Week 7—Personal Narrative Related to Ch. 10 "Tenacious Creativity"

Hi all,

Chapter 10 focuses on survival and the "Tenacious Creativity" and perseverance ("By Endurance We Conquer") required of Shackleton and his crew to get from Elephant Island to S. Georgia Island where he could finally get help for his stranded crew.  While I have never been in such an extreme survival situation (very few people have), the following is the account of a very difficult challenge I once faced while in Antarctica, and what I learned from it. I hope you enjoy it.

Ken's Antarctic Awakening

This wasn't what was supposed to happen: unsuccessful with our climb, pinned down in our tent with this wild storm raging outside, radio not working, the ice shelf beneath us cracking and moaning, food and fuel running low, and the temperature a brutal 40 degrees below zero. Nope. By now we were supposed to be safely back at the station with no one but ourselves knowing that we had just climbed Mt. Erebus, Antarctica’s most famous mountain.

No one was supposed to know because climbing a mountain wasn’t why we were in Antarctica. As members of the first ever winter-over construction crew, we were there to work. Our job was to rebuild a dormitory and a couple of other structures, work that wasn’t possible during the busy summer months. But wintering in the Antarctic is an adventure in itself: a long eight months isolated from the rest of the world, with no mail, no fresh food, and no way out if something went wrong.

And things had gone terribly wrong. As three members of the station search and rescue (SAR) team, we had been given permission to do some winter training over the weekend. We said we would camp for one night, near the station. But our real goal was Erebus, an active volcano looming in the distance some 50 kilometers away. Over a series of weeks, we planned our climb in secret, meeting late at night and preparing our gear. With the help of a couple of snowmobiles, we felt we could get to the base of Erebus, then use skis to climb to the lower reaches  of the mountain, and up high use ice climbing gear to reach the summit. If all went well we would be back to the station in time for work on Monday, with no one knowing we had done the climb. 

Just shy of the summit, however, a huge storm came rolling down from the polar plateau, obscuring our vision and very nearly preventing us from getting back to our tent halfway down the mountain. There we hunkered down for the night, exhausted and cold, hoping the storm would clear by morning. When it hadn’t, we knew we had to try and get off the mountain anyway. With one person out in front trying to find our tracks from the day before, we slowly crept down the mountain. Eventually we met the frozen sea and set up camp. But it was a restless night as the sea ice below us scraped against the rocky shore. When the storm hadn’t cleared the next morning we moved again, this time away from shore out on to the frozen sea where the ice was more stable.

Now we started to worry whether we would get through the storm alive. The cold had sapped our strength and we were each suffering from frostbite: on our faces, fingers, toes, most of one of my feet. Inside our tent, each exhaled breath condensed and froze on the inside walls, and each time we moved it came crashing down, soon enveloping us in frost. We had food and fuel for one more day, but if the storm lasted longer than that, our survival was in doubt.

But the next day the storm cleared and we began our trek back to the station. We soon met other members of the SAR team who had been out looking for us over the last three days. Back at the station there was a general sigh of relief that we were safe, but there was anger as well: from the administrators for breaking the rules and causing a major search effort to find us, and from our friends for making them worry that we might have perished in the storm.

As foolish as we had been, or perhaps because of our foolishness, there was much that I learned from this venture. One thing I learned was to not be so selfish in my desires. I learned that I have responsibility to others, and that I cannot selfishly choose to climb a mountain because it is what I want to do. To my family, to my friends, and to my employer, I have obligations, and these obligations must override my personal desires. Another thing I learned is that I can get through the most challenging situations. The three of us worked together and well to keep ourselves alive. Even when it seemed we might die, we never lost faith in ourselves. When I have faced tough situations since then—in outdoor situations, or with my work, or in relationships—I know I have the strength to survive.

Week 7—The Marshmallow Challenge

Hi all,

That was great fun yesterday, having Rab join us and you all competing in the Marshmallow Challenge. I hope you liked it.

A couple of thoughts from me:

1) I wasn't sure about what language would be best, but I decided Japanese would be good so you could simply focus on the task and not worry about language. That makes it more about leadership, and makes it more equal for everyone (although all of you are good at speaking in English).

2) Rab made the point that you should just start building and not spend too much time planning. That seems to be the key. I was just watching a career advice video called "The School of Life: How to Find Fulfilling Work," and interestingly, the same advice was given: that you should get out and try different things before deciding on a career, and not be afraid to change careers. This is difficult in Japan, of course, but one thing you can do while a college student are internships—try as much as possible to work in the field that you ultimately hope to have a job doing.

Anyway, enough from me. What you would most appreciate, I should think, are some pictures. Here are a few:

Week Six—Ken's RW Introduction

Hi all,

Please see my introduction below. Notice ...

1) the hook at the beginning

2) the use of examples, an interesting detail, a question, a quotation/definition, citations—all devices for making an introduction interesting.

3) the gradual narrowing of the topic to the thesis (in bold).

4) the purpose (in blue)

5) the writing plan (in red)

Emergent Leadership as a Learnable Skill

Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, and Shigeru Yoshida—these figures instantly come to mind when one thinks of leadership. They all led nations through times of great crisis. The truth is, however, that leadership can come in many forms. One such form is “emergent leadership.” Emergent leaders are those that develop organically over time, or present themselves periodically in groups and teams when new ideas or direction are needed. Steve Jobs (Apple), Bill Gates (Microsoft), and Anita Roddick (Body Shop) are all considered self-emerged leaders. However, emergent leadership can occur within any workgroup or team, and can be essential for the success of that team. So important is the concept of emergent leadership that Laszlo Bock, head of personnel at Google, has famously listed it as the second most important criteria in Google’s hiring and promotional decisions (cited in Friedman).

But what exactly is emergent leadership? According to Bock, emergent leadership involves the ability to, “at the appropriate time, step in and lead … to try and solve any problem … and just as critically, [to] step back and stop leading … [to have] the humility to step back and embrace the better ideas of others” (qtd. in Friedman). As such, this is a practical skill that can and should be learned by everyone. For university students in particular, learning the behaviors and language of emergent leadership will likely lead to much greater success, both in college and in the working world.

The purpose of this paper will be to identify the behaviors and language of emergent leadership and the extent to which it can be taught and learned in college. It will begin with an overview of the concept of emergent leadership—how it is defined, how it is used, and how it is valued by organizations. It will then identify the specific behaviors and language of emergent leadership as it is used in the working world. Finally, it will propose ways in which emergent leadership can be both taught and assessed in the university classroom.

Week Six—Chapter Nine, "Risk"

Chapter 9 "Risk" features Shackleton's epic sailing adventure from Elephant Island to South Georgia Island, some 1400 kilometers in a tiny, open boat across the most dangerous (and cold) seas in the world. It is very difficult for us to imagine the difficulty, danger, and misery of such a journey. Because of this, I found this chapter a little difficult to relate to my own life, especially as I have never had to take a huge "necessary" risk such as he took. I have, however, taken many, many risks: as a climber, as a kayaker and rafter, as a driver, as a traveler. But the risks have always been of my own choosing, and many of them were careless, thoughtless risks, and it has been only because I have enjoyed a certain amount of luck that I have survived.

One of such risks for me, I will recount in my Personal Narrative, which I will post shortly. A Personal Narrative is simply a story from your life in which you learned something. I encourage you to consider writing a Personal Narrative as one of your non-text posts, should you wish.

Week 5—Comments on Chapter 6, "Conflict"

For this week, I will focus on Chapter 7 "Conflict" as I already briefly mentioned Chapter 6 in last week's post.

Conflict was a very relevant topic for me personally when serving as Assistant Director of the ELA, which I did for four years.

This is because the ELA experienced a great deal of conflict over several years due to differing views on how we should conduct a curricular reform.

While the majority of the instructors supported a particular set of curricular reforms, a minority of senior instructors were against the reforms. Due to feelings of not feeling respected, of accusations that have been made against them, and due to a considerable amount of "groupness" (a sense of "us" vs. "them" that has magnified the importance of the issues), this group has had great difficulty accepting the reform.

So, what can I "take away" from this chapter on Shackleton?

First, we should have "Deal[t] with Anger in Small Doses" better than we did. Legitimate concerns were expressed by the dissenting group early on that were not addressed. Efforts should have been made to have had extensive discussion and debate over these concerns, and perhaps some compromises needed to have been made. Better yet, we needed more of a conflict positive environment in which open discussion might have led to some "win-win" negotiations. Instead, the minority group felt marginalized and disenfranchised which subsequently led to feelings of intense frustration and ultimately aggression.

Secondly, we needed to have "Engage[d] Dissidents." The reform dissidents were essentially ignored. What we needed to have done is brought the dissenting voices and members "into the tent." I have always loved this notion from Shackleton, that he took the members that might pose the greatest threat to his leadership and made them members of his tent. This way he could consult with them and keep them feeling listened to and wanted, and prevent them from joining forces with others. There is an expression in English, "Keep your enemies closer and your enemies closer" which is attributed to the great Chinese military commander Sun Tsu which expresses a similar concept. We needed to have done something like this by better including our dissidents in the reform process so that they could have more of a say and be part of the reform. Not doing so has led to a lot of problems.

My efforts while Assistant Director were to try and "make up" for the past. Giving the opposition an opportunity to express themselves was one approach. We had several open meetings in which opposition views could be presented and discussed. Opposing members were given roles in which they could contribute in ways they were uniquely suited. These efforts were at least partially successful, and much of the division and distrust and anger of the past appeared to have significantly lessened by the end of my term.

Week 5—Final Project Outline

Hi all,

For you to see my outline, I have posted it below. Please know that this is a rough draft and highly likely to change as I do more research. Feel free to post your own outlines if you wish as your optional blog entry for this week. Of course, also blog about either Ch. 6 or 7 as well.

Ken Enochs

Ken Enochs

Research Writing

20 Jan 2014

Emergent Leadership as a Learnable Skill

Thesis (working): The emergent leadership behavior and language so valued by fast growing corporations can and should be learned by university students for a more successful life, both in college and in the working world.

1. Introduction
1. Opening
1. Hook
2. Topic identification/narrowing
3. Brief definition
4. Thesis
2. Writing Plan

1. Purpose of paper
2. Plan of development

2. Emergent Leadership
1. History and background
2. Definition(s) of emergent leadership
3. Value within the working world

3. Behaviours and Language
1. Goal setting
2. Idea communication
1. Initiating
2. Participating
1. Acknowledging
2. Soliciting
3. Building upon
4. Constructively pushing back
5. Following
3. Implementing
4. Rejecting

4. Classroom Applications
1. Task design
2. Group selection
3. Skills teaching
1. Behavior
2. Language
4. Evaluating effectiveness

5. Conclusion
1. Restatement of thesis
2. Summary of main points
3. Closing

Week 4—Thoughts related to Chapter 5 (and 6)

This week's Chapter 5 and next week's chapter 6 are both "team" focused chapters.

There is much in these chapters that resonates with me and applies to my workplace, the ELA.

The ELA is a fairly big team, with a great deal of diversity. We have native and non-native speakers of English. We have Japanese instructors, and non-Japanese. We have among the non-Japanese a wide range of nationalities: British, Australian, Scottish, Finnish, and many Americans. We are divided by contract status: some instructors are on short-term contracts, others longer, and some on permanent contracts. We are also differentiated by gender.

While, for the most part, we do a wonderful job of working together to create a great program for all of you, the differences between us,  especially "rank" differences, cause a lot of subtle problems. I say subtle because in general, we are very equality focused. We all teach the same courses, teach the same amount as one another, share in all the non-teaching responsibilities that come with a program like this, and we each have a vote in decision-making. It would seem that we are equal.

In reality, however, there are differences. Someone with a permanent contract can, in many ways, do as they like. They can speak up at meetings, choose to be against the directors, not show up at a retreat, etc. Someone for whom English is their native language has an advantage over a non-native speaker when debating issues. Someone from a more debate-oriented culture (e.g. British) has an advantage over someone from a harmony-focused culture (e.g. Japanese). Males, in general, have advantages over females. Those who go home to a family have advantages over those who go home to an apartment alone. People who drink alcohol and socialize after work with others have advantages over those who do not. Etc.

In psychology these differences are known as "rank." And what you need to know about rank is that those in a lower rank are much more aware of and sensitive to rank differences than those in a higher rank. So... the take-away point that I want you to remember is to be very sensitive and considerate of rank differences, especially those of lower rank than you. You will naturally be somewhat blind to these differences, but those below you will not be.

I work with several people in the ELA of similar rank to me, that have little or no sensitivity to the advantage that they have over others, and this causes a lot of unnecessary resentment. Don't let this be you.