The Title of Leadership

Volume 9

This week I was browsing a site http://www.ted.com which housed various videos from speakers all over the world with innovated messages about various topics. The video that I watched and would like to share my findings with you all about was by speaker Drew Dudley in September 2010, the film was titled Everyday Leadership. In this video Dudley speaks about the way that we have taken the word leadership and turned it into something so much bigger, turning it into something dealing with changing the world. I chose to write about this video because leadership is one of the most important skills needed when position where one will have others working under them. During the 6 min 21 sec. video Dudley elaborates on making leadership bigger than what it actually is by discussing the fact we as people no longer celebrate the small moments when we actually do things that influence or affects another persons life. He speaks about the fact that we often have people that do things in our lives that change the way we do something or has an impact on us, but we never let those people know that at that particular moment they showed true leader skills. 

There are people walking around everyday not knowing that the things that they do on a regular basis is affecting the way that someone else views things in life. When I think about that fact alone I know many people in my life that have had an impact on many of the major decisions that I have made and I have yet to inform them of this simply because we often assume when people do something good they know it and there is no need to let them know. Dudley tells a story to the audience about a time that he made a simple gesture that made a young lady decide to stay in college and ended up marrying the guy associated with the story also. If you get a chance you should definitely check out this link  http://www.ted.com/talks/drew_dudley_everyday_leadership.html and watch the short video it was very inspiring and the story was something that everyone could relate to. After watching this video I am going to be sure that I start to acknowledge all of the smaller accomplishments that are made on a day to day basis. 

Joining the Crowd

Volume 8

This week while doing some work for school wee were assigned to look into industry associations, because of the fact that I am mixing fashion and music I chose two associations. The first association being the Music & Entertainment Industry Educators Association (MEIEA) which can be found at http://www.meisa.org. I gathered information from the student association site. The site helps to connect students in the entertainment industry to professionals working or retired from the industry. The site also stated that it helped to prepare students for the industry by pairing them with mentors and potential  employees. By securing a MEIEA membership one will be allowed to gain admission to conferences, seminars, and association workshops. Earn voting priviledges and apply for grants and scholarships.  MEIEA is a non-profit organization, the membership is for two and four year colleges and universities http://www.meiea.org states the the association currently has three levels of membership active, student, and institutional. The best part about the active membership is that it is available to anyone who wants to join the organization. The membership is good until October 31st of each year and must be renewed or will expire. The site did not state rather or not there was a membership fee, though it stated that the chapters were not required to pay. 

The second being the National Shoe Retailers Association (NSRA) where more information can be found at http://www.nsra.org. The NSRA is also a non-profit organization which represents independent shoe store owners throughout the United States and Canada. One thing that I found interesting about this particular association which seemed to line with what I want my business to be about is the fact that the typical members goal is to make sure the customer is pleased, not only with the purchased product, but also with the overall purchasing experience. The current members currently make up 20% of the total footwear industry. The NSRA offers similar if not the same benefits to its members as MEIEA. The reason I chose these two associations is because they lined up with not only my career path but also had programs that allowed students and other members to network freely with people of similar interest in career paths.