Logan Smith

I think this article resonated with me this week. It was weird to read about leadership, especially concerning a TED talk. Honestly because I would rather just hear and watch the actual TED talk, not read about it. But regardless, it was a difference experience to read about all of the TED talks rather than watch them. Still good, but just different. However, the gist of all of these talks was to piece together different ideas from different talks, and it was hard to understand at first. I guess partly that was because I tried to skim over it, and that did NOT work. The first point made concerned leadership based on entitlement. That’s hard stuff for a lot of people to grasp, even me! For example, in high school I was the Editor-in-Chief of the school paper and held various officer positions in different clubs and student organizations, all while playing tennis and maintaining one of the top few spots on the team. Simply by doing all of those things, I was a ‘leader.’ However, when I got to college and realized that literally every other person at Clemson did all of those things too, it was a wake-up call that coming to college and having the background I did wouldn’t entitle me to any specific positions. Honestly, I got a call this week saying I didn’t get placed with a leadership position in an on-campus ministry I’m really involved with. And it was really hard to swallow that, because I wasn’t used to being told no! And that’s the root of the problem I think that article is trying to hit. Secondly, the article deals with failure! Which is a such a contrast to the first point, but still builds on it in the most beautiful way. When you recognize that you are, by no means, entitled to being a leader, you start to take your successes and failures with a grain of salt and the successes are even sweeter because you recognize that you’re capable and deserving of upholding such a position. And failures? Those can’t hold you back! Because as a leader you’re called to serve, and that service can make you feel like you’re inadequate or undeserving but that’s not the case – at all!

Leadership

To begin, I found this article very difficult to understand at first. That may be perhaps I had just eaten a delicious lunch from Bojangle's and was practically in a food coma, but I digress. This article complied different points of view from different speakers in the "TED talks" series in order to compile an article that discuss leadership by teachers in the classroom. After reading through a few of the different articles, there were two that stood out to me that I feel can be applied to all aspects of leadership. The first one discussed the difference between a fixed and malleable mindset. There are some people who have been told they are unique and special, and there are those who, because of what they have done and earned, are considered special. As a leader, taking things for granted can be harmful, as well as assuming you are where you are by any measure if "innate power." Thinking you are a leader because that's what you've always been told is wrong. What have you done to prove yourself? People whose mindset is "I have to work to get somewhere" understand that when they are faced with a roadblock, instead of avoiding it will put their heads down and persevere through the adversity. This characteristic is essential for a good leader because he will face all types of difficulties as he leads.The second key point was brought up by General McChrystal's article concerning failure. Gen. McChrystal was a prominent U.S. General during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Too many times people let one setback completely derail their progress of achieving something. This is a bad mindset to have because if it was true, Michael Jordan, who cut from his high school basketball team, would've never become the player he was. President Lincoln, who failed and lost numerous elections before ever becoming President, would never have seen the office. The point here is not to plan to fail, but use your failures as building blocks for the future and learn from them.

Rubinstein TED Talk -Katelynn Gulya

This article was kind of difficult to understand but this summarizes how I felt after I read it. I was always in “gifted” classes throughout school. My teachers always would talk about how they would much rather teach classes that were deemed “accelerated” because the caliber of the students in those classes was so much higher than the regular classes. It was easier for teachers to connect with students who could think on a higher level. My teachers always had to go to seminars to teach them how to teach honors students. It is sad that in the article it was stated that some teachers do not believe that having classes that teach students at different paces in important. Throughout my schooling it was very important and my school always made a big deal about everyone learning at different paces. Now personally I do not think TED talks are the answer to improving our education. My teachers never showed them in any of my classes in middle school or high school. The few TED talks I have seen this year have been kind of weird and they have not been very meaningful to me. I have not seen anything profound come from them. I am sure that there are a few good TED talks; I just have not really felt any connection to the ones I have watched. Personally if my high school teachers had tried to show them to me in class I probably would not have paid attention in the slightest. The key to improving education is keeping students interested, excited, and passionate. I do not believe that having children or teachers watch TED talks will improve the education of our “gifted” school programs at all. Having teachers attend workshops to improve their teaching skills might make a small improvement but not much. Most of my teachers would come back from these seminars and say they were not at all helpful and that they just took away from the time they could have continued to teach us material for AP exams or for standardized tests. In my opinion, what was stated in Rubenstein’s article did not seem to make sense for improving education. 

God and Amanda Palmer's Fans

I’ll have to admit, Amanda Palmer’s TED talk certainly caught my attention.  She is unique and has interesting insight on an industry that is chronically plagued with profit-focused tunnel vision.  The manner in which she introduced stories and relationships with others, particularly her fan base, was highly unusual.  In many ways, Amanda Palmer’s relationship with her fan base reflected a right relationship with God.  Throughout her “talk” I believe that two base themes were reflected regarding her relationship with fans that are applicable to a right relationship with God.  The first of these is intimacy.  From the onset of her presentation, Amanda Palmer made it clear that intimacy with others was important to herself as well as her fans.  This was expressed in touching stories regarding her time as a human statue, all the time she spends signing autographs and meeting with fans, random last minute performances in museums, even allowing fans to write all over her body.  Similarly to the way in which Amanda Palmer approaches every interaction with her fans in an intimate manner, a Christian is called to intimacy in relationship with God.  This intimacy is achieved by setting aside time to spend building a relationship with Him.  No different than Amanda Palmer’s fans, the desire of God is to be in relationship with all of us, we just have to make ourselves accessible to His love.  The latter theme reflected by Palmer’s message is that of dependency.  From leaping into a crowd to depending on the generosity of fans for meals and couches to surf, Amanda Palmer makes it clear that she is dependent on her fans for all of her support, and that there is nothing to be ashamed of regarding this relationship.  Christians are called to be totally and completely dependent on God for all things.  As a Christian, the greatest lesson I can take away from this TED talk is that until I’m willing to put myself in a situation that forces me to rely on the loving generosity of God, I will never be able to know how faithful He truly is.

The art of asking

I really enjoyed this video. The way the woman talked about how she simply gave someone something by seeing them or by talking to them was beautiful. I love to talk to people especially those I don't already know. I literally meet at least one new person a day. Each one of them adds a little something to my life simply by them telling me something about them. I can sometimes relate, and others I can't at all. It only makes me happy to see that they are happy to tell me something and that I listen to them. The woman talks about how people would open their homes to her and her band so that they could sleep for the night. I thought that this was such a kind and simple act, yet it was so much more than that. The woman talked about a young girl whose family were all undocumented immigrants and how the girl loved their music so much. The family thanked the band for staying with them, while in most cases it would have been the other way around. I love how all the woman had to do was ask and she would receive. Asking is so simple, yet so hard for some people. I think a lot of people fear the rejection that they will receive, but that's really the worst thing you can receive and it's not that bad. You can get so much more from simply asking something. I was in the dinning hall the other day and I saw one of the special ed students struggling to open a bag of bread. I had wanted to know this boy because my sister is special needs and these individuals are some of the kindest people you could ever know. I simply asked him if he would like some help and for a moment we shared a conversation about how those bread bags are darn hard to open! It just made me happy to see him smile when I asked to help and I know that he enjoyed our pointless, yet so meaningful conversation. I thought this was one of the most informative and interesting Ted talks that we have had to listen to. The beginning was my favorite part where the woman talked about being a living
statue. I have always found those people to be a little strange and weird. I would think, get a real job, just like the woman said many people would yell at her from their cars. The more she talked about doing this, the more I thought it was a real job and she was being a working member of society. She saw the people who weren’t often seen. I know what it’s like to want to be seen and no one will look. I think this woman is amazing and very kind.

Emily Kalshoven - The Art of Asking

I feel that Amanda Palmer brought up a lot of very interesting and difficult points in her Ted Talk. To many people, it is considered rude and selfish to ask for things, particularly asking for help. I believe that in America, it is looked down upon to ask for things because our businessmen and businesswomen are expected to make things work for themselves. They are expected to do things on their own.  Asking questions takes time, to think of the question and to listen to the response. Many people feel that it is better to just get things done on their own. But one of my father’s phrases that I heard the most growing up was “There’s no harm in asking.” I think it is really easy to forget that it’s okay to ask questions. Amanda Palmer says that is counterintuitive for artists to ask for help, but I think it is counterintuitive for most people overall to ask for help.  People have fallen into this trap of trying to do everything for themselves because asking for help has been portrayed as a sign of weakness and lack of independence. But if you think about cultural norms in the south versus cultural norms elsewhere, asking for help is perceived very differently between the two groups. In the south, it is customary to ask for help from a neighbor or a friend, almost expected that you ask for help. There is a special sense of camaraderie in the south where you ask for help from a neighbor the same way that you would ask for help from a parent or a sibling. There is no harm in asking. My dad taught me that the worst thing someone could do is say “no,” and if they do, then you get over it. No harm, no foul – at least you tried.

Losing the connection

Amanda Palmer learned to connect with her audience, something many musicians never learned to do. She knows what it is to be a real artist; she sleeps on her fans couches and lives without a lot of money. She realizes that people will help when they are asked, not forced to do so. Record labels do not realize the impact music has on people is worth more than the album sales, but Amanda Palmer does. By living off of her fans’ couches she is able to make a direct connection with them, as they already have with her through her music. She becomes a real person to them, which makes them all the more willing to help when she asks for something. Amanda and her band expect an equal trade, something that used to be practiced but has long been forgotten because of greed. She and her band give their music away for free, and in return expect help. Their audience is willing to help because they can see the band and lead singer as real people that actually need help. The art of asking is something nobody really knows how to do. We have grown up in a very independent country and feel vulnerable when we ask for things. Past societies knew how to ask because they were often a part of equal trade. If America could learn the art of asking, we might not be in such an awful state. But America is too afraid to be seen as weak or vulnerable and it does not make direct connections with its citizens anymore. We are going downhill because we are more concerned about status rather then the wellbeing of our own people. If we could all learn to ask, we would be way better off in the long run.