Learning Leadership From The Dean
Jen Wana and Jeral Poskey,MBA2s
Issue date: 10/1/01 Section: News
- Page 1 of 1
|
Fortunately, the books weren’t too academic. In fact, they were almost enjoyable. Shackleton’s Way taught leadership lessons as shown by an Antarctic explorer who was stranded on an iceberg in 1912 and kept his 28 men alive for 2 years. Leadership Pipeline examined different styles of leadership and the skills and values needed for each.
At first, two units of credit for one week of class seemed like a bargain. But as summer wound to a close, starting class a week early came to be a Faustian bargain. Roberto Palacios was stranded abroad and had to miss a day of class. Almost everyone would have wanted to have another week of vacation.
Jen: I got back from Egypt on Sunday night. My car battery was dead, I had to frantically unpack, all my clothes smelled like mothballs, and I couldn’t sleep. Jetlagged, I was expecting the worst from a Monday morning class. But I was happy to finally be back and starting a new routine.
Jeral: If there were ever a way to ease back into school life, a seminar is the way. The class had only ten students, and we were able to use a conference room on the third floor of the GSB. It was a comfortable, intimate setting that had a completely different feel from the normal classroom setting.
It was easy to tell that all the students were interested and motivated. Everyone had completed the readings, and the small size made it easy for each of us to contribute. A class like this is a perfect way for the quieter students to get some practice at speaking, as the environment was totally collegial and non-threatening.
Some of us were expecting the class to be of the theme, “Dean Joss’s Experiences in Leadership,” but it was nothing like that. The fact that he was the dean or that he had extensive corporate leadership experience was irrelevant. In this class, he was just a teacher. He was notably well prepared, and he led the class in a subdued way. He clearly had an agenda, but he let the pace be dictated by our interests, letting us spend time on the topics we wanted to talk about.
The tragedy at the World Trade Center provided an interesting backdrop to the class, as President Bush, Mayor Giuliani and others provided real-time examples of how leaders react to a crisis. Discussion of leadership in that context brought to light the many diverse opinions of our classmates. It was also cathartic to be able to talk about the events in this way.
In addition to the books, we read a number of articles from the academic and popular press regarding leadership issues. Traits of leaders, styles of leaders and habits of leaders are all popular topics, but very few articles actually have concrete lessons based on hard data. Fortunately, Dean Joss helped us work through these articles, letting the class identify the weaknesses and the empty platitudes that some authors fell back on.
Would we recommend the pre-term seminars? Absolutely. It was a congenial, informal atmosphere, with people even bringing in doughnuts on their own initiative. It was nice to see old faces and get acquainted with a few new ones.
And learning? Yes, we learned, too. We really dug through the issues of leadership. We compared managers to leaders and came away understanding the difference between the two. We learned that the stereotypes of effective leaders always being loud, outgoing and charismatic are more than the exception than the norm. Instead, there are many types of leaders, and the quiet, careful and methodical types can be even more effective than the boisterous ones.
Jen: I took this class because even though I had some management experience, I was unsure of what it meant to be a true, effective leader. This seminar taught me the skills and values successful leaders have and helped prepare me for such a role in the future.
Jeral: I was encouraged to learn that the “iron fist” style of leadership is out, and that it was never all that effective to begin with.