Welcome Back to the Manhattanville College 8th Annual Leadership Conference Blog

Welcome, or for some of you, welcome back to the Manhattanville College Annual Leadership Conference blog page! This page was created to keep all of our followers up-to-date on conference happenings, hear candid insight from the members of the Leadership Conference committee and give readers the opportunity to share information with conference planners and other student leaders on the topic of leadership. This will be a go-to hub of information about all things leadership. And don't forget to save the date for this year's conference which will take place on the campus of Manhattanville College on Saturday, February 16, 2013 at 8:30AM in Reid Castle.

In the wake of one of the biggest elections in US history and some of the most significant social and political events in the Eastern World, it is only appropriate that this year we take a look at leadership through the lens of the public eye. Leaders can come in all forms, from the President of the United States to the Libyan rebels to the Occupy Wall Street protestors in Zuccotti Park. All of these groups can teach us a valuable lesson, either positive or negative, in leadership if we only take a moment to watch the things they say and do. So this year, our theme, “$H!T LEADERS SAY AND DO: A Learning Experience in Leadership Etiquette” will embrace those moments to help us all become more experienced in how leaders can be agents of change, solidarity and expression. From exploring how are actions can be perceived by others to what our Facebook pages say about us to having meaningful meetings and conversations, we hope to provide skills that will enable everyone to go out and be successful leaders in today’s global community.

This blog will be updated each week, featuring a special guest blogger from the Leadership Conference committee, who will update you on the current happenings of the committee, offer exciting updates for the conference and their own personal reflections on the “#H!T LEADERS SAY AND DO." We encourage everyone to feel free to leave feedback, ask questions and utilize this space to connect with other student leaders from all over the world. We hope that this blog will become a great platform to share ideas, answer questions and help every student become the best student leader that they can possibly be.

Keep an eye out for information regarding how to get involved in the Manhattanville Leadership Conference as well as information on how to register for the conference in the next few weeks. And as always, if you are interested in getting more involved by presenting on a topic related to our theme, "$h!t Leaders Say and Do: A Learning Experience in Leadership Etiquette," feel free to contact anyone on the committee or reach out to us at our email leadershipconference@mville.edu. We are looking to have everyone get involved!  I hope you will join us on Saturday, February 16, 2013!

-Kia Brown, Manhattanville College Leadership Conference Committee Co-Chair

Leadership Around the World

So the Leadership Conference is extremely close...tomorrow in fact! I’m sure many of us are excited, including several people from around the world. No, we don’t have people flying in specifically to come to the Leadership Conference, even if it would be interesting. But we do have several website blog hits from places like Russia and India.
Check out the statistics so far...

United States                                                  514
Russia                                                               59
United Kingdom                                              48
India                                                                 38
Canada                                                             18
Latvia                                                               16
Philippines                                                       14
Pakistan                                                           10
Ukraine                                                            10
Malaysia                                                           7

It's interesting to see how important the topic of leadership is around the world, not just to those at Manhattanville. So for those who are attending the conference tomorrow, we hope that you will have the opportunity to learn a bit more about leadership and meet some incredible people in the process. And for those who are unable to attend, keep reading (and sharing). Hopefully you have learned something valuable as well.

-Anthony Otiniano, Manhattanville College Leadership Conference Committee Member

Focusing on the Internal Voice

As I think about our theme, “Be a Showstopper: Finding your Leadership Voice” and how having a voice in the classroom, residence halls, and beyond college can change an experience.  I also think about the times when we need to quiet the voice, not just to listen to others, but in particular, to quiet the “voice(s) in our head”.  And this will be my focus, the internal voice. 

While in a meeting, class, or out with friends/family, too often we are constantly thinking about the “next”.  What is the next meeting we need to go to? What’s next in the day? What or when will I eat next? When is my next class? What will the next program be? What assignment do I need to work on next? What is next on the agenda?  What is next on the to-do list?  And while some “next” questions listed above do not fit in my daily life, I still have my own list of questions and thoughts I run through – all looking at what is next.

Oddly enough I made this connection about “finding your leadership voice” and taking time to quiet the internal voice during my one of my yoga classes.  I’ve been practicing consistently for a year and a half and in each class the teacher asks us to forget about the day, forget about what is “next” and focus on the time now.  Now it is a little ironic that I was thinking about the conference and what I needed to do next while in a space/time that asks me to just focus on the now, my breath and my movement, but it brought me to this blog idea.

So as we head into the conference and you are “finding your leadership voice”, let that be the only thing you are focused on.  Quiet the internal voice and forget about the “next” at least for one day.  It will be a challenge and it has taken me a great deal of time to let go and attempt to quiet the internal voice, but with practice it is possible. 

Namaste

- Michelle Eichengreen, Manhattanville College Leadership Conference Committee Co-Chair

A Peek On My Checklist

So this is my third Leadership Conference at Manhattanville and like many others (I hope…I doubt I’m the only person making checklists out there) who will attend,  I have a few of things I want to learn or at least get some light shed upon.

Leader’s Smile

Yes, a smile. But by smile I mean the one defined as: a pleasant and agreeable appearance, look or aspect (thank you dictionary.com). Of course, we are all unique and our smiles will be unique. But I need to be schooled on the outer appearance qualities of a leader, because not everyone will get a chance to get to know a leader personally. So they will judge that book from its cover and I don’t want to be caught in a rugged old paper cover.

Cologne or Deodorant

Both cologne and deodorant are used to shield humanity from our constant body wastes. But they work slightly different at least in general. Cologne introduces a definite new scent to an individual while deodorants simply restore ones smell without the sweat. My point, well as a leader, do I strive to look for a certain definite and ideal atmosphere (cologne smell) and impose it on the ones I lead or should I work towards identifying and uprooting the weeds among the society I lead and ensure it remains like that, like deodorants do?

Pen or a pencil

By now I’m sure my subheadings interpretations are already predictable, well welcome to my world of checklists and to-do lists writing style. I digress. Any ways, this one is obviously a straight forward one. When you use a pen its more permanent (provided you are not a whiteout fanatic) and the opposite is true for pencils because it is easy erase its marks.  As a leader there are times you will have to make final cut decisions and stand by them no matter what and sometimes as a leader you can simply act as a moderator and not necessarily make final decisions just draw the plots suggested by those you lead. Hopefully this conference will enlighten me on when a leader ought to use ink and when to refer to a No.2.

I’m sure there are other appropriate titles for these three excuses for subheadings I used like etiquette, assertiveness, humility, fairness, openness etc. But that’s what you get for peeking.

PS: if you wanted a more serious talk on leadership strategy take a look at this TED talk http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action.html

Cheers.

- Geoffrey Rugarabamu, Manahattanville Leadership Conference Committee Member (since 2009)

Finding the Leader In You

I wrote a poem to give you an idea of where I use to stand and where I am at now in terms of leadership in general.

Queen of the followers
was I back in the days
till it struck me one day.
I paused and asked myself "why not me?"
Did I lack the leadership trait?
Why am I not qualified to be in the driver's seat?
Discerned a leader is born and not created.
Little did I realize
it is a phase
a leader goes through.
One needs to learn to obey
before they can become a leader.
Achievable is a leader figure
I declare from experience
slowly but surely
the transformation I encountered
an elevation to the greater stage--a leader.
Make it your dream, your goal
a dream that will never be deferred
and dry up like a raisin in the sun.
Grasp on to it till you get it
for the future belongs to you
if you believe in the beauty of your dream.

      If you are in the same boat as I was, come attend the 7^th Annual Leadership Conference and be one step closer. I guarantee you that it will be a life changing experience.

- Edom Tsegaye, Manhattanville College Leadership Conference Committee Member

Oh, the Things You'll Learn...

As my winter break comes to an end, I have begun thinking about the new semester that will soon be upon every college student.  Once the spring semester starts, the Leadership Conference will also be quick in arriving.  The decorations have been ordered and some program proposals have been received.  In a little over a month, the 7^th Annual Manhattanville Leadership Conference will take place.

 

This year’s conference is titled “Being a Showstopper, Finding Your Leadership Voice” and focuses on self-discovery.  While the theme relates to one’s speaking ability, the conference deals with much more.   It concerns our ability as college students to grow into good leaders who will support the communities they live and participate in.

Each aspect of the conference is being handled by different RAs of Manhattanville College.  Simply organizing the conference has helped me gain additional skills I did not have before.  My partner and I are focused on the menu for the conference and the decorations. This conference has not even happened yet and I have already learned tools that will help me in becoming a better leader. 

Please attend Manhattanville’s Leadership Conference on February 18^th, 2012.

- Alexis Moore, Manhattanville Leadership Conference Committee member

2012: A New Year

At 11:59 on Saturday night, I watched the New Year's Ball drop in Times Square from my television. Like many others, I thought of the New Year and what I could do with it. For many of us, a new year is more than just a change of a number on our calendars. A new year means new beginnings, new opportunities, and a whole new mindset. Admittedly, I am not one for keeping my New Year's Resolutions. Though I create astronomically long lists every December 31st of all of things I would like to do better for the upcoming year, I tend to get tired of trying to change my awful habits by January 2nd. Considering I just spent this January 2nd eating Chicken Fried Chicken at Cracker Barrel, I think it's safe to say that I have already given up on the "EAT HEALTHY!" bullet point on my list.

Even though my habits sometimes remain the same, the world is changing. This is my last year at Manhattanville College, and I will have to leave no matter what. I can hide behind school books, the programming binder, and my friends all I want, but I have now reached the year that I will graduate from college. In elementary school I used to count the numbers on my fingers and say, "I will graduate from college in (gasp!) 2012!!",  never thinking that a number that large could ever exist. But alas, here we are. 

I simply do not have the time to delay the changes, the resolutions, and the improvements. I have reached the point in my life where I can either accept my Cracker Barrel eating self for who I am, or make the very big decision of changing. Either way, I must do what is right for me; I must find my own voice. (In case you were wondering, that WAS a shameless plug-in for the Leadership Conference. It's on Saturday, February 18th, 2012 in Reid Castle, by the way,)

The time is now. Are you ready?

- Lisa Marie Hunt, Manhattanville College Leadership Conference Committee Member