Chapter 5

Teamwork-- the key to success in sports such as american football. Our goal of the season is to be promoted to the 2nd division of the intercollegiate league. At almost every practice, the seniors mentions this to the team to share the goal; it keeps us motivated. Although I am still a freshman, I look forward to win every single game because my superiors are also desperate for accomplishment. Such team message create strong bonds in our team though we do not have as many members as other universities.

When I was reading the chapter, I found the part of ceremonial haircuts funny. Does it mean something like this?

or something like this?

or maybe something like this?

Okay, so the last one was overrated. But the previous pictures reminds me of myself doing the same thing to focus on a swim meet. Note that not many on my team did this, and it was a bit embarrassing when reflecting on it. However, thanks to Shackleton, I guess it was common sense. Japanese youth baseball teams often do this style of uniformity. I did not know why they did that. Not only because it was hot outside like I guessed, but also for ceremonial means, people shave their heads. Even Buddhists do it as in the second picture. The third one is a teru teru bozu, a traditional symbol for praying sunlight and a charm to repel rain. Since I did a google search of it for the first time, I realized that it also had to do with this topic. Some people may still do this tradition, especially athletes, because most outdoor sports can be affected from the climate. Here's the link to the origins of teru teru bozu. Hope it interests you too.

http://educationinjapan.wordpress.com/2011/05/30/pondering-the-teru-teru-bozu-%E3%81%A6%E3%82%8B%E3%81%A6%E3%82%8B%E5%9D%8A%E4%B8%BB-tradition-and-its-origins/

The last video is a traditional Japanese song I learned when I was in kindergarden. So this is how the tradition goes, I guess. Teru teru bozu can be concluded as a team message for a sunny day.

Chapter 4

Stamina is definitely one of the things Shackleton lacked, according to the passage in the book. I agree with the author that leaders are no good being too reckless as they will only cause trouble to the team. For example, if the quarterback on my football team suddenly disappears from the field due to a disease or injury, there would not be anyone good enough to replace him. All leaders should be aware that they are the 'only one'. Of course leaders have to work hard, as we discussed in previous chapters, however, overdoing it is not always the solution.

This makes me remember of the questionnaire we did in class the other day. I had 'collaborating' on top of my negotiation style, and then competing, compromising, accommodating, and avoiding, respectively. I guess it clearly shows that whenever I am negotiating, or maybe working in a group and I get stuck, I immediately ask others for help. This is absolutely one lesson I have learned in the past term at ICU. Collaboration was one of the key aspects Rab focused on last term, and I find the concept and tools to make it possible very useful. Sometimes when collaborating is not allowed, such as during and before tests, I would shift to competing. Similarly, I would compromise if either of the top two will not work for a negotiation. This is interesting because I think the questionnaire was very accurate of my actions.

Back to stamina, I think there are two kinds of stamina, even for the mental side. Physically, there are two kinds-- endurance to lactate, and rate of recovery. The former is what athletes that focus on their performance for a short duration are especially capable of. The latter is for people like marathon runners. Just like physical stamina, I think there is short/long term stamina of the heart. In my opinion, stamina is related to goal setting. In spite of having this whole chapter about how Shackleton struggled with his stamina, the story seemed identical to chapter 1 to me. Motivation and stamina are closely related because they are the energy that drive us like the gasoline in the car. We cannot go without it.

Chapter 3

For this chapter, I found a few quotes and explanations interesting, so I will indicate them here.

the ABCDE model
- A=Adversity
- B=Beliefs
- C=Consequences
- D=Dispute
- E=Energy

I think most people can make use of this model to reflect on one's past, imagine, and motivate themselves in order to make progress in their life. Even now, I think of some classes I have taken as an adversity. Positive beliefs of succeeding drives me. Sometimes I would face a failure as a consequence. Other times, I can cheer myself up from disputing. And lastly, by combining everything I know about myself, I can energize myself to move on. This is not a difficult task to do, therefore, it should be acquirable to almost everyone who needs motivation.

Reading on, I found an interesting quote on the same page of something Ken mentioned during class; 'what the ice gets, the ice keeps'. There is a quote about Shackleton being stimulated and cheered by the attitude of the men around the middle of the page. I think this situation portrays how mutual motivation can be produced. As Shackleton cheered himself by himself, his crew also cheered him up. Although this is not a negotiation, I think both sides are getting a Win-Win of motivation.

Chapter 2

Leaders are not managers. Here's a visual example below.

As you can see, leaders are in the front line to 'lead' a certain group of people, while managers are simply 'forming' a group to their objective. This portrays how leaders are actually seen from their subordinates unlike managers; you may know your leader but may not know much of your manager. The manager does not actually have to do some work as long as the community does not fall apart, therefore, they only need to keep the group informed. On the other hand, leaders have to be a good demonstration to 'show and tell' how the people in the group should behave. I think this is exactly why leaders are more rewarding than managers because people follow leaders, contrary to people obeying managers. This also makes leaders a more difficult burden than managers, as the leader's action/speech/mistake can affect the whole community. 

Even in workplaces, it can be described as below. Leaders are the one in charge, but managers are only the ones in the middle of a network. Imagine the leader as the tip of an arrow. Imagine that missing. It would be a problem, right? For a network, one missing piece would not affect much if there were someone else to take the place. However, a leader withholds the direction a group needs to proceed, as in Shackleton's expedition. Thus, it is important to have a good leader.

VS

Moreover, the book mentions to 'be visible'. This can be explained by examples of actual leaders such as Obama, president of the United States of America. He cannot fool around because he is in charge of the whole country; he can even be regarded as the 'face' of America. Such representatives have the responsibility to lead the nation, and I think one of the reasons he got reelected was that his speeches were 'calm, confident, and reassuring'. Leading At The Edge mentions having the right tone can motivate others to survive. I think Obama has the same quality that Shackleton had. It would definitely be cool if we could work on our speeches through our presentations and become as confident as Shackleton was.

PM theory

As the main theme of this class is LILTDY, I reflected on a psychological theory my coach at Toin mentioned. He had coached me for six years, and at the same time, he was pursuing his degrees. Starting from a bachelor degree, he is now studying to become a doctor of psychology at Tsukuba University. One time after practice in my senior year at high school, the heads of the team had a meeting about how to improve the team, where I learned about the PM theory of leadership. 

Apart from what happened during the meeting, I will focus on the PM theory because I think it is a relevant topic for this course. Here's a link below to briefly explain it. 

http://leadershipinsight.jp/dictionary/words/pm_theory_of_leadership.html

Unfortunately, the website is in Japanese because the theory originated in Japan. I also did a search to find sources in English, but couldn't find any good description about it on abstracts of academic papers. Tough luck with google scholar. However, as I was researching, I found something very similar to the PM theory, which is in English. The link is below. 

http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_73.htm

The reader of this post can imagine from the links, the PM theory is about characterizing leaders into four groups-- PM, Pm, pM, and pm. P stands for performance, and M is for maintenance. Notice that the grouping is case sensitive, as the upper case means superiority. Personally, I think I am Pm because I usually focus on the performance of a community more than the maintenance. This theory is applied for self-analysis and improvement. We can learn our weakness from such theories and keep in mind of what kind of person we are, and how we should be. Of course PM is the ideal form of leadership, but not many people have this kind of character. How about you? 

I think great leaders like Shackleton possess the aspects of both P and M. He maintained his expedition team's life and successfully returned to civilization. From what I've learned from my coach, I think this is a good reason why Shackleton is praised as a leader. 

The Shackleton Saga/ Chapter 1

The book, "Leading At The Edge", cannot be compared with any other of leadership; it includes the ideal story along with a manual to become one. Earnest Shackleton, the role model of all leaders, is what we can literally call a survivor from the harshest, most isolated place on the planet-- Antarctica. No wonder Ken speaks of him as his hero. The Shackleton Saga descripted the expedition and endurance of the team in detail that makes it seem as if it happened yesterday. The miracle has 10 methods of success that we can learn from, the first of which is about setting goals.

Some may say to focus on the future, others may say to focus on the present. However, the book says to do both. I agree to this kind of planning because it can keep ones motivation by concentrating on the several achievable goals until finally getting to the big, difficult one. Moreover, I think there are various ways to accomplish a 'goal', because there are usually multiple paths to a 'destination', especially if it becomes far to reach. For example, if I wanted to be a billionaire, which is unrealistic at the moment, I can win a lottery, or make a fortune through labor, or even steal money. Although there are many choices, the last option is not something I would choose in real life. The short term goals become the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle to accomplish the big picture, since the long term goal is not something easily accomplished. I would need to think of what job/lottery to take advantage of to achieve my goal. Then, I need a rough view and map myself out to my final destination. This mapping can also function as a way to hold me back from taking unnecessary detours-- sidetracking. Anyone can make use of this method as we only need to focus on easy tasks. With some practice and endeavor, I think anyone can learn how to produce the most efficient path to a goal. Thus, the first chapter can be considered relevant for leadership. After all, we all need bridges to cross rivers as we need tunnels to get through mountains because time is limited, right? It's the same for goals. 

I found this chapter related to my swimming and American football experience, the two sports I'm most dedicated to. In my past, I have set several passing goals for swimming to reach my final goal of the season. As the season had a start and end, time for accomplishing my mission was equally limited. Therefore, I chose to take the most time-efficient way to get to the end successfully. Naturally, short term goals were my focus and sometimes I occasionally adjusted my way to the end. I am still working on football, so I think can reflect on the book, not only for leadership but also for achievement. 

I look forward to the next chapter. 

9/11 Discussion on Social Intelligence

First week, second class, Harvard Business Review. Quite a jump, eh?

I found the article very interesting because of it being a piece of liberal arts; the passage included bits of biology, psychology, and of course, business. This various mixture of subjects made it easy to read because I'm more familiar with the natural science than the social science. It also helped me understand different fields at the same time, which I found convenient. The content itself was equally interesting. 

Social intelligence is contagious. I think this can be interpreted in both a positive and negative way. Warm environments can have a lively atmosphere along with kind bosses that makes the company more productive. However tense offices, such as in Japan, can sicken the workers from their job, colleagues and superiors. I think there is no need to perfectly follow the traditional Japanese way- having every action restricted to ranks- because it has almost no positive effects. Obviously, the ones with higher ranks will feel proud. Some may even become arrogant. On the other hand, people with inferior ranks have to consider how to provide hospitality to those superior to them, which has nothing to do with work. Showing respect is necessary to make better relationships, but overdoing it is never good. Thus, abolishing such cultures is not the solution, but alleviating the intensity can make a comfortable environment. 

Back in high school, I spent days and weeks to my swim team. Toin Gakuen, my school, is somewhat famous for its strict rules, which applies to the sports teams too. No offense, but one of my coaches was the last person I want to provoke. During swim meets, sometimes it felt very hard to talk to my coaches after races. However, now, at ICU, the american football team always has a warm atmosphere, thus, it is easy to get in touch with superiors.

To sum up, social intelligence is something we feel and learn through experience, as biologically mentioned in the text. I think knowing this fact can help me keep in mind of how to make the workplace productive in the future.