Thinking Cross Culturally and Exploring Bias

Thinking cross culturally can be challenging which was extremely evident in the video "The Danger of a Single Story". We are so easily influenced by what we read, see, and the environment we grow up. So many times we don't challenge ourselves to think outside our culture and rather tend to be somewhat tunnel visioned. I'm glad that some of the pioneers like Martin Luther King Jr. did not have that type of mentality but were willing to embrace change and bring it to the attention of many. I'm reminded of how easy it is to stereotype and develop biases. I went to the 82nd Saudi Arabia National Day and participated in a wonderful evening of culture outside my everyday experience. One of the events for the evening was a short presentation regarding terrorism. The young man that spoke about the impact of 9/11 in Saudi Arabia and similar events. However I think the most important message that he echoed that night was that so many of us have a single story about Muslims. Even though the Taliban claimed to follow the Muslim religion, we were reminded that the actions of 9/11 do not align with their beliefs. Unfortunately so many in our culture today, me included would probably be guilty of having a single story that has shaped how we have viewed Muslims at some point in our lives.
All three articles shed light on how easily we are influenced by what society tells us we should think. This is a very sad observation but should also be an encouragement. A good leader should heighten their awareness regarding cultural differences and take the effort to understand it more in depth. Find that story that doesn't segregate someone and put them in a box. Step across those imaginary lines that have been formed. It is time to step outside our box filled and skewed by biases. Leaders embrace different cultures and model the way for their followers.

Habitat for Humanity (Service Learning)

A beautiful Saturday morning with a little smoke in the air and the smell of MSU Homecoming! After a morning of touring our new FedEx facility it was time to jump in the car and meet a group of volunteers all with a common goal in mind for the day. Habitat for Humanity was having a "Sod Party" and a select group was invited. The time is 9:00 and as the group gathers I notice pallets of sod around the house waiting to be held and gentle laid in place.
Habitat for Humanity of Gallatin Valley is a local non-profit organization that highly depends on volunteers. Their mission is to help people transform their lives by partnering with the local community. They help construct homes affordable homes throughout the community. The volunteers and partners from the community are essential to help keep the costs low. According to the website the homeowner does by no means receive a free house. Instead they put in about 500 hrs as part of their obligation. As a reward they receive a house at cost with a 30 year mortgage interest free. 

Our group for the morning includes a few members from AmeriCorps, freshman business students, several retired people, and our leader is a retired golf course greens keeper. He is the only one that has had any experienced laying sod and gives us a little direction on how to get started. We had to string a line to provide us with a leading edge. If you do not have a leading edge most sod layers have a tendency to drift and crowd the line. We started placing the pieces of sod and within about 45 minutes had most of the backyard covered. It went quite fast given the pieces of sod come rolled up in sections of about three feet.

After we finished the backyard it was time to assist a few volunteers in prepping the front yard for sod application. Our leader showed us how to cut the sod with the tools that he had provided. We learned that you lay full width for the last row and cut the next to last row to avoid the concrete sidewalk from drying out the newly cut edge. We used a special tool that looked that was like a spade to cut along the edge of the last row which cut the strip lying underneath and allows for a perfect fit. We used a kitchen knife to cut out the sprinkler heads and any other object in the yard. Our leader became very irritated when someone forgot to either cut out a sprinkler or forget to replace the flags marking the sprinkler.

It took about 2 hours to finish laying sod around the entire house but then came a little wrap up work. All the cut scraps had to be cleaned up which were placed at the rear property line to minimize the weed growth. I thought that was a great idea. The entire lawn had to be heavily watered or more like flood irrigated to help jump start the process of adapting to a new environment. After we finished with the cleanup and watering we spent a little time getting to know each other while we waited for lunch to show up. One of the members from the organization had run to Subway to get us sandwiches. The sandwiches arrived around 11:30 but before we could eat one of the supervisors remembered there were thirty five 5 gallon buckets of paint in the crawl space that had to be removed and loaded into the back of a van. I jump down in the crawl space and handed the buckets up throw a hole to a volunteer that handed them to a line of volunteers ready to shuffle the buckets to the back of the truck. Handing the buckets up from the crawl space was like an intense Crossfit workout or a good lifting session at the gym.

We finished the task and then enjoyed a group lunch where I found out that the four members from AmeriCorps were from as far away as Peru. The volunteer from Peru did not plan to stay around and enjoy the cold of the winter. Another thing I found out during lunch had to do with the new sod. It takes about two weeks for the roots to grab hold of the new dirt and it cannot be mowed until you can no longer grab the grass and pull the chunk of sod of the surface. The sprinklers will rotate through their cycle about four times a day until then.

I felt really good knowing that the work I was doing would help a family enjoy a lush lawn for many years. I felt that I had accomplished something of value and was contributing to the transformation of lives. Working as a team is both gratifying and challenging especially when it for a non-profit. It is gratifying because to are all working towards a common goal. Several groups of strangers come together and unite with a purpose to lend a helping hand. The challenges are the lack of organization or planning. I learned that my leadership skills engage when people are not sure what to do. I found myself directing people to try and provide a more efficient process. I actually enjoy that. I also found that I was irritated with a lack of equipment from the organization or that is something that can engage my leadership antenna as well because I don’t like to stand around and wait for several people doing preparation when you can utilize more volunteers. I see the problem as a lack of planning knowing that the organization has enough of those resources donated.

However it is all a great learning experience. The lack of planning heightens my awareness for similar situations that I will encounter in the future or if I have the opportunity to share that advice with future leaders. I think it is important for a leader to direct and guide followers with confidence where there is a sense of unity rather than chaos. A leader will not only model the way but will also be able to identify one or two leaders within their group that can become a model. A good leader will have antennas and sensors going off at all times to create unity and dynamic culture whether it is in a group of volunteers or an organization of 500. Leaders are others minded.     

  

Who Am I and Who Are My People

This is an important question to understand and to ponder from time to time. The better you understand yourself and how you function the better you will be able to relate and lead the people around you. I found that one of my strengths is being a good listener. I would agree that is an attribute that I continually try to become better at. I find that there is so much to being a good listener. A good listener doesn't just give someone their undivided attention but can also feel some of the pain or may be able to relate.
According to the article Managing Oneself there are four key areas to understanding who you are. What are my strengths, how do I work, where do I belong, and what can I contribute. Understanding this about you will allow you to not only use those important elements but it may also shed some light on your weakness. Revealing an area that may not be so strong may help analyze certain situations better.
In the article by Dave Meldahl, he talked about someone that had a telltale sign that things were not okay. Knowing little nuances like that could help us relate better or least of all save us from an embarrassing moment. 
I think it is important to ask people in various environments of our different strengths and how we use them. Are there some signs that say that we are angry or frustrated? I could even be sending out signals to someone around me that their presence is not wanted when that may not be my true feelings. Analyze, measure, develop techniques, and best of all learn to implement them.

Emotional Intelligence

A fascinating topic about social behavior and the functions of our mind. The video by Dan Pink was my favorite especially the part regarding the engagement and how to maximize the output of the individuals around us. He listed three main factors people need to become engaged. Autonomy, mastery, and purpose are all powerful ways of elevating the intelligence of our minds. When we find purpose in life we become productive. I have found myself to work extra hard when you work with a purpose in mind especially when it lines up with your own values. I have put in time that I didn't think I had because I was contributing to something that I believed in. Another key to engagement is mastery. When you are good at something you are willing to teach others how to become better at it or you yourself will work harder to become better. So many times we avoid these three simple but important areas. Being autonomous gives us a sense of ownership. We will work twice as hard when we have the feeling that it is our innovation and not someone else that is in control. It is ironic to think that we will spend more time doing something on our own time than something we are paid to do as mentioned in the video.
The article on Social Intelligence and Social Behavior talked about how our mind mimics the action of others. I think a key element that a leader must possess is the willingness to work alongside employees instead of just being their boss. I have found this to be extremely effective with my current position as a manager at FedEx. Employees are more open to putting forth extra effort when they seem me stepping in and helping out when needed. It may just be for a few minutes to help them get caught up or while they need to step out of the trailer for a minute. A few minutes of my time becomes far more valuable then the advice I try to provide in the morning or throughout the sort. Our minds are extremely powerful. There are more cells firing at one time then the entire grid that lights up the city of New York which is a fascinating perspective.

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Service Learning: Palestine/Israel and Sustained Dialogue

The evening of Friday, September 8 I attended a sustained dialogue seminar. A group of students lead by Sasha and the MSU campus group gathered to watch a movie called Promises. The movie was about the ongoing conflict with Palestinians and Israeli people. This has been an fight that has been raging havoc for quite some time. Will sustained dialogue make this go away?
It was interesting to listen to the roots of the children. Their roots seem to go beyond the surface issue and have its foundation in religion. I was fascinated with certain aspects of the evening but also very saddened. The fascination came from the many different cultures that were represented throughout the video. Men, women, and children were so defined by their culture and their background. Animosity toward one another is intense. There is this immense conflict over land and who is the rightful owner. One side’s claims go back as far as Abraham and the other side believes the land was wrongly occupied around the mid early 1900s. There are so many lives affected by this conflict. We saw a demonstration of the hurt and pain these kids were going through because of what I think is one major disagreement. The difference stems in their religion. A set of man-made rules and rituals that people believe is the right way to live. However it is a life so focused around trying to always do the right thing that there seems to be no freedom. It is a weight of bondage that suppresses them from such a young age. I saw hatred displayed in young kids. It is like I was witnessing their parents living through them.
The best part of the video was when several of the children agreed to sit down and get a little bit of an understanding. A group of 5-10 spent the day hanging out and having fun. Towards the end of the day they all sat down and expressed their emotions. The children remembered how their family members had been impacting by the many tragedies. It was a challenge to be in the same room as someone from the opposing side. However at the end of the day everyone felt like there was progress made.
At the end of the movie we gathered in groups to discuss what we had just watched. Everyone seemed to have liked the movie. Each member of our group brought a different perspective. We discussed some of the challenges and how we could relate. I felt that growing up in the colony gave me a different perspective. It was a perspective that offered a glimpse of what it felt like to be discriminated against. Hutterites are discriminated against because of their way of life and are easy to spot in a crowd because of the type of clothing they wear. People would make fun of us and not treat us equal. However I also grew up in an environment that tried to turn and hardwired me from an early age. Members of the colony would consider people outside the colony to be deceitful and would never have your back in a tough situation. Sometimes the elders would refer to someone from outside the community a “Wolf”.
Afterwards I spoke to someone that has studied history for quite some time and wanted to gain a little insight in the conflict and the years of fighting. It seems that their hatred goes very deep. However there seems to be several organizations participating in dialogue which is bringing both sides together to open those lines of communication. It will be fascinating to follow this over the next few years.
It is disheartening to see the lives shattered and affected by a view rooted in religion or lifestyle. One should constantly be guard on how we react to the people around us. It is so easy for us to stereotype someone for the way they dress, talk, walk, or hang out with. I think opening lines of communication will help reduce the amount of discrimination witnessed in our communities day to day.

How Will I Spend My Service Learning Hours

I have an exciting calender of service learning hours. I have already completed some of the hours but I'm definitely looking forward to the upcoming events. I don't know if which one will be the most exciting. Last Friday night I watched a fascinating video which showed some of the conflict between the Palestinians and the Israel people and how dialogue can be used to overcome the differences. I will write about that experience in a separate post. Now on to what I will participate in for the next few weeks.
Here are a few events in no particular order:

• Hanging flags for MSU home game on October 27th with a few other members of Toastmasters. It will be a great event to experience working together as a team and giving back to the community. I think it is extremely important to give back to MSU.
• Bowling for Kids Sake which is the first two weekends in October. This is an event that I'm organizing with my employees. The event is the biggest fundraiser of the year for Big Brothers Big Sisters which is a phenomenal organization. This is a crucial event in helping raise funds for the young kids in our community who may be looking for big brother/sister. It will also strengthen the team of employees and their relationship with me as their manager. 
• Habitat for Humanity has a sod laying project in Bozeman next Saturday the 22nd. This will be an opportunity to get a better glimpse at how this organization and the members of the community work together to help a family in need. I'm excited experience the different personalities, cultures, and environment.
• Toastmasters. I'm the President of Toastmasters, a national organization which promotes and helps members improve on their public speaking. I set up a table with several of the officers at the club today for the Involvement Fair. My involvement with this club is exciting as I get to share my passion for speaking but also gives me the opportunity to help someone else overcome the fear of public speaking. 
• Community Cafe. Every Wednesday night MSU partners with students/clubs from 5-7pm to serve food to families/people that may be looking for a meal for that evening. It may just be a family that has had some unfortunate events and need to focus funds someplace else for the time. It is a great opportunity and also a simple reality check. I look forward to serving and seeing a room full of smiles on an evening plus a tummy full of warm food. :)

I know there will be more events that will cross my radar screen over the next few months and I look forward to lending a hand to every opportunity I can. 

Condoleeza Rice

The convocation with Condoleeza Rice was an absolutely inspiring evening. By far the best freshman convocation MSU has had since 2009. The speaker for 2009 was Steve Lopez who was the author of The Soloist. Even though the story was inspiring I never felt that there was a call to action and that Steve Lopez was able to relate very well with the students especially me. Condoleeza Rice on the other hand connected with me on several levels. Her opening reminded us of something none of us will ever forget, September 11, 2001 and how vividly she remembered that day as if it was today. By using that as an opening she grabbed the hearts of so many in the audience. Many of us could back to the day of that tragic and horrendous day. I remember being out in the field baling large round bales when the two-way radio lit up with confusion and lots of emotion. All the radio stations were tuned and covered of what had and what was about to unfold. Condoleeza Rice made us relate to her by using that day.
Another way that I felt she connected with students as well as myself was by sharing not only her great accomplishments but also the sacrifice her parents and grandparents had made in order for her to be able to have those open doors. Her grandpa's sacrifice and desire opened the door for her by being an example. He demonstrated commitment, passion, and drive which are all great qualities of a leader. If you want something bad enough go get it. I could relate to her story of not being handed everything on a silver platter but rather having to take action and fight for those opportunities. My story had some similarities and made me reflect on the journey. I felt emotions as I witnessed her delivering an important call to action. I could see myself sharing my story and being an inspiration to some and to encourage them to continue on even when the fight may become difficult. I enjoyed her say regarding education and that we need to view it as a privilege rather than a right. So many times in life we take lots for granted. I thank Condoleeza Rice for reminding the audience especially me to continue believing and finding those nuggets of gold that will provide inspiration.

Cultural Differences

    Growing up in a Hutterite Colony helps me understand cultural differences. I can relate to how cultures view someone outside. People outside the colony used to be referred to as someone that can easily lead you astray. It had nothing to do with how they were dressed but more from a religious perspective. Looking back so much of the younger generation has their view shaped by how the colony views someone not in the colony. As kids we would look at haircuts or the way someone dressed and make our own assumption. However we were also look at as not being normal for the way that we dressed. Hutterite men wear black pants and a black hat of some sort. Women always were dresses and some head covering. People would look at you funny or put us in some category based on that. Another common way to be categorized was because of the way we speak. Our native language is a dialect of German. Germans do not have a pronounce the h in words like mother. Sounds kind of different, I know. 

  How do I relate to this today. I see the same patterns in and out of the colony. Even though I still may have some of those patterns and habits that came from where I grew up, I find myself to be more open to different cultures growing up in the colony and now finding myself to have overcome some of those obstacles that hinder us. I think a great leader will continually work on understanding and developing their cultural intelligence. 

You Want Something, Go Get It, Period!

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