ImprintFebruary 23rd, 2013
Before I signed up for Imprint, I thought about what I wanted to learn. I recognized that I wanted to learn how to effectively sustain leadership. One of my personal goals is to be a lifelong learner, and I figured that attending Imprint would be a great way to learn about continuous learning and what prevents people from practicing sustainable leadership.
The emphasis of Imprint is on transitional development. It focuses on the importance of mentoring and networking while learning from alumni coaches. My coach for the day was Michelle Speller-Thurman. Ms. Speller-Thurman is now employed by Abbot as Senior Counsel. She graduated from the University of Illinois, Class of 1992 with a degree in Finance from the College of Business. She told us many stories of how she branded herself, overcame job difficulties, and how she plans on being the motivator of her own life.
The most important thing I learned at Imprint was that change is hard. We learned that when any personal change requires modification to one’s behavior, there are two independent systems at work: the emotional brain (the Elephant) and the rational brain (the Driver). It was explained to us in this way: The emotional brain is like an elephant, when it heads in a direction it is VERY difficult to change, especially quickly! This can be a powerful motivator because it prefers instant-gratification over long-term goal achievement. On the other hand is the rational brain or the Driver. The Driver struggles to keep the Elephant on track with logical plans and intentions. Even if the driver is well-trained, s(he) can get tired very quickly. In order to keep on track and not let the emotional brain wonder freely, we learned three principles for transition. 1) Direct the Driver – set specific goals on what you want to achieve. 2) Motivate the Elephant – find things that are rewarding to the emotions and senses, thus making the directional change a bit easier. 3) Shape the Path – set up an environment that will maximize success.
I have adopted these three transition principals into my life already. Currently, I am looking for an internship/job post-graduation. I have set the goal of researching two companies and submitting two job applications each week. I am motivating myself to stay on task by allowing myself to rent a movie at the end of each, successful week. Finally, in order to set up a path to success, I have devoted one and a half hours every Monday and Wednesday to the job hunt. So far, this has been a very big success because I have had submitted four applications, with four interviews, and four offers of internship.
The leadership skill that Imprint focused on was Sustaining Leadership. This skill was also a connection to my personal improvement goal of Sustaining Leadership: to develop into a lifelong learner and a vital piece of many networks. After all I learned from Imprint, I believe I can still learn more about enhancing bridging ties, or weak ties. These are people that you have a relationship with, who know you, such as previous co-workers or classmates, but are more removed. You see these people more than once a year, but less than monthly. I will work to further my network of bridging ties as they are such a large network that contains unlimited knowledge and possibilities.
