Unit 8 What it takes to be a Leader?

1. Unit 8 What it takes to be a Leader?

2. Activity OneLeader, Reader, and OrganizerActivity TwoEveryday LeadershipBonus ActivityTest Your Leadership QuotientMaterial Designer: Chen Chien-chou

3. Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other. ~John F. Kennedy Activity One Leader, Reader, and Organizer

4. Great leaders must also be good learners, who empower themselves through learning. And one among the many good ways to learn is to read. Do you know how to learn to lead through reading?

5. Reader as Organizer Good readers are not passive followers of words on the pages. They must beactive organizersof the content of the text. They analyze, organize, and summarize a text to get the main idea just as a leader governs the people to reach the goal.

6. Using Graphic Organizers • To analyze a text, we can use graphic organizers to arrange the content of a reading in order. There many different sorts of graphics to help you.

7. In the reading “What it takes to be a leader?”, the author talks about some major elements or qualities of a good leader, so a graphic as follows would be very helpful to organize the text.

8. Now, think about how to use the chart to organize the text. You may click on the stars for clues. Click to seethe result.

9. Click on me to return! 1 Think about it: What is the controlling topic, or the central idea of this reading? The answer is… Of Course, it is “Leadership.”

10. 2 Click on me to return! Think about it: What is the first element of good leadership mentioned in the text? And what are the examples given to support the idea? It is “Timing.” Examples: Churchill in 1940, Roosevelt in 1933,and Lenin in 1917.

11. 3 Click on me to return! Think about it: What is the second element of good leadership mentioned in the text? And what are the examples given to support the idea? It is “Great Simplifier”.Examples: Churchill: blood, toil, tears, and sweat Roosevelt: the only thing we have to fear Lenin: peace, land, and bread

12. So, the graphic would be like this…

13. Activate your reading power! • Using graphic organizers may enhance your understanding of the text and enable a quick review of the content. It can also be very helpful when you study other subjects. Do try it for yourself! End of Activity One

14. Activity TwoEveryday Leadership You can be a leader no matter who you are!

15. To be a leader, you don’t have to become a president or supervisor. In our everyday life, we all can be a leader of our own just with a little change of our thinking.

16. What would you do? • Judy is a cashier at a supermarket. One day a young man came to the counter with a can of coke and a hundred-dollar bill. There was only forty dollars in the drawer.

17. If Judy followed the standard procedure, it would take some time for him to get more changes from the office. But, unfortunately, there were many customers waiting in line. What would you do if you were Judy?

18. A few seconds later… Judy handed back the hundred-dollar bill to the man and took out two dollar eighty-nine cent in the register. Then she tore off the receipt, and she turned to the young man with a smile and said…. “Thanks for shopping at the Home Depot!”

19. The Practice of Everyday Leadership • In the story, Judy didn’t complain about the young man, her boss, or the standard procedure. She simply thought about what she could do and took the action to solve the problem.

20. If a leader is someone who can be in charge and solve the problem, Judy is absolutely the one. She didn’t wait for commands or solutions from her supervisor but took up the trouble by herself.

21. This is a story from QBQ, a book introducing the idea of personal accountability, or responsibility. • Now, let’s learn more about the secret to be a leader in our everyday life!

22. “If we ask a better questions, we get a better answer.” ~ J. G. Miller John G. Miller, the author of QBQ, “The Questions behind the Questions,” encourages people to practice personal accountability by asking “good questions.” Here are the guidelines: • Begin with “What” or “How” • Contain an “I” • Focus on Action!

23. The Spirit of QBQ In addition to the guidelines, the spirit of a good question should be based on the following principles: • No more victim thinking, procrastinating or blaming. • I can only change me. • Take action!

24. What question would you ask? • Now let’s try to apply these rules to the situation. • You are the leader of a student association and the staff are always late for the meeting.

25. Examples of Lousy Questions: • Why are they doing this to me? • When will they be on time? • Who is to blame? These are not good questions because neither of them • begins with “what” or “how,” • contains an “I,” or • focuses on action.

26. Other examples of Lousy questions • What can I do to change them? • How can I make them listen to me? • These questions contain “what or how,” “I,” and “action,” but they miss one important thing that • “I can only change me.”

27. Better Questions! • What can I do to help them? • How can I better understand each person on the team? • What can I do to show I care about the team? • How can I make the meeting more efficient? • How can I communicate better?

28. Brainstorming: Another Situations • You are not getting along with a member in your family and always arguing over little things with him or her. • Think about some good questions and look for the answers to improve the relation.

29. Question, Action, & Leadership • By asking better questions and taking proper action, we all can save ourselves from being a victim of certain situation. • Great power or high position might make you a leader of some people, but positive thinking and action will make you a leader in your everyday life. End of Activity Two

30. Bonus ActivityPsychology Test of Your Leadership Quotient • Want to know how good you are at leading and influencing people? Log on the following websites and find out the answers.  Leading Skill Test: http://www.aimmconsult.com/SamplePBA.html Management Test: http://www.queendom.com/cgi-bin/tests/transfer.cgi