Alicia Gomes-Figueira assignment 15

After reading other classmates final projects and reflection paper, the one I liked the best was Alexander Parra. I liked Alexander paper because the way Alexander talked about Passion, faith and courage and related it to soccer. Before reading this project I never would have thought of soccer as more than just a game but how it connects to leadership of all ages. As Alexander states “Soccer is not only a game, it is a culture, loved and adored by many. Soccer is more than a sport; it is a way of life, a culture practiced for many years by people of all classes and creeds. If the people on the Big Island can come together to see that soccer has the power to unite, a promising future for the overall spirit of Hawaii will become evident”. After reading it, I have seen how soccer is like an organization and how each person in that team or organization has a leadership position that they take on. From the coach, the players and the parents, it all comes together as a team. They all must work together to make the team a success and learn from each other and a leader is one who leads by example. Another statement Alexander made was “However, soccer is the most celebrated sport in the world. Reaching audiences across all continents, it deserves admiration. Soccer is not only an athletic competition, but also a culture that has united people from all countries. From the high- tempo rhythm of the game, people of all ages play soccer”. Communication is a huge thing in soccer when the coach, players and the parents have to communicate to each other on the game to make it a success and for the team to win. I have learned that soccer is not just a game and that its takes communication and leadership skills to make the team win the game and a success. I enjoyed reading all the projects and I have enjoyed the class and learned so much.

Reflection paper

Alicia Gomes-Figueira
COM 441 Reflection Paper
Dr. Catherine Becker
April 20, 2010

As I reflected on what went well for me in doing my project was the way I could put together all my resources and thoughts and not have any trouble in finding my sources. In putting my paper together, I found so much information on my topic and had to narrow it down to get my point across. What I learned from doing this paper was that there are women who are in leadership positions that have and will continue to make a difference in our society and around the world. There was a lot of information on my topic and I felt that there was so much I wanted to cover in my paper but I had to narrow it down. There was so many different ways I could have taken my paper but I chose to stick with the majority of sources I had so it was sound good and not off track. What I learned and found out was that women have been in leadership roles since the 1890’s and politics and democracy plays a role in how women leaders were treated and how the media played a part in it. My paper connected to my mission by gaining leadership skills from women who have been in the leadership position and was successful and it will show that women can become leaders within their community, local, national and international just as well as men. I think that because my project was a paper there was not much to reflect on expect and all in all, I think my project paper went very well and I got across my point I was making about women leaders and how they are portrayed in the media.

Alicia Gomes-Figueira Chapter 15 assignment 14

What I learned from this week assignment In chapter 15 is how Covey first mentions about the inner drive in a person to become a leader (1) find your own voice, and (2) Inspire others to find their own voice. This is fueled by one great overreaching purpose which is to serve human needs. Covey says that organizations are established and built to serve human needs. For example, Student government at UH-Hilo was established to serve the student body and take care of the needs of our students on campus such as issues like parking, security, financial aid and so forth. Next covey talked about wisdom, the age of wisdom and where wisdom is. On page 294, Covey says “by a human being, the age of wisdom, by compass, which signifies the power to choose our direction and purpose and obey the natural laws or principles that never change and that are universal, timeless, and self-evident”. We are all human and make choices in our lives as well as being a leader and making a choice to benefit the organization but there are still laws and rules that we must follow as guidelines when make a choice about a program, event or serving the population. In our choice, we communicate to our co-workers, bosses, members and our community on our leadership skills and our mission. Covey also says that having the information and knowledge doesn’t mean that you have the wisdom we all need as leaders to communicate with others and help others to find their own voice and inspire them to become leaders. Wisdom is beneficial to our knowledge and information that we have and gain from others, society and our everyday experiences.

Alicia Gomes-Figueira Chapter 14 assignment 13

After reading Covey Chapter 14 and watching the film It’s not just important, It’s wildly important, the one thing that I learned and got my interest was the way that Covey talks about the 8th habit- find your voice and inspire others to find theirs. Covey starts off by saying that the 8th habit will give you as a leader a mind-set and skill-set to constantly look for the potential in people. This kind of leadership in a leader will help communicate to other leaders and people of their own strength and potential so they can see it for themselves that they have what it takes to be a leader or in that organization. I also liked the way Covey mentioned a way to remember the rules of the 8th habit. First is modeling inspires trust without expecting it, Second is pathfinding creates order without demanding it, Third is aligning structures systems and process that is a form of nourishing the political and spirit of trust, vision and empowerment, and last the Fourth is empowering which is the fruit of the other three rules. The last thing that I learned and got my interest is the sweet spot on page 279. Covey says that there are three kinds of greatness (1) personal greatness, (2) Leadership greatness, (3) organizational greatness. In leadership, communication is a key to making your organization or business a success by coming up with your mission, vision and goals to help further your organization and communicate with people on what your business is all about. These three levels of greatness are what makes a leader a great one and one that we can all look up too. For my project, I am looking at women who are leaders and how they bring out these qualities of leadership.

Alicia Gomes-Figueira Chapter 13 assignment 12

For assignment 10, I posted this about chapter 13: “In chapter 13 Covey says that the next three alternatives for empowering voice and releasing passion and talent are the first alternative is trying to get results by controlling people. The second alternative would be to set them loose, to abandon them. The third alternative is both tougher and kinder; it’s directed autonomy through win-win agreements around cascading line of sight goals and accountability for results. In SAC (Student Activities Council) we knew that we had to be accountable for our actions and if students came to us with questions like “how come we spent x amount of money on a certain event”? or What is SAC about? We had to be able to answer these questions and more and be honest and gain their trust so that we have a good standing relationship with students as well we with faculty, staff and administration. All in all, Covey opened my eyes to what I knew already as a student leader but sometimes we need to be reminded of what’s important as a leader and in an organization. Our mission Statement, vision and goals are very important to a company/ organization or business and its how people know about your company/ organization or business and how you establish certain credibility with other companies and people and make your business a success and communication is a top priority in order to do this. In my paper, I will look to see if these women in leadership positions follow what Covey had said in these chapters and apply it to my paper as well as my own leadership style. I was truly inspired by these three chapters”.

After re-reading chapter 13 and watching the video The Nature of Leadership I have gotten a wider vision of what Covey was talking about in Chapter 13. Every leader should posse the qualities of pathfinding and empowerment to help motivate other leaders in their organization, business or company. As Covey says “Pathfinding creates order without demanding it. Aligning nourishes both vision and empowerment without proclaiming them While Empowerment is the fruit of the other three. It is the natural result of both personal and organizational trustworthiness, which enables people to identify and unleash their human potential”. As leaders we all know that everyone has their own strengths and weakness and when we are in a organization or business we need to learn each others strengths and weakness to make our mission and goals in order to be successful. Communication is a huge way that we as leaders can pursue the pathfinding and empowerment in our organization and our personal self and providing that mission and goals for the organization.

Alicia Gomes-Figueira quick clicks assignment 11

After watching the quick clicks links I have learned so many things that would help with my final project. I am writing a paper on women leaders who ran for office throughout history and look at who they ran against, how the media portrayed and advertised these women leaders. This paper will connect to my mission and gaining leadership skills from women who have been in the leadership position and was successful and it will show that women can become leaders within their community, local, national and international just as well as men. One thing that I have learned was on quality writing standards. The tools they gave was (1) Subject line conveys a clear purpose, (2) Purpose is clear and upfront, (3) Lists in the form of bullets, (4) Good use of white space, (5) Emphasis using bold-faced font, (6) headings are informative. (7) Paragraphs and sentences are short. I find these tools to be helpful when I write my paper and will use it as a goal. Another link I found helpful and learned from was the “Be productive Habit: See-do-get”. The three things that they mentioned was (1) how we see the world, (2) Determines what we do, (3) which, in turn, determine the results we get. After looking at this one I noticed that in everything that we do, we always have our own thoughts about any situation. These links will help me in writing my paper and making my project a success. In being a leader, knowing how to write a proposal, a grant or a speech is very helpful and having an open mind on issues that we face is a good quality in a leader.

Alicia Gomes-Figueira Covey chapters 11, 12, 13 Assignment 10

After reading Covey Chapter 11, 12, and 13 and watching the video’s, the one thing that stood out for me and got my interest was the way that Covey tells us (the readers) about the Third Alternative to leadership. Covey starts off by explaining the concept of the path finding of a shared vision, values and a strategic plan. In chapter 11, he says that the first alternative role of leadership would be to announce vision, values and strategy to our team/organization/business without any real involvement on their part. The second alternative would be to get excessive involvement and get bogged down in paralysis by analysis and committee, have extensive off-sites and endless discussions, almost working on the assumption that you don’t need to execute strategy or empower. The third alternative would be to not only reasonably involve people in the process of developing the vision, mission and strategy but also recognize that if you build a strong enough culture of trust, and are personally trustworthy yourself, the power of identification is equal to the power of involvement. From my personal experience of being a student leader at UHH and Haw CC, I had the chance to experience in developing a vision and mission statement for my organization. In 2004-2005, I was in the combined UHH-Haw CC Student Activities Council where we put on activities for the students of both campuses. Our activities consist of Ho’olaulea, Earth Day, Valentines giveaway, Open Mic nite, Dances and so forth. As a group of student leaders, we sat down and came up with ideas on what our vision was for the academic year and we had to look at who we served our credibility as an organization and do a budget for each event. As we came up with ideas for events, we had to think back to our vision and mission statement to see if we were following it and living up to our vision. We had to create an environment in which we all could work with each other because we all were from different cultures and backgrounds.
In chapter 12 Covey says that the next three alternatives are important to goals and system for results. The first alternative would be to believe that personal modeling of an individual is sufficient to keep an organization on the path of healthy growth. The second alternative would be to believe that by continuously communicating the vision and strategy you’ve carefully and intentionally developed. The third alternative would be to (1) use both personal moral authority and formal authority to create systems that will formalize or institutionalize your strategy and the principles embodied in your shared vision and values, (2) create cascading goals throughout the organization that are aligned with your shared vision, values and strategic priorities, and (3) adjust and align yourselves to regular feedback you receive from the marketplace and organization on how well you are meeting needs and delivering value. In my leadership position in SAC (Student Activities Council) we always encourage feedback from the students, other council members, friends and our advisor so that we know if the event was a success, what we needed to work on next time such as advertising, more food and prizes. This was a way that we knew if we were living up to our mission statement, vision and goals. Each event had certain goals that we wanted to accomplish and being in an organization like SAC communication was a big way we kept SAC going and our events being a success.
In chapter 13 Covey says that the next three alternatives for empowering voice and releasing passion and talent are the first alternative is trying to get results by controlling people. The second alternative would be to set them loose, to abandon them. The third alternative is both tougher and kinder; it’s directed autonomy through win-win agreements around cascading line of sight goals and accountability for results. In SAC (Student Activities Council) we knew that we had to be accountable for our actions and if students came to us with questions like “how come we spent x amount of money on a certain event”? or What is SAC about? We had to be able to answer these questions and more and be honest and gain their trust so that we have a good standing relationship with students as well we with faculty, staff and administration.
All in all, Covey opened my eyes to what I knew already as a student leader but sometimes we need to be reminded of what’s important as a leader and in an organization. Our mission Statement, vision and goals are very important to a company/ organization or business and its how people know about your company/ organization or business and how you establish certain credibility with other companies and people and make your business a success and communication is a top priority in order to do this. In my paper, I will look to see if these women in leadership positions follow what Covey had said in these chapters and apply it to my paper as well as my own leadership style. I was truly inspired by these three chapters.

Global Oneness Project Film

The film I chose to watch was Oneness and Diversity by Rabia Elizabeth Roberts. In this film she explains the idea of oneness and that it does not lessen diversity, but rather expands one's viewpoint. I chose this film because the title got my interest and being in Hawaii, it’s a place that is a very diverse and as leaders we need to be open and keep an open mind about things. What I saw as I watched the film was how each person viewpoint of issues is very different and it has to do with the diversity of people’s culture and backgrounds. If you show up and really listen to other peoples view points than what you discover from other people is a shared humanity. She talks about being afraid of people and things because of the difference of view point than we tend to put up a wall or fence to keep us in the safe zone. We all have that wall that we put up to keep us in that safe zone but as a leader we should know and learn how to break down that wall when needed in certain situations. This film has impacted me because of the diversity and being open with others is not something that we think about on a daily basis and this film opened my eyes to the fact that we as leaders need to be open minded about other people culture, view point and their backgrounds. A leader should always be expanding their viewpoints of issues, ideas and how to resolve a conflict to reach a resolution. A leader should listen to other people ideas and learn new ways to grow in their leadership position and as a person. As the chair of the Ho'olaulima mediation Center at UH-Hilo, I have learned to resolve conflicts and to be open minded of other people culture and backgrounds. If we are not open to other people viewpoint of issues then it may cause a conflict which is the number one thing among people.

Hope in the Dark Assignment week 8

After reading Rebecca Solnit “Hope in the Dark” the one concept that I have learned is when she mentioned about the concept of Hope. On page 4 she states “To hope is to gamble. It’s to bet on the future, on your desires, on the possibility that an open heart and uncertainty are better than gloom and safety. To hope is dangerous, and yet it is the opposite of fear, for to live is to risk”. As a leader we all take risks to accomplish our goals, dreams and the possibilities of being a great leader weather it’s at home, at our business or company or in our education. If we have hope in everything we do then we will have action in our daily life because with hope there comes our actions so If we have hope in ourselves and in the world than we commitment to the future. One quote that I found interesting is on page 6 “The future is dark, with a darkness as much of the womb as of the grave”. There are several kinds of hope that she talks about, one is false hope which seems to paralyzes our ability to rebel, reject, critique, to demand and make changes in our leadership position. Another kind of hope is the blind hope that happens when we face a blank wall waiting for a door to open for you and blind hope keeps you from locating these doors. On page 14 “ Hope is a door, or rather a vision of a door, a belief in a way forward that is not open to all people at all times. Yet it sometimes seems that the desperate are more hopeful than the official spokespeople for radical politics-that say, undocumented immigrants preserve in locating doors”. We as leaders will be faced with many choices and may take risk everyday to become a good leader and make our company or business a success. It also plays a role in our daily lives at home, weather its taking care of the children, cleaning the house, cooking dinner and so forth. Hope is something that we all can connect too and think about when making any decisions. As a leader we must learn to overcome the obstacles in our lives no matter how hard the obstacle may be. To close, I think that a great leader will believe in hope even when there is no hope, they have a positive outlook on any situation that comes their way.

Alicia Gomes-Figueira Covey Appendix 3 quote

Covey Appendix 3 quote John W. Gardner (pg 361)
“Leaders and leader/managers distinguish themselves from the general runoff managers in at least six respects:
1. They think longer term.
2. In thinking about the unit they are heading they grasp its relationships to larger realities.
3. They reach and influence constituents beyond their jurisdictions, beyond boundaries.
4. They put heavy emphasis on the intangibles of vision, values, and motivation and understand intuitively the nonrational and unconscious elements in leader-constituent interaction.
5. They have the political skill to cope with the conflicting requirements of multiple constituencies.
6. They think in terms of renewal.
“The manager is more tightly linked to an organization than is the leader. Indeed, the leader may have no organization at all”.

In terms of my own vision, experience and being a student leader at UH-Hilo, I think that I have followed change and a better place for our students at UH-Hilo as well as my community. Thinking outside the box is what any leader should do to become a great leader and build relationships with their organization as well as with other people. In my experience of being a student leader for the past 9 years, I have learned new skills to help make my organization a success and build relationships with my organization as well as with other organizations on campus and faculty, staff and administration. I have also learned that we all have our own strengths, weakness and talents and we as leaders must help each other to take that talent and strength and build on it. Because everyone in an organization has different cultures, values, goals, and visions, we can all learn from one another about other cultures and so forth.

Alicia Gomes-Figueira Covey Appendix 2 assignment

The theory that I have chosen in the Covey Appendix 2 is the Spiritual Leadership and the leader I have chosen is Mother Teresa. In my own words I believe that the Spiritual Leadership Theory is all about connecting and influencing people on a spiritual level such as religious view on life. This involves taking care of others, having knowledge of different cultures, values, traditions, customs and beliefs. You must commit to the care of the whole person and spiritual care into their daily lives and what they practice. Mother Teresa had so much passion to live her life with vision and discipline that lead to change. Mother Teresa had great “spiritual intelligence”, which made her a great leader. I believe that the Spiritual Theory applies to all the accomplishments that Mother Teresa did throughout her life and that possessed all these qualities as a leader. Mother Teresa was an Albanian Catholic nun and founded the Missionaries of Charity in 1948 at Calcutta, India. She was a great humanitarian and she helped the sick and poor, not only in her own community or country but local, national, and international. Her vision for the organization, her actions to create change, and taking that action to make the change happen I believe is what made her a great leader. Also, her warmth, empathy, genuineness to the world made her a loving person and a great role model. She lived her life serving God and spreading the word of God to the world by her actions. This showed that she lived her life by “faith” and “hope” and that by her actions could change the world and make the world a better place.

COM 441 Project proposal

Alicia Gomes-Figueira
COM 441 Project Proposal Leadership and Communication
Spring 2010 Dr Becker

My project proposal will consist of the following:
What do you plan to do? I plan to research on women leaders who ran for office throughout history and look at who they ran against, how the media portrayed and advertised these women leaders.

Why (how does it connect to your mission?) It will connect to my mission and gaining leadership skills from women who have been in the leadership position and was successful and it will show that women can become leaders within their community, local, national and international just as well as men.

When? I will have my research paper ready to submit to Dr Becker and the COM 441 class in May 2010.

How? I will develop 10-15 page research paper which will include all the research I have found to make my project a success.

What will you need to succeed? I will need to do research and look back in history on women leaders who ran in politics and became leaders such as Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin.

How will you know if you have succeeded? I will know if I have succeeded by the research I gather and put into my paper and getting feedback from Dr Becker and other COM 441 classmates.

Ted Talks

After visiting the TED Talk site, the one speaker I chose to write about was First Lady Michelle Obama and her talk on a plea for Education at a London girls school. She makes a passionate, personal case for each student to take education seriously. It is this new, brilliant generation, she says, that will close the gap between the world as it is and the world as it should be. I wanted to show that even thou her husband is the president of the United States, Michelle Obama has become a leader to many people of young and old. As she was growing up, Michelle Obama family never had much money but her parent always told her that education was very important and she further her education at Princeton and she went on to Harvard Law School. Her and her older brother was raised with Love, morals and a good education. Her mother was her role model and showed her compassion, love, and faith. After that she went back to Chicago to open a law firm where she met her husband Barack Obama. I was so inspired by Michelle Obama and listening to her talk got me thinking of my own childhood and education and the future of my nieces and nephews. Michelle Obama balances work and personal life and she still finds time to help out around the world and all the things she is passionate about such as working mothers. She talks about that the girls are our future leaders and they are the ones that will make a difference in our world and will close the gap between the world as it is and the world as it should be.

Michelle Obama's plea for education http://www.ted.com/talks/michelle_obama.html April 2009
First Lady Michelle Obama, a lawyer and administrator, is an advocate for working parents, military families and national service. Why you should listen to her: http://www.ted.com/speakers/michelle_obama.html
Michelle Obama's life as First Lady of the United States is informed by her early life, growing up as the daughter of a pump operator for the Chicago water department. Though money was tight, her parents emphasized education and possibility for their two brilliant children. Both kids went to Princeton (her older brother, Craig Robinson, was a bond trader, then become a much-respected basketball coach at Brown and now Oregon State University); Michelle went on to Harvard Law School, and returned to Chicago to do corporate law at the firm where she met her future husband, Barack Obama. She left corporate law to become a civil servant, working in planning, social outreach and administration with the city of Chicago, AmeriCorps and the University of Chicago Medical Center. Today, Michelle Obama's personal focus is on raising her own two children, Malia and Sasha, in the glare of White House life. Her more outward focus, as First Lady, also revolves around issues of work-life balance; she's a passionate supporter of military families and of working mothers. She's helping to lead the drive for national service, encouraging Americans to volunteer in their own communities. (And of course, she's become an international fashion icon too.)
To learn more about Michelle Obama here are a few links about her:
http://www.barackobama.com/about/michelle_obama/#michelle
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_Obama

"What I have learned from my classmate about a leader."

After reading my classmates 600 word of a leader I have learned that there are so many other great leaders out there and that have passed on. The one leader that stuck out for me was Mother Teresa. What I learned about Mother Teresa is that her leadership legacy of creating action and a spiritually life by dedicating her life to helping the poor, ill, less fortunate, and striving for peace. Mother Teresa had the ability to analyze what was needed and where it was needed most and visualized peace and well-being, her self-awareness, empathy, social sensitivity, and her ability to communicate with others that enhanced balance, judgment, and wisdom. All of these things and the way she led her life by creating action and a spiritual connection to people and the environment has made her the great leader she was and she will continue to inspire us all to follow in her footsteps and live our life as she did.

Martin Luther King Jr, a leader

The leader I picked for my 600 Word biography of a leader with the connection to Covey 4 and 5 was Martin Luther King Jr who was born on January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. Just a little history about who Martin Luther King Jr was as a person and a leader. He was the son of the Reverend Martin Luther King Sr. and Alberta Williams King. He had an older sister, Willie Christine King, and a younger brother, Alfred Daniel Williams King. He sang with his church choir at the 1939 Atlanta for the premiere of the movie Gone with the Wind. He was of African-American heritage, an American activist and a prominent leader, and was a leader in the African-American civil rights movement. On June 18, 1953 he married Coretta Scott on the lawn of her parents' house in her hometown of Heiberger, Alabama. They had four children; Yolanda King, Martin Luther King III, Dexter Scott King, and Bernice King. He became the pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama when he was twenty-five years old in 1954. He became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to end racial segregation and racial discrimination through civial disobedience and other non-violent means in 1964 and Martin Luther King, Jr day was established as a U.S. national holiday in 1986.

His leadership legacy was on the civil rights in the U.S and becoming a human rights icon with his public speech of “I had a dream”in March 1963 in Washington where he raised public consciousness of the civil rights movement that has established him as one of the greatest leaders in U.S. history. I believe Martin Luther King Jr was an example of a true leader and one that discovered his voice and expressed it as chapter 4 and 5 talked about. His mental intelligence IQ to analyze, reason, use language and comprehend life issues made him an outstanding leader. Another thing that I think made him a great leader is his emotional intelligence IQ of his self-knowledge, self-awareness, social, empathy and his ability to communicate to others such as in his “I had a dream speech”. His Spiritual intelligence IQ of guiding, motivating, and connecting with people as well as his vision, discipline, passion, and conscience was another way he exemplified his leadership legacy and skills. His vision to see the good in people and projects and having the discipline to make his vision, goals and values a success which brought his passion and desire for a common purpose to help his community and the world is what made him the leader he was and his legacy still continues on today.

In closing, Although the 8 habit talks about several leaders in chapter five such as George Washington, Mother Teresa, Florence Nightingale, Margaret Thatcher, Nelson Mandela, and Mohandas K. Ganhi, I believe all of these qualities is what makes Martin Luther King Jr a true leader and one that I look up to and wish to follow in my life as a student leader as well as at home and in my community and for this, I have chosen Martin Luther King Jr as the leader I wanted to discuss in my 600 word biography. With all his accomplishments in his life and how he became such an outstanding leader in our community, the U.S. and the world I feel has made him an outstanding leader and one that we all can look to for guidance long after his death.

My Mission Statement/Goals

My mission is to foster my physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health which are important to me such as nutrition, exercise, education, values, and support which include community, family and peers.