Networking

Leaders who lack the ability to develop good relationships fail to sell their ideas to others. If someone does not network well or fails to speak up in meetings the impact they have on others is limited.

What are you doing to make sure you are building relationships in your leadership role?

      When I feel up to the task, I help myself to remember key persons names.  I try to learn about them and remember something of note that genuinely interests me.  I learn about families and children's names.  I seek out certain people that might be able to get me a leadership role in my industry.  In my previous leadership role,  I was making a point to ask individuals how they were doing, and how I might personally help them with things they need.

Where have you seen the positive effects of networking and relationship building in your roles or group project?

       I knew the right woman to call about autistic family needs, and my demeanor over the phone, and in person, allows persons to trust me enough to give me more information regarding additional contacts, restrictions etc.  I was able to get five names from one person.  Those five names represented people who lead organizations that related to my group project.  Once I contacted those five people, I was able to find more information and get closer to the actually people I would need to contact for the project.  Networking for my project went very well.
    I had back up plan contacts that I knew all over the city.  I knew in my mind that I could call someone who at least knew the real person I need to contact to book a city building for our activity.  Knowing and caring about others is a gift that needs to be developed.  I often need the friends that I have made over the years.

Do you relate well to others and how can you be better?

        I find I relate well with others when they are going through hard times.   I can relate better to people experiencing joy, if I start allowing myself to be more grateful for what I have.  I need to focus on having a positive mental attitude and a stronger reliance upon Christ.
        I can relate better with others by actually asking questions about their life until I find multiple things we have in common.  I can try to put myself in their shoes and not pass a quick judgment on why they did or did not complete a task.  One important rule of working with people is to remember they are people.  We all make mistakes and can give each other the benefit of the doubt.

What are some skills you have at influencing others?

     I have a lot of energy and optimism when I find something I feel is the right thing to do.  Other people can see and feel the genuine attitude I have toward accomplishing the task, that I am more interested in the people we are serving, than in looking good for the public.  This heart and these skills of communication allow for others to know that they can get excited too!

Code of Ethics

Pillar One - Integrity
Since I was a young boy, my father told me stories about my heritage.  My grandfather died when my father was only six years old.  As my father grew there were a few things about grandfather that stood out.  He was only a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for a short period of time before his untimely death, but his collection of LDS literature and his zeal toward the gospel began a legacy of faith in the restored gospel.  One thing I was told about Grandpa George was that whether he lost money or made money on a deal, if you said he had said it, he would stick to his word.  Knowing that grandfather was a man of his word has made me cherish the living up to his name in word and deed.  I try to be honest and have integrity in my dealings with others.  If I must choose only eight pillars for a code of ethics, integrity would be among the first.
Pillar Two - The Pillar of Faith
Being a child in a bloodline of good christian values dating beyond my great great grandpa Phillip, I suppose that my heart belongs to God as much as I can give it.  Faith in Jesus Christ to me is like Gordon B. Hinkley's beatitude 'Be Believing.'  I need to cultivate and desire faith throughout my life.  I will make goals in my leadership and management opportunities to stand a little taller and stand out as someone who knows God lives and believes in the Atonement of His son Jesus Christ.  My attendance at the temple, church meetings, participation in ordinances, service to others and my study of gospel doctrines and all scriptures will increase my faith in God, Jesus Christ and in the Holy Ghost.
Pillar Three - Education
Knowledge is power, and the accumulation of knowledge is my goal.  I will build a foundation of knowledge that is part secular and part gospel.  I will study the doctrine of the gospel to build a foundation of testimony that leads to a becoming, the becoming a new creature.  My secular knowledge will enlighten me toward new ideas for leadership and management applications.  I suppose for leadership study we could look to the savior, and for management studies we could look at the style of the apostle Paul or the Apostle Peter.
Pillar Four - Peace
I make it a goal hear an now to study and fast and pray about the individual doctrines of the gospel.  As I learn new things, they must be confirmed as truth and then applied in my life, though sometimes the sequence may be to apply the teachings and then have the truth of them confirmed; in this way I will find peace knowing that the path I am on spiritually is the correct one.  I can also cultivate peace that by living and keeping God's commandments I can have the power of righteousness to pray for God's blessings on my family and business. I can know that whatever happens is the will of God, if I am keeping His commandments.  I do try.
Pillar Five - Self-Discipline/Mastery
I have a tendency to bow out away from hard things.  I need to make a list of the true goals and pillars I have in life on a card and make sure that what I am doing in my life is in accordance with what I want most.  I desire to be with God again in heaven, and I desire to experience the joy that He does.  I believe that self-discipline through reliance on the savior Jesus Christ is the only way to overcome hard things.  I seem to fail every time I do not truly turn to Him in times of trial.   I have a goal for a Godlike marriage and family, which takes great effort to prepare for, even while single; I know it takes continual and sustained effort in marriage as well.  I have discipline problems in many areas of life, thus this pillar is more of a wish at the moment.
Pillar Six - Passion
I love digging to the bottom of things and searching for the best in everything!  I have a passion for doing the best I can with the talents I have been given.  If I can find more hobbies and things I enjoy about life, I will be passionate about them as well.  I love getting excited about the little things in life and about my work.  I cannot see why anyone would invest in me, my work or the gospel if I walked around dispassionate about any of those parts of my life.  My family will be trained to have passion as well.
Pillar Seven - Patience
I tend to rush because of my passion;  I need to learn to be still and wait upon the Lord.  I love the idea of letting time heal wounds and allowing differences to be resolved with love and patience.  I have no desire to have conflict in my life with my wife, my children or co-workers.  If conflict comes it will be the beneficial kind and hopefully be dealt with in patience and love.  Jesus Christ waited 30 years until it was culturally right for Him to begin preaching; before that he prepared and became the man God in heaven needed Him to be for the atonement.  I can wait.
Pillar Eight - Love
I can discipline and teach and lead and manage with an undercurrent and over-current of  love.  Love should motivate all actions in my leadership roles and life relationships.  I will strive to lead like Christ and set a good example of His love. I cannot see a more important quality to obtain if God truly is love.  I must have love in all her forms as a pillar to sustain the best works in my life.  I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me;  I can love like Christ.

Leadership - Julius

-What did you learn from your leader that can help you motivate others in your leadership roles or projects?

I learned that you can rely on experience from the past as a measure of authority toward convincing others that you are capable of leading and succeeding in the realm of the given task.  I would humbly express to others in my group that I have a talent in the area we are working and would like to share my ideas.  Having an expression of authority would give them confidence in my abilities, and in turn, their faith in my abilities would give me courage and faith to do my best at leading them.

- Which leader (besides your own) surprised you in how they motivated others? - I had quite for gotten that women were so devious.  Marilyn Monroe was a bit scary with her methods of seducing men to get what she wanted. 

Hitler wasn't really a surprise, but I found it frightening that after all our friend had learned about Hitler, his response to motivating most people in most situations was utter fear, fear of death.   I ended up in the group with Hitler and Thomas Monson, things got tricky for sure.

Decision Making

I like what we are learning about the '6' c's of decision making.  We need to continue to collect information with regard to our service project.  I know that the final commitments with regard to location and time will not be important, and we are so ready to give service.  our job right now is to continue to take the idea we started with and keep it moving.  we need more information from anyone willing to participate with us.

We have hit a few dead ends with regards to a location and certain organizations ready to help with the dance.  That's okay.    I am going to try and keep my momentum going and call more persons until we get some options.   Without options and more information, we have no decision to make.  The only decision we can make right now is to stick with the action plan and get phone calls made so that we can get the word out soon and make this event happen before thanksgiving.  We need to kick it in gear and decide to act.

We will consider alternative to size of the project and make sure that we can reach as many as we can, but more importantly have a program.  I do not want to have so much planning that we miss having a project.

Time management

Setting goals for daily homework assignments would really help get school work done over the weekend.  Time easily gets passed from to do item to to do item.   I would much rather do anything else but homework, so it would be smart to put homework and studying first and make other activities a reward.  I need help focusing when I study, so it would also help to have a buddy system for homework.  I can make time commitments and appointments with other students for regular class reading and homework assignments.  The key for me will be to make the timing regular and scheduled.

Putting first things first with a goal for daily scriptures study would enhance my ability to continually put God first in my life and every day.  My current scripture study is sporadic and may happen everyday, but the timing is so irregular that I would not remember if I did or did not get it done. Having a chart, a goal and a daily set time would help me be able to get more out of my study and know that I was getting a good start to each and every day.  I will read

Blog Six For Leadership Class - Teamwork

        I saw all the stages of forming, storming, norming and performing in our group.  The personality type exercises helped us to get out concerns that would have been hard to address if it was not a controlled exercise in the class.  I was also glad to learn that throughout the next few weeks we may encounter relapses into other phases and need to work back toward performing.
        Teamwork was show in our group when we decided what time we could meet to get our work done outside of class.  We met under a vision of getting a common goal accomplished, and because we met on a Saturday, most members wanted to get work done and get the work done as quickly as possible.   We pooled all resources and had great communication.
         We have divided our responsibilities  up and tackled the planning of our program.  Because I get passionate about service, and because I have done many of these kinds of programs, it has been hard to let some of the responsibilities of coordinating and recruiting to other team members.  A lot of trust is involved in this  process, but we are moving a great direction with our program.

Blog Five For Leadership Class - How I Hear

Strong - Compromising

Am I losing sight of larger issues because of compromising tactics?

I sincerely hope not.   I would wager there are areas that I should not compromise, but I often do compromise because it is the easier thing to choose. When both parties can be instantly satiated with getting a little or all of what at least one party wants it is easy to give in and avoid conflict.  So, with compromise comes a smidge of avoiding that leaves at least one party half satisfied.

Does an emphasis on bargaining and trading create a cynical climate of gamesmanship?

I don't think bargaining always creates cynicism.  But, I can see where sometimes the way I treat exchanges is like a game.  I find that collaborating can be a game as well though.  We are all toggling to get what we need and give what others need.

Weak - Avoiding

Do you sometimes find yourself hurting others' feelings or stirring up hostilities?

Nope.  This category was tied with another that was pretty equivalent.  I try my best to not hurt feelings.  Think I'm doin well here.

Do you often feel harried or overwhelmed by a number of issues?

I do actual feel overwhelmed sometimes.  I will look into deciding that more issues are not important enough to worry about.

Blog Four For Leadership Class - A Little More About What I Heard - Reprise

Clear Communication Can Take Initiative

        Get the point across once and you will get the average amount of people who respond after being told once;  get the point across multiple times and you will get the average amount of people responding to your message that multiple times will achieve.

        I can use this in my service - repeat the vision again, again, and again until the volunteers catch the vision.  We can hold orientation meetings and send out multiple emails to new recruits so that they will catch and keep our vision in there hearts.  When I write the vision I will make sure I incorporate involving the voice of the people.  I will address concerns I know my audience may have, and I will propose solutions to all their potential fears and misunderstandings.
        With regard to communication in general, I can ask questions in my emails to student volunteers that allow them to voice additional ideas and concerns that have developed as a result of past service in the Utah Healing Arts program.

Blog Three For Leadership Class - A Little More About What I Heard

     The vision mapping process includes having a dream and making a plan to live the 'impossible' dream. I have a dream for weight management in my personal life.  I have a dream that I can live a European lifestyle in an American society. Oh yes, I have a dream.  I have a dream that I can control my self-control and my portions; that I can make my own portions; yes, I have a dream.  I have a dream that a single male can provide for himself a diet of delicious fruits and vegetables in the absence of maternal instinct, metabolism and much time. O yes halelujah! I have a dream.
       I have set a goal to lose weight that was SMART.  I want to lose 5 pounds in 5 days and then live the word of wisdom to the letter. So, stage one is to measure my weight daily and adjust my diet and exercise accordingly.  I will post the result of that later.  I will create an additional plan for the word of wisdom portion, but it will not be too far from the word of wisdom found in Doctrine and Covenants section 89.  I will attempt to live stage two for 21 days and then evaluate.  The intent of the goal would be to create a new life style, healthier habits and better routines, all intended to derive more energy and vitality out of every moment I am awake.
      
ps I plan on using SMART goal setting for our service group as well. My personal life and personal experience with SMART goals will continually build my faith in goal setting.

Blog Two For Leadership Class - A Little About What I Heard

      Never before had I heard the final chapter of 'teach a man to fish,' which is to say I learned something new.  The saying goes...give a man a fish and feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and feed him for a life-time, or teach a man to teach a man to fish and feed a village.  I was previously applying the a fore mentioned wisdom and have continued to implement the process of true leadership, the creation of a system that carries the idea of one person into the future forever; leadership that is not based on self elevation, but world elevation; leadership that is a catalyst for continued innovation on a certain theme.
      Utah Healing Arts(UTA) is a group that organizes BYU students to perform their musical talents for local nursing homes, hospitals and half-way houses.  Last year UTA had three events per week at the same time every week.  The program directors would round up all volunteers necessary to fill the time slots for each event, or in other words they would find guitarists, pianists and vocalist to perform various songs to fill and hour block of time.
       Under the premise of teaching men to teach men to fish, I decided that any student could do what had been previously done with UTA; any student could coordinate with retirement homes and other students to make quality events.  So, I set out to create a new system in which my friends and I will teach other men the skills necessary to organize these events.  They in turn will go out and begin to recruit others to participate in service and ultimately become group leaders themselves.  When the system begins to function properly, it should in theory spread profusely.  I believe in reaching the limits of limitless.

ps - The inspiration for involving others into a basic framework of service allows for individual interpretation and creativity while still fulfilling the basic intent of providing an opportunity for BYU students to serve and develop a desire for life long service.

Blog One For Leadership Class - A Little About Me

       I enjoy a nice piece of freshly cooked food.  I find that hot food is a commodity at home or out on the town.  As far as food goes, I am a texture man.  Driven by the ideal to please myself and others, I have acquired the hobby of cooking my own foods.  My recent accomplishments are wild Alaskan salmon with asparagus and parslied potatoes, just a garlic onion 1/2 pound hamburgers, and various types of grilled chicken, my favorite of which is a garlic-ginger-salt-black-pepper rub.
       I enjoy a nice piece of heartful, soulful jazz.  Jazz without vocals can be as pleasing as jazz with a singer, but as a singer myself I am a bit biased to the songs with fantastic lyrics.  Love songs seem to be fun for everyone and in the tune of entertaining others -- I found myself with a few love songs under my belt.  My mother likes a good jazz song, so I sing for her.  I listened to classic rock and country while I worked for my dad and jazz in the spare time; it was a good raise because I also sang art songs and classical music for voice lessons.
          I currently take voice lessons and volunteer with a group that sings for the elderly.  I love service and the gospel.  I love ultimate Frisbee and other rigorous competitive sports.  I serve in the Elder's Quorum presidency in my current ward and look forward to applying what I learn in this course.

ps - I dance on occasion - currently taking 281 - Country Swing - its a favorite

Just Keep Swimming

Power. Persuasion. Planning.

Day Two

            Today was about dreams.  Am I living my life?  What makes my life well lived?   Can a man have too many adventures, or does he just miss out the adventures he didn't plan to not plan?  Suppose I decide to follow God's lead, to take the hints He has so deliberately delivered to my door step.  Will I make more of my life?  Is it that simple?  Too bad the world doesn't know the terribly interesting details that led to these thoughts and this new paradigm.

            I wrote a paper about goals because I felt I needed to do more with my time.  Someone told me that God judges us based on what we do with time when we have it.  I have succeeded in consuming movies and television by the boat load, assuming that it is okay to do so based on the rigorous 8 months I lived prior to this current time of unemployment.   Whether I deserved the time off or needed it, I took it.  I have always watched television, and I suppose deciding what is too much is the issue.  

             I am finding out more about me, and I like it.  The more inundated I become in my own, true self the more i want to learn more; have I said more than enough?   But, taking into consideration the eternal implications of learning more about myself, I think it is fair to say that more is the word in this case.  I indeed want to have more of me to go around.  I want to make goals that fulfill dreams I have and have not defined.  I want to live in a step by step pattern of awesomeness and self-discovery.  I want to be the most of me that anyone has ever seen, because it will be peaceful for me and peaceful to be known.   

           I finished that paper and presentation on goal setting and felt immediately in cognitive dissonance, which was the idea behind tackling the unmentioned real cause of unrest that I live with everyday, to self-medicate by choosing to refresh the importance of goal setting in my mind, so as to push myself toward a better life.  Goal setting will help manage the time I have into a cognitive dissonance killer.  All the knowledge I have that contradicts the things I actually do or accomplish can be affronted by a valiant and dubious effort to change in all the right directions, one direction at a time.

           The guilt and mental energy of knowing I should or could be doing something better with my time will be absolved by the setting of effective goals.  I ran into a woman I barely know today and talked on and on about the vision mapping process.  I was able to tell her the process verbatim because I was searching for a goal setting outline in my head, and God played me the one I had on my iPod from Steven K. Scott.  I had my i-pod on shuffle while cleaning my room and just happened to hear all about using goals and steps and tasks to fulfill my dreams in the categories of life that I have priorities in.  I'm stoked.

            I do have a vision of some things that I would like to see happen in my life.   Setting a goal and some steps toward reaching my dream of playing piano and singing jazz at the same time is very doable.  I can learn a new piano song every two months until I can play it well enough to sing the lyrics.  That would bring me great joy.  I would learn and memorize the lyrics to new love/jazz songs once a month as well.  I'm planning on listing other dreams and mapping them out too; spiritual and life-long dreams of more consequence.  I have found and now testify that writing out and planning slow growth diffuses the ominousness of the tasks that I have associated with the goals and dreams in my head.
             Bed time.

It's My First Time

We had a lesson on journal writing today in church.  I met with bishop Chris Grayson about the stresses of my life and how I am doing.  He told me what he would look for to know if someone were to be a companion.  He said a companion should be the person you want with you when you just want to get away from it all.  Who do you want to travel away from life with, to share it all with?  I had a girl who I felt would make a good companion, one with whom I always felt peace.  But, peace alone isn't enough, though it seems it should be.  There must be joy and fun and laughter and peace; excitement at times.

        I must find this woman.