UAlberta Business Leadership 2017

First off, just want to say WE’VE MADE THE 1 YEAR MARK! I can’t believe another semester has just come and gone and I can’t wait to see what next year has in store for us! I love you guys.

A true leader. You know her as Jordan, but I know her as an environmental regulator. In line with my last two posts about protecting animals, Jordan entered the UAAC office today and was horrified to see we had plastic pop rings (aka "death traps") sitting on our fridge, completely intact.

"I hope you guys have been cutting these up!!!!!!!" She repeated over and over again, until everyone had heard her.

Then Jordan took the liberty of cutting up all of these rings, so that none of us would forget. While I always try to cut these up, I know that even the most environmentally-conscious people can forget to. It spoke a lot to me, and showed Jordan's selflessness in that she took time out of her day to do such a simple thing for the environment.

This was the last thing I read before this post. It was intriguing as I am the kind of person who loves walking up escalators. An interesting look at cognitive behavior and ways to communicate to get people  to take the best course of action. Increasingly governments are starting to increase ‘nudge’ activities and get folks to do what is in their best interest. A lot more could be said about this but I encourage you to read more about nudge units across the globe.

As many of us are starting summer jobs next month, that raises the question of how we can continue to be a leader even when we don’t rank very high in the hierarchy of the company.  

Some of the “10 Ways” mentioned in this article may seem obvious, but several stood out to me: 

1. Network

I find that sometimes there is a tendency to view jobs as simply a way to make money.  By learning about and investing in relationships with co-workers, you’ll get more out of the job instead of simply the monetary value.  

2. Get to Know Your Boss and Get a Mentor

By seeing how leaders in your workplace act, it is a learning experience to either mirror those actions or see how those qualities result in ineffective leadership.  This is very similar to networking in that you are getting to know the people you are working with.  

3. Do Your Job

Hello everyone, I wanted to this last post to be something a little different than usual. This post still pertains to leadership and communication as it is unquestionably essential for leaders to recognize and appreciate those around them, but I think this goes for us as people more than anything.

Again, just like my last post, I mentioned how this is a busy time for people, but I suppose it always is for a group like this one, isn’t it? All the more reason that we might get bogged down sometimes with how much is on our plates, and I know how much pressure lots of us put on ourselves to “achieve” and be our “best”. What I really appreciated about this video is that it is a chance for us to depart from “us” and visit what it means to be grateful for others. We all have people who have helped shape who we are, whether that be marketing masters, accounting aces, management maestros, or operations aficionados. Of course our majors don’t define us, but I went on a little bit of an alliteration spree that simply had to continue.

More than that, we all have people in our lives who have enabled us to push through some of our most daunting obstacles. If you watch the video, or choose to reflect on who those people are in your lives, you might start to realize those people don’t hear how much they mean to you as often as they should. 

Maybe that’s not the case for all of us, but I thought this was a great opportunity for me to share a reminder about showing gratitude to those who have shaped you, rebuilt you, and strengthened you to be all of the wonderful people I see each and every Thursday. If not for you then for me, tell them how grateful I am to be able to learn from you and laugh with you each week.

For those of you that know me, know I love fried chicken. Needless to say, this video (and really all other videos up on this YouTube channel, ‘Startup Stories’) was a very pleasant find for me. I thought I’d share it because personally, watching success stories that are founded in hard work such as Colonel Sander’s story (or perhaps more commonly known, JK Rowling’s story) is a source of motivation for me! When I’m becoming unproductive during the day, videos like these usually work to lift up my spirits again before I regain my will to work. I know that that’s not the case for everyone as I’ve talked to some friends who think videos like this are too optimistic and tell the anomaly-success-story rather than the norm, which is true, but they still work for me ahah. What’s something you do to pump yourself up when your motivation is dwindling? I’d honestly love to hear about what works for others in our class especially with finals season creeping up. if you happen to read this, do bring along your suggestions to class for next Thursday!

WOAH INCOMING: an intersection of the arts and leadership? Color me intrigued. See that pun ?? I'll show myself out. 

As someone who has been in many productions I found this article quite interesting. It discusses topics we have exhausted, such as emotional intelligence, but also dives into things as much as possible improvisation can be used as a tool to handle embarrassment and failure with grace. The world of business is so unpredictable so it is imperative for leaders to be adaptable. As the article states, "controlling the unpredictable creates opportunities for leaders to be creative in their leadership skills and show their team grace when dealing with unwanted or unexpected situations." 

This was neat. One of my friends tagged her sister on Twitter so that was how I came across it. I love the first point being related to gaining real-life experience while attaining your degree as I do strongly believe in the importance of being well rounded. Maybe not 4 jobs, but you know what I mean :)

As some of you may know, I am a huge animal lover, and definitely have a soft spot when it comes to these creatures. Regarding the worlds largest land animal, there has been lots of very sad news in recent years: the 1982 population of 1.2 million African elephants has now dwindled to between 400,000 and 500,000, and 20,000 African elephants continue to be killed for their tusks annually.

At these rates, the poaching of African elephants cannot continue. It is because of this that the news that came this morning was so amazing! China - the worlds largest ivory market - has agreed to close 67 of their ivory carving and retail shops, which amounts to approximately one third of the total.

This is an amazing step that the Chinese government is taking in the war on poaching, and proves how vital China is in decisions like this. While many people look at leadership as leading other people, we must remember that decisions like these are ones that shape the world. I hope that many other Asian countries continue to follow in the Chinese's footsteps, as they pledge to end all domestic ivory sales by the end of the year.