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