Brett Santo
EDU 6630 - Graduate Seminar
Dr. David McGough
May 13, 2015
Course
Reflection
At
first, being able to personally design much of this Master’s program seemed to
be a rather daunting task. However, after having completed my first Graduate
Seminar, (in which I feel is rather analogous to an Independent Study of
sorts), some of my anxieties have been assuaged.
I would like to start by touching
upon my own revelations as they relate to my personal studies in leadership. Firstly,
I have gained a better understanding of how to become a better learner as it
relates to many facets of my life, not just in educational paradigms. According
to leadership theorist James MacGregor Burns, leaders must aspire to become
perpetual learners, as this task should not be difficult, due to the
experiential nature of our lives. He believes that leaders are constantly “learning from experience, learning from people, learning from
successes and failures, and learning from leaders and followers” (Burns, 2010,
p. 63). I have definitely learned a plethora of concepts during this class
time. Specifically, this class has taught me the importance of
listening, being able to agree to disagree, and time management prioritization.
With regard to listening, I found it
intriguing to listen to my classmates varying perspectives. As a gregarious
individual who often jumps at the opportunity to answer a question, I found
that sitting back and listening intently sometimes provided me with invaluable lessons
both related to content and personal growth. By holding my tongue, I was able
to hear a person’s full perspective, and often become enlightened by their own original
ideas. Additionally, as an aspiring leader, it is crucial for me to learn not
to interrupt, because by doing so, I would belittle my fellow colleagues, and
thus not uphold the ideals of being a true leader. Robert Greenleaf, another
leadership theorist, feels that as leaders, we should empower others
to be part of the process, and provide them with as much responsibility as the
next person, irrespective of title or position. Greenleaf succinctly and
directly states, “No one should be powerless!” (Greenleaf, 2002, p. 98). Based on my experiences in this class, I
will work to ensure that my future conversations will revolve around the
importance of listening.
Learning to agree to disagree is
certainly a skill that is appropriate in the field of leadership as well as
life in general. By being part of this class - in fact, by being one of the few
non-teachers in the class - provided me with an opportunity to see into a world
in which I was unfamiliar. Furthermore, there were often times when I would
completely disagree with my classmates’ perspectives, and those conversations
proved to be instrumental. I recall several instances when discussing the
concepts of standardization, children’s inherent motivation, and executive
functioning where I disagreed with the majority of the class. Although I held
true to my own beliefs regarding those matters, my classmates felt strongly
about the opposing arguments. As a leader, it is important to hold true to your
beliefs, but it is even more important to be willing to hear the beliefs of
others as well. These classes proved to be instrumental in my own growth as it
relates to leadership as I gained insight and understanding in how to be okay
with others’ opinions differing from my own. Due to the protean nature of our
society, answers are no longer concrete, but rather ambiguous and multifaceted.
Accordingly, as leaders and as citizens, we must be willing to - excuse the
colloquialism - roll with the punches,
and move forward irrespective of our differences.
Time management is one of the most
important characteristics among leaders and many people in this fast-paced
world. Accordingly, this semester proved instrumental in my growth as it
relates to re-prioritization and multitasking. I have been adjusting to being
enrolled in a Master’s program while working full-time at a college, and I have
to be honest - this is an arduous task at times. In the beginning of the
semester, when tasked with constructing my own plan of study, I was truly at a
loss. Thus, I resorted to the only method I had become accustomed to related to
schoolwork - organization. Specifically, it was recommended that I read at
least 3 seminal works on leadership theory, and subsequently provide a
literature review at the conclusion of the semester. Accordingly, being a 12
week semester, I broke down my time to 2.5 weeks per book, and almost 2 weeks
at the end to write the paper. At first, this seemed like the pragmatic course
of action, however, logic sometimes falters while life jumps forward. Halfway
through the semester, I had only read half of 1 book, and 70 pages of another.
I believed that my leadership endeavor was going to end there. However, I came
to realize that my mistake was that I was actually following my schedule to a
tee too specifically. Rather than
allowing my brain to flow through books at a pace it deemed comfortable and
enjoyable, I was scheduling time, which made my exploration more obligatory
than enlightening. Upon realizing this, I immediately altered my ways, and was able
to complete my 3 books, an article, and write a cohesive paper two weeks before the deadline. Leadership theorist
Warren Bennis believes that mistakes are not detrimental to leaders, but rather
necessary. Bennis sees true value in mistakes, and in fact
explains that leaders “Not only believe in the necessity of mistakes, they see them
as virtually synonymous with growth and progress” (Bennis, 2009, p. 89). This
class has taught me to become more malleable, and this will certainly prove
conducive in my future studies.
Initially, I was rather apathetic to
the idea of coming to class and hearing about other people’s projects, as I
felt the myriad of topics would have no connection to my own work. Contrastingly,
I was certainly mistaken, as these conversations and debates in class proved to
be rather useful. I feel that this class, although not geared toward a common
goal as it relates to content, allowed for such diverse dialogue to commence
that it was nearly impossible not to touch upon everyone’s topic at least once
in a conversation, and my topic of leadership was certainly covered. As stated
above, this class helped me to understand the ubiquitous nature of many leadership
characteristics that I have studied thus far. I am very excited to have
completed approximately half of my necessary credits needed to complete this
program, and I look forward to my future studies.
Bennis, W. (2009). On becoming a leader (20th
anniversary ed.). New York, New York: Basic Books.
Burns, J. (2010). Leadership (First Harper Perennial Political Classics Edition ed.). New York, New York: HarperPerennial.
Greenleaf, R. (2002). Servant leadership: A journey into the nature of legitimate power and greatness (25th anniversary ed.). New York, New York: Paulist Press.
