Chapter 16 Writing Assignment

Your final required blog assignment is to comment on Chapter 16. As this chapter has no Expedition Log at the end to provide prompts for responses, you can respond to any of the points raised.

I wish to respond to the first point, the suggestion that we  "Cultivate Poised Incompetence." The idea here is that learning anything new involves a period of ignorance, and that we must be comfortable with this stage. As Perkins puts it,

"You have to be willing to be incompetent in order to learn. Just because you don't know what you are doing doesn't mean you have to be embarrassed or upset or convinced something's wrong with you."

I remember my grandfather telling me about one of his business associates, a person named J. R. Simplot. My grandfather was big in the potato business in Idaho when he began doing business with Simplot. Simplot was younger, and in the beginning he knew nothing. My grandfather said Simplot asked a lot of questions, and a lot of them were really "stupid" questions. But Simplot never forgot any of the answers. He remembered everything and with time got smarter and smarter. Soon Simplot rose above my grandfather and the other potato businessmen. Then Simplot secured a contract with McDonalds to provide all the potatoes for their french fries. This is how Idaho became famous for potatoes, and Simplot became fabulously wealthy. Eventually Simplot moved beyond potatoes to computer memory chips, and became one of the wealthiest men in America. But he started with a lot of stupid questions in the potato business.

I have taken this same approach with computer technology. I'm not a computer person, like, say, Rab, or Sylvan. But I have forced myself to learn by volunteering to teach CM class. It has been embarrassing, and I feel sorry for the students that have suffered through my classes, but I am getting better, and I am not so afraid of computers anymore, and it has helped my overall confidence knowing that I can take on something like computer technology and gain some level of competence.

Mission Statement Example — Ken's

This was a more difficult assignment than I might have thought. What helped was looking around a bit on the web and seeing that there are many different ways to write a mission (or vision statement). It can be very short (50 words or less) or longer (a couple hundred words). It can be written as a paragraph or two, or as a list, as I have done. You can see mine if you click here.

There are several sights out there that seem to be able to do it for you—all you have to do is enter the information. I tried this with the FranklinCovey site, but the result was very strange and I found it easier to write my own.

Writing mine was a great exercise as it forced me to think about my life and what I want from it. I hope this proves a good exercise for you as well (if you choose to do one).

Antarctic Awakening—Ken's Personal Narrative Example

     This wasn’t what was supposed to happen: unsuccessful with our climb, pinned down in our tent with this wild storm raging outside, radio not working, the ice shelf beneath us cracking and moaning, food and fuel running low, and the temperature a brutal 40 degrees below zero. Nope. By now we were supposed to be safely back at the station with no one but ourselves knowing that we had just climbed Mt. Erebus, Antarctica’s most famous mountain.

No one was supposed to know because climbing a mountain wasn’t why we were in Antarctica. As members of the first ever winter-over construction crew, we were there to work. Our job was to rebuild a dormitory and a couple of other structures, work that wasn’t possible during the busy summer months. But wintering in the Antarctic is an adventure in itself: a long eight months isolated from the rest of the world, with no mail, no fresh food, and no way out if something went wrong.

And things had gone terribly wrong. As three members of the station search and rescue (SAR) team, we had been given permission to do some winter training over the weekend. We said we would camp for one night, near the station. But our real goal was Erebus, an active volcano looming in the distance some 50 kilometers away. Over a series of weeks, we planned our climb in secret, meeting late at night and preparing our gear. With the help of a couple of snowmobiles, we felt we could get to the base of Erebus, then use skis to climb to the lower reaches of the mountain, and up high use ice climbing gear to reach the summit. If all went well we would be back to the station in time for work on Monday, with no one knowing we had done the climb.

Just shy of the summit, however, a huge storm came rolling down from the polar plateau, obscuring our vision and very nearly preventing us from getting back to our tent halfway down the mountain. There we hunkered down for the night, exhausted and cold, hoping the storm would clear by morning. When it hadn’t, we knew we had to try and get off the mountain anyway. With one person out in front trying to find our tracks from the day before, we slowly crept down the mountain. Eventually we met the frozen sea and set up camp. But it was a restless night as the sea ice below us scraped against the rocky shore. When the storm hadn’t cleared the next morning we moved again, this time away from shore out on to the frozen sea where the ice was more stable.

Now we started to worry whether we would get through the storm alive. The cold had sapped our strength and we were each suffering from frostbite: on our faces, fingers, toes, most of one of my feet. Inside our tent, each exhaled breath condensed and froze on the inside walls, and each time we moved it came crashing down, soon enveloping us in frost. We had food and fuel for one more day, but if the storm lasted longer than that, our survival was in doubt.

But the next day the storm cleared and we began our trek back to the station. We soon met other members of the SAR team who had been out looking for us over the last three days. Back at the station there was a general sigh of relief that we were safe, but there was anger as well: from the administrators for breaking the rules and causing a major search effort to find us, and from our friends for making them worry that we might have perished in the storm.

As foolish as we had been, or perhaps because of our foolishness, there was much that I learned from this venture. One thing I learned was to not be so selfish in my desires. I learned that I have responsibility to others, and that I cannot selfishly choose to climb a mountain because it is what I want to do. To my family, to my friends, and to my employer, I have obligations, and these obligations must override my personal desires. Another thing I learned is that I can get through the most challenging situations. The three of us worked together and well to keep ourselves alive. Even when it seemed we might die, we never lost faith in ourselves. When I have faced tough situations since then—in outdoor situations, or with my work, or in relationships—I know I have the strength to survive.

Week Seven Writing Assignment

Chapter 9 "Risk" features Shackleton's epic sailing adventure from Elephant Island to South Georgia Island, some 1400 kilometers in a tiny, open boat across the most dangerous (and cold) seas in the world. It is very difficult for us to imagine the difficulty, danger, and misery of such a journey. Because of this, I found this chapter a little difficult to relate to my own life, especially as I have never had to take a huge "necessary" risk such as he took. I have, however, taken many, many risks: as a climber, as a kayaker and rafter, as a driver, as a traveler. But the risks have always been of my own choosing, and many of them were careless, thoughtless risks, and it has been only because I have enjoyed a certain amount of luck that I have survived.

I am thinking of a time in which I took a big risk that wasn't absolutely necessary, but it was for the benefit of others. When I have an extra moment I will share this with you on this blog, or I will just tell it in class.

Week Six Writing Assignment

For this assignment, I will focus on Chapter 7 "Conflict." Not only have we started on the topic of conflict resolution in class, but it is a very relevant topic for me personally with my administrative work within the ELP.

This is because the ELP has been undergoing a great deal of conflict over the last couple of years due to differing views on how we should conduct a curricular reform.

While the majority of the instructors have supported a particular set of curricular reforms, a minority of senior instructors are against the reforms. Due to feelings of not feeling respected, of accusations that have been made against them, and due to a considerable amount of "groupness" (a sense of "us" vs. "them" that has magnified the importance of the issues), this group has had great difficulty accepting the reform.

So, what can I "take away" from this chapter on Shackleton?

First, we should have "Deal[t] with Anger in Small Doses" better than we did. Legitimate concerns were expressed by the dissenting group early on that were not addressed. Efforts should have been made to have had extensive discussion and debate over these concerns, and perhaps some compromises needed to have been made. Better yet, we needed more of a conflict positive environment in which open discussion might have led to some "win-win" negotiations. Instead, the minority group felt marginalized and disenfranchised which subsequently led to feelings of intense frustration and ultimately aggression.

Secondly, we needed to have "Engage[d] Dissidents." The reform dissidents were essentially ignored. What we needed to have done is brought the dissenting voices and members "into the tent." I have always loved this notion from Shackleton, that he took the members that might pose the greatest threat to his leadership and made them members of his tent. This way he could consult with them and keep them feeling listened to and wanted, and prevent them from joining forces with others. There is an expression in English, "Keep your enemies closer and your enemies closer" which is attributed to the great Chinese military commander Sun Tsu which expresses a similar concept. We needed to have done something like this by better including our dissidents in the reform process so that they could have more of a say and be part of the reform. Not doing so has led to a lot of problems.

My efforts over the last year have been to try and make up for the past. Giving the opposition an opportunity to express themselves has been one approach. We have had several open meetings in which opposition views could be presented and discussed. More recently, opposing members have been given roles in which they could contribute in ways in which they were uniquely suited. Whether these efforts will bear fruit is still unclear, but it is hoped that some of the division and distrust and anger can be reduced as we move forward.

Our Sentences!

See our video clip here. Watch your performance and consider how you can improve: louder voice, better visual (if you want one), etc.
We will film again on Monday.

The Superpower of Smiling

Sylvan just sent me this great TED video of Ron Gutman making a clever presentation about the power of smiling. He mentions Paul Ekman. It's just seven minutes, and you can choose to have English subtitles to make it easier to understand. Check it out—it will make you smile!

Week Five Writing Assignment

This week's writing assignment is to comment on two "team" focused  chapters, Chapter 5 "The Team Message" or Chapter 6, "Core Team Values."

There is much in these chapters that resonates with me and applies to my workplace, the ELP.

We are a fairly big team, with a great deal of diversity. We have native speakers of English and non-native. We have Japanese instructors, and non-Japanese. We have among the non-Japanese a wide range of nationalities: British, Australian, Scottish, Canadian, and many Americans. We are also divided by contract status: some instructors are on short-term contracts, others longer, and some on permanent contracts. We are also differentiated by gender.

While, for the most part, we do a wonderful job of working together to create a great program for all of you, the differences between,  especially rank differences, cause a lot of subtle problems. I say subtle because in general, we are very equality focused. We all teach the same courses, teach the same amount as one another, share in all the non-teaching responsibilities that come with a program like this, each have a vote in decision making. It would seem that we are equal.

In reality, however, there are differences. Someone with a permanent contract can, in many ways, do as they like. They can speak up at meetings, choose to be against the directors, not show up at a retreat, etc. Someone for whom English is their native language has an advantage over a non-native speaker when debating issues. Someone from a more debate-oriented culture (e.g. British) has an advantage over someone from a harmony-focused culture (e.g. Japanese). Males, in general, have advantages over females. Those who go home to a family have advantages over those who go home to an apartment alone. People who drink alcohol have advantages over those who do not. Etc.

In psychology these differences are known as "rank." And what you need to know about rank is that those in a lower rank are much more aware of and sensitive to rank differences than those in a higher rank. So... the take-away point that I want you to remember is to be very sensitive and considerate of rank differences, especially those of lower rank than you. You will naturally be somewhat blind to these differences, but those below you will not be.

I work with several people in the ELP of similar rank to me, that have little or no sensitivity to the advantage that they have over others, and this causes a lot of unnecessary resentment. Don't let this be you.

Week Four Writing Assignment

Wow, week four already. Well, the good news regarding this week's writing assignment is that we only need to read one chapter from our text, Chapter 4 "Stamina."

My response to "Stamina":

For the most part I feel I do look after myself: I eat right, exercise, try to get enough sleep, and do what I can to keep my stress level down. I could do more, of course. Lately, in fact, I just haven't been getting enough exercise, but I probably do better than most people. And if I am sick and feel a doctor could make me better, I go (unlike Shackleton). If you will recall from my NP lecture last term, I am interested in living a long time so I try to take care of myself now so I will have more good years later in life.

As for taking care of others, here again I could do more but I do fairly well on the whole. As part of my job, I am responsible for social events for the ELP. We quite frequently have parties and other events to bring us together so we can relax and enjoy ourselves in ways that do not involve working. I believe that among the ICU faculty, the ELP parties are somewhat famous and others are envious of the good times and general good relations that we have.

I try to be attentive to my family and friends as well. As I live on campus, I can generally be home by 6:00 to help with dinner and take care of my kids until they go to bed at 8:00. Then I try to do something with my wife (usually watch a DVD or talk, or we each read). If I have work to do, like prepare for class or respond to blog entries, I do it after she has gone to bed. In the morning I get up early to help with breakfast and take care of the kids, and I take my daughter to school.

And "Summit Fever" is not a problem for me, even when I was a serious mountain climber. My philosophy when climbing was that the mountain would always be there. That is, if the weather was particularly bad or conditions particularly dangerous, you could always come back another time. I think this attitude keeps my stress level down too.

Finally, I do have a couple of good friends that I like to get together with and have a beer with and talk about work and life, and this seems to be very important for me, both for the human contact and for relieving stress.

What's my sentence?

As you know, we are each to think of a sentence for ourselves that encapsulates our life goal. I have thought about this deeply and come up with the following:

"He constantly strove to be a great teacher to his students, father to his children, and husband to his wife."

Maybe this does not seem so ambitious to you, but the reality for me is that doing this much is a real challenge. If I can go to bed each night thinking I was better today than yesterday in each of these categories, then I had a very good day.

I look forward to hearing from you your sentences.

Week Three Writing Assignment

For your Week Three Writing Assignment, choose to personally reflect upon either Chapter Two, "Symbolism and Personal Example" or Chapter Three, "Optimism and Reality." Read both chapters, as they are each important, but I personally found it easier to respond to the Expedition Log prompts in Chapter Three. 

My response:

Chapter 3, “Optimism and Reality” is an important one as optimism was one of Shackleton’s most noted characteristics. In addition to “You’ve damn well got to be optimistic” quoted in the text, Shackleton also once said, “Optimism is true moral courage.”

This second quotation is one that for years I have carried around in my head and try to live by. The word “moral” in this quotation suggests we have an obligation to be optimistic for the sake of those around us. This is true for me—as a teacher to my students, as a colleague to my peers, as a father to my family, as a friend to my friends. We have to believe that what we are doing is leading to something good, and, of course, such an attitude helps ensure that positive things happen. Perkins quotes Henry Ford (a famous American industrialist who started Ford Motor Company and many modern manufacturing techniques such as the assembly line): “Whether you think you can, or whether you think you can’t, you’re right” (qtd. in Perkins 43). The idea here is that our attitude (optimistic or pessimistic) directly affects what actually will happen.

It is also said that optimists, on average, live approximately seven years longer than pessimists.

So being an optimist is fundamental to my approach to life.

But it takes “courage” to be optimistic, and here, sometimes, I struggle. There are times when I lose my optimism, and I am not so good at getting it back. There are times—in my marriage, in my work (there are a lot of politics in the ELP), in the direction my life is taking—in which I lose my sunny optimism and find myself instead in a very dark place. Getting myself from the dark place back to the light takes some work. One thing I tell myself is that bad times are always followed by good times, and being older I have plenty of experiences that have proven this true. Another thing that helps me is a quotation from Lance Armstrong, the great bicycle racer (seven time Tour de France winner), who says, “Turn every negative into a positive.” The idea here is that negative experiences have to be viewed as opportunities, specifically opportunities to learn—about why you might be in conflict with someone else, about what caused you to fail in some activity and what you can do to improve, about how not to repeat the same mistake, etc. Because of our text, I am also interested in Martin Seligman (cited in Perkins 43), who founded the field of “Positive psychology” and is an expert on helping people become happier. To see more about him, please check out his bio-sketch, related links, and video at TED. I am currently reading a book of his called Authentic Happiness, which I have found enormously enlightening.

So that is me, and I look forward to you sharing your thoughts on how to deal with difficult situations in your life.

Dan Pink and Two Questions that can Change Your Life

As you will learn, I am a big fan of Dan Pink, an American author of several business related and personal development type books such as A Whole New Mind, Drive, and Johnny Bunko (in manga).

In Drive, Dan Pink suggests the following exercise:

Think of your life as a sentence. What's your sentence?

That is, when you die, how would you like your life to be summarized in just one sentence?

To see Dan's presentation of this idea, along with another, equally important question, see this great video clip.

Week Two Writing Assignment

Draw upon Chapter 1 “Vision and Quick Victories” to define your own Long-term vision and the Short-term Goals for getting there. Use the questions on pgs. 27 and 28 for ideas, but what you want to do is describe your hopes and dreams for the future, and the various steps along the way that will help you to achieve them.

As promised, I will do my best to do the same writing assignments as you.

In this case, as I consider a long-term vision and short-term goals, I would like to consider our course as an “organization,” with me as “leader,” and all of us together exploring terra incognita (unknown territory). Perhaps by me doing this you can get a better sense of what this course is intended to be and your part in it.

Long-term vision

Perkins talks about how Shackleton had to “be willing to find a ‘new mark’” (16) such as when he told his crew “So now we’ll go home” (16) when he lost his ship (and hopes of crossing Antarctica). This course, for me, is a new mark—I have abandoned the popular “Adventure Travel” course that I taught for many years in order to take an entirely new direction with this course.

My intention is to create a course that combines an interest in organizational development (how organizations and the people in them function, develop, manage change, etc) and such interrelated topics as leadership, negotiation, conflict resolution, etc. as outlined in the description and syllabus for the course. But these topics interlink with a wide variety of other social behavioral interests such as interpersonal communication, emotional and social intelligence, group dynamics, human motivation, etc. —all of which are also fascinating. The problem is that whole books have been written about each of these topics. It is a challenge knowing where to begin and what to include, while at the same time providing some sort of unifying theme for the course.

So…this course will offer a sampling of many of these aspects of human behavior in organizational settings, with an opportunity for you at the end (with your final presentations) to focus on an area of particular interest that you can present and share with the class. But to provide a unifying theme, we will focus on the topic of leadership throughout the course via our text and our blog entries.

Short-term goals

A big goal right now is getting all of us onboard with our blogs. By linking us all together we can then work as a team to share our thoughts, experiences, dreams, goals, etc. Thanks to the many of you who have already started your blogs and made such great initial entries.

Another, related goal, is to get a better sense of what each of you is thinking so that we can negotiate our way forward with this course based on your input.

Perkins mentions how Shackleton was able to “create engaging distractions”(26) to keep his crew motivated. I will try to do the same and I am already trying to think of ways to maintain your interest as we move forward. You can look forward to some chocolate-covered “snake eggs” as one such distraction.

This is enough for me for now, and I look forward to hearing from you.

Week One Writing Assignment

For this first writing assignment, please respond to the Expedition Log in the “Preface” to Leading at the Edge. My response is below:

I have been stretched to my limits numerous times: with relationships, with work, while traveling, etc.

But one situation in which I was absolutely stretched to my limits, both physically and mentally, was during a failed mountain climbing attempt in Antarctica (Nankyoku Tairiku). A team of three of us attempted to climb Mt. Erebus, which is about the same height as Mt. Fuji. Antarctica, however, is very remote, and an extremely cold place, so getting to the top of such a mountain in Antarctica is a great challenge. And we almost made it, but just before reaching the top a huge storm appeared out of nowhere and forced us to retreat to our tent lower on the mountain. This storm then raged for three days.

It was extremely cold, -35 degrees Celsius or so, and we suffered greatly.

But we survived.

What saved us?

First, we worked hard to ensure our survival. We moved our tent, twice, due to dangerous conditions, even though each time the snow was blowing so hard we could barely see more than a couple of meters in front of us. We forced ourselves to eat and to drink, as our bodies needed massive calories and liquids to keep from freezing to death. And we constantly attended to our tent, our clothing, and our equipment to ensure that everything was working properly.

Secondly, we believed in ourselves. All of us were experienced, and we had been through tough situations before. We knew what we needed to do, and never for a moment did we doubt our own survival.

Finally, we kept our sense of humor. Our situation was serious, but we were still able to make jokes and to laugh. We kept up our spirits by enjoying each others company and not letting the seriousness of the situation weigh too heavily on our minds.

Because we survived, I continue to believe that working hard, believing in oneself, and maintaining a sense of humor are the keys to getting through any tough situation.