Day 3 is going well. I feel like we did a much better job with our presentation on corporate sustainability. The difference in our thinking was demonstrable. Our presentation was much more thorough and detailed. Once more, another group did their presentation on Sustainable Development as well, but it was a completely different focus! They focused on environmental sustainability rather than corporate sustainability. They also used completely different models and suggested a different leadership theory.

Now I’m in a new group and we are doing a presentation tomorrow on Climate Change. We are focusing on the plight of penguins and why those of us in North America should care. I’m the team leader this time and have to come up with a leadership theory to fit the solutions we will present. We have decided to work separately since we will have time to pull things together in the morning. I have a good group and have faith in their abilities.

Sustainability Model: Demonstrates that the economy and society are dependent on the health of the environment.

I got an early start this morning, but am very tired this morning. I was working until about 11:00 p.m. last night on today’s presentation. However, there is a group of motorcyclists staying at my hotel and they were revving bikes and playing loud music until very late. Their partying makes concentration and sleeping more than a bit difficult.

My team is doing a presentation on Corporate Sustainability today. I’m presenting the sustainability and solution models. The first one is the Sustainability Model and the second is the Plan-Do-Study-Act cycle. The Sustainability Model demonstrates that the economy and society are dependent on the health of the environment. The literature shows that people tend to think that for corporations to be responsible they have to give away shareholders money. This model shows that doing business in a sustainable way insures that the organization will be able to continue making money for the shareholders.

What are your thoughts on this?

As a Servant Leader, I work to Empower those I work with to move beyond their current skill set and achieve greater things together than they could have achieved on their own.

Your thoughts and feedback on this are welcome…

Scholarly thinking requires inquiry in an in-depth manner without bias and preconceptions. One must open their mind to the possibilities and not make assumptions based on surface information. Scholars look for:

• The underlying theory of what they are reading
• A model and a plan for moving forward including a possible solution
• A way to evaluate the model or plan and make changes where necessary

My group had a model and the beginnings of a plan to move forward, but was not in-depth enough for what our instructor was looking for. However, when she was giving us our feedback, our instructor pointed out that she had not given us the assignment rubrics on purpose in order to evaluate where our thinking was and expected us to perform as we had. Now she expects us to improve. Now we get to find out what’s next…

One of my classmates asked the question “Am I a leader?” The instructor thought this was an extraordinary question to ask. In hindsight I have to agree. I have always seen doctoral students as strong-willed, determined individuals who are working to become leaders in their fields. Why else would anyone put themselves through this process? I feel that I have been a leader my whole life and my tendency to set goals and work to achieve them is one of the traits that makes me a leader.

To answer my classmate’s question for myself, yes, I am a leader! I may not be a manager in the organization I work for or a district officer in Toastmasters, but I am a leader in almost everything I do. At work I have a manager that I report to, but I am a leader to about 500 of my coworkers who have been trained as site administrators. It is my job to teach and guide them in using a communication tool and to become effective, efficient, and proficient in using it. When they need help I provide it. When they are stuck, I make suggestions for making progress. When they don’t remember or understand something, it is my job to rephrase or re-explain something. I love doing it!

That is just one reason why I am pursuing my doctoral degree…

Our first assignment was to develop a “concise leadership statement” about our leadership style. This had to be prepared prior to our arrival in class. From that “concise leadership statement” we were to develop a one-sentence statement about our leadership style. Here is mine:

As a Servant Leader, I work to Empower those I work with to move beyond their current skill set and achieve greater things together than they could have achieved on their own.

I am told that this will change over the next five days as this class proceeds. We are also being asked to adjust how we ask questions of presenters. We are to start our questions with the phrase “I heard you say this…” paraphrase what was said and then ask the question. This is done to show that we were actively listening during the presentation. Our instructor has said that this is a very effective way to ask questions, get clarification for statements made during the presentation, and provide feedback and feedforward which is a new concept to me. More on that later as I learn more about it.