10/28-10/30 Guest Speakers

This week we had three guest speakers, Mr. Kitashiro, Dr. Daisy and Mr Floyd.

The first year students has already seen Mr. Kitashiro during the entrance ceremony. In his speech I remember him using his ATM quote. (Akaruku Tanoshiku Maemukini) Mr. Kitashiro's presentation was really inspiring. He had many good tips about leadership. From high school I always told myself that I needed to learn the history of my own country but I never got around to it because I prioritized other things. But from Mr. Kitashiro's speech I knew that I needed to learn soon because I learned that history can come up in business conversation and this will effect the relationship with other people. He also stressed about presentation skills such as everything should be in 3s.

Dr. Daisy's story was really shocking. If I were in his position when deciding whether to take the seat of presidency I would seriously think it out because I would put my whole career on the line. But I guess life is about taking risks and I really respect him for pulling the university back on its feet. Dr. Daisy talked about the difficulty of faculty coming up to him to be ordered or getting his permission. I think getting orders is easy because you don't really need to think about what you have to do, you just do the work that is told. However, many adults have told me that I should take initiative and think for myself. It's easy to do orders but its hard to think for yourself. As Mr. Kitashiro said, when facing an easy or a difficult job, choose the difficult one.

Images from
http://www.icu.ac.jp/en/20130405-3.html
http://www.comfsm.fm/myShark/news/item=259/mod=02:34:41

10/21 Hibiya Sensei

I was looking forward to this class since the moment Ken told us. I am truly thankful to Ken who made this happen and to Hibiya sensei who made the time for us to speak to us. Her class was an opportunity to get to know her better as well as ICU. I thought the president would have a speech memorized and the speech would be just like the things people usually say like GO FOR IT or those cliches but she was different. Her speech was very lively with humor. I especially like the parts where she talked about her meetings with other presidents. I really liked the leadership qualities she chose; 4. to be healthy and 8. to laugh and celebrate. I stated previously in my blogs that I thought those two were important as well.

Her speech made me want to get more involved in ICU and also take an opportunity to do something. So that day there was a dorm meeting where we had to choose our next dorm floor leader. There are 3 floors in our dorm and there is a floor leader on each floor. I decided to run and I was elected a the floor leader! It is only for a year but I hope I can contribute so that my floormates could live comfortably.




Image from:
http://www.ifreecan.com/on-scary-decisions-opportunity-costs/

Leading at the Edge #5 Chapter 8 & 9

I loved Chapter 8 which talked about celebrating and having laughter in tense situations. I think celebrations were important to Shackleton and the crew because it was a goal that they could focus on. It would be a milestone for them to say they've come or lived this far. The crew can work hard until that day and find rest in the festivities. In my dance club we have a "tachiage" and "uchiage". "Uchiage" is common because we celebrate the end of our hard work but I never knew about "tachiage" until now. "Tachiage" is somewhat of a party to get to know everyone and talk about our goals for what we accomplish during the time we're spending together. The line at the end, Laugh at yourself is something I never do. When I was discussing this with Shiho and Take, Shiho told me that I never laugh at myself, rather I laugh with myself. I never laugh at myself because if I do something stupid I would think about why I did it and be really down but later on I when I'm talking to other people I think more objectively and laugh at what I did together with friends.

Ahhh the Big Risk. I would say I'm really afraid of taking risks. Shackleton's story was about how he chose carefully when to act and when not to. I'm the person who acts first rather than think about it so if an opportunity is presented right in front of me, I have to think about it and therefore it makes me think too far in it by the time I either forget about it, make a stupid decision, or the opportunity is missed. I think Shackleton was under a lot of pressure because he had to make decisions concerning others lives. Today I faced a risk that might improve my effectiveness as a leader. There was a job opportunity but I couldn't think about it much because I had a class I needed to attend to. It was a job for clothing and I really do love fashion but I'm not confident enough to style them. But on the other hand I think it would be a great opportunity because I've never had a part time job and I can learn so much for working. My parents had been bugging about working so it was such a coincidence. If I don't learn and experience new things, I don't think I can be a leader.

Image by

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/161425967865294607/

http://weheartit.com/entry/82297033/upload

http://carriehopefletcher.com/post/19112953401/so-take-the-risk-and-just-do-it

Class 10/15 Troublemakers

In class we talked about how we deal with troublemakers personally or in groups. In personal situations, when I know a person who I don't really get along with, I try to be civil with them. Especially in a group if the two are the only ones fighting I don't want to get other people involved so I try to be civil. I've learned that you don't have to try to be friends. You can just be nice to them when in groups but when you're alone you don't have to try and hang out or see each other.
In groups however, troublemakers can be a setback like with Shakleton. Ken mentioned an example of an experiment where one person acted negatively and the whole play became negative. This reminded me of dance because when dancing in groups if one person is not dancing like the others it affects the whole choreography and the dance would look bad.

Image from
http://theevangelista.com/

Leading at the Edge #4 Chapter 6 & 7

**Just a quick clear-up about my blogs:

My first experience with blogs was last term. I've never written blogs before but it was fun looking at other people's views on different topics. In my spring term I always wrote a draft and later on published them because I wanted to think about what I was writing for some time so I can write from a wider perspective and in-depth detail. But from now on I will publish them as soon as I write them. Also, for the blogs that aren't text related I thought we were allowed to talk about things in life but from reading blogs of others I finally understood that wasn't the case. When Ken said other than the text I thought he literally meant something other than the text but now I know he meant about class. Whoops. Sorry Ken! I'll publish one about the book and one about class starting this week!

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Like the author said in the intro of Chapter 6, Chapter 6 was similar to Chapter 5 in ways of taking care of others to work together. On page 102 it says, "People understand the need for legitimate authority and for differences in salaries, roles, and titles" I though this would be a topic debatable in an International Relations class. Maybe in theory even Communism needs a superior like the government to foresee equality among workers but how did this theory come about? Why is that for example in a company the boss might not do anything but get paid more than the workers? Isn't that unfair? I understand the legitimate authority part but I was confused by the latter part. I wanted to know the reason behind this statement. I think the example that the author gave about his first job after graduating Harvard was similar to the example Ken told us in class about a boss who always sat at a simple desk near the elevator so he could talk to the employees. 

Chapter 7 was about Conflict. We've already talked about this a little in today's class. One of the solutions to solve conflicts that the book sated was "to talk through the disagreements ... but the truces were only temporary."So I guess talking didn't work but Shakleton used "teamwork" again. The book describes that being emotional is bad in conflicts and I remembered it was also bad in negotiations as well. "Moose on the Table" reminded me of another idiom but I forget what it was. Was it the big elephant in the room? The story about Frank Hurley showed that people actually do better when they are seen and praised. I think people who make others feel special are the ones who become leader-like figures. At the end of the chapter it said, "It is vital to decide which battles are worth fighting and which are not." I said this in my last blog post but I think this is really true. Fighting all battles is not the smartest thing to do because it makes the atmosphere bad when it involves people and you can lose energy and become stressful.

Class 10/7 I'm a Teddy Bear

So I took the test of how I would typically act in a conflict and here were my results:

Withdrawing 25

Forcing 18

Smoothing 30

Compromising 25

Problem Solving 29

This means that I use the Smoothing strategy the most and Forcing strategy the least. We didn't go over the 2nd handout in class but I looked through it and it seems like I'm The Teddy Bear. I'm pretty happy with my results because I DO think relationships are important. 

Shiho, Yuca, Take and I discussed the following questions:

1: How has a group you have been in managed conflict? Negatively, or positively?

2: How do you feel about conflict? Are you conflict comfortable, or conflict uncomfortable?

1: Most of the examples that were brought up were about being in a sports team and conflict was negatively managed so I was thinking of an example that was managed positively. In junior high, I had a close group of friends. We fought but instead of ignoring each other we would wait a few days to cool down and talk about it because we still cared for each other. I think this was an example of a positively managed way because we could tell each other what we felt face to face. Because of this we learned how to keep and build our relationship. We're still close to this day and I can talk to them about anything.

2: Like the example above, I tend to talk about what I feel and my thoughts openly so I guess I would be conflict comfortable. But on the other hand, I've come to realize that being conflict comfortable is bad at times. Sometimes in a conflict you shouldn't always say something it might just make things worse. In my personal experience when a conflict comfortable person argues with a conflict comfortable person things could go bad. Really Bad. So  I think its okay that people are conflict comfortable or uncomfortable, but people need to know when to speak up or when not to say anything.

Image from:

http://exploringatlanta.tumblr.com/post/13884775160/teddy-bear-brunch-at-livingston

Class 10/2 Let's Collaborate!

I really enjoy questionnaires that tell you what kind of person you are. I always find some on the internet and see if they are actually right and most times they are! Today we did a questionnaire on what our negotiation style was.

My results were:

Competing 20

Accommodating 19

Collaborating 24

Avoiding 19

Compromising 20

From my results you can see that I prefer Collaborating the most and Accommodating and Avoiding the least.

I think this is quite accurate because I would rather work together so both sides are happy. I think finding a solution together is a win-win situation because both sides get half of what they want, which is more fulfilling than nothing at all and a good relationship is maintained. I think this contradicts accommodating though and I don't really know how you can collaborate without accommodating a little bit. I would almost never avoid things because sometimes things that avoid come back as being an even bigger problem than before or both sides can feel uneasy because nothing has been said. I wonder if this Collaborating style actually works though because in business everyone is looking out for their own company so I think the Competing style is used often. In my Global Governance class we looked at how a company worked together with UNICEF to give out mosquito nets for free. Maybe with NGO's its more common.

Image from:

http://dirtypixel.tumblr.com/page/5

Leading at the Edge #3 Chapter 4 &5

I can really relate to Chapter 4 because right now with assignments, mid-terms, dance practice and living away from home I haven't had time to take care of my physical and emotional health. = I have a cold and I'm stressed out boo:( Wow I can't believe Shakleton actually passed away because he didn't take care of his body. This should be a reminder to all of us that thinking about others is important but also thinking about yourself is equally important. I often hear the saying If you can't take care of yourself, you can't take care of others. Like we talked in class about if you smile other people may smile as well (mirror effect), if you aren't happy I think others won't be happy as well. So it's important to stay happy and healthy. I never knew that there was an actual psychological symptom called Summit Fever where people can psychologically stop you from thinking about pain. This means that fulfillment>pain? Wow, I'm always fascinated about what the brain can do. But I can understand this because when I'm sick but I have to go to PE, I forget that I'm sick and run around but later on my conditions get worse.

When hearing the word teamwork, I always think of the quote "All for One and One for All." The story of the Tap Code was really moving. Communication doesn't have to be face to face but could be presented through actions. I think this is the same as the example on the previous page where people wouldn't say anything but with just a nod people gained strength. The latter part of the chapter talked about leaders being able to see the skills of his or her team and being to use them sufficiently. I don't think many companies are as nice as Bob in the R&D example though. If people aren't right for the job their either fired or moved to a lower position. I guess this is the point of the author. If more people were like Bob, the teamwork in a company would be stronger which equals to a better company.

Images from:
http://backonpointe.tumblr.com/post/36529356865/internal-acceptance-movement-how-to-take-care
http://rtumasonyte.blogspot.jp/2011/02/team-work.html

Leading at the Edge #2 Talk to Yourself.

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This week we looked at chapter 2 and 3. Today I'm going to focus on the 3rd chapter.

This chapter talked about optimism. It's hard to be optimistic when you're feeling down. In Ken's class he said that it is scientifically proven that you feel better when you smile even if you don't feel like it.  In this chapter it says that to be optimistic, the first step it to talk to yourself. I think this is true. These past week I've been busy and these past few days were wearing me down. It was making me sad to think that I was always doing something instead of stopping what I was doing and just think. I felt this was such a shame after reading this chapter.

Talking to myself reminded me of the time when I used to do gymnastics. Our club motto was Yes, I Can! When doing bars or floor we would always say "Yes I Can!" out loud. I think this gave me the feeling of optimism and confidence to do flips and other tricks. The feeling I got after succeeding was the greatest.

The story of the Chinese character was very interesting. I never really thought about the opportunity in the word danger.

I'm going to try to answer one of the questions in the Expedition Log.

1. How do you typically react when faced with adversity or potential setback? What do you say to yourself - what goes on in your inner dialogue?

When I am faced with difficulties, the first thing I do is try to analyze it. I try to think by myself of how I can solve it. However, usually I can't think of a better solution so I ask the people around me for advice. I like asking people for advice because they can see things from a objective point of view.
I take in those advice and think again. This also reflects the book where it says to take in others advice.

During my entrance exams I looked up quotes for motivation and these words helped me get through them. I recommend looking up inspirational quotes and posting them in your room or somewhere you can see to remind yourself to be optimistic! :)

Have a great day!

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Images from:

(1)http://stylegerms.com/30-wonder-collection-of-tumblr-quotes/
(2)http://sayingimages.info/post/620316151/i-can-do-it

FALL 2013 #2 Smooth Steppers.

From April, I joined a dance club in school called Smooth Steppers. My first connection with them was last year when I saw the ICU Festival. I had heard their performance was one of the reason to come to the festival. When I saw it on the first day I was so touched that I went to see them again the next day.

I really liked every single genre they performed and I really want to post every single one of them on here but I think some were taken down for music copyright reasons. I realized that the impression of the dance changes when watching a video and seeing it as a live performance. Live performances are better because I could actually see the facial expressions the dancers made. It is a bummer that the video camera couldn't pick it up even if it was in HD mode. The videos below are the ones I could find on YouTube. The first one is called POP and the other is called MENS.

The fact that I'm performing on the bakayama stage that moved me so much last year, hasn't sunk into me yet. I hope I can make people feel something like I felt last year. I am so happy that two of my section mates(?) Joki and Koji are with me as well!! Joki is one of the choreographers for the 17 performance where all the 17s(april, september and OYR students) will perform. This dance is so fun I cannot wait for you all to see it!! He is performing in the genre LOCK as well and I am SURE you will be impressed by this. Their choreo is super fast that it would be physically impossible for me to do it.

I am performing a jazz number as well. One of the choreographers was the first senpai I met when I started dance practice and I thought to myself that I wanted to dance like her. That was one of the reasons I joined this club and I still can't believe I'm practicing with her! XD

We are performing on the 2nd and 3rd of November so come check us out!! :D