Can a Leader Wear a Skirt?

In class on Wednesday, November 18 we talked about leadership; what makes a good leader, what doesn’t, who we think are great leaders, and why that is. We also came to the striking conclusion that we did not mention one woman in our great leaders list. That made me starting think why as a society it is so easy to pick out men as strong leaders but not women.

My initial thoughts were because of the double standard and stereotype a woman will be shackled with as a strong leader. Good leaders are often described by masculine words such as aggressive, strong, determined, driven, and competitive. Growing up as a woman we are natural more nurturing, supporting, and caring. Look at the games we are told to play and the toys we are given as children. Boys play football, army men, and superheroes while girls play house, dress-up, and Barbie’s. If a woman in power tries to take on some of those masculine characteristics she is call cold, annoying, or impossible. She may be using the exact same strategies and language as a man in her same position but society would never judge a man so hard.

I do not want to come across as too harsh because there are several women in leadership positions and they are a great success. Ireland, Switzerland, Iceland, Argentina, Ukraine, and Lithuania are just a few countries that have a woman as the head of state. I think we are moving closer to an equilibrium, but until we can judge a leader by their skills and not which restroom they use will we reach our potential.

-Christy Penner

Americas Best Leader's 2009

US News and World Report listed these men as the top 5 leaders in America.

Ben Bernanke

Federal Reserve ChairmanCory Booker

MayorJohn Chambers

CEOYvon Chouinard

Environmentalist and CEOJohn Doerr

Venture Capitalist
As I read through the list of America's best leaders I tried to figure out what these people had in common. One thing I did notice is that the top five people listed are men. As I read further through the list though, I saw that three out of the top 10 leaders were women. I was not surprised to see that a majority of the leaders were men. I was actually surprised to see how many were women. It seems that today's corporate and political world is working to always promote equality between men and women. The next thing I found in common among these leaders is that they have done something that has affected the lives of others. Cory Booker has reduced the murder rate in New Jersey.

Yvon Chouindard donated 1% of profits to environmental groups. John Doerr is working towards to tackling global warming. These are all issues that affect large groups of people and have in impact on their everyday lives. Another thing I noticed was that theses leaders have in common is they took a risk. Some took a financial risk such as an investment and some took a personal risk such as running in an election. Obviously these people were successful in their risk taking otherwise they would not have been so successful. Although all these people are very different, they all have some similarities that have contributed to their success.

By George Vauter

creativity activities

I thought it was interesting how different groups went about the creativity activities in class. When our group went, everyone seemed to stick with realistic solutions. I was expecting everyone to just go crazy. But then when the other groups did their projects people started to really get into it. People really started to have fun and bend the rules to accomplish the goal. I think this goes to show how people are not used to being creative in school. It took a while for everybody to get into the creative mood. I think that this creative attitude is something that should be encouraged more often in education.

-David Hoff

More Creativity

As we finish the creativity portion of our class, it is easy to see that there are quite a few creative people in our class. The teacher did make a comment about doing the creativity exercise sooner in the semester to learn more about group members sooner in the semester.

I feel that we would learn more about our group members, but the product of the workshop would not be as creative if we did that. I say this because early in the semester, we were not as comfortable with our group members and our class. I feel that would cause people to not want to be as creative. Because first impressions are so important, especially to people our age, the students would not want to do anything that may cause a bad impression. This is why I believe this creativity workshop is better later in the semester where the results will be more creative.

By: Ben Schnepp

10 Steps for Boosting Creativity

This site has an interesting list of things to do in order to boost creativity.

1) Listen to music by Johann Sebastian Bach
2) Brainstorm
3) Always carry a small notebook and a pen or pencil around with you.
4) If you're stuck for an idea, open a dictionary, randomly select a word and then try to formulate ideas incorporating this word.
5) Define your problem
6) If you can't think, go for a walk.
7) Don't watch TV
8) Don't do drugs.
9) Read as much as you can about everything possible
10) Exercise your brain.

http://jpb.com/creative/creative.php

I thought that some of these things were very intriguing. For example, I thing one could make a good argument about whether watching TV increases creativity. I think this greatly depends on what you are watching. There are some TV shows out there where I think the writers are very creative and people can learn a lot from watching them. I also thought the idea about finding a word in the dictionary was very interesting. I have never heard of this before but its sounds like it could really increase your creative thinking. I know going for walks is a great way for me to let my mind wander and come up with ideas. I think this is a good list of ideas to try when in need of creative thinking. Although some ideas on the list are very obvious, we do not always resort to them when trying to be creative.

By George Vauter

How Did Our Egg Survive?

In Friday's class we did the experiment where using given supplies, the group must construct a container that will allow the egg to be dropped from a height of 8 ft and not break. This happens to be a common activity for engineers.

Our group knew there were two things that at least one but preferably both must be done for the egg to survive. They are the impact intensity needs to be reduced, and the force of the impact needs to be dissipated to away from the egg.

For good measure, we decided to do both. The container itself we made out of two cups. Putting slits in the bottom cup, allowed for the cup to crumple and absorb some of the shock. Also, for good measure we put shredded paper into the cup and this helped the egg not have to stop its momentum as sudden. And the last thing we did was attach a plastic bag to the top of the cups to act as a parachute. This slowed the decent of the contained so the impact was less intense. Thankfully we were successful and our egg did not break.

By: Ben Schnepp

Creativity Activities

I have really been enjoying com class recently. Since we started talking about creativity, it has been a lot of fun. I really enjoy trying to solve problems, but so often the way school is set up limits your options. It seems to be much safer to just go with the standard way of doing things. I think creativity is the thing that gets people excited about learning and often yields the best solutions to problems. I think a lack of creativity in schools is why I have pretty much hated school since around the second grade. You have to keep things interesting and give people a chance to do something their own way. It's the best way to learn. I would enjoy school if more classes had creative activities to do like the ones we are doing now in com 320.

-David Hoff