Leadership Blog tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2012-01-16:/timm0137/leadershipblog//15469 2012-04-21T18:40:37Z Movable Type Enterprise 4.31-en Thank You tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2012:/timm0137/leadershipblog//15469.352292 2012-04-21T18:28:53Z 2012-04-21T18:40:37Z Jude and Colin, Just wanted to thank you guys for teaching this online class. For someone like me who works full time it's very nice to have this option available. I know that it can at times be more challenging... timm0137 Jude and Colin,

Just wanted to thank you guys for teaching this online class. For someone like me who works full time it's very nice to have this option available. I know that it can at times be more challenging than a normal class but you guys did a good job communicating and there were minimal technology glitches. I was definitely skeptical at first about having to do group work through an online venue. In the end it actually worked out well and we learned how use a bunch of new online tools. Although we did not actually get to meet, I appreciate you teaching me about leadership and wish you guys well in your future endeavors.

Thanks,

Ryan Timm

]]> Week 14-Emerging definition of leadership tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2012:/timm0137/leadershipblog//15469.352290 2012-04-21T18:18:15Z 2012-04-21T18:28:33Z Last Week : Leadership is understanding your core values, being honest with yourself, and knowing when and how to use your skills to help the group achieve a goal the right and ethical way. This Week: Leadership is understanding your... timm0137 Last Week : Leadership is understanding your core values, being honest with yourself, and knowing when and how to use your skills to help the group achieve a goal the right and ethical way.

This Week: Leadership is understanding your core values, being honest with yourself, and knowing when and how to use your skills to help the group achieve a goal the right and ethical way.

My definition of leadership did not change this week for two reason. First, I really do like where my definition is and how it has evolved this semester. Working on and submitting our second paper this week also helped me solidify my current idea of leadership. Secondly, the readings were fine this week but did not give me any reason to change my definition. The reading I liked more was the one by Sessions about online communities. Aside from using Facebook with my friends, I have never really engaged in online community/clubs with people I don't know. The research analysis was intriguing as they looked at how meeting offline has such a large impact both positive and negative.

Sessions, L. F. (2010). How offline gatherings affect online communities: When virtual community members 'meet up'. Information, Communication & Society, 13(3), 375-395. doi:10.1080/13691180903468954

]]> Week 13-Emerging definition of leadership tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2012:/timm0137/leadershipblog//15469.350774 2012-04-12T02:33:26Z 2012-04-12T02:39:43Z Last Week : Leadership is understanding your core values, being honest with yourself, and knowing when and how to use your skills to help the group achieve a goal the right and ethical way. This Week: Leadership is understanding your... timm0137 Last Week : Leadership is understanding your core values, being honest with yourself, and knowing when and how to use your skills to help the group achieve a goal the right and ethical way.

This Week: Leadership is understanding your core values, being honest with yourself, and knowing when and how to use your skills to help the group achieve a goal the right and ethical way.


Boyatzis, R. E. (2006). "An Overview of Intentional Change from a Leadership Perspective." Journal of Management Development, 25(7), 607-623. doi:10.1108/02621710610678445

]]> Week 12-Emerging definition of leadership tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2012:/timm0137/leadershipblog//15469.349903 2012-04-07T17:46:50Z 2012-04-07T18:38:42Z Last Week : Leadership is understanding your core values, being honest with yourself, and knowing when and how to use your skills to achieve a goal the right and ethical way. This Week: Leadership is understanding your core values, being... timm0137 Last Week : Leadership is understanding your core values, being honest with yourself, and knowing when and how to use your skills to achieve a goal the right and ethical way.

This Week: Leadership is understanding your core values, being honest with yourself, and knowing when and how to use your skills to help the group achieve a goal the right and ethical way.

I enjoyed the reading by Komives, Lucas, and McMahon (1998) as it was a very easy read and something that I really agreed with. The article broke down the structure of a group and how it can evolve, or even come to a halt. The group is broken up into 3 key components: purpose, structure, and time . Having a good understanding of group components, and what makes up each one, will allow you be a successful leader. Helping the group avoid conflict and keeping it on course can earn you respect and trust from other members no matter if you are in charge or just a member. I decided to incorporate the word group in my definition as it is hard to be a leader if there is no one to lead. What I mean is that a group setting, either professional or socially, is where you can best showcase your leadership skills.

Komives, S. R., Lucas, N., & McMahon, T. R. (1998). "Interacting in Teams and Groups." Exploring Leadership: For college students who want to make a difference (pp. 165 - 194). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.


]]> Week 11-Emerging definition of leadership tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2012:/timm0137/leadershipblog//15469.348593 2012-03-31T02:30:57Z 2012-04-07T18:39:22Z Last Week :Leadership is understanding your core values, being honest with yourself, and knowing when and how to use your skills to achieve a goal the right and ethical way. This Week:Leadership is understanding your core values, being honest with... timm0137 Last Week :Leadership is understanding your core values, being honest with yourself, and knowing when and how to use your skills to achieve a goal the right and ethical way.

This Week:Leadership is understanding your core values, being honest with yourself, and knowing when and how to use your skills to achieve a goal the right and ethical way.

I did not change my definition of leadership this week. I am not sure if it was because I was put off by Tatum's racism rant or if I just like where it is at. The readings were OK this week but did not change my view of leadership just reinforced it. The one reading that I took the most from was the excerpt from Blink by Gladwell (2005). I do believe that the "Warren Harding error" is in full effect as looks and first impressions can carry a lot of weight and allow for one's flaws to be overlooked.

Gladwell, M. (2005). "The Warren Harding Error: Why we fall for tall, dark, and handsome men." Blink: The power of thinking without thinking (pp. 72 - 98). New York: Pushkin Enterprises.

]]> Week 8-Emerging definition of leadership tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2012:/timm0137/leadershipblog//15469.345808 2012-03-09T22:00:11Z 2012-03-09T22:17:36Z Last Week: Leadership is understanding your values and knowing when and how to use your skills to achieve a common goal the right and ethical way. This Week :Leadership is understanding your core values, being honest with yourself, and knowing... timm0137 Last Week: Leadership is understanding your values and knowing when and how to use your skills to achieve a common goal the right and ethical way.

This Week :Leadership is understanding your core values, being honest with yourself, and knowing when and how to use your skills to achieve a goal the right and ethical way.

I enjoyed the short reading by Kegan & Leahy as it was simple and to the point. They noted that one should identify their "one big thing" and use 720 degree feedback to assist with that process. The ending was also neat where the employee turns the process around on the CEO and calls him out. This is why I decided to add "being honest with yourself" to my definition. It will be very challenging to give advice and lead a group if you are not willing, or unable, to take your own advice. Throughout this course so far I have really learned that to be a successful leader you need to know yourself in and out. This involves being true to yourself about you flaws and have the drive to want to better them and learn new skills .

Kegan, R., & Lahey, L. L. (2009). "Identifying Each Person's One Big Thing" (pp. 63 - 67). Boston: Harvard Business Press.

]]> Week 6-Emerging definition of leadership tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2012:/timm0137/leadershipblog//15469.340220 2012-02-25T06:08:19Z 2012-02-25T06:29:05Z Last Week: Leadership is understanding your values and knowing when and how to use your skills to achieve a common goal the right and ethical way. This Week: Leadership is understanding your values and knowing when and how to use... timm0137 Last Week: Leadership is understanding your values and knowing when and how to use your skills to achieve a common goal the right and ethical way.

This Week: Leadership is understanding your values and knowing when and how to use your skills to achieve a common goal the right and ethical way.

I did not make any change to my leadership definition this week as I like where it is at. I really enjoyed this weeks reading "Leadership in a (permanent) crisis" as it is very relevant to how the business/economic world is today. The reading makes a good and obvious point that the current crisis and high stakes culture will be the norm even after the recession ends, Heifetz (2009). It was nice how there were also specific examples to go along with the theories and ides behind crisis leadership . Reading are much easier to understand when you can see how it is applied and used in the real world. Finally, the reading finishes with a great section telling us to focus on #1, yourself. For how fast-paced life has become with the never-ending curve balls, it is very important that you find time to take care of yourself.

Heifetz, R., Grashow, A., & Linsky, M. (2009). "Leadership in a (permanent) crisis." Harvard Business Review, 87(7), 62-69.

]]> Week 5-Emerging definition of leadership tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2012:/timm0137/leadershipblog//15469.338928 2012-02-17T14:46:46Z 2012-02-17T15:02:09Z Last Week: Leadership is understanding your values and knowing when and how to use your skills to achieve a common goal. This Week: Leadership is understanding your values and knowing when and how to use your skills to achieve a... timm0137 Last Week: Leadership is understanding your values and knowing when and how to use your skills to achieve a common goal.

This Week: Leadership is understanding your values and knowing when and how to use your skills to achieve a common goal the right and ethical way.

My definition changed again this week to encompass this week's readings. Every week I tend to keep adding the main "buzz" word so by the end of this class who knows how long my definition will be. I enjoyed this reading as ethics is an important topic that shouldn't be ignored. There are many "leaders" out there that have a mentality of "do whatever it takes" to succeed or rise to the top. That is not necessarily a bad thing to have that strong of a drive but if you are hurting people along the way it becomes an issue. Paul & Elder(2001) said it best with: "to live an ethical life, then, is to develop command over our native egocentric tendencies"

Paul, R., & Elder, L. (2006). "The Function of Ethics -- and Its Main Impediment." Understanding the Foundations of Ethical Reasoning (pp. 4 - 36). Dillon Beach, CA: Foundation for Critical Thinking.

]]> Week 4-Emerging definition of leadership tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2012:/timm0137/leadershipblog//15469.338048 2012-02-12T00:33:01Z 2012-02-12T00:49:53Z Leadership is knowing when and how to use your skills to achieve a common goal. Leadership is understanding your values and knowing when and how to use your skills to achieve a common goal. My definition of leadership changed slightly... timm0137 Leadership is knowing when and how to use your skills to achieve a common goal.

Leadership is understanding your values and knowing when and how to use your skills to achieve a common goal.

My definition of leadership changed slightly this week to incorporate the word values. Lee and King (2001) made it clear that one must have an understanding of their core values if they want to be a successful leader. I also found the exercise within this reading to be a helpful tool in helping to identify my core values. The second reading by Terry(2001) pretty much stated the obvious that there are many theories out there about leadership. I enjoyed the laid back argumentative approach he took to explain each side.


Lee, R. J., & King, S. N. (2001). "Ground your leadership vision in a personal vision." Discovering the Leader in You: A guide to realizing your personal leadership potential (pp. 31 - 54). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, Inc.

Terry, R. (2001). "Deciding what you believe." Seven zones for leadership: Acting authentically in stability and chaos (pp. 20 - 40). Mountain View, CA: Davies-Black Publishing, Inc.

]]> Week 3-Emerging definition of leadership tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2012:/timm0137/leadershipblog//15469.336346 2012-02-02T02:44:50Z 2012-02-02T03:06:43Z Leadership is knowing how to adapt to different situations and achieve a common goal. Leadership is knowing when and how to use your skills to achieve a common goal. After this weeks reading assignments my definition of leadership changed slightly... timm0137 Leadership is knowing how to adapt to different situations and achieve a common goal.

Leadership is knowing when and how to use your skills to achieve a common goal.

After this weeks reading assignments my definition of leadership changed slightly as I thought it was important to add the word "skills". One must not only posses certain skills but also know how to use them to become a successful leader. Goleman (2000) had a great analogy of comparing good leaders to pro golfers that really made sense to me. Most of the time picking the right skill, or club, will be automatic for each specific situation and should come naturally to great leaders


Goleman, Daniel (2000). "Leadership that Gets Results." Harvard Business Review, 78(2), 78-90.

]]> Week 1-Initial Definition of Leadership tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2012:/timm0137/leadershipblog//15469.329606 2012-01-17T04:41:53Z 2012-01-17T04:55:09Z Leadership is knowing how to adapt to different situations and achieve a common goal.... timm0137 Leadership is knowing how to adapt to different situations and achieve a common goal.

]]> Test Post tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2012:/timm0137/leadershipblog//15469.329602 2012-01-17T03:33:13Z 2012-01-17T03:34:07Z Hello, This is my first blog!... timm0137 Hello, This is my first blog!

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