Master of Science in Leadership

The Master of Leadership program at Embry-Riddle is comprised of short 9-week course. Although these courses are short, the readings and assignments required are quite involved and require a great deal of self-reflection, especially with these reflection blog assignments. MSLD 520 Management Skills for Leaders has been an in-depth exploration into the specific skills, attitudes, and behaviors required for leaders to best lead their teams. Organized in a similar structure to the Eastern style Lovingkindness Meditation. It begins with the self (self-awareness), the expands out to an individual (inter-personal), then finally out to the world (groups) (Kang et al., 2014; Whetten & Cameron, 2011). Image From: https://playfishmedia.com/thats-a-wrap/ One of my major takeaways from this course has been the connection between mindfulness and leadership theory and practice. Previously, I thought that my mindfulness journey and my leadership journey were two separate life adventures. I kn...

Teamwork is a common thread throughout life. Growing up with parents and a sibling, working at my first job at McDonald's, and my marriage and current household all provide me with an opportunity to practice teamwork. Most, if not all, of the engagements in my life involve interacting and cooperating with others, so this exploration into how teams form and are led is an interesting practice of reviewing literature and reflecting on how I engage in my day-to-date life. As a part of a team, I tend to take leadership roles quite naturally. Whetten & Cameron (2011) describe several roles of embers within a team: task-facilitating, relationship-building, and blocking roles. I believe that I have played each role at some point. I feel most at home when I play a task-facilitation role, but I also make time and space for relationship-building. Teamwork is all about getting individual contributors to work together toward a common goal, so ensuring that the relationships among team membe...

Before reading about conflict from the perspective in Whetten and Cameron's (2016) Management Skills for Leaders I held a rather negative view of conflict in general. Through the lens of the dual concern model of conflict management styles, I took an avoidance style which is uncooperative and unassertive. Basically I thought that conflict was bad and something to avoid at all costs, especially at work. Empowered with new knowledge about the nature of conflict and its benefits to decision-making and problem solving processes I now adopt a more conflict-positive attitude. What caused this shift for me in a big was was the study which described the powerful positive impact that a devil’s advocate can play on improving business outcomes, even though they can cause great stress to a team (Whetten & Cameron, 2016). Perhaps the reason that I’ve avoided conflict like the plague has something to do with the negative emotions that it can bring up. As a remedy to this Whetten and Cameron...

When I went to college, I studied Sociology because I wanted to save the world! At least that’s what I thought at the time. In reality, I believe I chose it because I found it interesting at the time, but the motivation goes deeper than that. My father always told me that if I found a job that I loved, I’d never work a day in my life. That platitude stuck with me and I’ve been engaged in work that I find rewarding ever since. My goal in life is not to be rich and famous or to drive a Tesla (although that might be nice). My goal instead is to be happy and do work that positively impacts the people and community around me. This is why I’ve gravitated to social services and nonprofit all of my life. Over the years I have done the following kinds of work: Training volunteers to advocate for children in foster care Supporting child care professionals to comply with state regulations Tax preparation for low-income populations Short-term crisis counseling As you can see, the work I’ve engaged...