Women in Leadership

               This week, we had the founders and current owners of Donato's Pizza come in and talk to us about starting and running a successful business. It was very interesting to listen to them and learn about how they started their business. What I found interesting is that one of the women decided to get out of the business and start her own. I found it interesting that she would want to leave such a successful company in order to start her own company and risk losing in an investment. It was nice to see women stepping out of their comfort zones and trying to make it in the business world, and helping to further the advancement of women in leadership positions.

               Another thing I liked was how after the women sold their store chain to MacDonald, they decided that they didn't like how the attitude and feeling of the store had changed because of the chain. It's nice to see a small business flourish and become a large chain but still retain its heart as a business. I think that more companies need to remember the heart of their company and try to keep a strong moral code. Another thing I liked was that they said they paid their employees well and they gave benefits to part-time workers. You don't really see that much now because of the rising cost of living. So it's nice to see companies looking after their workers and trying to keep what is best for them in mind.

               The presentation over the new major and minor was very fascinating. I liked learning how Otterbein is now offering a major like this because I think it is an important one. I am considering taking this as a minor but I still don't know if I can fit it in because I am a music major with a math minor and I might have to drop my minor because I can't take all the required classes in my 4 years here. But I might be able to do the minor because some of the required classes can be doubled up with requirements for my major so that would be nice. I am still considering it but I would love to be able to do it.

Women in Leadership

               This week, we had guest speakers come in and talk to us about women in nontraditional fields of work. These women were very interesting to listen to but the best part of the night was when we watched the movie Miss Representation. This movie is about how the media has been pressuring women into looking or acting a certain way. I became very angry when I watched this movie because even though most of the things in this movie were shocking, I had seen many of these images before while watching TV or movies. I know most of the girls in the class were very angry along with me and after the class a couple of us had a discussion about what we had watched. We all agreed that we hated how the media showed us women in this kind of light, but that we felt powerless to stop it. One thing that we all agreed upon was that we were going to try to be better role models for the people around us and the kids that we are mentoring to try to let them know that the media is wrong and that you don't have to look a certain way to be accepted.

               This class goes along with the FYE event that I attended this week. I went with a bunch of girls from class to go see the Tunnel of Oppression. There were many rooms, including one over race, the glass ceiling for women, sex trafficking, body images for women, the bathroom problem, rich versus poor schools, gender stereotypes, and financial debt from college and the rising cost of living. The two rooms that stuck out to me the most were the sex trafficking room and the room about body images for women.

               The sex trafficking room had statistics of people who are being used in this industry and modeled a hotel room where these events would take place. The things that stuck out to me the most were the personal narratives of girls who had been through this industry on the wall. They were very descriptive and made me feel so sad for them. Another thing that shocked me was there were little foot prints on the floor and they said they were from a little girl and that broke my heart that such young children are being forced to have sex. Another thing that stuck out to me was one statistic that said there are more slaves now than ever before in history. That makes me sick to think of all these helpless people and how things need to change.

               The body image room was a room full of pictures of women that the media considers beautiful and perfect. There were so many pictures of women half naked in provocative shots or women with their bones sticking out. It made me sick to see how the media finds this image of a woman to be desirable and yet I see these images everywhere. After this event, a lot of us girls sat around again and talked about what we saw. It was nice to be able to sit and talk with other people about what I saw. Overall, this was a very good and thought provoking event.

Leadership Post

How have the speakers and readings influenced the way you are leading your life and thinking about leadership? Reflect on the influences of speakers and readings and discussions on what you think, say and do each day. What are some of the leadership lessons you have learned?

               Before I started this class, I thought of leadership as something where someone has a high position in a company or on a team and that person told other people what to do. I felt that leadership was mostly given to people and rarely earned because in our society now, leadership can be bought or won through connections in a company or popularity or fame. So when I was put into a role where I was a leader, I wanted to take it very seriously. I wanted to be in that role because I felt that I deserved it and I wanted to make sure that the job got done right. So while I was leading, I never really asked for other's opinions or tried to be people's best friend. I was more or less just the person who told people what to do and made sure the job was done efficiently.

               Now that I have been in this class, I have learned a lot about leadership that I didn't know before that will help me to become a better leader. I learned that there is difference between a leader and a manager. A manager is someone who just gets the job done, and that is how I use to lead. A leader, on the other hand, is someone who encourages people to get a job done and makes sure that everyone is being used to their fullest potential. A leader is someone who is open and honest and is someone who people want to talk to and share their opinions with. A leader is someone who will take all of these ideas and try to use as many of them as possible in order to make their job easier and more efficient. A leader is someone who will encourage their team to try their hardest, instead of just bossing them around.

               I have been trying to use these skills in my daily life to become a better leader. While I am not in charge of anything large, I do still have small leadership roles each day that I try to work my hardest at. Whenever I am in small groups for my classes I try to listen to everyone's opinions and give out the parts of the project that best suits each person, instead of just doing everything myself. I think that by applying these ideas to my way of leading, I can become a better leader in the future.

FYS event

               This past week, for my FYS event, I attended the Convocation for the common book author Tom Piazza in Cowan Hall. During this event, Piazza talked to the university about some of his inspirations for writing his book and then took some questions from the audience. Some things that he said about how we was inspired for this book really resonated with me. He said how, while he was writing his book, it felt as though his characters had come alive and were talking to him while he was writing. I can relate to what he said because I know when I write short stories, I can see my characters too. When I have a good idea for a story, the characters will really come alive for me and I can actually hear their voices and feel their emotions. So for me, this part of the lecture made a lot of sense to me and almost made me understand his book more. I found it interesting when he said that each character that an author makes has some part of the author in them. I found it interesting when he said that applied to his book and his characters because if you compare Craig and Alice, they have two totally different outlooks on life when it comes to the city of New Orleans. So I found it hard to think that two contrasting ideas can be in one person at the same time, let alone multiple ideas at once from multiple characters. Piazza said that for him to write Alice, he really had to search deep inside himself to find her voice because of how contrasting her ideas are from those of Piazza. That made sense to me and helped me to understand this idea of two contrasting ideas within one person. Overall, this was a good lecture and I enjoyed learning more about the book. This lecture helped me to understand more of the fine details of the common book and helped me to appreciate it more.

Women in Leadership

               This week, we had three speakers come in and talk to us about what it really means to be a female leader and what it means to have power. I enjoyed the first speaker, Justice Yvette McGee Brown, because not only did she discuss with us about how she was a strong female leader in the workforce, but how she was a strong female leader and role model for her family.  She said how while she wanted to have a family and be a mother, she also had dreams about her career and wasn't willing to give up on those dreams in order to be a mother. She gave us some good advice, like how we should never leave the work place until we have to leave. That way, when we come back from time off to raise a family or from a career switch, we won't be very far behind our other co-workers and will be able to transition back into the work force more easily.

               The other speaker that I found very interesting was Dr. Val Moeller. She talked to us about power, what it was, and how people in the work force use it. She told us how there are many levels of power and how each of those levels are attained. I found it interesting when she said that most of the leaders in today's society are leaders who have power through wealth and success. These are the leaders who show they have power through fancy cars and expensive things that they show off to other people. When you think about it, most people who are in charge will do this instead of being leaders who will try to be good examples and want to help others. These are the leaders that we need more of in our society. We need leaders, not only women but men too, who will put their work and their team above their own personal gains. If we had more leaders like that, then we could have more efficient companies and a better work force.