Week #9: I forgot to write my blog on time for the first time......though this is the last one ;_;

I finished my presentation on Friday, felt very relieved, and totally forgot about this blog.
Though I had really tough time in this class, reading Shackleton, writing this blog every week, writing 2000words essay, and making presentation, I had some fun, too, and learned a lot from the class.
Starting off with the power posing, we focused mainly on Shackleton and negotiation skills about the first half. And we had three great leaders as the guest speakers. They were great experiences for me.

Special Thanks for Ken. I felt very happy when you gave us oranges and snake eggs. They were very delicious.

 

Week #8: I have just finished my essay!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, for this time, I just wanted to let you know I have just finished my essay for this class^^ So happy now, finally. I had a tutorial with Ken today (who seemed to have a hectic schedule today and I got kind of worried if he took care of himself unlike Shackleton......but anyway!), corrected some grammatical and structural problems, got satisfied with my essay, and just have printed right now.
It became 2187words and 8 pages in A4 paper including works cited page. I have never written such a long paper......sigh^^;
Well, though I had spent a lot of hard time doing all writing process, it became a very good experience.
Here are some facts that I especially had difficulties when writing my essay:
1. Research......well, it was hard to find appropriate and reliable sources. I thought I chose a topic that is easy to do research on (Napoleon), but I still had hard time finding them. Even if I found one, it included every information that I wanted to write on my essay, so I had to find other sources that say similar things. Otherwise, I had a little number of sources and the essay would have been one-sided.
2. Finding synontms......I always have this problem when writing an essay>< What would be the synonym of "great" "people" and "they"? This time, I used the word like "exceptional" "genius" "prodigious" "populace" "citizens"......and so on.
3. Writing works-cited page and footnotes. Well, nothing seems to be difficult about this, but since I didn't use (or never used) zutero, it took me a lot of time. (The reason why I have never used zutero? because too lazy to download and master its use!!) I wonder which way can shorten more time: Writing citation and footnotes as you write the sentences or write the essay first and citations at last.

Anyways, I have finished with my essay!!

おつかれさまでした！！

 

Week #7: Tenocious Creativity (The last chapter!!!!!)

I was just so surprised by Callahan's motivation. This chapter focuses on creativity, but what supported him to live at the edge was not only his creativity. He must have been exceptionally physically stronger than normal people. Who can come up with performing yoga when you can feel you are "lacking sugars, streches, and vitamins (P141)" and almost starved to death?! Though it eventually gave him a positive results, and he were to maintain his strength, it must have also taken so much energy and power from him. I can say tell this because it says "painful." If I were in his situation and condition, I would have never done it. I would rather not move as possible as I can to maintain my strengh.
Though he was almost starved to death and have been only eating fish, I wonder where his creativity and smartness came from. A person needs certain amount of energy to think. For example, I am now thinking about what to write for this blog, eating potato chips and chocolate cookies^^; They become my strengh to think and come up with ideas. Or if I were to write this blog in five minutes or die- If I were "at the edge," the situation might have been different.

Week #7: Comparing Napoleon and Shackleton

My topic for the research writing is about Napoleon's leadership. He was one of the greatest and the most famous leaders in the world. This time, I would like to introduce some of common keypoints of leadership between Shackleton and Napoleon.
First, they were both good at motivating their subordinates. They made great speeches carefully choosing the right words. They kept calm, confident, and careful conditions no matter what happened. Napoleon often used the words "glory" and "victory" to make troops believe in a positive way.
They were both good at symbolizing. Shackleton threw away anything that was not needed for the survival to make the ship lighter. It made others to do so without hesitation. Napoleon introduced the decimal system to each region he conquers to show them as a symbol of freedom and new era. In the time of Napoleon, countries in Europe were using different mathematical unit, so it was difficult for them to communicate.
They also gave certain rewards to subordinates. Napoleon especially gave special status to the bravest men in battles. He removed the medal that is quite expensive from his uniform and attached to that man's. Shackleton also gave his foods to others though he didn't have much.
Though both Napoleon and Shackleton were great leaders, I don't get why Shackleton was not as famous as Napoleon. Or am I the only one who didn't know Shackleton before reading The Leadership at the Edge?

Week #6: Ch. 8 Lighten Up! and Ch. 9 Risk

Reading Ch. 8, I was surprised by how Shackleton makes a normal day a celebration. One thing I noticed when I heard about this story, is that there are many celebration days in Japan (or it may not be that "celebratory" though). For example, we call 29th of every month "meat's day." Because we can pronounce 29 as "ni-ku" which means meat. Though it is a normal day(not a holiday) and some people don't even care about it, some supermarkets sell meats cheaper on 29th than other days. Then, I looked for Japanese anniversal and memorial days on the internet, and I found on the wikipedia that every single date has some meanings!
For example, January 1: the day of Tetsuan Atom (Japanese Anime Character)
                                   2: the day of moon rocket (I don't know what this is)
                                   3: the day of eyes and elopement
                                   4: the day of stone
Though it might not be really celebratory(or even might not be true), isn't it fun to just think of what kind of day tomorrow is when you are really in a situation Shackleton and his crews suffered?^^

Reading Ch. 9, I was impressed by Shackleton's and the author's courageous decision. If stays, slow deteriotation. If moves, death or ultimate safety. How were they able to make such a firm decision when they were on the edge? If I were they, I cannot.

Week #6: Managing Conflict

Today, we got into the groups of 4 and shared our memories of "conflict."
Soon after starting our talk, I remembered one of my worst example of conflict......
Well, when I was in high school, I belonged to the basketball team, and human relationship there was getting worse and worse as time went on.
When we had a conflict, we gathered in one place and discussedeach other to solve it.
But then, most of the members of the team advocated or talked too much of what they wanted to say.
And they didn't really listen to what others say. So the problem has never been solved.
What's worse, the basketball is a team sport. Though we made efforts not to bring any private problems to the court, it was too difficult not to care about it. During the practice, we always had dark atmosphere. We had never won a formal game.
One team member, who didn't talk a lot in discussion soon quitted the team.
I wanted to quit, too, but I really wanted to be in the team until the season we retired, just because I wanted the feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment, when retiring.
But I only felt sad when we retired.
Having experienced this, I learned it is significantly important, may be more than anything, to be patient and listen to what others say. I wonder, what would each team members and the team itself have been if all of us have read "Leading at the Edge" and taken Ken's class......

 

 

 

Week #5: Ch. 6 Core Team Values and Ch. 7 Conflict

Reading chapter 6, I was impressed by Shackleton's sense of equality. I felt especially so when reading doing lottery for getting reindeer sleeping bags. We don't usually make a lottery and do things fair when we are on the edge. For example, when there are some snacks and many people want them because they are almost starved to death, they might do rock paper scissors (I think rock paper scissors is more unfair than lottery). And I was surprised by the fact that Shackleton himself didn't participate in the lottery though he suggested to do lottery. Well, he seemed to be a very nice person, but as I mentioned before, I think he should have thought himself as more important prescence since he was a leader. He was too kind.
And reading chapter 7, I understood just how important the presence of a leader is. In case of Karluk, separation of the leader from the team caused the tradgic result. I learned a leader should never get away from a group, and also one group should never be divided. At the edge, it seems people should be all together and do same things rather than separate and do different things.