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.