Vision Blog

            Vision is a key component of leadership and is the expressed desired result for better organization and society. A vision comes from the needs and wants of both the leader and the followers, but it is the leader that reinforces this vision and makes sure it comes about with the equal cooperation of their followers. A vision provides the followers with a stimulus for change. A plan for what they must do to make change occur and plans for the future. A example of this can be a law or stimulus package passed by a government like the stimulus package in the U. S. that sets out the plans for stimulating the economy.  While there are many vision statements such as for food chains and businesses, but above all the best known and remembered through history are those that bring about change. A popular vision such as known to us today stems from Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech discussing the vision of social equality and an end to discrimination. This vision MLK presented to the public almost 50 years ago inspired people to fight for a brighter future for them and the generations to come and voiced out what his oppressed followers wanted. While MLK’s vision was only supported by a certain portion of society it was nevertheless the desired result of these people, but needed the extra motivation and push for necessary action to help achieve the vision. Part of the vision of the charter school I work at is that their all of their students will succeed academically and socially. As a school they want the students to be able to do well in school and have brighter futures. My personal vision is a world in which no one person will have to bear the agony of sadness due to untreated mental disorders. I plant to contribute to this vision by devoting my life to helping these people find happiness and help prevent this form of pain for future generations to come. I want to help other people find happiness because I myself have suffered from a mental disorder and do not wish for others to go through what I have gone through. A mission is a statement of core values and purpose of an individual or organization. This is something that is lifelong and is a personal purpose that an individual will accomplish or is living by already. For an organization this can be what it stands for and what is important to them. The mission of my work is to make sure every student succeeds by giving them a curriculum taught with a hands-on approach. I am able to contribute to this mission because I provide some of the hands-on tutoring and help to my students to make sure they do well on their assignments. My personal mission statement is to live life to the fullest as a strong-willed, independent woman and help others find happiness.

Blog 7

Toxic Leadership Blog

           

            Toxic leadership has two types of leaders: intentionally toxic and unintentionally toxic. Both cause harm to their followers and others whether they meant to or not. Intentionally toxic leader enjoy harming others and will do so for personal gain. An example of such a leader can be Adolf Hitler or Mussolini who used fear and violence for their own personal gain. The only example of such a leader in my life I can think is my friend Gloria. She is very manipulative and will do anything to get what she wants even if it means hurting a friend. Also one of the behaviors of toxic leader is treating followers well, but making them hate others. Gloria also does this by making her friends hate a person because she doesn’t like that person. An unintentional toxic leader causes harm by performing careless and reckless actions. A behavior of a toxic leader that also goes along with this is misdiagnosing problems and failing to solve them. An example of such a leader in my life could be the principal at the school I work at who makes decisions that cause more problems and doesn’t really know how to deal with these problems. There are many types of toxic leaders both the ones that I can identify with most in my life is the absentee leader and the bully leader. An absentee leader is almost never there for their followers and does not do really lead their followers. One of the teachers I work with is an absentee leader because he is always leaving the classroom and almost never does his job. I am always the one who has the explain how to do class work and answer questions because he just sits at his desk the whole day. I always have to walk around the classroom and make sure the students are doing their work and understand what they have to do. A bully leader is someone who is very insecure about themselves and puts others down who outperform them. I knew a bully leader when I was in elementary school named Judy. She would always tease me and put me down in front of others because she was jealous of me for getting good grades. She was very insecure about herself and did not really know to interact with other people or make friends. When you are dealing with a toxic leader you can either talk to that person or walk away from that situation. In my situation with the absentee leader at my work I sometimes try to talk to the teacher. In the case of Judy I should have tried to talk to her about why she did not like me and try to fix the problem.

Followership Blog

           

This week we discussed followership and the different kinds of followers there are: isolates, bystanders, participants, activists, and diehards. There are two types of followers that really stood out to me: bystanders and activists. Bystanders are people who observe but don’t participate. They go along with the status quo and don’t stand up and fight for anything; they blend into the background of the organization. Bystanders are people who watch a crime being committed but stand and don’t do anything to stop it because they are waiting for the person next to them to do something. Bystanders can also be seen in clubs and organizations as the people that just show up at events, but don’t take part in anything. Sometimes I find myself acting as a bystander when it comes one of the club I am in, I receive all the emails about events, but never find the time to go to any events or meetings. Bystanders also remind me of my students who will just sit in class and not do anything, but listen occasionally. Activists are followers who are very much into their organization and their role. They work very hard on behalf of their leaders and organizations. Activists take charge and get things done. Activists are loyal and trusted allies of organizations. An activist is someone who is not the leader, but works with the leader to make sure things get done.  I consider myself an activist when it comes to my mock trial club, where I find myself working closely with my team leaders to get things done and sometimes go beyond my role to help out my club. Even at work I can be considered an activist because I sometimes end up doing the teacher’s job of instructing the students on how to do their class work; I answer questions that the teacher should have covered in lecture. We also discussed two different sides of a debate. The first side was all about survival of the fittest and everyone should strive to be a leader. The other side was there are too many cooks in the kitchen and everyone should strive to be a good follower. Both sides make good points. It is nice to have more leaders who can help lead the followers like in a orchestra where there are section leaders to make sure no one messes up. It’s also good to have followers to carry out the task of the leaders, because without followers nothing would get done. In my experiences at work I find that it’s good to have more teachers in the classroom because children need more individual attention sometimes to learn. There are also cases where it’s good to have more members in a club if you want to get more things done. For example in my mock trial club we need more members if we want to compete against other schools.