike: “Just Do It.” Nothing is going to happen, unless you try – that is my virtue!

Hitler. Is he a good or bad leader?

From the previous lab, I learned one more definition of great leaders: they are who can changed the world. Actually, I don't know a lot of leaders, but Adolf Hitler has impressed me with his leadership skills. He is the one who can occupied most of Europe and Northern Africa.

Have you ever wonder how can he did that when he just a human being like us? The answer can be very simple because he has a big influence in his followers. He has a strong spirit for his nation which is also the motivation for his big dream. He used his motivational and powerful speaking abilities to gain support and popularity.

People think he is a devil for so many bad thing he had done to the world. I think it is not right or wrong. It is right because he used his power to  fear people. It is not right when he brought his love to Germany in a wrong way. I have a thought: he will be a great leader if he can use his leadership skill and power in a good way.

Through the example of Adolf Hitler, I learned how to become a leader is getting motivate and respect from people. I applied these characteristics to my leadership role. I wrote down my motivation in a paper. I showed respect to everyone is the best way to have respect from people. For example, last Friday I had a BYUVSA presidency meeting, I learned to calm down and show respect to other VSA presidency members when we have an arguing.

We are going to have another meeting on Tuesday nextweek. I'm excited to be an active members of VSA club and apply all of the great leadership skills of Hitler to my role.

Characteristics of a Great Leader!

How do you define "Great Leader"? I would define "Great Leader" as the one who has a good communication skill, love people around, and be ready to step up to take challenges.

Those are some characteristics I have learned and applied to my leadership role this week. I learned to step up to take my role and be ready for the new challenge. I can see myself a week ago as a shy person. But today, I was able to call the President of BYU Vietnamese Student Association without hesitation.

Communication is one of the aspects which I need to improve. I briefly prepared my talk with the President of BYUVSA before I had a meeting with him. Surprisingly, it worked and I was able to serve BYU as a Vice President for BYUVSA.

Another aspect for a good leader is showing love. I think love is very important not only in a normal life but also in a leadership role. I showed my love to people around me clearer simply by a little chat on facebook, invite them to have dinner, or ask how their lives are. I let them know I can be there for them whenever they needed me.

This is how much the class has improved me to be a "Great Leader" for the first week of class. I'm excited to see how much I can improved to be a "Great Leader" at the end of the semester!

Misunderstanding sometimes can lead you to be more active!

     Last night, I figured out that I was misunderstanding in my leadership role assignment. I have to choose the role and actually do it.
     Instead of worrying about it, I called the BYUVSA President and had a little meeting with him today. I talked about my situation, and how much I want to serve BYUVSA as well as to improve my leadership skill.
     He gave me a big smile after my talk and said : "I would love to have you as a Vice President for VSA. We need you help in next Friday, make sure you have 1 hour for us".
     VSA Vice President will be my leadership role! Yay!

My Leadership Role!

        Honestly, this is a very exciting class. From the first day of class, I learned to break my fear and get to be more confident in myself which is the most important thing to be a successful leader. I fear to stand up to do anything in a crowd, and I fear that I might fail to do anything.

        Yes, I feared to be the first person to come up and break the fear board. Inside me, I always remember a quote from a very successful leader in Amway Vietnam: "To be a successful leader, you need to get out of your comfort zone". I did sometimes, and I succeeded in my career. Then, I came to BYU and couldn't reach my goal in education for the first semester. I also lost my confidence from that time. 

        I know for myself: I need to get my confidence back! What do I need to do? I want to do something for people around me! I tried, tried, and tried! I got involved in the BYUVSA club with a lot of other clubs. I found a great leader in BYUVSA. I talked to her and learned so much from her. She just left BYU last month to come back to Vietnam. I really want to run for the President of VSA club, so I can devote more for my society. I want to make BYUVSA a better club to join in, and more popular not only to BYU students but also to everyone. Ghandi has said: "We must be the CHANGE we wish to see in the world". So I chose to be a CHANGE as a President of BYUVSA club.

       So what is your definition for successful leader? From my perspective, leadership is how to serve people around you successfully. And yes, leader will always the first person to stand up. That is my view about leadership. How about yours?