LILTDY ch.9

This chapter was about taking risks. We tend to avoid risks, and many people wouldn't want to risk anything usually. But in this chapter, it mentioned to take risk.

Through Mr. Kitashiro's speech, he also said that he also took the risk, and he thought it was necessary. I wonder if people can risk something if they had no other choice. I think that life is filled with many kind of risks, small and big risks, important or insignificant risks, and other kinds as well. The TED talk I found in the internet given by a Yale university student was very interesting. The way she thinks, and the examples she gave through her speech.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91eV-US0Ecw

I think that showing your some kind of "weak side" will make people closer. If you try to hide the weakness, or the risk you are making, it just makes you make a wall between others. I think that taking risks is not only about the negative image, but the process is also important. The people around you will notice what you do and get a stronger bond, or the process and the outcome might become something positive. According to this video, the risk taking will connect to your own confidence. Confidence will be another character it is important for leadership, or being positive. After all, I feel people who tend to be like this are more effective as a leader.

Hibiya sensei&about my circle recently

We had Hibiya Sensei's lecture this week, and I really enjoyed it!!
Her character was quite different from what I had expected. She was cheerful, like to say jokes, and bright. The lesson I really learned from her speech was that to be cheerful, and humorous. If you can, I definitely think that it is possible to communicate better.
Now, being able to speak English is not enough.

In my club circle we had a camp for a week. Our club is consisted by Japanese, Korean, and Chinese. We mainly speak English when we communicate, but many member except the Japanese members can speak either the two language which is not their mother tongue. They studied on their own and can speak well. The thing I realized is that being able to speak a third language is quite common in other countries. People in Europe can speak many languages, and many people can speak Spanish or French as their third language as well. Being able to speak many language will definitely improve your range what you can do.

Also, this will be apart from Hibiya Sensei's lecture, but I learned what it is important to communicate with someone different from your country through this camp. This is partly related to leadership in that it requires facial expression and how you speak.
The people I was became acquaintance were from Korea and China. They have somewhat similar customs to Japan, but different language. Also, there are political conflicts these days, so many people in our circle had to put those issues in mind when they interact.

Through the interaction, I learned that information, listening to others, and positive and kind of over-reacting facial expression (particularly in smiling) were important. I'll only talk about facial expression here. It is hard to understand them by English fully because they are not fully used to English. Although, through facial expression than usual, they can know how you actually feel, and sometimes, even just by smiling just solves everything.

LILTDY ch.8

Lighten up!!
What I do to lighten up is to rethink what was funny and what made me laugh in the past. I tend to feel overwhelmed if my situation is not so good, and tend to be depressed. I always try to be optimistic, but it's hard. Well, rethinking won't work sometimes. In that case, I try to do something that distracts my attention, and make me relaxed. Although, there are times when I actually face it in a different way. Face the problem or the situation with another person who are having the same trouble as me. Then make it, or connect that issue to something we can laugh about, humorous, so that we can feel that it's not such a big deal.

Mr. Kitashiro said in his speech that most of the problem we face is not that significant. It is just a temporary matter. In LILTDY, it says that find something to laugh about. In the Japanese saying, "Fortune comes to a merry home." I really believe in this saying these days. It also doesn't make me think about little things I used to care about (in a bad way).

I think I heard this in class, but babies laughs and smiles a lot. There are individual differences, but I think kids are great. There are flexible and cheerful to any kind of environment, or in relationships. I think it's a pity that I lost that ability as I grew up.

Lessons so far

This is a screenshot I took from the Menlo Innovations HP. It was much more interesting than I expected. Pets and babies at work!! It's no longer an issue that this company is rare for not having a leader. Well, it is interesting to know that there are such companies in the world. 

It looks quite loose, and free...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidkwilliams/2012/07/05/no-more-managers-everyone-leads/

This is a link that shows an article about "Everyone leads, and no more manager" stance.

What I learned so far in these past few weeks, many new innovative organizations tend to be flat. The top-down type seems a bit old-fashioned. The leader we think of as an ideal today is different from the past. The speech we had from Mr. Kitashiro was simple, but was something it was hard to do. It had many lessons, but not easy to achieve. Mr Kitashiro was a leader that stood in the top of many people, but his character was honest and friendly. He was also a hard worker. I can conclude that his leadership is a type that is successful. In that short period, I felt that I would want to learn and work from that kind of leader.

LILTDY ch.6, 7

LILTDY chapter 6 Core Team Values
expedition log
We have a leader in each department, and have three leaders in the top: a president, and two vice president. I think that these leaders are important because each department needs to share the information, and the president needs to see the whole organization from the outside(outside from the departments, and unite them.)
I don't know about my type of leadership, but through the class activities, I was the type to try to solve the problems. As a sacrifice, I didn't take the class I wanted to because if I took the class, I won't be able to participate to the circle activities. Also, it is the first in the priority for me now.
Since my state in the organization is no near to a leader, but I tend to do team member's task.

LILTDY chapter 7 Conflict
http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikemyatt/2012/02/22/5-keys-to-dealing-with-workplace-conflict/
This article from Forbes was quite interesting.
Also, in this chapter, it saids that "Be proactive and keep troublemakers close by". Reminds us of "Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer."
This is another article from Forbes, and it is about "Keeping your enemies closer".
http://www.forbes.com/sites/aileron/2012/12/27/keeping-your-enemies-closer/

I tend to avoid conflicts as well as enemies. I don't , and most people don't want take the risk to end up in a conflict. Although, this article shows gives interesting examples, and in the book, it also saids that we need to know how to manage it. 
I should put in mind that once the conflict becomes a shared problem, team members can cooperate to find solutions.

LILTDY ch.4, 5

LILTDY chapter 4 Stamina
Stamina is important for a leader, but many leaders have their own routine to keep their health and the body at their best condition. There is an acquaintance, and he is a president of a company. He has been a leader of an organization for many years. One of his way to keep his best condition is, wake up at 4 am and read a book for 2 hours before breakfast, and after eating breakfast, he goes to work. After coming home from work, he always makes some time everyday to have a nice chat with his wife. He makes this a routine. He faces himself and his wife everyday by doing this, and to keep him at the best condition. When I once met him, he had a very frank atmosphere, and made me feel that "this person sure is something" even if I didn't know how great he is, or what he is like.
Starting to read the Leading at the Edge, I often find something in common between significant leaders and what is written in the book. Stamina is also something I really agree to, since if you think it simply, the leader is the representative of the organization, so he or she should always be healthy to lead the followers. (Although, not to mean that they need to be perfect...)

LILTDY chapter 5 The Team Message
From this chapter, I really learned a lot. It was what my circle needs, and are having trouble with, once in a while.
-expedition blog
We always stand back every time when we get into a new stage, or when we do something new, to reconfirm our goal and our purpose for doing those things. Also, we always set a concept so that every member can face the same direction to work on the project.
Although, we tend to face problems because of the lack of sharing the information. In those cases, we tend to arrange to set an opportunity to share them.

When it becomes like this, for a flat organization, which the members are mostly equal, this type of information exchanging will be inefficient. For now, our current solution is to use Google Drive and share all the informations for everyone to see!

Outline and the research for so far

Thesis Statement

What made Margaret Thatcher a great leader? There are three representative stances in her leadership that are significant.

Ⅰ. Introduction

 A. Introducing Margaret Thatcher’s background, and the situation of Britain of that time.

 B. What Margaret Thatcher achieved to do when she was the leader of the country.

 (C. Her famous words, and her actions analysis.)

Ⅱ. Her social reputation and the relations with her leadership stances

  A. Her reputation before being elected as the leader of the country, and what she was like when

she was still just a mother, and a wife. (Whether she had any characteristic as a leader)

  B. The reason why she was elected as the Prime Minister. (Whether she had any characteristic as a

leader)

Ⅲ. The preparation she had done to become the leader.

Ⅳ. Her representative stances as a leader.

  A. Passion

  B. Determination

  C. Confidence

Ⅴ. Conclusion

  A. Summary of the analysis

  B. Restate the thesis

I went through some research about Thatcher this week as well, and found some facts that I never given thought of. I was reading a book called "The survival of women"(This is a Japanese book, so I simply translated the book title into English.) The book argues about how the women's status converted with the times. It partly talked about one of Thatcher's policies. Thatcher was one of the conservative party member, but in those days, the conservative party was more innovative than the other party, and the other party was more defensive at the time. This contributes to each of the party's stance. Moreover, Thatcher was not a sexist, but neither maintained feminism. She thought that whatever the gender they are, it depends on one's ability. In some ways, I think she is somewhat exclusive, but has a point in what she says. The more I learn about her, the more I understand the passion, determination, and the confidence in her leadership.

Final Essay

I am planning to write about Margaret Thatcher. Analyzing the leadership of the woman who was called the "iron lady", I think I will gain another perspective of what it is to be a leader. 

She was the British Prime Minister from 1975 to 1990; she was strong, and uncompromising. She was called the "iron lady" ironically, but she actually seemed to like it. I can't actually say she was an ideal leader, but I think she was a great, significant leader in history.

There are many articles and books about her now, but it was just last year in April that she passed away. What she had achieved and went through was severe, but she actually experienced them all while it was still rare to be a women leader. As a mother, as a wife, and as a leader of a country, it is obvious that it was tough. (Well…far from tough…) All in all, there are many things that we can learn from her leadership. We learn Shackleton's leadership, but I think Thatcher's leadership is important as well in the society. Not all leaders can achieve by the way Shackleton did. As for the main purpose for choosing this topic is because I think it is important to know this kind of leadership as well.

There was a movie of Margaret Thatcher, The Iron Lady, Meryl Streep acting the role of Thatcher. There are scenes that are familiar to what we learn in class, like what leaders do to improve their leadership. I know that this is arranged a lot, but it made me easier to understand the whole image of Thatcher. (I simply like Meryl Streep, her acting is great!)

LILTDY ch.3

In chapter 3, it says that being optimistic is valuable. The example of the author’s client reminds me of president Obama.

In the book, “Every morning, the first thing he saw was his face with the caption, “You can do it!”” On the other hand, the famous speech of President Obama, “Yes, we can!”

In the big speech for the election, President Obama had moved many peoples heart to choose him. “Yes, we can” can be a phrase that encourages people, and an optimistic vector. In chapter 3, it also introduces that leaders should spread the spirit of optimism, but the president’s speech did apply to this as well.

“you’ve damn well got to be optimistic”(Shackleton) Although, sometimes Shackleton feeling insecure because of the responsibility, his usual character being optimistic has spread through the men of the expedition; the men had encouraged Shackleton when he was overwhelmed. This, “spreading the optimism” seemed nice as a leader, and I thought that this integration of the expedition was the key to the success.

A team with no leader

This might not relate to leadership, but I thought it was important to know that there might be a time that “without a leader” is a better option for a community.I read an article from a magazine about a company that doesn't have a leader.

The company’s name was Menlo Innovations. It is a company that makes rapid growth, and works for developing software. There are two people of the company, but works nothing differently as other workers. The company reveals all the coworkers salary in the hall way, and they actually feel relived about it. Also, they all decide together for a pay raise, dismissals and all that.

“A research showed that hierarchy is something that holds down creativity. For a team that are trying to create something new from a zero, hierarchy becomes an obstacle…What the team needs is freedom.”

This company was open and flat. Some people say that people are starting to seek for the enjoyment to work than the amount of salary. It strays from the issue, but there are a community that works fine without a leader.

I thought that this should be considered as well through my studies of leadership.