Mr. Harry A. Hill

I really enjoyed the last class with a specials guest:)
He was really an attractive person.
I felt his way of speaking English was easy for me to understand, his attitude for us were really gentle, and his lecture was valuable and exciting!
I think such a personality is important to lead the people.

In his lecture, I learned that the leader has to have VICES!
I was interested in one of them, "Vision."
The leader has a clear vision which is about creating a good culture.　
Then, the leader should create the environment to success.

And I think the most important thing is that moving into actions what I have ideas in my head.
He said that there are many intelligent people but few people with wisdom.
I really agree with his opinion that the people with wisdom who can learn and gain from the experiences faster have the ability to become the good leader.


Surprisingly, I noticed that he is a friend of my friend's mother after the class!
My friend already had met him in her house:D
I felt what a small world! haha

At the end, thank you for my teacher Ken and classmates.
I was lucky to choose Ken's class and meet you guysXD
Let's have a sophomorecon again!

Personal Narrative Essay

How to Achieve the Team Goal

I joined the baton twirling club for six years when I was in junior high and high school. The baton twirling club is one of the largest scale clubs in my school. Approximately there were more than 100 members in my school. When we were in junior high school, we were just able to have fun to participate in the club. However, high school is a competitive environment because we entry the contest. If we can win in the local contest, we are allowed to participate in the national competition. Our team participates in the national competition every year. Therefore, our goal is to receive the gold award and be ranked in upper level in the competition.

Sadly, we could not get the gold award when I was a sophomore in high school. It was the silver award. It was extremely regretful and I felt that all this effort for nothing! For a while, I lose my drive because everything seemed vanity and hopeless. However, I noticed that such a way of thinking is exactly wasting time because new one year for the next national competition has already started. Therefore, we decided new goal that was to devote everything for the team and to win the first prize in the national competition. We thought that setting the highest aim so we will be able to have strong motivation. Since then, our practice became quite hard like six or seven days a week. We were always in a lot of pressure because the regular members were often changed with supporting members if someone could not perform well or drop the baton. Therefore, we could get the mental strength overcoming the tension. Moreover, especially in my case, keeping the balance between my club and studying was really difficult because I decided to take ICU entrance exams. I sometimes almost lost my confidence to enter ICU. However, I did not want to give up because entering ICU was my dream since I was a freshman in high school. Overcoming various difficulties, we finally could receive the gold award and be ranked in third level in the competition. It was the best results in history of my club. We all satisfied with the result and it became the best memory in my high school life.

I think whether we could get the good result or not depends on the team work. The team when I was a sophomore was not closely bound together beyond the wall of grades. Therefore, we could not completely trust each other and it might be seemed in the performance. Based on this reflection, we try to communicate with everyone as much as possible to share the feeling when we became the third year student. Particularly, the comrades were really close. It is not too much to say that we spent much time than families. The strong bonds of friendships are important to achieve the same goal.

In addition, I learned that the confidence on the real stage is created by the practice. If I do my best in the usual practice, I can do the same thing in the real stage. I realized the importance of the attitude for the practice; the practice should be like the real stage and the real stage should be like the practice. Furthermore, having a good imagination and strongly believing myself are also important. I always did the image training of the perfect performance. And when I was dancing I kept reminding myself “I can do it, I can do it.” By doing those things, there was just confidence and no more anxiety in my mind.

Now, I join in the cheerleading club in ICU. Therefore, I would like to utilize the abilities acquired through this experience when I was in the high school.

12. Business Communication Systems (AT&T/Lucent Technologies)

                           

Pat Russo

She was selected as president of BCS in 1993. At that time, the organization had a crisis of being sold or dismantled. This was because of several reasons, such as the motivation of employees was quite bad and customers were not satisfied with the services.

She said “This was not practice. This was real! We were at The Edge-it was survival, and this was the last chance to get this business healthy.” Even though she was in the bad conditions, she was always having a strong will to success.

Strategy5 Reinforce the team message constantly: “We are one-we live or die together.”

Her whole philosophy was to leverage the team. It was crucial to make the strong teamwork. Therefore, she tried to develop the personal appeals and reflect to the team.

I was impressed with this sentence. “We’ve got a lot of talent and expertise in each and every one of you, and, collectively, we can do incredible things in this business. Individually, we’re all limited.” (p160)  I strongly agree with her opinion. Working together using each talent, everyone can be active to cooperate for one goal.

Strategy6 Minimize status differences and insist on courtesy and mutual respect.

           She was accessible to everyone because she wanted to get rid of “the level consciousness.” She tried to listen to the opinion of employees to break the barriers.

           “You told us that if we had a problem that we could not get resolved or that was not being addressed by our management that we could call you. So I’m calling you.” (p162)

Strategy3 Instill optimism and self-confidence, but stay grounded in reality.

           She believes that if you act and speak with confidence, you will project confidence. I think it is a king of mind control. However, we should not forget three “reality checks” (1.Progress 2.Accountability 3.Quality). In addition, the leader’s words important because everyone is hanging on the leader. What people want is to know where the leader stands. She tried to use words like “I hope” and “when.”

Chapter10

Never give up-there's always another move.

I think this last chapter was meaningful for me because I am lacking of this ability.

Rather than expecting things to go right, successful leaders under these conditions should be prepared for things to go wrong.(p148 l26-27)


I was impressed with this sentence.
When the problems which I did not expect, I sometimes become nervous.
However, there is surely a method to get by.
Therefore, I should be calm down and find another way to go.
I would like to get the ability to adopt to a new situation or environment.


"Take it easy!" is a keyword for me.

Chapter9

Be willing to take the Big Risk.

In this chapter, some examples of risks which Shackleton faced was written.
He had the confidence to take risks.

I really respect his this ability because I sometimes hesitate to face risks.
However, risks also have the chance to change.
Therefore, we have to be positive to take risks with confidence, I will overcome.

I think solving the risks is not only for the leader's role.
If the whole team member share the burdens of leaders and try to overcome,
it will be easier to break down the risks.

Chapter8

Find something to celebrate and something to laugh about.

Laughing is one of the most important things for us.
Laughing makes us happy and healthy.
It is particularly necessary when we depressed.

The guidelines of humor which introduced in the last paragraph were interesting.
Think funny.
Adopt a playful attitude.
Be first to laugh.
Laugh with, not at.
Laugh at yourself.

Especially, the last sentence "Laugh at yourself." is  a valuable message for me.
This is because I think I sometimes be too strict to myself.
I think I really need optimism at that moment.
It is just wasting time when I bother myself or a little thing.

There is an old saying "Laughter is the Best Medicine."
Let's laugh everyday and live in happiness and health!

Mr. Kakutaro Kitashiro

The lecture for leaderships was really interesting and valuable for me.
I could feel that his personality is so nice.

And some things were also stated by "Leading At The Edge."
For example, he often insisted to be optimistic!
And communication is important to listen and understand the feelings of followers..

I agree with him.
Even though we know that those are important for relationships in our minds, however, it is difficult to make actions.
So, I would like to carry out my mind since now!



And I also learn something new tips for a leader from his lecture.
・Modesty (Be honest and do right things while other people are not watching you)
・Take calculated risk (The impact is sometimes significant for our life.)
・Don't shoot the messenger. (Try to be open and kind with bad news.)
・Develop my own leadership style (Be myself!)


In addition, it is also needed to follow my guts feeling to make a decision.

”Fortune favours those who use their judgment." (運も実力のうち）

I like this saying and I think experiences and efforts are important factors to achieve the decision..