Module 3 Assignment 1 "Leadership"

Leadership
　
I was so inspired by watching the interview with William Kamkwamba. At 14 Willaim had to drop out of school because his parents could no longer afford to send him. He then used his resourcefulness (and pictures from a book at the library) to build a windmill that provided electricity. He was up against material difficulties and resources. The windmill worked and now at age 22 William attends the African Leadership Academy has written a book, has plans on making a documentary, and is planning to go to University. What inspired me about this story was that William sought to make a positive change even though he was faced with poverty and the lack of many options. William created an option. There is resiliency, self motivation, ingenuity, and a solution centered mindedness behind his thoughts and actions. I began to think about this type of thinking and how rare it is in our society and how needed this type of thinking is for the next generation who will be faced with the global problems caused by every preceding generation. I began to think how can we encourage this type of thinking. I am like any other parent concerned about my children's education. I think the applied concept of education in westernized philosophy is very individualistic. There is competition with fellow classmates, effort is placed on achieving a high grade rather than the value behind the work. Even in higher education the individualized concept of 'learning' is evident. A key element that I think is missing from many school curriculums is the teaching of community, learning that is not individualized that incorporates relying and communicating with others for a common goal. Although William did not have much support in his first attempt at building the windmill I think his way of thinking was fostered by living in a functioning community. He built the windmill to help the people around him. I think we can definitely teach this type of thinking. A goal that I have would be to promote a curriculum that would teach the value of group effort, it would provide awareness of global social problems such as poverty, and famine, and highlight responsibility and action by showing examples of what people have and are doing to envision and construct solutions. For example watching the interview with Jacqueline Novogratz who highlights the need for action beyond monetary aid. She was able to implement programs that enabled a way out of poverty for many people. I think if an education curriculum incorporated (even if just for a few hours a week) a concept of community learning and action then as an outcome we would have a generation with many social entrepreneurs who not only have the understanding of social problems but also have the drive to be thinkers/doers/seekers of solutions. I think that I would face tremendous difficulty with the school system as it is in trying to incorporate such a program. However on the community level I think the concept can be applied. For instance creating a group for children. In the light of furlough Fridays I think that this would be a wonderful option to educate and hopefully instill qualities as described by the African Leadership Academy; "At African Leadership Academy, six core values form the foundation of our program. Our faculty, guest speakers, and mentors will embody these values. Students will be expected to uphold these values throughout their time at the Academy and long after they have left our campus. These values are Integrity (We are people of our word, with the courage to do what is right) Curiosity (We challenge the status quo and take the initiative to pursue new ideas) Humility (We are thankful for our opportunities and are aware of our limitations) Compassion(We empathize with and care for those around us)Diversity(We respect all people and believe that difference should be celebrated)Excellence (We set high standards for our own achievement and celebrate the achievements of others). As a group we could work within the community to address community needs and at the same time I would like to get the help of community members that could volunteer their time to teach, building projects that would be relevant in effective sustainable projects as well as perhaps inspiring future social entrepreneur endeavors. Potential barriers to get this group going will #1 be the lack of faith in myself to be an effective leader. Manitonquat an elder of the Assonet Band of the Wampanoag Nation in the Gaia education reading stated that
"So now what gets in your way? A lot of people say ‘I’m just not cut out to be a leader’. That’s buying the notion that some people are born leaders and some aren’t. The fact is, we were all born leaders, only something happened to us, and we lost it. What happened is that we got hurt as children when we received messages that we were inadequate in one way or another. Then we saw a lot of people becoming leaders for the wrong reasons: to get love, attention, to escape, to get admiration and appreciation. Some of us were told our thinking and ideas were stupid and wrong. Some of us were told we were lazy or selfish or greedy. Even when those voices were gone we carried them with us, believing them, believing we were inadequate, not smart enough, not good enough. We are afraid of responsibility because we might make a mistake and get blamed and humiliated the way we did when we were young.
If you have such ideas about yourself still, you need to understand they are all wrong, and they are holding you back. It’s not easy to throw off a lifetime habit of self-doubt in an instant, but if you understand how wrong those self-doubting thoughts are, you are on the way. You can commit yourself to stepping boldly forth as a leader. All your old terror will come up, but step forth anyway, shaking and laughing and telling everyone you are scared to death but you are taking charge. You will find many to support you, and your scorned fear will begin to loosen its hold on you. You already have all the resources you need to be a good human leader."
Manitonquat's statements are really inspirational. They inspire the quality of leadership that I and so many people are scared to embrace. To commit to my goal I would have to embrace leadership qualities to get the group going as well as incorporating and inspiring outside teachers to share their knowledge with us. I could see some definite positives by being able to provide a service for the furlough Fridays maybe parents will encourage their children to join and the community will lend their support by offering a place to meet and projects we could get started on. Brian Bacon said “It's important for each of us to ask ourselves what time is calling us to do at this time in our life." Taking the advice of Manitonquat and Brain Bacon and the inspiration of William Kamkwamba and Jacqueline Novogratz maybe I could put my plan into action.