Best Quote

"Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Martin Luther King, Jr., Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thurgood Marshall, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.

The question is this: what will you do with that time?"

I saw this as someone's Facebook status and had to post (I know it's extra). Again, thank you members of EDUPL 270.04 class. I have learned a lot with and from you; good luck with your future endeavors and let's inspire change! :]

Boarding the LeaderSHIP...Navigating the High C's!

How clever is the title of this blog post? I found it on an image when I was Google-ing "social change model." I just love it! It brings the social change model and its concepts into an easy visual to remember.

What do I think is the most important C to keep in mind when acting as a change agent? Hmm, I'm not really sure I can answer that question. I think all the Cs are so important in their own unique ways; each interacts with the others and has an effect on them. If I HAD to choose one, I'd say..... conciousness of self.

You've got to know who you are to understand where you want to go. If you don't know who you are as a person in terms of beliefs, thoughts, feelings, values, and goals, you probably won't know what you want to change in society! Furthermore, if you aren't familiar with your beliefs and ideas you probably won't collaborate well with others. You'll be confused as to what opinions you have on a topic; furthermore you most likely will not act congruently with your true values if you don't know what they are! Lastly, I believe that if you want to define your common purpose with others and have committment, you've got to first be in tune with yourself.

What is the biggest challenge to becoming a change agent? I think the biggest challenge to becoming a change agent is having the confidence to believe in yourself. In my first blog post I talk about Martin Luther King, Jr., Mother Theresa, and other influential people that have changed the world. We all can't start out being Mother Theresa's...we've got to start at the smaller level. No one becomes a hero in a day; it takes a lifetime to change (it's a continuous process). One can't (and shouldn't) turn sour or feel bad if their original plan does not succeed. You've got to take risks and try harder to find success in social change.

Another difficulty in being a change agent is positively using power; power can easily be misconstrued and manipulated. One has to make sure to use power the right way when using it as a driving force in change!

Can anyone become a change agent? I definitely believe that anyone who wants to create change can become a change agent. As Komives and Wagner explain, one of the first steps to becoming a change agent is to "recognize onself as a leader" (p. 401). You've got to empower yourself, have confidence and truly believe in your plan to change something - if a person can do this, they can become a change agent (as long as they incorporate all the 7 Cs as well; this is certainly an important part of being an agent of change!).

End note: I've really enjoyed this class. I have learned so much about myself and about leadership; I am definitely going to suggest all the members in my chapter try to enroll in the course (especially the incoming - and future - presidents!). If anyone is reading this, I've enjoyed working with you all. Thanks for great discussions and sharing your experiences; I have learned a lot from you! Good luck in all your Greek and future endeavors!

-Brittany

“Open your arms to change, but don't let go of your values.”

That quote seemed like a perfect example of what we've been learning in this class. You've got to have conciousness of self and congruence before you start changing the world. You've got to know who you are, what your goal is, and live life with integrity, loyalty and honesty.

"How do we come to value things in our lives?" Well, usually our values are people / topics / traits that are most important to us that affect us daily. Values are things we appreciate, have a desire to hold on to, and when they disappear we strive to get them back.

Okay, so maybe the last part didn't make sense. You can lose your values? Well, I meant that as....say I value my friendships. If I lose a friendship, for some odd reason (let's say I got in an argument with my best friend), I'd try really hard to resolve that conflict. With this, I strived to get my friendship back in order to keep my values alive. In a perfect world, my words and actions would have aligned with my values (congruence!), so I would have never said anything that would have negatively impacted a friendship. But hey, we're not all perfect.

A value is something that is desirable and wanted (family, friends, education). It is also something that shapes our actions, beliefs, thoughts and behaviors. Values explain why we do what we do.

"How can we ensure that we are spending our time on the things we value?" Well, the easiest way would be to do a self-check! IN OTHER WORDS: stop the car and check the engine!

Let's start with last night. What'd you do? Did you ditch your best friend who called you on the phone in tears to go to the bar with your boyfriend for his roommate's birthday? Or did you go over to her place and cheer her up? Obviously this isn't applicable to everyone, but in this example choice 1 would NOT be following the value of friendship or helping others (if those are 2 things you value, which I hope!).

Once you've evaluated your actions from today, yesterday, and this week....you can go back and evaluate your behavior from the past month, quarter and even year! Having a hard time remembering? Ask for feedback! Ask those closest to you if they believe you are living your values. How can you be more in tune with what you value the most? They'll be able to tell you.

At the end of the day, you're not really living life happily unless you follow your heart and do what you believe is best based on your feelings, thoughts and personal values. Don't let other people pressure you to change who you are. Be yourself!

My Personal Vision Statement

As I start to write this vision statement I'm listening to calm, relaxing music (because I feel like crap!). Inspired to look for music about this prompt I stumbled upon Stevie Wonder's "Visions." It actually turned out to be pretty relaxing....if you like Stevie, take a listen.

I really like the lyrics,

"But what I'd like to know

Is could a place like this exist so beautiful

Or do we have to find our wings and fly away

To the vision in our mind ?

If everyone put their vision statement in action, a beautiful place could really exist and the positive place wouldn't be a fantasy anymore!

I read that one's life has a "number of important facets or dimensions, all of which deserve some attention in your personal vision statement." These include but are not limited to physical, spiritual, work/career, family, social relationships, financial security, mental improvement and attention and fun. In considering all these facts of life, I need to understand who I want to become in order to create my personal vision statement. This shows how congruence and consciousness of self are extremely important.

My own personal vision statement includes living each day to the fullest; sharing knowledge to the best of my ability; having a positive impact on every person with whom I come in contact; living daily a life dedicated to integrity, commitment, challenge, and joy; loving my boyfriend and valuing our relationship; valuing close friends (+ my sanz!) and sorority sisters locally and nationwide; valuing family relationships; being at all times aware of and engaged in my natural environment; never straying away from my true character, enjoying life through the activities I find most fun.

Living this vision statement will allow me to structure my actions and focus my goals/intentions for the future. It will also allow me to live positively and peacefully in terms of my internal interactions and those with others.

Collaboration!

"Walk this Way" revolutionized the new hybrid sub-musical genre of "rock and rap", or the molding of rock and hip hop music when it was covered by rappers Run-D.M.C. This collaboration between Run DMC and Aerosmith turned out to be amazing as it made the billboard hot 100 list and was an international hit!

As you can see in the first 20 seconds of the video, there seemed to be some annoyance by both parties about what the other was doing. Run DMC pounded on the wall because they didn't like the rock sound Aerosmith was producing. Same with any collaboration - individuals find it challenging to collaborate with others due to differences in opinion. Leaders are leaders, meaning they most likely want their opinions and ideas to rank higher over others' (well, not good leaders I guess!). The elements of collaboration that are most difficult to engage in are the planning stages and communicating with others, in my opinion.

When one member doesn't want to work collaboratively, it creates tension and conflict for everyone. Each member must come together and understand the importance of and reason for collaboration. Often times, if not all, it leads to successful events (or songs, in my example) and happiness from both parties (if done correctly!). This is the reason why everyone in a group should want to collaborate, not be forced to do so.

Diversity is great for an organization as it represents collaboration at the micro-level. With a more diverse body more opinions, ideas, suggestions, comments and concerns are being voiced. Ultimately the event becomes a collboration between a group of people - the organization - and when it expands between two groups we see the larger, macro-level example of collaboration.

I love collaboration; sure it's hard at first, but with the Greek community it allows us to have more attendance at events, networking opportunities and leadership experiences by working together, gaining interpersonal communication skills and simply having fun!

Citizenship

Citizenship. We are good citizens because we care...not because it's court ordered or required by school/Greek Life!

How am I becoming a more effective citizen in the groups that I am a part of? Well, as for the sorority & fraternity community...I'm becoming a more effective citizen by serving as a chapter president. I keep my chapter (community) aware of what is going on in the larger realm. I also work with others both inside and outside of my sorority to put on multicultural and service events which create awareness and support for some topic or organization. I also participate in civic engagement, whether that be voting, performing active community service, being a part of different organizations, interacting with a diverse group of people, staying aware of what is going on in my community and so much more.

If someone had asked me "what is citizenship?" a few weeks ago I would have probably said..."Citizenship is being an active member of society. Mostly things like voting, doing community service, keeping up with current events..." I know realize that citizenship is so much more than that. If my definition was true, I certainly wouldn't be that great of a citizen. I don't vote, I hate watching the news/reading the paper and I don't do toooo much community service outside of what is required (hey, I'm a busy senior, I would if I could!). Now I know that I *am* a good citizen, just in different ways.



I'm not really sure how my sisters think about citizenship, but I am proud to say we are good citizens of the Columbus, OSU and Greek Life community. Since we are a diverse organization we allow the opportunity for many viewpoints to be heard. We also collaborate on programming with other organizations, which is a huge part of creating and maintaining community. We pride ourselves in doing community service which is essential in citizenship - whether it's active, philanthropic, or spreading awareness! Lastly, we all have socially responsible personal and professional behavior - something I didn't really think about when discussing citizenship.

Change!

"Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek." - President Barack Obama

This is so true. If we want something, some person or some issue to change - we've got to take a stand and start the ball rolling. If everyone always thought "well, someone else will do it," nothing would ever get done! I say be brave and be the change you wish to see in the world. (Okay, so Gandhi totally said that, but whatever!)

An individual can create change in a group in many ways. Let's take a sorority for example. Sally doesn't like one of the bylaws in her chapter's constituion. If she speaks out about it, perhaps she can get a group together to propose an amendment to the bylaw. This could allow the chapter to review their constitution totally. With that, Sally sparked single order change.

Now, let's say we want to know how Sally can contribute to second order change. Again, say she doesn't like a bylaw. "Why only 3 required service hours a quarter?." she asks. Sally really values community service and talks with other sisters. Together they approach the service chair and ask her to encourage sisters to do more community service...say, 5 hours a quarter. Everyone starts doing 5 hours a quarter and really enjoys this change. Sally's values and her desire to encourage more participation in service inspired her entire chapter...creating second order change!

The same things have happened with my chapter. We've done some single order change. Amending rules, creating bylaws, instituting fines. But we've done some second order change too - determining a chapter philanthropy, reaffirming our values and creating programming that fits them.

I think any type of change is important, but now I realize that I'd like to see more second order change than single order change this year. That is one of my goals as chapter prez....spark more positive, 2nd-order change! :]
-b