Journal #13

Tuesday November 17th

In class we started to look at the end of Cyrus’ leadership as told by Xenophon’s point of view in The Education of Cyrus. We discussed a very important aspect of his role in leadership, which was his loyal followers. When it comes to leadership your followers are the most important aspect because without them are you really classified as a leader if you have no following? No. You’re just another person with strong beliefs. Ove the weekend we were supposed to come up with reasons as to why Cyrus had such a strong following. Cyrus was very personable, was brave, and was able to give his followers hope, all of which are great qualities for a leader to have.

Thursday November 19th

In class we went back over three sections of Book VIII; The range of philanthropia, Croseus and knowing thyself, and how the ending reflect on Cyrus (good or bad). Overall I think its been proven that Cyrus is a great leader. He’s giving, understanding, confident, and loyal to his peers as well as his followers. I also think when it comes to Globalization, Cyrus was able to bring his coalition together and they ended being able to work as one. I doubt Cyrus’s idea of globilaztion would be able to work in today’s world because leaders don’t have the same mindset as him. Leaders now are all just worried about being better than the next guy and sometimes not even concerning themselves with whats really important, which is the people. I just think in our reality even though there are entities like the United Nations, to keep all the different people in order, that has also been proven faulty at times.

Friday — Monday

Reading about Alexander was interesting to say the least, I’ve always heard about ALEXANDER THE GREAT but I honestly never knew too much about him. I saw myself in him just in the way he holds his cool and is able to stay leveled in tense situations. Over the weekend we were supposed to read what it takes to become the Dean of a college within a University and it made me respect all the Deans I’ve ever come across. It takes a great deal of patience and people skills to be a Dean, not to mention the proper mindset. Personally, I don’t think I would ever be the right candidate for this type of position, because although I try to remain as positive as possible, I don’t think I would have the patience for it all. I’m still working on becoming a people person & having to deal with an insane amount of people at all times would drive me absolutely insane.