One of the classes I'm taking this semester is Leadership. I'm very interested in the topic, but I'm also a little frustrated. It seems to me that leadership, and leaders, are being looked at too narrowly.
What is a leader? What is leadership?
The focus of the class is in how leaders and leadership relate to a business environment. But business is not the only, or even the first, area where leaders and leadership first appeared. Why only look at one slice of the pie? Shouldn't we look at all of it?
At present, no one can truly, definitively, say what a leader is, or what leadership is. The studies continue, the theories are argued, but conclusive decisions have no really been made. Can a leader be made? Or is someone born with the qualities necessary? Can the traits be taught? Is everyone a leader, in the right situation?
And what about managers?
I posted this question on my Facebook account a few days ago, and the folks that responded fell in line with the generally accepted business perspective. I wasn't happy with that. I want to know, do people look beyond business these days to other parts of life where leaders and managers can make a difference?
Outside of the business environment, what are leaders? What are managers? What's the difference between the two?
Here's what I think. Leaders inspire others to do more than they would be naturally inclined to do. Managers organize, oversee, and ensure what needs doing gets done - and since they don't inspire others, they often end up doing it on their own.
Leaders are charismatic. They are extroverted. They know how to connect with people. Managers are intelligent. They are hard workers. They are persistent. Well, good leaders and managers are. Good being 'good at what they do' and not 'good at their heart.' Leaders and managers are not automatically good people; they can be just as evil as the next person.
Can everyone learn to be a leader? Probably - but not a skilled one. Leadership is an inborn characteristic. The desire to be a leader must be there, part of a person's basic nature. Even then, they may not be a good leader, but they'll have the desire to be. The same with a manager. You can learn the technical aspects of the role, but does that really make you a manager?
When I first started this semester and told my friends that I was taking a class on Leadership, they're general response was, "Oh, you'll do good there! You're a great leader! You've been doing that for years!" It was flattering to hear, but it also made me stop and think. AM I a leader? Or am I a manager? Which do I want to be, and which do I think am?
I'm not a leader. I'm a manager. I'd like to be a leader, but I don't know if I have the inborn qualities necessary for it. I don't inspire others, you see, regardless of how I try. I can't persuade anyone to do something other than what they want to do, no matter what's at stake. I don't inspire loyalty in others. But, oh, I can manager! I can admin like crazy, get the job done, keep things organized, moving, and on target.
So. Should I be happy with being a manager, and not a leader? Or should I try to make myself a leader? And would making myself a leader mean I'd have to pare and trim my personality, my essential self, down to the quick, then assume and apply characteristics that aren't native to me? Is the sacrifice of self worth a change in description? And what purpose would it ultimately serve when most of the world can't differentiate between a leader and a manager?
And why is one preferable over the other, when the world needs both? Why is either better than being a follower/supporter, when the world needs all of us?
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Friday, February 19, 2010
Five Hours To Go…
It’s been 23 years since I last viewed the world without glasses or contacts. More than 23 years since I viewed the world clearly with an unaided eye. Twenty-three years of being chained and shackled by a handicap that most people don’t even see as a handicap because of how prevalent it is.
People blessed with 20/20 vision can’t understand. They don’t have a common frame of reference, they can’t truly experience what it’s like to have imperfect vision. People with minor vision problems get a hint, but even they can’t really understand.
When I was 16, I accidentally ruined my glasses. My contacts had torn, and this was before the time when contacts became disposable. The pair you bought would have to last you until your next prescription because there was no throwing them away. So I had to go to school without my glasses. I made it to the classrooms by memory. I knew the general location and the path to take to get to each one. Reading what the teacher wrote on the board, however, or even writing notes was out. You can’t write when you’re nose is almost touching the paper, you know.
But leaving school that day is when the true enormity of my disability crashed in on me.
I couldn’t cross the street.
Even with myopia – nearsightedness – you can generally distinguish one blur of color from the next, to some extent. I discovered that’s not necessarily true. By the time a car got close enough for me to distinguish it’s out-of-place color from the general grey or blackness of the road, it was too late. I stood on the sidewalk and tried to compensate with my hearing – but the school’s parking lot was next to me and the sound of the cars there drowned out the sound of any oncoming cars. I could only stand there and cry as I realized just how helpless I was.
No one offered to help me. No one noticed my problem. I was still standing on the sidewalk by the street when the cars all left the school, and the brief pause between school letting out and the evening cruising of the street by teenagers began. I finally took a chance…and crossed the street. And cried for the mile walk home, taking a chance on each street that I crossed. There were two more busy streets on my route that could not be avoided, but which I tried to cross at points where they were less busy.
The next day I had my appointment with the optometrist. I asked him, “Just how bad are my eyes?” He’d only say, “You don’t want to know. But if they weren’t correctable, you’d be legally blind.”
I found out last week how bad my eyes are now. The opthamologist said they were ‘worse than’ 20/400, because that’s as high as they went on the one test I took for my LASIK evaluation. When I was discussing it with a friend later that night and told her my contact prescription, she translated it for me. At the time I was prescribed my contacts, my vision was 20/750.
I’ve spent most of my lifetime viewing the world through a blur, or through a limited tunnel of clear vision, surrounding by a blur. I can’t remember anymore what it’s like to wake up and see the time clearly. I can’t remember what it’s like to actually play a game outside and enjoy it without the discomfort of a pair of glasses sliding down my nose, jostling out of place, or flying off. Or not worrying that an eyelash might fall in my eye. Or being able to wear make up without ending up looking like a clown simply because I can’t see well enough to put it on – or can’t put it on around the glasses.
Children make fun of other children who wear glasses. “Four-eyes” and “nerd” were the common names when I was a kid. I’m sure they’ve gotten more imaginative since then.
Faulty eyesight is a handicap. It puts constraints and limits on your life that you come to hardly notice at all. In five more hours, I’ll be able to start living life without those hindrances…and you have no idea how much I’m looking forward to waking up tomorrow morning and seeing the clock.
I’ll miss the pretty light-globes, though….
People blessed with 20/20 vision can’t understand. They don’t have a common frame of reference, they can’t truly experience what it’s like to have imperfect vision. People with minor vision problems get a hint, but even they can’t really understand.
When I was 16, I accidentally ruined my glasses. My contacts had torn, and this was before the time when contacts became disposable. The pair you bought would have to last you until your next prescription because there was no throwing them away. So I had to go to school without my glasses. I made it to the classrooms by memory. I knew the general location and the path to take to get to each one. Reading what the teacher wrote on the board, however, or even writing notes was out. You can’t write when you’re nose is almost touching the paper, you know.
But leaving school that day is when the true enormity of my disability crashed in on me.
I couldn’t cross the street.
Even with myopia – nearsightedness – you can generally distinguish one blur of color from the next, to some extent. I discovered that’s not necessarily true. By the time a car got close enough for me to distinguish it’s out-of-place color from the general grey or blackness of the road, it was too late. I stood on the sidewalk and tried to compensate with my hearing – but the school’s parking lot was next to me and the sound of the cars there drowned out the sound of any oncoming cars. I could only stand there and cry as I realized just how helpless I was.
No one offered to help me. No one noticed my problem. I was still standing on the sidewalk by the street when the cars all left the school, and the brief pause between school letting out and the evening cruising of the street by teenagers began. I finally took a chance…and crossed the street. And cried for the mile walk home, taking a chance on each street that I crossed. There were two more busy streets on my route that could not be avoided, but which I tried to cross at points where they were less busy.
The next day I had my appointment with the optometrist. I asked him, “Just how bad are my eyes?” He’d only say, “You don’t want to know. But if they weren’t correctable, you’d be legally blind.”
I found out last week how bad my eyes are now. The opthamologist said they were ‘worse than’ 20/400, because that’s as high as they went on the one test I took for my LASIK evaluation. When I was discussing it with a friend later that night and told her my contact prescription, she translated it for me. At the time I was prescribed my contacts, my vision was 20/750.
I’ve spent most of my lifetime viewing the world through a blur, or through a limited tunnel of clear vision, surrounding by a blur. I can’t remember anymore what it’s like to wake up and see the time clearly. I can’t remember what it’s like to actually play a game outside and enjoy it without the discomfort of a pair of glasses sliding down my nose, jostling out of place, or flying off. Or not worrying that an eyelash might fall in my eye. Or being able to wear make up without ending up looking like a clown simply because I can’t see well enough to put it on – or can’t put it on around the glasses.
Children make fun of other children who wear glasses. “Four-eyes” and “nerd” were the common names when I was a kid. I’m sure they’ve gotten more imaginative since then.
Faulty eyesight is a handicap. It puts constraints and limits on your life that you come to hardly notice at all. In five more hours, I’ll be able to start living life without those hindrances…and you have no idea how much I’m looking forward to waking up tomorrow morning and seeing the clock.
I’ll miss the pretty light-globes, though….
Sunday, February 7, 2010
A brief history of Pern fandom and StarRise
I enjoy writing. I've enjoyed it for about 20 years now. I don't really examine my writing closely, or work hard to get it as close to perfect as possible. For me, writing is a hobby, a stress relief, an adventure I enjoy with friends. Occasionally I try to work on some original fiction, but most of my writing time and energy is devoted to fanfic. Fan fiction.
There aren't a lot of fandoms that I've written for. I've done two stories for Buffy: the Vampire Slayer. One was a crossover with Anita Blake. That one turned out quite well, I think. Blending the two different types of vampires and backgrounds was interesting, and chasing sundown took some planning. But it was fun and I enjoyed it.
I did a Stargate/Angel crossover, as well. It was 15-minute fic challenge. That one was fun, too! :)
I've played a bit in ElfQuest. I love Wendy Pini's artwork, and the characters and storyline she created are exceptional, in my opinion.
Most of the past twenty years, however, has been focused on Pern fanfic. Pern fanfic is different than a lot of the other fanfics. Pern fanfic has a decades long history. They're more like a writing group than is usually found. It started back in the early 80's, if not earlier. A group of friends got together and said, "What if...?" and the first fandom Weyr was created. Since then, Pern fandom went through a golden age: groups sprang up. People joined from all over the world. They created characters in the world Anne McCaffrey created, and they wrote stories. Those stories were collected and published by the group's leaders. Then the magazines - what we call fanzines - were sent out to all the members. And the next round of story writing and collecting began. At the time, most communication was through postal mail, so contact was slow. Feedback on the stories wasn't common. Coming to know the writers of the stories was almost impossible.
The golden age peaked around 1990-1990. Computers in the home were becoming more common, and Pern fandom found a home on GEnie. GEnie was similar to AOL, but text-based. Prodigy and Compuserve were other well-known online communities at the time. AOL was a newcomer viewed with some misgivings.
Then GEnie vanished. The communities there scrambled to find a new home. AOL served for a while, but between GEnie's death and some internal conflicts within the Pern pond, Pern fandom started a decline. As newbies had been warned for years, and continue to refuse to believe, involving Anne McCaffrey in fannish disputes is a Very Bad Idea. Ms. McCaffrey's response is that of a mother: if you can't play with the toys together nicely, then you can't play with the toys at all. New, stringent rules were laid down for her fan groups, and many fans became disillusioned.
Time was also taking its toll. Fans of the books, when they first came out or were still in their first decade or so of print, with a new book coming out each year, were aging. They were going to college, getting married, having kids, and finding less time for reading, writing, and keeping in touch.
Writing groups, now with strong online presences, but still sticking to their origins as paper fanzine groups, began to slow down and suffer. Submissions were reduced. Member involvement faded. Incoming memberships were less than expiring membership.
By 1997, the old fanzine based groups were being replaced and outnumbered by online-only groups. Computers were in more and more homes, communication was faster, if not instantaneous. And writing...was becoming less the goal than role playing. Stories weren't written as much, but oh, the pages and pages of drivel that two people online and chatting could churn out...!
I inherited the first Pern group I joined in 1997. I also inherited the directorship of Anne McCaffrey's program track at Dragon*Con. I became, in essence, a very big fish in a very small pond. Over the next three years, I became very active in several of the Pern groups, including becoming leader of at least two others. My goal was to make the entire world active in the same comprehensive timeline. I had such grand plans.
I should have focused all that energy and enthusiasm on my own original writing!
But time and inexperience were against me. By 1997, the fandom groups were fading. Even the online groups were struggling. The brief sanctuary on AOL didn't last. The rules for establishing your own Pern fandom group relaxed again to some extent in 2000. By 2001, I was one of two people who had been authorized by Anne McCaffrey to review new clubs and give them the stamp of approval or tell them that they were violating her copyright and what they needed to do to fix it. Today, I'm the only one, but it doesn't mean much now, since she essentially eliminated all the rules and said, "Do what you will, just don't make money on my intellectual property." But some people like to have that stamp of approval - and the opportunity to have a link to their group on her website.
StarRise, the group I had inherited, had been essentially inactive - not publishing its fanzine - for about three years at the point I took over. When I joined in 1990 or so, they had over 300 members, all around the world. When I took over and did a membership verification, we had 30 who responded. It was enough to go on with!
So I tried for a few years. There were some upsets, some highs and some lows, but eventually I had to admit that it was time to lay StarRise to sleep. I'd tried to change the form of the club to meet the current preference. I tried to make the fanzine an online-only publication. I tried to include live-chat RPs, and email RPs. I even tried eliminating the fanzine altogether and published stories as I received them on a story-only mailing list. Nothing worked. Life had moved on. It was time for StarRise to retire, and my heart broke at the loss.
About a year and a half ago, a friend approached me and said that she and a long-ago member of StarRise were going to start it again. I horned in on their co-leadership and made it a trio. :) What can I say? I'm possessive!
I'd tried co-leadership before. They failed miserably. I tried a board of directors, which became all the rage in Pern group leadership back in the mid-1990s. Failed abysmally, as far as I was concerned. But this triad...we fit.
We reduced the number of zines we produce a year from the original four, to two. With our busy adult lives, it's much easier for us and all our members to manage. We scheduled our deadlines to not interfere with school starts or ends, Christmas, or other major family holiday things, something that had been a problem before. We set firm deadlines, and we've stuck to them. Our first two zines were published on time, and our third is in the works now, with a publish date of March 1st. We'll make that date, too. StarRise is alive again, and my heart sings for it!
Why have I come to dwell today on StarRise, Pern fandom, and the history of both? I suppose it's because yesterday morning I officially shut down another writing group I'd started with a friend. It was a Pern group; it was ElfQuest based. But shutting it down, admitting I didn't have the time to nurture and grow it, reminded me of that hard decision I made for StarRise several years ago. Of that hard decision I made for several Pern groups over the years. I'm sad to give up Westering Holt. I love my characters there, and the ongoing stories I was weaving for them. I'll miss the interaction with other members, and writing with them. But most, I think, I regret my failure to keep the group active.
I started out this post with the intent to compare Pern fandom writers with fanfic writers, but the history of Pern fandom and StarRise took over. Now I'm not so much interested in comparing the two - other than saying readers of fanfic are a LOT more likely to give you feedback on your story than Pern fandom readers do. But then again - if Pern fandom readers like your story, they pounce you and say, "Hey, wanna do a story with your character and mine? I have a great idea!"
I guess that's even a better compliment to the writer, isn't it? :)
There aren't a lot of fandoms that I've written for. I've done two stories for Buffy: the Vampire Slayer. One was a crossover with Anita Blake. That one turned out quite well, I think. Blending the two different types of vampires and backgrounds was interesting, and chasing sundown took some planning. But it was fun and I enjoyed it.
I did a Stargate/Angel crossover, as well. It was 15-minute fic challenge. That one was fun, too! :)
I've played a bit in ElfQuest. I love Wendy Pini's artwork, and the characters and storyline she created are exceptional, in my opinion.
Most of the past twenty years, however, has been focused on Pern fanfic. Pern fanfic is different than a lot of the other fanfics. Pern fanfic has a decades long history. They're more like a writing group than is usually found. It started back in the early 80's, if not earlier. A group of friends got together and said, "What if...?" and the first fandom Weyr was created. Since then, Pern fandom went through a golden age: groups sprang up. People joined from all over the world. They created characters in the world Anne McCaffrey created, and they wrote stories. Those stories were collected and published by the group's leaders. Then the magazines - what we call fanzines - were sent out to all the members. And the next round of story writing and collecting began. At the time, most communication was through postal mail, so contact was slow. Feedback on the stories wasn't common. Coming to know the writers of the stories was almost impossible.
The golden age peaked around 1990-1990. Computers in the home were becoming more common, and Pern fandom found a home on GEnie. GEnie was similar to AOL, but text-based. Prodigy and Compuserve were other well-known online communities at the time. AOL was a newcomer viewed with some misgivings.
Then GEnie vanished. The communities there scrambled to find a new home. AOL served for a while, but between GEnie's death and some internal conflicts within the Pern pond, Pern fandom started a decline. As newbies had been warned for years, and continue to refuse to believe, involving Anne McCaffrey in fannish disputes is a Very Bad Idea. Ms. McCaffrey's response is that of a mother: if you can't play with the toys together nicely, then you can't play with the toys at all. New, stringent rules were laid down for her fan groups, and many fans became disillusioned.
Time was also taking its toll. Fans of the books, when they first came out or were still in their first decade or so of print, with a new book coming out each year, were aging. They were going to college, getting married, having kids, and finding less time for reading, writing, and keeping in touch.
Writing groups, now with strong online presences, but still sticking to their origins as paper fanzine groups, began to slow down and suffer. Submissions were reduced. Member involvement faded. Incoming memberships were less than expiring membership.
By 1997, the old fanzine based groups were being replaced and outnumbered by online-only groups. Computers were in more and more homes, communication was faster, if not instantaneous. And writing...was becoming less the goal than role playing. Stories weren't written as much, but oh, the pages and pages of drivel that two people online and chatting could churn out...!
I inherited the first Pern group I joined in 1997. I also inherited the directorship of Anne McCaffrey's program track at Dragon*Con. I became, in essence, a very big fish in a very small pond. Over the next three years, I became very active in several of the Pern groups, including becoming leader of at least two others. My goal was to make the entire world active in the same comprehensive timeline. I had such grand plans.
I should have focused all that energy and enthusiasm on my own original writing!
But time and inexperience were against me. By 1997, the fandom groups were fading. Even the online groups were struggling. The brief sanctuary on AOL didn't last. The rules for establishing your own Pern fandom group relaxed again to some extent in 2000. By 2001, I was one of two people who had been authorized by Anne McCaffrey to review new clubs and give them the stamp of approval or tell them that they were violating her copyright and what they needed to do to fix it. Today, I'm the only one, but it doesn't mean much now, since she essentially eliminated all the rules and said, "Do what you will, just don't make money on my intellectual property." But some people like to have that stamp of approval - and the opportunity to have a link to their group on her website.
StarRise, the group I had inherited, had been essentially inactive - not publishing its fanzine - for about three years at the point I took over. When I joined in 1990 or so, they had over 300 members, all around the world. When I took over and did a membership verification, we had 30 who responded. It was enough to go on with!
So I tried for a few years. There were some upsets, some highs and some lows, but eventually I had to admit that it was time to lay StarRise to sleep. I'd tried to change the form of the club to meet the current preference. I tried to make the fanzine an online-only publication. I tried to include live-chat RPs, and email RPs. I even tried eliminating the fanzine altogether and published stories as I received them on a story-only mailing list. Nothing worked. Life had moved on. It was time for StarRise to retire, and my heart broke at the loss.
About a year and a half ago, a friend approached me and said that she and a long-ago member of StarRise were going to start it again. I horned in on their co-leadership and made it a trio. :) What can I say? I'm possessive!
I'd tried co-leadership before. They failed miserably. I tried a board of directors, which became all the rage in Pern group leadership back in the mid-1990s. Failed abysmally, as far as I was concerned. But this triad...we fit.
We reduced the number of zines we produce a year from the original four, to two. With our busy adult lives, it's much easier for us and all our members to manage. We scheduled our deadlines to not interfere with school starts or ends, Christmas, or other major family holiday things, something that had been a problem before. We set firm deadlines, and we've stuck to them. Our first two zines were published on time, and our third is in the works now, with a publish date of March 1st. We'll make that date, too. StarRise is alive again, and my heart sings for it!
Why have I come to dwell today on StarRise, Pern fandom, and the history of both? I suppose it's because yesterday morning I officially shut down another writing group I'd started with a friend. It was a Pern group; it was ElfQuest based. But shutting it down, admitting I didn't have the time to nurture and grow it, reminded me of that hard decision I made for StarRise several years ago. Of that hard decision I made for several Pern groups over the years. I'm sad to give up Westering Holt. I love my characters there, and the ongoing stories I was weaving for them. I'll miss the interaction with other members, and writing with them. But most, I think, I regret my failure to keep the group active.
I started out this post with the intent to compare Pern fandom writers with fanfic writers, but the history of Pern fandom and StarRise took over. Now I'm not so much interested in comparing the two - other than saying readers of fanfic are a LOT more likely to give you feedback on your story than Pern fandom readers do. But then again - if Pern fandom readers like your story, they pounce you and say, "Hey, wanna do a story with your character and mine? I have a great idea!"
I guess that's even a better compliment to the writer, isn't it? :)
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