New Project and Leadership Class 3

2258 6-8-10

First let me clarify something, I was asked who Gary Haberland was, which is who I addressed my strategic plan for GENICON in the last post.  He's the CEO of GENICON and it's to him that I make the recommendation (hypothetically of course).

So I started a new project at work today looking at trends for the payment industry.  Basically how will we be making payments in 3-5 years?  Will we be using contactless smart cards, will we be using our phones, etc.

I did get a miffed today at work, they once again hired someone and stuck them in my office spot.  I understand that I'm an intern and therefore have low priority but honestly I just want a consistent area to work in, and I don't like coming to work to find someone sitting in my spot without being told about it or even given a new area.  Anyways I talked with Niko about it and I'll be sitting with the HR department now, which isn't hiring anybody anytime soon so I should be stationary.  I've noticed I get a little territorial about where I sit, even in classrooms I strategically pick my seat in the location where I will best be able to be engaged and it gets a little under my skin with other people steal my spot.  You can call me high maintenance or anal, but it just does.

After work I attend our third Leadership class where we talked about conflict management.  Based off of the in class assessment I usually handle conflict by Competing, Collaborating or Accommodating, and I rarely use Compromising or Avoiding.  There isn't really a good or bad trait to have, all of them have their situations where they should be used and shouldn't be used.  Nor is this a measurement of skill but simply stylistic choice.

That's all folks.

Leadership blog:

Questions from Uncle #1

a)      What: One of my uncle's questions about leadership.  What defines a great leader?

b)      So what: As we discussed in class this really depends on your definition of "leadership."  Honestly nothing really "defines" a great leader because a leader can't be placed in a box.  For that matter is "great" a positive word and/or a word for scale.  Hitler is the obvious example, was he a great leader?  I could easily argue yes.  I could also argue the mid-level manager at Kinkos that has the absolute love of their subordinates and achieve optimal results is also great.  But with broad strokes, using a positive and scale definition of "great," I would be willing to say that a great leader can only be deemed so by a combination of those who serve under him/her and the history books.  These outside parties are the only one with the perspective to be able to deem "greatness."

c)       Now what: Honestly, I'm not really sure.  By defining (or failing to really do so as the case may be) this term what does this offer me?  I guess it helps frame future discussion on leaders and being able to be clearer in my examples when I talk of "greatness."