studentlinc

The MySpace Phenomenon

Online communities aren't anything new.  As the Internet evolves, people are discovering lots of different ways to connect with others.  One of those ways is through the web portal - MySpace.  MySpace.com is a social networking website that is taking up a lot of student's time.

The New York Times reports today on the MySpace phenomenon.

Even with many users in their 20's MySpace has the personality of an online version of a teenager's bedroom, a place where the walls are papered with posters and photographs, the music is loud, and grownups are an alien species.

Although many people over 30 have never heard of MySpace, it has about 27 million members, a nearly 400 percent growth since the start of the year.

Are you on MySpace?  Do you like it?

Managing Expectations

I work with student leaders on a regular basis.  Often there is confusion over what is expected on both sides.  Students may assume that I will be able to do more for them than I am willing or able to do.  And there are also moments when I thought something "simple" would be done - and it wasn't.

So I've taken the time to write out some of the most basic of expectations.  These are things that I expect from all of the student leaders that I work with.  Also, I have listed out what they can expect from me.  Of course, my hope is that we'll always work to exceed expectations.  But this gives us all some common ground to work from.

Student Leader Expectations
I expect each leader:

1.    To serve in your position to the best of your ability.

2.    To involve students in the work of your office.

3.    To communicate with the Director of Campus Life on a regular basis.

4.    To maintain a respectful, professional, and cordial relationship with your fellow SGA members.

5.    To establish and keep regular, daily office hours.

6.    To keep your office areas clean and inviting to both students and campus guests.

7.    To leave your position:
   a.    better organized, having improved upon the systems that are in place.
   b.    having invested in raising up others who could fill your position.
   c.    feeling you have done the best job you could do.

Student Leader Advisor Expectations
Each leader can expect me to:

1.    Advise toward the accomplishment of student government tasks.

2.    Be an initial avenue of communication between student government and the office of Student Development.

3.    Facilitate ongoing leadership training and resources that strengthen a student’s ability to lead.

4.    Have an open door to students who desire to voice grievances and/or difficulties in performing the duties of student government.

5.    Be an administrative person dedicated to the emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual well-being of those who serve in student leadership positions.

6.    Hold student leaders accountable for the fiscal responsibilities that various student government organizations hold in the allocation and distribution of student fees.

7.    Be an advocate for students interested in improving the quality of campus life at our institution.

Do you have certain expectations of the student leaders or advisors that you work with?  Do you notice any differences between the expectations that I place on students and the expectations that they can place on me?

Adapting To The Rate Of Change

I've noticed that those of us who consistently write in the blogging community tend to be early adopters when it comes to technology and ideas.  I wrote a quick little post awhile back about the revolutionary speed by which computer memory is getting bigger, smaller, and faster.

Well, I've just been "WOW'ed!" again by a couple of paragraphs from Leonard Sweet's book, Summoned to Lead.  He helped me realize that my own thinking was too small, too slow.  He writes:

To store a gigabyte's worth of data 20 years ago required a refrigerator-sized machine weighing 500 pounds.  Today that same gigabye of data lives on a disc smaller than a quarter.  The speed, capacity, and performance of technologies have exploded.  They have increased by six orders of magnitude over the past 30 years.  That's 10 times 10...six times.

Forget megabytes, gigabytes, and nanoseconds.  Instead think "yotta bytes" and "yocto seconds."  In ten years we will be measuring memory capacity in terms of "yotta bytes" -- 10 to the 24th power, or a million-trillion megabytes of information.  And we will be measuring processor clock speeds in terms of "yocto seconds" -- 10 to the minus-24th power.

Consider the GNR revolution (genetic engineering, nanotechnology, robotics).  We are building machines today that we measured in nanometers.  A nanometer is to an inch what an inch is to 400 miles. (p122)

He goes on to quote Futurist Alvin Toffler who says, "The illiterate of the 21st century will no be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn."

The lesson I pull from this is that in this day and age of rapid change, I must be willing to forget the things that no longer work, in order to make room for those things that do.

Think About Courage [5x5s]

Five Things To Think About For Five Minutes on the subject of COURAGE

1. Courage establishes leadership.
Courage is essential to leadership because the first person to step out in a new direction is generally viewed as the leader.  The best leaders aren't always the most talented, the most intelligent or the most creative, but rather, have the ability to initiate and get things done.  Oftentimes, leaders aren't necessarily the first to see an opportunity, but they are typically the first to seize an opportunity.

2. Courage seizes opportunities in the midst of uncertainty.
Where there is fear and uncertainty, there is an opportunity for leadership.  Fear and uncertainty freeze people in their tracks, cause hesitation, and cloud perspective.  A leader is the one who is able to emerge from these types of situations and move people forward, act, and show people the bigger picture.

3. Courage is not the absence of fear.
Cus D'Amato, a professional boxing manager said, "The hero and the coward both feel exactly the same fear, only the hero confronts his fear and converts it into fire.”  Without fear, there would be no need for courage.  Courage is the ability and willingness to carry our fears with us into the unknown.  The individual who refuses to move until the fear and uncertainty are gone will never more.  Consequently, they will never lead.

4. Courage is not carelessness.
People who are courageous don't necessarily rush into things, fueled by adrenaline, with the idea that they'll become a hero in the process.  There is a difference between acting courageously and acting carelessly.  The courageous leader weighs the risk and considers what is best for the people, the team, and the organization.  The careless leader plows ahead, hoping for the best without considering the worst.

5. Courage reproduces courage.
Courage is a great motivator.  One act of courage can change the momentum on a battlefield.  If done strategically, it can dramatically change the playing field.  That's because courage is contagious.  Courage in one (especially from the leader) instill courage in others.

[adapted from leadership training material by Andy Stanley, Injoy Life Club, www.injoy.com]
________________________________________
Use this material in conjunction with the 5x5s worksheet.
Download the 5x5s Worksheet here.
What is 5x5s?  Read more about it here.

Excellence Is A Habit

Great quotes are like great wine...they get better with age.

"Excellence is an art won by training and habitation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but rather we have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then is not an act but a habit."
— Aristotle

A Gift Everyone Can Give

"Encouragement is the ability to multiply our joys and divide our sorrows."

Each of us can give encouragement to someone else.  Most would consider encouragement a gift to give when someone else is experiencing a down time or some kind of failure.  But it is also appropriate to pass on in the midst of someone's success.

I have received two letters in the past week that have encouraged me in the work that I do and the kind of person that I am.  Both of these letters have stuck in my mind and I've read each of them about 20 times.  I draw strength from them.  I feel good when I read them.  Encouragement doesn't cost much to give (which makes me wonder why we don't give it more often), but it is priceless when we receive it.

Do you want to increase your influence on campus?  Be an encourager to others during the good times and the difficult times.

Leaders Do Not Transform People

One of my favorite leadership definitions (posted on the wall in front of my desk) is from a Tom Peters' slide in one of his presentations.  Chew on this for awhile:

Leaders do not transform people.  Instead leaders-mentors-teachers (1) provide a context which is marked by (2) access to a luxuriant portfolio of meaningful opportunities (projects) which (3) allow people to fully express their innate curiosity and (4) engage in a vigorous discover voyage by which those people (5) go to-create places they (and their mentors-teachers-leaders) had never dreamed existed.  And then the leaders-mentors-teachers (6) applaud like crazy, stage "photo-ops," and ring the church bells 100 times to commemorate the bravery of their "followers'" explorations!

You Can Do Anything You Want

Gene Schandorff, University Chaplain at NNU, spoke to the incoming Freshman class of students last night.  During his talk, he said something that I believe is worth repeating here.

His outline was fairly simple:
    1. We're here to help you discover who you are;
    2. We're here to help you discover your unique gifts and abilities;
    3. We're here to help you learn how to use those gifts and abilities as a contribution to the world.

During the last part, he made a statement that I've heard him make before:

You have the freedom to do anything you want; until you want to do something significant.

That's huge!  When Gene mentioned the first part of that statement, you could see the parents sitting next to their brand new college student start to squirm.  When he finished the statement with the last part, you could see the students begin to squirm.

The truth is, most every student has the freedom to choose to just hang out, party, procrastinate, and even do nothing.  But what's significant about that.  Well...nothing.

The key to significance is sacrifice.  Pay now and you can play later.  Play now and you'll pay later (at a greater price).  Begin to take on responsibilities and you sacrifice some of your rights.

Gene had a great illustration.  He went over to the piano and sat down.

"When I was younger, I had the freedom to choose to take piano lessons.  I chose not to sacrifice my time in that way.  Now, the keys of the piano are like bars on a jail cell to me.  I can't produce anything of significance from this instrument, because I didn't choose to sacrifice my freedom to invest in it early on."

So you really are free to do anything you want, until you realize, that you want to do something worthwhile.  At that point, you must give up your freedom in hopes of something far greater down the road...significance.

Have A Great First Week

New students are stepping foot onto unfamiliar campuses at this time of year.  They're looking for people who will give them direction, help them get connected, and want to see them succeed.

Student leaders are gearing up with all of the anticipation that a new school year brings.  They're starting to implement their vision of the best year ever, trying to get people involved, and wanting to see their fellow students succeed.

I think it's about time we got these two groups of students together.

FIRST WEEK is the most important time to build relationships with new students.  Student leaders need to come out from behind their positions (don't just focus on your job...focus on people) and nametags (people will like you for who you are...not what you do) and genuinely get to know this new group of students that have arrived on campus.  Here's some tips for getting a headstart on the building friendships and having a great FIRST WEEK:

1. Learn names.
2. Eat with different people in the cafeteria/dining hall.
3. Take lots of digital pictures and then email them to the new people that you meet.
4. Visit a new club.
5. Begin to recruit new students to assist in your area of leadership.
6. Invite new students on a tour of the campus to special spots that normally don't get shown or that have a unique history or event associated with them (you know where these are!!).
7. Write notes (thank you's, glad you're here, good luck, etc) because everyone loves to get mail.

Slides from Be Aware Of Your Surroundings

Very impressed with the feedback that I received from the "Be Aware of Your Surroundings" seminar.  I've included a link to the PowerPoint slides of the seminar below.

Download Be Aware Of Your Surroundings.ppt

During the section on teamwork, I mentioned one of the other cyclist on Team Discovery.  Read more about Tour de France's George Hincapie here.