Benjamin S Randall
Leadership Experience Portfolio
President's Leadership Program • IU 271 • Benjamin S. Randall
Throughout IU 270 & IU 271, my classmates and I have applied much of our learnings and readings to our own leadership styles.
Taking an ode from John Dugan's Leadership Theory: Critical Theories, as well as the life lessons from instructors Patrice Palmer, DeLisha Sylvester, and Mitchel Holston, I can confidently say that the input I've received from IU 270/271 has been transformative. As I sit on the cusp of my final year at CSU, and the summation of my Interdisciplinary Leadership Studies minor, I have no doubt that my educational experience has not only increased my understanding of leadership, but also my capacity to lead and inspire others.
The following papers and comments outline my learning from this semester, and how each has respectively influenced my growth throughout PLP.
Cover Letter
The Cover Letter (CV), in addition to the resume, is another integral piece of any job application. The CV above was used just two weeks ago when I submitted my final application for a prospective internship with the National Park Service. Without the input I received from my PLP instructors, as well as the insights I've picked up on from our various readings within organizational culture, the CV that sits on this page would be nowhere near as concise or effective as it has become. To further emphasize my own academic, personal, and professional achievements, I learned that conciseness is key. Patrice elaborated the importance of building my own brand--a concept I ran with on my social platforms as well as my resume/CV. I efficiently outline my skills at the forefront, which are the listed qualifications to the position I'm applying to, give a brief personal background, and advance to describe how I can improve myself and the NPS with my employment. Additionally, the Career Center at CSU helped me formulate winning strategies to include in my CV, such as name-dropping important figures, and writing the "dear" line to a direct contact. With all of this taken into account, I constructed an elaborate yet informative CV that helped me land an interview and potential internship with the NPS.
LSC Site Visit Reflection
The LSC Site Visit and joint reflection piece above outline the development of a largely unknown topic to myself at the beginning of this semester: organizational culture. I was familiar with the notion that I must pay dire attention to how I show up in work/professional environments, but I was unfamiliar with the notion that organizations, such as the Lory Student Center building, had to care about how they collectively show up in society. This allowed me to step out of my shell of a heterosexual, white male to view the bigger picture: the LSC, and other buildings that I commonly interact with, prioritize diversity and inclusion in ways that I've often took for granted. This had a humbling effect on me, especially in realizing that buildings and the environments they foster go increasingly beyond that of the physical world; impacting the mental and inclusive well-being of individuals in ways that might not even be clear to them. The components of the container approach and social constructionist approach provided a great foundation for my future learnings in the effects organization buildings and their literal & metaphorical walls, doors, and rooms can communicate. This LSC virtual site visit humbled my leadership approach, and influenced me to think of buildings not as just physical objects, but rather as structures acting as instruments of communication and change.
Organizational Analysis
The Leadership Anthropology and Culture Grid taught me aspects of organizational communication akin to the learnings from the aforementioned LSC Site Visit Reflection. Our in-class reading of Organizational Comunication (CommGAP) explained the various ways that individuals and corporations can refine their public appearance through focuses on leadership, team studies, communication networks, organizational culture, and organizational learnings, and utilizing that research was monumental in analyzing these organizations. For example, connecting the notion that Steve Job's emphasis on simplicity and innovation contributed to the primary message Apple still conveys as a brand--this promptly showed me just how broadly an influential leader can impact an organization, even beyond their death. This taught me that my character has the potential to spread and inspire those far outside of my own circle; a piece of widespread leadership I plan on keeping in mind throughout my life.
Narrative Analysis
My Narrative Analysis was, in many ways, a fantastic juxtaposition of applying a lens of organizational culture and leadership critical theory analysis to the nature of work. In my analysis, I chose to interview, learn, and reflect on my mother, Theresa Randall, and her workplace: Data Axle. In discussing both the quantity and quality of work my mother deals with daily, components from our early semester reading "It's a Jungle Gym, Not a Ladder" (Lean In), prominently stuck out. While being near my mom for a large portion of the past year, due to Data Axle shifting to entirely remote operations, I was unaware of the 'boys club' nature of work she's dealt with throughout her career. She started her work as a low-level informational dealer, but has steadily worked up to the role of a lead data consultant, much of which she credits to her work ethic and motivation. However, her ties with this organization has been short in her professional timeline--beginning her college career as an interior designer, then an optical glasses saleswoman, then an employee at Streck, a medicinal distribution company--all of which led her to a data-based profession in her late 30s. Just as the chapter from Lean In communicated, the "days of joining an organization or corporation and staying there to climb that one ladder are long gone" (p. 53). This narrative analysis forced me to realize a rather unfortunate truth within the professional environment: it's increasingly hard to find a career aligned with your passions and stay with it! However, in viewing the tenacity and joy my mom brings to her work, as well as her ascension in an unwelcoming male atmosphere, I can now add a crucial learned tool to my leadership toolbelt: what separates a successful leader from an average one is less of genetics, who-you-know, or money...rather, my leadership understanding is defined best as raw, honest, hard work for what I believe in.
Leadership Panel Reflections
Leadership & Ego
Leadership & Vunerability
Leadership, Politics, and Power
Lastly, our leadership panels and reflections were an enlightening finale to a semester focused deeply on professional development. Throughout this semester, I've unfortunately dealt with a host of mental health issues, on the basis of eating disorder tendencies, anxiety, and depression--so thinking of myself as a worthy leader was challenging--let alone viewing myself as the passionate, determined Ben Randall that I've grown up as. Truthfully this semester has been a deep dive into finding out the aspects of life that I cherish most, the parts I could care less about, and everything in between. I can remember continuous conversations with friends and family on the basis of my own self-pity, my general depressive nature with life, and so on. All of this is to show that, horribly, when I was at my lowest points, leadership was a component of my life that I felt unworthy of.
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However, these leadership panels were instrumental in flipping my mental space to an entirely resurrected, positive space. In our Leadership, Politics, and Power Panel, Dillon Nettles explained to us all the importance of advocating for ourselves, a prospect I was familiar with but not acting properly upon. I began to prioritize my own time, efforts, and energy to topics I cared about most, and grew a renowned confidence in saying no to opportunities that would only contribute more to my stress. Likewise, in our Leadership and Vunerability Panel, Jackie Thomas made me, and surely others, feel not alone. We all go through mental battles, personal issues, and workplace atrocities unfortunately. However, being vunerable--appearing as a confident, yet approachable individual in different environments--is paramount in improving my coworkers understanding of how I am maintaining personally and professionally. This translated directly to my various workplaces at ASCSU, SLiCE, and the Center for Science Communication, where I began to be open to criticism on my work and practices, yet confident enough to stand up for myself and others when pertinent. Lastly, our final panel of the semester, Leadership and Ego, was a great addition to our You're Not as Good a Leader as You Think You Are reading, and communicated to me how immensely selfish it was for me to pity my circumstances earlier this semester. Not only was I selfishly sulking in my own problems without addressing the problems of others, but I was directly impacting the quality of work in my education, work environments, and athletic landscape. Rather than letting my own ego continually blind me of my actions or magnify my failures, I've prioritized selflessness. It's an ironic notion to look externally for help during a time where I've been obsessing over solving my own problems, but sometimes friends, family, and counseling are the best solutions to longterm, resilient solutions. There is life beyond that of myself. Understanding this idea, and valueing the criticism, help, and conversation of others have all been winning tools to my personal recovery from a mental health crisis.
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But why stop there? Why only allow my learned skills from transformative leaders such as Patrice Palmer, DeLisha Sylvester, Mitchell Holston, Mo Moreira, all of our leadership panelists, and so on...why let this education only benefit myself? Throughout this process of addressing my personal relationship with myself and others, I've learned that there exists a fine line between confidence, vulnerability, selfishness, and selflessness within a leadership context. Granted, no one person will ever be valued equally and equitably by everyone, nor do they need to be. But--realizing that I'm not, and will never, be alone was critical in my development as a leader. I plan on combining all of these teachings, memories, and networks from PLP to my own leadership agenda--and if I can help even just a few others realize that their battles are not meant to be fought alone, then my leadership journey will be prosperous.
This year has been up-and-down, and you, my fantastic instructors, have been some of the most inspiring individuals I've ever met. I'd like to greatly thank you for your contributions to our personal and educational development, and for your critical honesty with us all on a weekly basis. I wouldn't be the man, let alone the leader I am today, without you and my PLP peers.