Class Reflections

Class Reflections

Thus far there has been a lot of reading in this class.  Don’t misunderstand – I enjoy reading but usually only when I am able to pick the material.  I find that I struggle to read when I am assigned the reading, even if I may enjoy the book.  Despite this fact, I found that I did enjoy the first book we read by Dale Carnegie.  He makes a lot of valid points and his lessons were presented in an interesting and thought provoking manner.  Additionally, I noticed that all the concepts he was mentioning in his book were ones that I have been taught throughout the years in various leadership and management classes and yet his book or his name were never mentioned.  This leads me to believe that, although his book was written several decades ago, the lessons he teaches are timeless.   By far the greatest thing about the book, because it was written so long ago, were the dated references and how some of the companies he mentions in the book, such as Sears, still exist today.

  

The second book, Self-Handicapping Leadership, was a much more difficult read for me.  The information might be interesting but it is presented in such a way that the reading itself is very dry and therefore difficult to get through.  While I recognized the importance of the information in the book and felt convicted regarding certain topics and how they applied to myself, I struggled to get past the delivery of the information which in turn made it harder to me to internalize the information.  Many of my classmates must have felt convicted by the topics in this book as well because during our class discussion last week, I felt as though it was less of a discussion and more of a therapy session.  Other than that, I still am enjoying the structure of the class and the discussions in particular.