Journal Reflection 3

Chastity Wofford

As I sit here contemplating the last several chapters, I am reflecting on something that you
mentioned in the intro video to leadership/communication. You said that the class was structured
towards management and development and that your focus was on leadership as opposed to
giving equal focus on both communication and leadership. Though I do agree that leadership is
important, I firmly believe that leaders can not be effective if they lack communication skills.
The problem that I find in the chapter on communication is that it does not really spend as much
time on some of the more important skills like nonverbals and listening. Communication is not
just about speaking; it is about listening and picking up on nonverbals. If a person does not
understand the nonverbal cues, or does not pick up on them, there can be miscommunications. If
a person does not know how to read people, or read a room, how can they ever become a true
leader?
I know that this class is not focused on that part of OB, but it just does not make sense to have
such a large topic that truly does encompass every aspect of behavior including OB, to be talked
about so little in this class.
The chapter on leadership was probably one of my favorites, maybe because I loved learning
about the different styles and trying to decide what kind of leader I want to be. Most of the
leaders that I look up to are in the transformational/servant style and that is, of course, what I
aspire to be. Considering my career choice and wanting to work in the non-profit sector, I feel
that this is the best fit for me.
This last week, we talked about power and politics. Both were difficult for me to enjoy thinking
about. Power is a great big word to me. Its definition boils down to ‘he who has the resource,
has the power.’ Typically, that resource is money. Supply and demand are great when you are
the one with all the supplies but being on the demand end and not being able to afford the supply,
it is not so great. Bay County is still experiencing the repercussions of Hurricane Michael with
the demand for affordable housing and the housing being so expensive. I know that we are
referring to OB when discussing power, but I feel like it is really the same game. If you are not
the one with the supply, you will never have power. Apparently, this is the American way…
Speaking on power, another adage, ‘with great power, comes great responsibility.’ This phrase
to me is talking about the ethics in power, which brings me to politics. I love networking,
however, in my networking, I form friendships and relationships that a forged in trust, not about
what they can do for me, or what I can do for them. I do not like those types of games, or really
those types of people. I believe people like this are not genuine. In doing the PSI, I ranked
somewhat high in those skills, but it is mainly because of the bonds that I create in networking. I
think it has taken some time to form them and given a shorter amount of time in a new place,
might be challenging. But I am always up for a challenge.