Guest Speakers & Part I (Shannon)

I really enjoyed the guest speakers from last week—especially Laura Liswood. I loved her analogy of the elephant (the man) and the mouse (the woman) and how the mouse must know everything about the elephant and all other mice, while the elephant only really has to know about elephants. I also thought it was interesting how she got the class involved when we had been quite unresponsive and then made the point that everyone she had called on had something good to say even though they hadn’t raised their hands. It just demonstrates how women are socialized to observe and listen to others and also to mask any sense of assertiveness that they might have…

Liswood also made a nice connection to part I of Exploring Leadership when she said that the ultimate role of leaders is to change things, but that making change is only dared by a few. Komives, Lucas, and McMahon emphasize over and over that the relational model of leadership is the process of getting people together to accomplish positive change. I thought it was funny that Liswood compared this to observing the process that a crowd goes through for a standing ovation. She said that the first group jumps up, the second group follows, and the third gets up because they can’t see the stage. This is so true! The first group to stand gets up so immediately that it looks like they didn’t really even have to think about standing, the second group gets up because they’re following along with the first group, and then the third group just seems apathetic about the whole idea. This relates to leadership so well, and I’m sure we’ve all worked with groups that we can look back on and figure out who fell into which group of "standers"... :)

Jean Cunningham was interesting to listen to as well—she seems like such an amazing woman. I liked when she said to "never declare that you think you’re a leader because if you’re truly a leader you will emerge." I completely agree with this statement and I’ve noticed that sometimes the people who are the best leaders are those who do unexpectedly emerge from the crowd. They don’t necessarily establish that they want power right off the bat and that is what makes them so good. This is one of the reasons why I like how the Exploring Leadership book exchanges "followers" for "participants." The word "follower" implies that those who have not established a leadership role within the group can’t think for themselves and are just doing whatever the person in power tells them to do. The word "participant," on the other hand, makes it seem more possible for everyone to feel empowered and for everyone to have a role in the leadership that is taking place.