FINAL BLOG TOPIC-Josh malament

The class topic i found most useful and interesting was on motivation. I've been having some motivational issues in my life and it was good to finally learn how to address them. i find myself being motivated in completely different ways in different situations in my life. The concepts and strategies covered in class to deal with these different types have been beneficial. The reading " Four Intrinsic Rewards: Meaningfulness, Choice, Competence, and Progress" also shed some light on my motivational issues. I feel im intrinsically motivated in about every aspect of life besides my current profession, and that's where my issues are present. So that being said, i don't believe im capable of being motivated extrinsically, unless the rewards are very enticing.

The book that i found to me most interesting was "Emotional Intelligence". I have struggled with being able to hide my emotions when i feel that i have been treated unjustly. It takes over, i can rarely shake the feelings and it affects the way i work and respond to certain situations. Everyone knows when I'm upset or frustrated. Sometimes this isn't a bad thing to let people know how your feeling, but there are other situations when i can be detrimental to you're career or life. This is very dangerous when dealing with authority, such as a boss or police officer. If you can't hide your feelings of discontent and anger when dealing with these authority figures, you can find yourself unemployed or in jail. I have to work on my emotional intelligence, so i may purchase this book to learn a little more about how i can do this, as well as review the notes from class on the issue.

In conclusion.. I felt that i learned quite a bit in this course and feel that i will be using many of the strategies and concepts we have discussed as i move forward in my professional and personal life.

Final Blog Topic (Eric Dodge)

A lot of the topics that we have learned in this class have been very interesting and are directly relevant to our personal and professional lives. The topics that have been most interesting and helpful for me are culture, being perceived, social perceptions and mind bugs. These are all topics that I thought about before, and I knew were very important. This class has helped me to improve my knowledge and skills in these areas.

I have always thought that perception was very important, but after reading more about it I have learned that it is even more important than I thought. In the readings for class we learned how important first impressions are. People base future actions off of their initial impression of you. This means that if they had a good first impression you can make mistakes and they will chalk it up to a bad day. But if they had a bad first impression of you they will assume that you just aren't very good at what you do. It is difficult to change people's first impressions, so it is important to make a good first impression whenever possible. I feel like I am usually pretty good at this in more casual settings, but I need to get better at this in professional settings. I still feel like a "kid" a lot of the time at work, but this is not the impression that I want others to get of me.

We also learned about perceptions that people in a society have and some of the mind bugs that go along with them. These are perceptions that we have of others, as well as ones that others have of us. I think that this idea is very similar to the concept of different leadership styles in different cultures. It is important to understand the different mind bugs, perceptions, and customs in each culture. This is because our economies are becoming so global, so we will always be working with people from different cultures, with different social norms. At my company I work with a lot of people that are originally from other countries, as well as working with colleagues and customers that currently live in other countries. It is important to be able to communicate effectively with these people and that means understanding at least a little bit about their culture. I also really like to travel and check out new places with different ideas and customs, so this is especially interesting for me.

I really liked the book, Drive, that our group did because I think that motivation is an interesting topic and I liked the way that it was discussed in the book. Another book that was presented in class that I liked was Emotional Intelligence. I think that this is a very important topic that a lot of people don't really think about. I try to keep my emotions in check and always think rationally, but sometimes this is very difficult. I am going to read this book in the future because I would like to learn a little more about this interesting topic.

FINAL BLOG TOPIC by Onder

I think this class should be a required class, rather than an elective, for the MBA program.  “Leader” and “Leadership” are misused quite often, and most people (I was one of them) do not have a good idea about what leadership really means.  The media routinely refers to “political leaders” and “business leaders,” without regard to whether they really deserve the title.  The fact that leadership is not the territory of a few at high places and it is an essential part of everyone’s personal development is a well-kept secret.

The textbook for the class “Leadership Challenge” is a good one.  However, I think it is unnecessarily long as if the author was paid by the number of words in the book.   By the time one comes to the end of a chapter, he or she (at least me) forgets how the chapter started.  I found the reader very useful.  I particularly liked the articles about interpersonal relationships and emotional intelligence.  I think usefulness of the reader would be enhanced if each article was briefly discussed in the class before it was to be read as to what it was about and how it related to the overall scheme of things.

I liked the class discussion on ethics and noticed that a lot more people than before wanted to participate in the discussion.  Perhaps other students liked this topic as well.  But I also think that students wanted to participate more in the discussion because they knew each other better by the end of the semester; at least they knew more about each student.  If that was true, then it would make sense to encourage students to learn more about each other at the beginning of the semester.  I personally liked the approach taken by Dr. Wilson in the communications class, which was the first class in the program for most students.  At the beginning of that class, each student had to give a presentation about him or herself.  The students who said “hi” and actually talked to me in this class were the ones who took the communications class with me.  There are students who set within few feet of me throughout the semester and still look through me.  May be it is because I look a bit older than I am!!!

I really enjoyed reading “Drive,” as it addressed self-motivation as well as motivating others.  Of course, I had a personal interest in the part about the baby boomers.  After all, I recently started a new business called “BOOMERESE REALTY.”  For those who are curious about what it means, Boomerese is the language of the baby boomers, and it is not a word in any dictionary.  Between the books other groups presented I like the “Predictably Irrational,” as it relates to our everyday behavior.  I will read it in the near future.

“Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun” by Wess Roberts has been one of my favorite books for many years.  Although the first reaction to the title is “you must be kidding,” it is actually a very good book about leadership.  It acknowledges why a western person would be skeptical that a barbarian would have any leadership skills and proceeds to trace Attila’s life step-by-step, describing how he acquired and used the various leadership skills in each step.  It is one of the few books and articles that bring up the point that leadership is in the eye of the beholder; that is, one people’s leader is another’s barbarian (I have a cousin named Attila and another named Cengiz).  In any case, it is a small, humorous book that is easy to read; I highly recommend it.

I am terribly biased about Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, but he is my example of a true leader.  His last name means “Father of the Turks.”  It was given to him by the Turkish Congress, and nobody else is allowed to have that last name.  His biography “Ataturk:  A Biography of Mustafa Kemal, Father of Modern Turkey” by Lord Kinross is an unbiased story of this great man.  It is a long book and requires at least some familiarity with the History of Ottoman Empire and Europe during late nineteenth century and early twentieth century.

It has been a pleasure to participate in this class and interact with our small group.  My best wishes to you all for the Holidays.  My special thanks go to Dr. Johnson for her Leadership.  A couple of quotes from Ataturk seem appropriate to end this blog:  “Teachers are the most respectable people in our society,” and “I will be eternally indebted to anyone who teaches me just one word.”

Final Blog Topic - Christine

This semester, my favorite topics in this class were Social Perceptions and Mind Bugs, Culture, and Being Perceived.  Having just traveled to a different country, it is interesting how social perceptions and mind bugs come into play.  Apparently, a young Asian American female traveling into the Netherlands is suspicious to security at the airport. I was stopped by airport security as well as customs and asked several questions that led me to believe that they thought I was bringing drugs back into the United States.  Mindbugs under these circumstances meant a young Asian female cannot be doing something legitimate in a foreign country. 

The passport control person in the Netherlands kept saying something bizarre to me.  He was actually saying "ni hao" or how are you in Chinese, but I had no clue what he was trying to say to me.  When I asked him what he was trying to say, he said, "Aren't you from China?"  I answered, "I'm American" and he seemed so perplexed.  The passport control person insisted I was from China and I replied back that I have never been there and my passport was issued in the United States.  I guess I didn't win any friends that day and probably perpetuated the belief that Americans are rude.

Being in a foreign country is always an interesting experience.  As a visitor to the Netherlands, I really tried my best to be aware of the perceptions people had about Americans and tried to respect their local culture.  When I was working at my company site in Breda, I made a point to be careful of criticizing their processes or appear that I was passing judgments.  I made a point to ensure that I didn't offend anyone there.

Being perceived was a topic I really relate to because I am aware of how others perceive me.  On Saturday, my flight home from Amsterdam was canceled and I had the pleasure of hanging out with an Executive Director from my company.  The two of us had been in the same room all week and barely talked, but when my flight was canceled I decided to email him and the two of us met up for dinner in Amsterdam.  The whole week I wondered why he even came to the Netherlands because he barely contributed during the meetings and always seemed bored while we were there.  After getting to know him over dinner, he admitted to me that he knew people thought he wasn't fully engaged during the meeting.  He wanted people to be able to express their ideas and didn't want to be another person projecting their opinion about how things should be done at our Netherlands facility.  We were the two youngest people attending the meeting last week and he told me that he understood how I felt at my age in the company.  Our 360 reviews are due at the end of this week and we both joked about what they were going to say.  I know mine will say that I'm bubbly and I need to be aware of how I am perceived by managers.  My dining partner admitted that he thought I was bubbly but was surprised on how much I knew at my young age and how much influence I've had on the company.  He told me to continue to be myself, and that if being bubbly is the only negative thing they have to say about my performance, than that isn't so bad at all.  He also said that he noticed when I had to be serious, people respected me and the balance of bubbly and authority was a good combination.

Of all the books we've discussed this semester, I would read Blink and The Geography of Thought.  Both of these books relate to topics that interest me most in this class.

Overall, I enjoyed this class.  Many of the topics we covered are things that I can relate to in my current position and hopefully will help make me a better leader in the future.  Most of all, it was interesting to hear about people's experiences in their workplaces and being able to engage in dialogue with my classmates.

Leadership- Close to home

In our little group we have been sharing our thoughts and experiences throughout the semester.  Even though we hardly said "Hi" in the class, I feel that by sharing our inner thoughts, feeling and experiences we have formed a special friendship in this cyberspace.  Today, I will share some more personal thoughts with you.

Yesterday four of our immediate family members and I spent a very long day in a hospital waiting room.  We had both my brother-in-law Don and his son Alex in the same surgery room for about fifteen hours.  It was a day of extreme stress and extreme emotions.  At the end, both surgeries went well and, hopefully, both of them will recover.

About a year ago Don was diagnosed with liver cancer.  Many months of ups and downs with getting on the waiting list for a liver, getting off the list, being x-rayed and scanned over and over, it started looking like he was running out of time to wait for somebody elses liver.  Then, Alex volunteered to give his father part of his liver, as they were a good match.

Alex is twenty six years old.  After he graduated from U.C. Berkeley he started Law school, and at the end of his first year he dropped out.  He was the only one ever to drop out of any school in the whole family.  We thought he partied too much, did not have the right attitude, etc.  Some of us were embarrassed to tell our friends about his "failure."  To our surprise, Alex got himself a job at Google within a short time.  To our surprise, he loved his job and he was very excited to do what he was doing.  He was working on the bus to work and staying late at work, and he worked on weekends.  He could not stop talking about his team and teammates.  We began calling him the "Google Man."  The Google Man was recently sent to South America to train Google employees there.  From all we can see and tell, he is an exemplary Google employee and with all the enthusiasm he has for his job we think he has a good future there.

Nobody asked Alex to volunteer his liver for his father and his father was surprised by the offer.  It was a very tough call for Alex to make the offer, and a tougher call for his father to accept it.  First thing Alex did when he woke up was to ask "How is Dad?"  He wanted to be put on a wheelchair and go see his father as soon as his father came out of the surgery.

I said something in the last class about how we get tested occasionally about our values.  I have always taken pride for being a very honest person, but it did take me a hole day of internal deliberation whether I should return the check that the cashier put into the bag.  At the end, I returned the check and felt good about it.  I had just walked the walk.  It is a simple but good reference point for me to think about if and when a similar situation arises, as I have already taken the test and I know the right answer.

I told Alex that he is a brave man and we all appreciated what he was doing for his father.  I thanked him from the bottom of my heart.  He loved his Father, and he walked the walk.  He took the test and passed it.  He now knows the answer.  He is my "leader of the year."

Final Blog Topic

We've reached the end of this part of your leadership journey - and hopefully you are ready to continue on your own! In this posting, please write about what activity, topic, or reading you found the most interesting and useful. It may be interesting to see how others saw the class and what they found of value.

Also, please briefly describe which book - other than your own - you think was most useful to learn about and if you know of other books that you think would be useful for a future class, please provide the title!

Groups and Leadership-Josh Malament

I find myself using different leadership styles for different kinds of groups. When it comes to friendship groups and social groups i take the leadership role early and often. I find my friends to be very indecisive, so to eliminate wasting time, i take the lead and get the show on the road with planning and decision making. But when leading my friends, i have to be more accommodating to their needs, preferences, and wants. And it's only natural that in these social situation to have the most awesome person lead a group to the ultimate goal of having an awesome time.

In groups at work i tend to take the leadership role when im managing a crew, obviously, but i allow the crew to work autonomously. I let them know what the goal is, tell them how i would like to reach that goal as efficiently as possible, and then let them work. If i notice someone struggling I will jump in and help and lead them back on track.

When working with the partners in the company i work for, i take the back seat and watch and listen as they drive towards the goal. They have many more years of experience than i do so i like to learn and follow when working with them. Although, i do contribute whenever possible, because i have experience and knowledge of my own that may help in certain situations.

When im with my family, since im the youngest, i tend to just chill and let things happen, lending a helping hand whenever i can. I very rarely jump into the leadership role because i have a brother that will try to battle for dominance regardless of rationality or logic. But, i guess that what big bros do.

When im with a group for class, i like to survey the people in the group and see if anyone is itching to jump into the lead. This usually takes a few seconds....if no one does, then i take the lead, and get it started. I don't like to waste time establishing roles, everyone is going to contribute, but a leader gets the ball moving.

I enjoy learning from other leaders. Successful leaders have a lot to offer. Their style has proven to work, so taking notes (mentally) for usage or imitation can be useful. But, different leadership styles and techniques are not universally compatible, and that's what this course is about, learning the techniques and styles, and when to apply them.

Groups and Leadership (Eric Dodge)

My leadership style varies greatly depending on the groups I am with, and the situations that I face. I am the oldest of four children, so I usually have to play the big brother role when I am with my family. This is not too bad, though because my family is really laid back and we usually just joke around with each other. I do have to take more of a leadership role than my younger siblings, but I never think of it as a burden. We still joke around and have fun with each other, so it's not like I have to always try and be in charge. I usually take on a leadership role with my family, so I don't feel like my leadership style changes that much within this group.

When I hang out with my friends I employ a lot of different leadership styles. I am totally fine with being a follower and letting others take on leadership roles, as long as they aren't pushing something that I don't want to do. I am pretty relaxed and open to ideas, so this is usually not an issue. But when the leader is pushing something that I don't want to do, I take on more of a leadership role. There are also times when it seems like the group needs some leadership, and at these times I will usually step in and give some direction. When I hang out with my friends my leadership style varies greatly based on the situation.

Overall I am comfortable in a leadership role, but I usually do not make myself the leader unless it looks like the group is struggling, or I have some type of expertise in the specific situation. I have not been at my current job for very long, so I do not have much expertise, and people do not usually look to me as a leader. This means that at work I usually end up being a follower, which is fine most of the time. But lately I have been given more opportunities to lead, which has actually been a lot of fun. I have been developing my skills and getting a chance to take leadership roles more often. So at work I am now getting a better balance between being a leader and a follower.

I really like having this balance between being a leader and a follower. It seems like I look for this type of balance in all of the groups that I am a part of. I don't really like it if I have to be a leader all of the time, and I definitely don't like it if I have to be a follower all the time. With my family and friends I feel like I already have a good balance between the time I spend leading versus following. I like being able to sit back and let others lead sometimes, but I also like to have a little more say and be the leader at times. Now at work I am beginning to get a little better balance between the two, which has made me feel much more useful and happier at work.

TOPIC 12: GROUPS AND LEADERSHIP by Onder

You can change a job you don’t like and resign from a volunteer organization, but you cannot trade your family for another one or stop participating in family activities.  At least, you must endure a lot more stress or abuse before dropping out of the family.  This is because your family is your “in” group, and the values that apply to your relationship with the family are quite different than those that apply to “out” groups.  Of course, the family values vary between cultures.  In agrarian societies the greater family must live and work together without regard to individual preferences of the family members, as maintaining the unity of the farmland has utmost importance for all family members.  In societies like the one we live in, where the interdependency between family members is not that significant for the wellbeing of the individuals, the membership in the family group is more voluntary and drop-outs, although rare, can and do happen.

I feel that the appropriate leadership style within the family group is different than in a workplace and it changes with time as well as with circumstances.  One difference from the workplace is that within the family strong and conflicting emotions are usually in play, such as love, jealousy, competition for attention, feeling of neglect, feeling of not being respected, etc.  Over the years, I have recognized that keeping the “harmony” within the immediate and greater family is very important.  Without harmony, the mutual moral support function of the family would not work.  So, I have become a lot more relaxed, tolerant, and permissive and a lot less assertive in my dealings with the family.  I ignore many things that would have bothered me before, avoid arguments about politics and religion, and refrain from giving advice without being asked.  On the other hand, I do keep in mind my responsibility to interfere if and when something of serious nature happens.  For example, I would definitely not keep quiet if I see a family member getting involved with drugs. 

Some holiday gatherings are happier than others.  This Thanksgiving we did not have the whole family together as one of us is about to have a serious surgery and we did not want to take any chances with exposing him to flu or common cold.  We are counting on having the whole family together again next Thanksgiving, and we will make sure that the turkey is the biggest one ever.

Groups and Leadership - Christine Cho

I definitely can see how my leadership style changes depending on the groups of which I am a member.  I feel that I am more effective in groups I lead and it is difficult for me to be a follower.  I  am in the Netherlands this week working on a project that I am not leading.  We just wrapped up day one and I found myself taking on a leadership role in the project because I couldn't stand behind and just participate.  One thing that I do notice is that it is easier for me to take charge a group that I have not worked with for a long time.  I am more focused on the required task and not distracted by personal relationships.  At my own site, I find it difficult to lead my own group of colleagues because we have worked together for years and are also clsoe friends.  One thing I have definitely noticed is that I feel less engaged when I am not leading a group, which is probably a sign that I have control issues.  However, I am able to give up control if I feel that someone in the group has more subject matter expertise than I do.

In family groups, I definitely regress to the same role.  I am the middle child and I always find that I am the mediator in the family.  In my family group, I always find that I am willing to make more compromises than I would at work.  In our family, my sister takes a leadership role because she is the oldest.  When we were younger, my dad used to have more of the leader role but the family dynamics have changed as we have gotten older.  With my closest friends, I notice that we all have preferences on things we like to take the lead on.  My friend Jane likes to plan dinners out while I like to plan trips.  Our friend, Julie, normally chooses the food we order at restaurants.  We each have a role and it doesn't change over time.  We each take the lead on things we feel most passionate about.

In observing other leaders, I noticed that leaders always set direction and keep people focused on the bigger picture.  Effective leaders are able to establish a strategy and explain to their followers why they decided to choose that path.  Sometimes leaders emerge based on their Subject Matter Expertise.  When we did the survival exercise, Josh was the leader because he knew what we needed to do to survive.  The first question he asked our team was whether we wanted to stay in one place or take the hike.  Once he established his expertise with the group, we all let him lead the effort.

I think I am comfortable leading, but there are also days where I am ok sitting back and just being a follower.

Blog Topic 12: Groups and leadership

It is likely that over this long weekend, you are finding yourself interacting with friendship groups and family groups more intensely than you usually do. The holidays and celebrations typically bring people together - which is sometimes good and sometimes bad.

In class, we talked about adjusting your leadership for different kinds of groups - volunteer groups, paid groups, etc. Take this time to reflect on your leadership in the different types of groups of which you are a member (even if you didn't see them all this week). How does your leadership style change? Are you more effective in one group versus another? Do you fall into a pattern such that you are in the same role in all groups? Or, as is typical in family groups, do you find yourself regressing to the same role in the family that you've always played, regardless of other accomplishments? Think about other leaders in these groups. What do they do that is effective and how can you learn from them?

Seeing ourselves as others see us- Josh Malament

Nothing was really surprising to me. Most scores were pretty close to my own scores. although one item line was a bit lower. It was the ability to regulate own emotions. This has been a weakness of mine ever since i can remember. In many situations i feel that i have let my emotions overpower any rational thinking. In my professional life and my personal life i feel that my emotions get the better of me, more than i would like. It is something that i am constantly working on. It is an aspect that i work on as i move towards my leadership goals.

I receive authentic feedback on a regular basis in both personal and professional lives. I work for a small company so the relationships are close and everyone is very approachable, which allows for frequent constructive feedback. The partners in the company are all very seasoned vets in the industry, but are very open minded as too the process in which the work gets successfully completed.

In striving to achieve goals, it is always good to allow for constructive feedback. I know im not perfect, and i may do things in ways that others may not... and if im doing something wrong, i would like to know about it, preferably as soon as possible. This will prevent bad habits from forming as well. Constructive criticism allows for positive feedback from a different perspective. This can only help with striving for my goals.

Seeing ourselves as others see us (Eric Dodge)

I have been out of the country for the past week so I was unable to attend class last week. This means that I did not get a chance to see the feedback on how others see me in a leadership role. I am curious to know what the people that filled out the survey for me think of my leadership abilities. It should be interesting to see because, although I work at the same company as all of them, we have worked together in very different forms. About half the people are senior to me and have worked as my supervisor, but at different times during my tenure with the company. The others are people that have worked on the same level with me in the different departments I have worked in. I have not had that many opportunities to show my leadership abilities so it will be interesting to find out what my colleagues think of me. When I do get a chance to look at the feedback that I received I will be able to think about what leadership abilities are most important for me to develop.

I feel like I receive authentic feedback pretty often in my personal as well as my professional life. I probably receive more authentic feedback in my personal life. I think this is because I am a pretty easy going person and I take criticism well. As a result people feel like they can tell me when I do or say something that they don't agree with or don't like. I like this because people tell me if I am doing something weird, that I usually don't even notice. It helps to keep me aware of the things that I am doing.

I don't get as much authentic feedback in my professional life as I do in my personal life. This may be because most of the people at work don't know me as well, so they don't feel as comfortable giving me authentic feedback. But there are some people at work that I can always count on to give me good feedback, whether I like it or not. This could mean that some people are more willing to give authentic feedback than others. Some people have a problem criticizing or complementing others, so they are less likely to give authentic feedback. Personally I prefer people that will give honest feedback because that is what helps you to improve in many different ways.

Without honest feedback you might not even know that there is something that you need to work on. Honest feedback is the first step to improving, because you need to know the problem before you can fix it.

Seeing ourselves as other see us - Christine Cho

Most of the feedback that I received from others regarding how they saw me in a leadership role was not surprising. The delta between my score and how others rated me were pretty close in most cases. I think that can be explained by the fact that most of the people who rated me in the assessment are people that I work with regularly. One thing that surprised me is that I rated high on inspirational. This surprised me because most of the people who rated me were peers who were more senior than me.

I receive authentic feedback constantly in my everyday life. I work in an environment where people are not shy about providing direct feedback. I've worked with the same group of people for over six years. People are very comfortable with giving me direct feedback. A couple of weeks ago, I was having a really bad day and everyone around me noticed. At the end of the day, one of my colleagues pulled me aside and said that when I have bad days, it really shows. I really took that to heart because we had just read about displaying our emotions. When I have a bad day, I shouldn't take it out on the people around me.

At my company, we receive formal 360 feedback once a year and we use the feedback received to develop in the following year. The benefit of our 360 feedback system is that it doesn't really affect your appraisal so employees who select tougher reviewers will actually benefit if they are looking for areas of improvement. We are currently undergoing our 360 feedback review process and this year I made a point of selecting different reviewers to get new perspective.

I think I am harder on myself than others are. I've been approached by different hiring managers for Senior Manager positions at my company. I have been hesitant to go for these positions because I am not confident that people who have more years of experience would want to report to a Manager who is much younger than them. In comparison to many of the available talent at my company, I don't feel I have as much experience to offer. Recently, I was considering an internal position at my company. I talked to my manager and told him I didn't really think I looked good on paper. After talking to him, he reminded me about all the projects I've led and told me to focus on my successful track record at the company. At the end of the day, I guess it is hard to see what I do well because the measuring stick for doing well in my mind is different from others.

TOPIC 11: SEEING OURSELVES AS OTHERS SEE US by Onder

I am surprised that others rated my emotional intelligence significantly higher than my self-ratings.  My opinion of myself is that I am quite aware of my own emotions, but often I fail to regulate them.  I also think that I am not that good at identifying other’s emotions.  My raters thought I did reasonably well at all fronts.  Possibilities are:  1) I am being too hard on myself; 2) my raters were trying to be “nice;” or, 3) the surveys are not that accurate.  There is quite a bit of controversial discussion in the literature about the emotional intelligence and its measurement.  Giving science the benefit of the doubt, I think the truth is somewhere between 1 and 2.   Perhaps the best thing I can get out of this comparison is that I may not be as emotionally retarded as I thought, and I should not be so hung up on not being able to regulate my own emotions or read emotions of others.  The power of self-fulfilling prophecy may even amplify the effects of such positive thinking.

My self-rating for using inspirational appeal for influencing others is much lower than that of my raters.  Thinking about it, I do appeal to “values, ideals, and aspirations” in trying to influence some people.  That is good feedback.  On the other hand, my raters rated me very poorly for using “exchange” for influencing others, and I think they are right.  In the past, I have been very reluctant to do favors in order to get favors.  I would normally not mind doing favors for people, but I would have an issue with asking for a favor from someone because I did one for him.  Asking for a favor in exchange for one, I thought, cheapened my favor and made it look like a bribe.  Carrying my “self-analysis” further, I think my behavior was related to my background of being from a poor family.  My friends from wealthier families enjoyed the benefits of the favors others owed to their parents, and nobody owed any favors to my parents.  I had to get things done and influence people by using other tactics, such as rational persuasion.  Now that I am no longer poor, I am in a position to do favors, and that I learned using exchange as an influence tactic can be an ethical way of doing business, I will have no problems with using exchange as a way of doing business or getting things done.  My raters thought I am likely to use the remaining tactics with fairly uniform likelihood.  I am pleased with that perception.  I think one needs to adapt his tactics of influence to specific circumstances, and having some confirmation from others that I am able to do so makes me feel pretty good.

On transformational leadership, my raters rated me fairly uniformly (between five and six) in all six orientations.  I am pleased with the uniformity of the ratings across all the orientations, as I think all six orientations are equally significant for transformational leadership.  Such confirmation makes me more confident about my ability to influence people in bringing about change.

I believe in “continuous improvement” towards being a whole person.  I also believe, improving one’s leadership abilities is the same as trying to achieve mastery in other things:  one will never reach the ultimate mastery.  In order to continue to improve myself, I need to know what needs to be improved.  Unfortunately, I do not get “honest feedback” from people during my daily life (except for the continuous feedback from my Wife-but she has self-interest). Honest feedback from others is an opportunity to recognize what I may need to improve and act on it.

Blog Topic 11: Seeing ourselves as other see us

Last week, you received feedback on how other people see you in a leadership roles. Was anything surprising to you? You've had a few days to digest the feedback, how can the information you received move you towards your leadership goals? How frequently do you receive authentic feedback in your everyday life? How can acquiring honest feedback help you achieve your goals?

Motivation-Josh Malament

team,

I have an ongoing issue with motivation in my current profession, and i need some suggestions. My motivation is at an all time low. I am sick and tired of the routine and brainless tasks that I'm doing on a daily basis at my job. I feel that it's killing my creative personality and not stimulating my brain enough to move forward.

For those of you that have spoken to me even once have realized that my energy, personality, and creativity is what drives me and motivates me. So being in a very routine tasked job is not a good fit. From our readings and the book "Drive", we know that for jobs that are routine task oriented, rewards that stimulate external motivation is the primary solution. but, for me, even if i was making six figures, yeah, my bank account would look nice, and any kind of financial stress would be eliminated, but i would still hate waking up to go to work, and still be angry at work that is meaningless and routine....

So what do i do..? I have a few options, i manage a video production company which provides me with a creative outlet, but is not ready to provide for me to be financially secure.... I have a few ventures in the making that will allow me to do something that i love as well answer to myself and a partner only. I think that my current full-time job has ran its course, and my gut may be telling me its time to get out. Im a very positive person, but recently i've been on edge, angry, and negative.... and i think this job is the basis for those feelings.... but without it, i may increase a level of financial stress that will not be good, but may also make me hungry and more aggressively to pursue what i want and need in my life!

suggestions?

Motivation - Christine Cho

When I first started working, I thought making lots of money and having a fancy title would be enough to keep me motivated and focused on my job. At the end of the day, I go my fancy title and the pay that goes with it, but found that it was just a job. What really motivated me more was the competitiveness of getting to where I was. The main reason I was self-motivated to pursue my MBA was based on competitiveness. I was on a business trip and noticed that a colleague of mine from another site had the same accounting book I used in undergraduate school. I mentioned that I had the book and she responded, "You don't have this book, this is the MBA version." I didn't really know how to respond to her comment in a tactful way, but I just said, "No really, it's the same book. They used the same book for undergrad and graduate students at my school." The same year I was promoted to a level higher than her, so I felt that I had won that battle. However, I thought I'd show her by getting my MBA just in case she wanted to make a similar comment in the future.

There are times when I really hate my job. Generally, it's at the beginning of the month when we have to produce monthly reports and metrics. I dread these days because the tasks are boring and repetitive. However, there are ways to make it fun. We track the same metrics across all of all company sites so I compare my performance to others within the company. Competition keeps me motivated at work. I'm a better leader than a follower.

I really hate using fear to motivate others. I think having a common goal and motivating others to compete to win is my approach to motivation. My energy when I am determined to win is motivating to others around me. Recently, we had a department team building competition. I was the Captain of my team. I had a team of underdogs, but we managed to take 1st place in the team building.

Fear is commonly used at work by our Site Vice President. Unfortunately, his use of fear has caused people to do unethical things and those people were fired. I believe fear should be used as a last resort. People should know that you have the power, but will only use it if every other option has been exhausted. I am in a position of power because I work in Quality and that carries a lot of weight in the pharmaceutical industry. In addition, I work closely with the Site Quality Head and people know that I can influence his decision. Therefore, most people will comply with my requests and cooperate because they know if they don't, the outcome can be far worse.

Most days I am fortunate enough to rely on my likability and people will do things for me because they like me. Perhaps, as a leader this is not always the best way to motivate people. It works for me and people are willing to help me out because in the end they know that I would never throw them under the bus... unless they really deserve it.

TOPIC 10: MOTIVATION by Onder

The clip of Mihaly C’s talk is very interesting.  I am fascinated by what some people do.  Mihaly C has been trying to figure out what makes people happy.  What a contrast with what I do for a living:  figure out how to make structures stand up!

Mihaly C’s chart of skills vs. challenges is quite consistent with my experience.  I have always been very happy (experienced flow) doing projects that appeared beyond my skill levels (I was aroused by the challenge).  For such projects I spent a lot of time to do research, study new theories, and learn new techniques.  The time I spent on such projects usually far exceeded what I could fairly charge my clients.  The balance of the payment was the “fun” I had doing the job.

On the other hand, I have to do a lot of routine work that requires very little expertise and presents no challenge for me.  Such work is boring, but I have to do such boring work just to pay the bills.  I wish I always worked on challenging projects, but that is not always possible in the real world.

Transforming these ideas to motivating others, it becomes clear that a manager must have a good knowledge of the skill levels of people who work for him.  He also must understand the personality of these people.  I think Mihaly C’s chart applies to most people, but there are some exceptions.  While most people may be aroused by challenges and enjoy improving their skills, some people are very happy doing the minimum work they have to in order to meet the requirements.  I imagine, in a well run high-technology company, the latter people would not survive too long.  For the former people, the challenge for the manager would be to choose the workers’ assignments so that the skill level required by the job is at or slightly above the workers’ skills.  Of course, he would also have to make sure that the workers get support for increasing their skills, such as in-house training, mentoring, attendance to courses and conferences, etc.

As I mentioned in the class a while ago, in a company I worked for a project manager had to “recruit” the people to work on his project.  An employee could turn down an offer to work on a specific project for any reason, including that he just did not like to work on such projects.  The result was that almost all employees were happy with what they were doing.  They were also continuously improving their skills, since they worked on projects that they liked (or have fun with) and part of the fun came from being challenged.  That was one company that did very little routine work; most projects involved solving problems that other engineers in town could not.

I never worked in a manufacturing company or a similar organization, where people would do routine, repetitive work.  So, I do not have first-hand experience with using fear or screaming at people in order to get more work out of them.  However, I am very sure that these would not work in organizations where highly skilled people do creative work.

Blog Topic 10: Motivation

In retrospect, our discussion of motivation in class went in two directions: how to motivate others and how to motivate oneself. The two aren't necessarily unrelated, but it is helpful to consider them separately before combining them. The videos below concern self-motivation, but could also be applied to understanding your followers.

What do you think motivates you? Are there times when you are just trying to get by and are there times when you are striving something really great? When do you experience each kind of feeling? Which feeling are your more comfortable with?

Having considered what motivates you, think about how you might motivate others. Can you shift gears between different styles and types of motivation when working with your followers? Can you use fear? Can you use anger? Can you use inspiration? How can you improve your motivational repertoire?

Geography of Thought (Eric Dodge)

I was born in upstate New York and lived there until I was ten, when my family moved out here to California. All of my relatives still live back on the East Coast and the Midwest, so I know what those areas are like and that they do have different cultures and mindsets. I feel lucky because I have been exposed to all these different cultures and ideas. A lot of people are not even aware that others think and act differently from them, so they are surprised when everyone does not act in the same way as them. I'm happy that I learned at a relatively young age how much different people from different areas are.

I also work for a company that has sites all over the world, which means that I work with people from all different cultures. We have sites in Europe, Asia, North America, and South America, so there are lots of different cultures that you run into. Even working with people from different parts of the United States I can notice the differences in cultures and the way people think. I went to Iowa over the summer on business and it reminded me how different the culture is there compared to California.

As a result of my exposure to all these different cultures and ways of thinking, I think I have become pretty good at not doing things that would be considered culturally unacceptable. The first step in the process of getting along with other cultures is realizing that they exist, and that they act in ways much different than ours. This makes interacting with other cultures much more enjoyable because you can learn to appreciate their differences, rather than being bothered by them. When I interact with someone from a culture that I don't I understand, I try to pick up on the ways that they act or think differently from our culture.

There are lots of little things that are considered taboo in some cultures, but are totally acceptable in others. This means that it will be impossible to interact with different cultures without occasionally offending someone. The trick is to be aware of these instances and learn from them. This can be fun too because you get a chance to learn about people that are different from the ones that you interact with everyday.

TOPIC 8: GOEGRAPHY OF THOUGHT by Onder

I came to the U.S. from Turkey when I was 21.  I first lived in the International House in Berkeley for about a year.  I had to adapt not only to a new culture in a new country, but I also had to live with people from all over the World.  In retrospect, I can say that living in the I-House was good for me, as it protected me from a “cultural shock.”  I think I would have been a lot more stressed and felt lonely if I were the only “Middle-Eastern” in a dorm.  Living in a place where everybody was “different” made me feel more comfortable with who I was, while helping me quickly acquire an understanding that different cultures had different ways of thinking and doing things, and no one was better or worse than the others.

My first roommate in I-House was a German student, Peter.  First morning, I woke up very early to see that my roommate was doing his exercises in the room, stark naked.  I could put up with being waken up early in the morning, but I was bothered with his nudity.  Where I came from nobody walked around naked, not even in the locker room.  After a few days of considering what to do, I finally explained to Peter that his nudity bothered me, as I was just not used to it.  He was very understanding, and began putting his shorts on when I was in the room.  We did become good friends; he even gave me a ride in his beloved Porsche.

Living and working in this Country for a long time, I have become more of an American culturally than a Turk.  I can claim that my behavior is more consistent with a low power distance, individualistic, low masculinity, and high-uncertainty-avoiding culture.  Turkish culture is the opposite; it can be characterized by high power distance, high collectivism, high masculinity, and low uncertainty avoidance.  I am not sure about my long/short term orientation; there seems to be conflicting interpretations of this dimension.  My cultural transformation was confirmed a few years ago when a salesperson in the town I was born in asked me:  “Where did you learn Turkish, you speak so well”?

 I wish it were possible for me to be more of an American without losing my previous culture so that I could behave “properly” when I visit Turkey.  Unfortunately, I cannot revert back to my old culture on demand.  I seem to get into trouble with friends and family by asking direct questions and freely expressing my thoughts.  I find it strange that some women do not want to be treated as equals of men.  I was laughed at by some teenagers when I picked up the sandwich bag someone threw on the sidewalk; they told each other that I was behaving like a “garbage man.”   I cannot be rude to people who serve me, although it seems like you are almost expected to do so if you are wearing a suite and a tie.  I am always happy to be back home in the Bay Area.

Geography of Thought - Christine Cho

Working in a highly regulated industry, we have regulators from different countries visit our company frequently. Last year, the PMDA (Japanese equivalent of FDA) visit our site for a license approval inspection. As the first site in the company to have a visit from the PMDA, we were given cultural awareness training to ensure that we were all trained on the differences between the Japanese and American culture. The amount of planning that went into the visit was unbelievable. For weeks, we worked on seating charts because where a person sat in a room represented their power. We also practiced business card exchanges to ensure that when we did exchange cards, we bowed the right way.

When the big visit finally came, everyone was ready as practiced. The only surprise was that the visitors were educated in the United States and didn't follow most of the traditional Japanese customs. We were told that the inspectors didn't speak English and we hired translators for the visit. Interestingly, although the inspectors understood English, they preferred to use the translators. One specific comment we received back from the inspectors was that they noticed that the people they interacted with did not make eye contact with them. When speakers spoke to the inspectors, they spoke directly to the translators. It was an interesting experience because when people talk, they want to ensure that the translators understood what was said, so they purposely made eye contact with them. We did not realize that this would be offensive to the inspectors.

Fortunately, growing in California, I've had the opportunity to interact with people from different backgrounds. Growing up in a diverse state has provided me with the opportunity to experience different cultures and understand different social norms.

Sometimes I wish people wouldn't force their culture on me. On my first business trip to Puerto Rico, I was traveling with colleagues from different locations. Some of my colleagues were from Europe and they insisted on greeting me with hugs and kisses. It's rare for me to hug and kiss anyone, and I think it is more awkward to hug and kiss my colleagues. I'm getting better at it now. I do the informal hug with a pat on the back, but I'm still not a kissy person. We'll see how I do on my next business trip to Europe.

Blog Topic 9: Geography of Thought

Last week, we talked about rationality and irrationality. I asked you how you might use "irrational" thinking as a leader and still manage and create change and progress towards goals. This week, we talked about different ways of thinking - that cognitive processes are not universal but may also be affected by culture. So, now leaders not only have to deal with appearing irrational, but also have to deal with ways of thought (mind bugs) that may vary by country, ethnicity, religion, etc. This could easily be overwhelming. But, we've sought to make this manageable by describing the principals that underlie cultures (Hofstede's 5 characteristics), and the principals that underlie rationality.

In this post, think back to a time when you have had interactions where you experienced a "(mis)meeting of the minds." Have you had experiences which, in retrospect, didn't go well because you had different assumptions about causality or use of logic than your interaction partner? What is the geography of your thought and can how does it affect you in your interactions with others? What are the elements of your cultural mindset?

Predictably Irrational (Eric Dodge)

I work for the research department at a biotechnology company, so I am always dealing with science-based work and discussions, which are very rational. But at the same time the way that we decide to attack a given situation could be considered irrational by a lot of people. This makes my job very interesting because you have to understand the science and be able to apply that knowledge to determine a rational plan of action. Sometimes I feel like some of my superiors do not do a very good job of this.

This may be a case of the leaders having a plan that is predictably irrational, but they are unable to convince everyone that it is a good idea because it is not rational. I have had a number of conversations with leaders at my company where they explain their predictably irrational ideas to me, trying to convince me that it is "the obvious answer." These conversations are fun for me because I can tell that their ideas make perfect sense in their head, but they are unable to get others to feel the same way. They have not figured out a way to explain and defend their ideas in a way that will help them to gain support. This is one of the hardest parts of being a leader, and one that I hope to become better at. As a leader it is very important to be able to explain your ideas to others so that they will support you and your plans.

I cannot think of a specific time when someone presented information in a way that substantially influenced my decision-making. I am usually pretty good at weighing the facts and making an informed decision, rather than being swayed by the way someone presents an idea. I like to know both sides of an argument before I make a decision. But I know that there are a lot of people that are easily influenced by the way that something is presented. This means that it is important to learn to use these tactics to your advantage. I need to get better at learning how to present information in ways that will significantly influence decision making. People that are good at this can gain a lot of support based solely on this.

Predictably Rational- Josh Malament

There are times where i've experienced both situations. My current job is based around rational thinking and precise knowledge of certain equipment with very little room for creativity. The equipment works a certain way and that's the way it needs to function. pretty black and white. I also manage a video production company where we work with actors, musicians, and writers where there is a lot more room for irrationality and creativity. Every shoot and script has a format and template, but there is always predicable irrational decisions and situations. Without this, creativity in the industry is completely lost. And more often than not it is very hard to explain or defend your decisions or ideas.... the experience and creative thinking are what lead to these irrational spur of the moment decisions to try a new shot, or improvise a line or a scene. It's about trusting the person making the decision. If the decision is successful there is no need for an explanation... but when it doesn't that's where you may need to explain yourself. Especially if there are negative outcomes such as lost time, lost money or wages, and or a negative effect on a reputation.

As a follower i always try to learn as much as possible from the individual in the leadership role. I think an easy way to influence the decision making process is by asking questions not to challenge the current logic but to give a different perspective on the current situation or problem. If you are able to bring up valid points, a good leader will address the issue by him doing that you have already started to influence process. Looking back at many situations, you can always think what you could have done better, and what ideas you may have been able to contribute to make the process more successful or efficient.

Predictably Irrational - Christine Cho

I work at a biotechnology company where we are taught to be science based in our decisions. The Vice President of our site, a former Commodore in the US Navy would probably be described as predictably irrational. Every month, all the managers at our site are required to present performance metrics at our Site Management Review. All of us dread these meetings because we never know when he is going to burst. No one can predict what will set him off each month. There is no obvious pattern to his behavior. All we know is that when he has decided to pick on someone, everyone else should run and hide. Once he has selected his target, the room fills with awkward silence and sympathy for his victim of the day.

In a company that places such importance on science based decisions, our VP tends to be bothered by the most trivial things and ignores the obvious issues. When the topic of employee morale was brought up recently at a staff meeting and someone alluded to his volatile temper as the cause, he simply said, "Some call it fear, I call it accountability." I'm sure he is being rational in his own mind, but we're not on a submarine. (By the way he was a Commodore of a fleet of submarines).

As a follower, it is difficult to deal with a personality like his. No matter how much we prepare to discuss issues at Management Reviews or other meetings, our VP will manage to find an opportunity to knock you off your A-game. Through observing his actions, I've identified qualities that I would want to avoid if I was ever in his place.

When dealing with people who are predictably irrational, all you can do is prepare and ready to deal with whatever will be dealt with you. As a person who has been at the other end of our VP's irrational behavior, I know that being prepared with facts helps to avoid any more pain than

As leaders, we have to be aware of irrational behavior and understand that it makes it difficult for employees to understand why you want to do the things you do.

TOPIC 8: PREDICTABLY IRRATIONAL by Onder

Last week I was complaining about our inadequate sensory capabilities.  Now we are adding our cognitive capabilities to the list.  Even if our senses do not deceive us, our brains might!  Not a comfortable feeling, but it is true.

If I am being rational as a leader and I fear that the irrational followers may not understand my rationality, I would have to engage in bi-directional communication with my followers.  I would have to explain to them my actions and decisions clearly and in a most simple, straightforward manner.  Then I would have to seek their feedback or response, to check if we are on the same “wavelength.”  Through an iterative process, or dialog, a leader must be able to convince its traditionally irrational followers that his actions and decisions are indeed rational.

 A common example of predictable irrationality that comes to my mind is the “glass half full” vs. “glass half empty” comparison.  We can terribly depress (and demotivate) people by talking about how bad things are, while we may not depress them so much, or even motivate them, by talking about how things are not so bad, how things could be worse, or how things are going to be better.  The lesson for leaders I see here is that 1) they should have a positive outlook (or be optimists) and stress the positive aspects of events and ideas; 2) simplify the problems and processes so that the choices need to be made between few and clear alternatives; 3) communicate clearly with the followers and engage in a dialog with them so that there are no uncertainties about the choices and decisions they have to make.

I think the decision processes involved in selecting schools for our daughter were examples of predictable irrationalities.  When we were looking for a high school for her, we visited several schools and listened to their presentations.  We really did not check carefully into their curricula, qualifications of the teachers, quality of their facilities, and their track record for their graduates entering the various colleges, all of which should have been part of the information for rationally assessing the schools and making a choice.  But of course, such an assessment is a very difficult process, and the decision making based on facts would have been quite a challenging process for the family.  Instead, we thought the school that was most difficult to get into must be a good one.  Sure enough, we were very impressed with the way the staff and faculty “looked and talked.”  It was a Catholic school and I had to tell them that we were not religious at all, but our family values closely matched theirs.  Lo and behold, she was accepted as the “token Christian/Moslem/Nonnreligious” student.  It did turn out well and we are very happy that she went to that school.

When time came for choosing a college, we went on several trips across the Country to visit all the colleges that our daughter could be interested in.  She did not apply to Harvard, because the buildings in the town were old and they looked depressing, and the people on the streets were the worst kind of “dorks.”  She turned down a good scholarship from USC, because she was not happy with all the girls in bikinis sun tanning on the grass on school grounds.  And, so on.  She finally chose Duke, because it had the “best-looking student body.”  Although our reasoning was quite different than hers, we were very happy with the selection.  It turned out to be a good school for her from many points of view and none of us regretted the decision.  Funny thing is that she found a California boy during her first year in Durham, North Carolina, who is now her husband!

Blog Topic: Predictably Irrational

We are continuing our discussion of the human brain with last week's topic of irrationality. These findings suggest that humans are not rational, but are still predictable. This idea has two implications for you as a leader. First, people tend to expect leaders to be rational, to obey certain laws of physics, so to speak, yet, they themselves may act in ways that are not rational. This presents leaders with a conundrum: when you know your actions and decisions make sense, in the predictably irrational sense, but that they do not make sense in the traditionally rational sense, what do you do? How do you explain your decisions? How to defend them?

The second implication has to do with followers and their decision-making strategies. Following on the heels of our discussion of social influence, it seems that you could present information in ways to influence decision-making. Can you think of specific times that this has been done to you, or that, if you had known about it, you'd have changed how you presented information prior to a decision-making situation?

Perceptions (Eric Dodge)

None of the things that we talked about relating to perceptions really surprised me. I had already heard most of these things before, so they were not surprising to hear again. But I tend to forget about how strongly perceptions influence the way that we see the world. Last class reminded me how important perceptions are to the way that different people view others.

Learning about the perceptual processes does not really change the way I think about my views and behaviors, it just made me think about them a little more. Sometimes I forget that many people behave the way that they do based on perceptions they have made, rather than actual facts they have discovered. This can upset me because I am unable to understand why someone is acting the way that they are. But when I stop and think about how a person's perceptions can affect their actions, I am better able to understand why they are acting in a specific way. I need to remember how big a role perceptions play in the way that people act. This will allow me to better understand situations where a person is acting differently than expected.

I feel like I am usually pretty good about not letting perceptions change the way I feel about someone or something. I really like to have more information about a person or thing before I make any strong judgments about them. This has worked pretty well for me because I am willing to try a lot of new things, and a lot of them turn out really well. If I let first impressions dictate the way I live my life I would have a lot fewer people to talk to, and a lot fewer things to experience.

Although I think I do not let perceptions get the best of me, I feel like there have been situations where others' perceptions of me have been harmful to me. I don't really know how people perceive me, but I have had different experiences with different groups of people. When I started taking classes for my undergraduate degree in biochemistry I think most of the other students had the wrong impression of me. Whenever I talked to them or worked in groups I felt like they were talking down to me. They acted like I was a slacker that didn't do any work. I don't know why they thought this of me, but it affected the way that they treated me. Eventually the ones that I interacted with saw that I actually worked hard and was a good team member. At this point they started to treat me differently, but only because I had shown them that their initial impression was incorrect.

The way that I handled this situation is the same way that I like to handle all situations involving wrong perceptions. I show the people the way that I really am with my actions. After that they can make judgments for themselves. This is the way that I think about the perceptions that I have as well. I let other people show me how they really are with their actions before I make any judgments about them.

Thinking about perceptions reminds me that I need to be more mindful of them. Perceptions affect the way everyone interacts, so it is important to think about them when analyzing a situation. After thinking about perceptions, I now believe that the two tables have the same surface area. But it's still hard for my eyes to understand.

Perceptions - Josh Malament

Well, i'd like to first comment on how everyone in my group thought i would be the best liar....what was that all about? I admit, i like to talk, i like to get everyone involved, i like being outgoing, laugh and im quite animated when i tell stories. Apparently people's perceptions of a liar are distorted, or maybe i do posses traits and qualities that a good liar would have, such as a salesman or a lawyer.

Mind bugs are tricky and although they are very common, finally becoming aware of them I've noticed how common and often deceiving they are. Its hard to look past a first impression or initial perception of someone or something because many times that's the only one you get. I try to never "judge a book by its cover" and try to look past initial perceptions. Although i can read people and situations well, when there is time to look further i definitely take advantage of that.

Just recently i have been a victim of misperceptions which harmed my professional career. Because of my out going and very social personality, a client decided that i would not be a good candidate to manage a job in Japan citing my demeaner as being a characteristic that would not mesh well with the Japanese culture. I took this as a slap in the face, i have a lot of experience with the japanese culture from playing on a japanese baseball team and housing two young japanese players. I also pride myself openness and respect to all cultures, and as being able to adapt to fit situations out of my comfort zone. This situations still upsets me, for someone to take an opportunity to experience an amazing and culture filled country away from me that i may not ever be able to have again in my life because of a misperception they have of me, really tears me up. Unfortunately i will not forget about this, and it affects the way i look at the client. Of course i put on my smile and still show them the excellent customer service they have always received from me, but deep down on the inside... i want them to know that they have lost a lot of respect from me, and they are lucky its not social acceptable or legal to slap people in public.

Usually a misperception when harmless doesn't affect me, because i know that if that person were to spend some time with me their perceptions would change dramatically. but, if the misperceptions affect me negatively, there is no room for that person in my life, i wont give them the time a day. I have friends and family that love me for who i am, and if others don't want to be a part of that, I'm not gonna lose any sleep over it. Unfortunately with the example above, i have to see this person on a regular basis, so it reminds me about the mistreatment and misperception.

After the measurements were done on the two tables, i was convinced that they were the same...

TOPIC 7: PERCEPTIONS by Onder

As much as we would like to think that we humans are so superior to all other creatures, I think we are terribly limited in our sensory capabilities.  We do not have the vision of eagles or sense of smell of dogs, and we cannot find our way home as well as the birds and the bees if we were dropped in the middle of nowhere, hundreds of miles away.  Even though we live in a five-dimensional space (yes, we do), we can only sense four.  We are not capable of perceiving zero or infinity (try to imagine what 10^-33 second, which is how long it took for the universe to collapse from ten dimensions at the “big-bang” to five dimensions that we have now, or think about what “nothingness” really means).  It is no wonder, then, that we are not able to perceive accurately what is around us.

At the beginning of my career, when I had to do surveying for a road project, I quickly learned that I cannot even come close to accurately guessing where the “horizon” or the horizontal plane is when I am in a hilly territory.  It is similar to the phenomenon where pilots cannot tell that they are flying upside-down when they are in the clouds.  So, when I was surveying in hilly territory I made sure to use instruments to determine what point on the other hill was at the same elevation as I was.

The “tables” was a good example of how our senses can be fooled to give us a distorted perception of objects.  I have spent a lifetime (at least that of most students in the class) describing three-dimensional objects with two-dimensional drawings, and visualizing three dimensional objects from two dimensional drawings.  Yet, I was still fooled by the two tables.  They indeed had the same dimensions on a two-dimensional space.  However, at the risk of appearing as “stubborn,” I will dare say that the answer to “Are these two tables same or different size (or surface area)?” is “I do not know.”  A drawing of an object on the board or on paper is a projection of that object onto a two-dimensional plane from a certain distance and angle of view.  By changing the distance and/or angle of view, we can change the dimensions of the projection of the object.  Hence, it is entirely possible to pick the distance and viewing angle for two objects with similar shape but different dimensions such that their projections on a piece of paper are identical.  There is a good reason why we have two eyes.  With one eye we would lose the perception of depth and could not tell that what we see as two objects of identical size may in fact be two objects of different size at different distances from us. 

One obvious lesson from last week’s mind bugs exercises is that we can perceive identical objects or situations differently under different contexts or environments, and that we should be aware of how wrong our perceptions can be.  Another not-so-obvious lesson is that it is possible to learn or be trained to recognize under what circumstances and in what fashion our perceptions may be distorted.  Those who know how to see and how to listen would have a significant advantage over those who don’t.

In my professional life, I have learned not to rely on appearances and check out things closely and carefully, when a misperception could have significant consequences.  In one case, I was inspecting a construction, where the contractor was supposed to epoxy (glue) reinforcing bars into a concrete beam.  I walked by the bars that were sticking out of the beam, and assumed that they were indeed epoxied into the concrete.  This conclusion was obviously based on the fact that, in the past, if the bars stuck out of the beam they were always epoxied, and I had no reason to believe that the contractor was a crook who was trying to fool me.  So, I told the building inspector who had come to do his inspection that I checked the bars and they were epoxied into the concrete.  The inspector proceeded to go and pull on one of the bars, and to my horror, it came out.   The bars were just stuck into the holes, and they were not epoxied.  My credibility in the eyes of the inspector must have gone down to zero, and I was terribly embarrassed.  I did give hell to the contractor, and I now always go and pull on the bars before I decide that they are indeed properly installed.

I try to “check things out” before I come to conclusions in my personal life too.  Of course I don't do it all the time, and I am not prejudice-free.  This class is definitely helping me improve in the right direction in many ways, including not to be “fooled by appearances.”  As for the perceptions of others’ of me, I think their perceptions will change as my opinion of myself changes and it shows.