End of leadership course? Maybe its just the beginning...

Its been a long long while since I last sank into a state of depression. Things are starting to get hectic and my emotional well-being wasnt exactly strong. Anyway, I struggled through the worst week of the year. Im good now. Much better. The depression came quietly. Severe lack of sleep and a few other problems caught me by surprise. I was reading two articles for my course on leadership yesterday. I feel, they are the best 2 articles for this course. Let me share some exerpts with you.

1. Is Silence Killing your company? - Perlow and Williams (Harvard Business Review, May 2003)

"Everytime we keep silent about our differences, we swell with negative emotions like anxiety, anger, and resentment. Of course, we can go on for a long time pretending to ourselves and others that nothing is wrong. But as long as the conflict is not resolved, our repressed fellings remain potent and colour the way we relate to other people. We begin to feel a sense of disconnection in our relationships, which in turn causes us to become increasingly self-protective .When we feel defensive in this way, we become all the more fearful that if we speak up, we will be embarrassed or rejected. Our sense of insecurity grows. In relationships we care about preserving, more acts of silence follow, which only bring more defensiveness and more distrust. A destructive 'spiral of silence' is set in motion"

2. Moments of Greatness – Robert Quinn (HBR, July – August 2005, p 1-10)

There's normal and There's Fundamental
Under everyday circumstances, leaders can remain in their normal state f being and do what they need to do. But some challenges require a heightened perspective - what can be called the fundamental state of leadership. Here is how these two states differ. ( Anyway, what we should all strive for, is to apply this fundamental state everyday.. to the extent that the we are leading our lives with this fundamental state, till it becomes our normal state).

Well, many of these leadership theories are simply theories that we can relate to and aptly apply to our daily lives. I enjoy this course. Now that it is officially over, I will have to continue the journey of self-discovery on my own. This is the most enriching course ever!! Never have I taken a course in which I am the focus and I am the subject. And it is interesting how a lot of these soft skills are the determining factors to the success of a leader. And fundamentally, we must be a leader to ourselves before we can lead others. Leadership is a role we can adopt in any part of our daily lives, in families, with friends, in relationships, etc.. It is not restricted to the management in a company.

I loved the movies. I enjoyed all the articles. I appreciated all the reflection exercises.

These articles are accessible from the school's library datebase if you guys are interested. Enjoy.

Anyway, I had another fantastic time during SBM today. John is SO funny and he is so inspirational too. The takeaway from today's class before we were all hyped up in the discussion of the LVMH case:

"Strive for Brilliance"

- We do not enter university in hope of becoming a below average student. We do not enter into relationships hoping that it will only be mediocre. We do what we did and we decide to go into what we did for we hope that they will all turn out to be nothing but success with excellence. We all know but how AWARE are we?