A500.5.3.RB - Blog - Critical Thinking about Critical Thinking

I would have to say that assumptions are my major shortcoming when it comes to critical thinking.  I always dig for additional information about a subject, but the problem is that the information usually supports my views or assumptions.  I like to call assumptions my truisms; these are things that I hold to be true and that would take a hand shake with divinity to change them.  I am aware of this though and am consciously analyzing why I am unable to be swayed from my initial impulses and emotional ties to a subject.

It is a strange time for humanity, more information is readily available then any other time in history; subjects are fully covered by all points of view and the supporting arguments are increasingly more convincing.  Message points can be skewed to entice the audience and when they are seen as a credible source such as NEWS organizations, the masses who are not willing to pose questions fall in line behind completely spurious information.  Politics in America and around the world!

I feel that I have become more aware of implicit information and look for motive in every message.  I like to think that I evaluate information with a little less bias, especially when I haven't been influenced by a side, and I diligently compare and contrast to find the merit and pitfalls within a message.  I trip myself up on the application process and question which way I am supposed to lean, which makes it hard for me to effectively make decisions and take action.  I am a work in progress and I know that within my occupation I would do exceptionally well for myself and my organization if I could disseminate truths and stop looking for the low hanging fruit; but I guess that could be said about anyone in an position. 

A500.4.3.RB - Blog - Ballet Slippers or Adorable?

"a rose by any other name might smell and look different,"  I feel that this is so true in American culture;  people want a choice in quality yet this is generally based on the perceived quality and not on consumer reports.  You can have two products side by side and if one is significantly more expensive it is perceived as being of higher quality, even if in reality they are identical in functionality and reliability.  I found Sheena's talk very interesting; I haven't ever really stopped and thought that too many choices could lead to bad ones, but it makes sense.  This, to me, reinforces the idea that choices that are not properly made when multiple choices are involved is a simple percentage of odds.  In a business scenario you would hope that a choice would be highly scrutinized as to ensure that the decision that is made fits it's desired purpose the best. Too many choices in the business environment, or even governmental environment, lets say for tooling, would lead those companies that have money to incentivize the consumer to choose their product.  This lobbying leads to an unfair practice of pushing the weak competition out of the running, even though the smaller manufacturer tends to have more to loose by offering an inferior product. 
This goes back to what I spoke about in an earlier assignment of picking the low hanging fruit, the things that have been tested and show positive results and are easier to get others to sign off on with the availability of "concrete" results.  They will work for the interim but will not allow an organization to stand out in one way or another for future investment concessions.
We need choices, but should choices be based solely on affordability, like the difference between Apple and PCs,  I agree that the Apple operating system is superior to Windows but the price to replace a windows computer is so much lower that Apple will never be a standard in the larger organizational environment.  A choice like this is fairly easy to make based solely on cost analysis, and this will generally trump any ambiguous efficiency metrics, because Apple will not give deals like a PC manufacturer can.

A500.3.4.RB - Blog - Explore the Hunt Library

From what I can tell, you will always be able to find a citation when you use the Hunt Library, this would be my first acknowledged difference between sponsored Google sites and the Library.  People always go to the first site that magically appears on Google because they feel that it must be the best, when in reality it is the most expensive site that relates to your search history.  It is true that you will have to do a little digging to find a document in the Library that fits your needs effectively, but you will not have to weed through wiki sites and the eight sites that would like you to know what Leadership is defined as. 
Within the Hunt Library, I will find an abundance of journal articles from individuals posing the questions that I am currently pondering; so it will allow for additional insight into issues I have not began to understand from persons thinking along similar lines as myself.

A500.2.3.RB - Blog - Tell Your Story

What are some standards that are most important in your life? Consistent truisms!  I find that in these times of US political chaos, no one group of people have your interests covered. You have to get informed and become a critical thinker to come to some conclusions that are well researched and free from bias.  So... standards wise I have a strong standard of not letting any one person or group sway my decision.  Take it all in and spend some time with it on your own.  Another standard that is important to me is directed ambiguity; I know that you can't always have the clearest picture moving forward with projects or programs, but an achievable goal needs to be established for what ever you are doing.  Even if the goal is one that takes you through the day or the week, there needs to be a way to measure accomplishment and achieve something tangible. So what I am saying is that ambiguity makes work interesting but too much of it will make you CRAZY! Another standard that has become so important to me as of late is being a good father.  I feel that I have always been trying to achieve something that will allow me to better provide for my family, but by doing so it has taken it's toll with the amount of engagement I have had with my children and wife.   Now that I have a new job that requires me to take my work home with me, at least mentally, I am spending less time with my family and am not sure how to correct this.  I was doing this masters program prior to starting this job and would like to finish on the schedule that was already in place, but I have no time.  I can't give my all to both school and work, and in fact I have not been able to give anything to school for three weeks now.In short, a work-life balance where you lean more towards the life side is one of my standards. I of course am talking of my latest string of standards, I have been a waiver-er for most of my life and jump on board with what my friends, family, and/or work colleagues are pushing.  I feel that I have not been one to really think things through, although, if you didn't know me and were to bare witness to my accomplishments you would think I have it all planned out and that I am on track to take over Mars where we decide to inhabit it.  I have made some good decisions, but most of them were slapping me in the face.  The rest were emotional drive towards something that sounded interesting, like a masters in leadership.  I know that I will be able to do amazing things with my schooling, but will it out way the things I will achieve with my new skill sets and experience.  As stated before I have gone through many standards over my short lifetime and continue to develop new ones, but I feel that my future standards will have a lot more of me in them, and that is exciting.

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A500.1.5.RB_Intellectual Perseverance

      Intellectual perseverance is the drive within an individual and/or group to overcome difficult questions, situations, and/or problems. The right answers come from extensive investigation, pondering, and usually multiple failures.  For one to intellectually persevere in a scenario like this, they would need to possess additional attributes such as patience, humility, and courage in order to arrive at a definitive long term solution that feels right.   

      When I am tasked at work and I can tell that the right solution to an issue could take weeks or months to resolve I attempt to find a solution that would bridge across the immediate future as to not have to deal with the real underlying problem.  I find quick answers to the issue within my available resources: people’s knowledge/insight and/or data mining. Valuable information comes from this, but a lot of the time I gain an understanding that the given information is not going to be the fix that mitigates future occurrences by the simple fact that the information given doesn’t encompasses the full scope of my issue.  I sell the fix to the appropriate people to get the aircraft flying again (NOT SAFETY ISSUES, reliability issues) but I keep it on my to-dos and revisit it at my convenience. 

     This works for what I am doing, but one thing I have noticed is that if you don’t get to the root, the issue will be overgrown by the time you get back around to it and an additional level of perseverance will be needed to overcome.  This is the real test of will; if you have the ability to gather information, analyze said information, break it down into understandable arguments for each decision,  and then MAKE THE DECISION based upon your bias of right and wrong, you exhibit a great level of intellectual perseverance

A520.9.5.RB - Power

At this point in my new career I feel that I am on the "inadequate" end of the spectrum in regards to power.  I have only been there for two months and have not identified all players and their roles in the power pull.  I have been developing processes that will lay more power in my lap with regards to the aircraft I support, but this won't be apparent in the hierarchy for at least a year.  Being a manager of aircraft systems, I am unable to effectively gauge the influence I have over technicians on the floor.  They take my suggestions as rule and not as an effort to make everyone stronger at their jobs; this is achievable but is a delicate process.  I have only been with the company for six years and an giving suggestion to thirty year technicians who are a little apprehensive to hand over control.  I feel that this will come in time with the continuation of good rapport and open dialog.
Up word influence is where my position is really effective, I do the leg work to solve issues on system and programs issues and sell those to my director and the VP.  In this scenario I have unlimited influence and power as long as I identify all contingencies and alternative solutions.
I, in my business career, have been becoming more of an introvert for some reason. I have supportive relationships with many people at work but not enough.  I use to be the guy who could go up to anyone and have a meaningful conversation; but now I find myself on my heals a lot of the time.  I think that this is because I am not comfortable with the ambiguity of the power holders within my new career.  I other words I am not sure who and when to broach lasting relationships with.  I do feel that I cover the most of the fundamental characteristics of likable people, but am having trouble putting it out there for others to see.
   

A520.7.3.RB - Importance of Having a Coach and Mentor

Inspiration would be the term I would use to describe the the ultimate result of mentoring and coaching.  To get to this point you have to start with a lack of communication combined with a group of individuals who consider themselves subject matter experts.  The crucial step for leaders within an organization is to ensure that they understand the skills and abilities of their teams and utilize their own people skills effectively.  This means that they need to have a basic map of their departments, and the skills to motivate and connect individuals.  From this point the business cogs intertwine and begin turning together.  Information sharing becomes a medium for productivity and inspiration.  Co-workers gain satisfaction from this new family unit within their organization.  They begin to look to each other for emotional as well professional support.  This essentially turns the organization in to collective brain which every member is plugged into on or off work.  Problem solving even becomes common place during leisure time, and members enjoy their jobs.
There does come a point when fresh ideas and tools are needed to prevent stagnation. Coaching is a tool that is used quite often to prevent this productivity lull.  A good coach will be in possession of fresh techniques and focused insight which can be instructed and introduced to certain leaders.  These leaders will take this information and try to integrate some aspects of it into their organization.  A good leader will be open to suggestion but also able to effectively analyze the given information for merit.  Somethings might not work within every organizational structure and need to be identified prior to implementation; but on the "open to suggestion" side of that line the leaders need to posses the humility to allow uncomfortable ideas to take their course when the research has been done and proven.  

A520.6.5.RB_Team Roles

Rules and boundaries are the first thing to be set when a group comes together.  This takes a lot of the questions out of the equation of how to interact with other members of the group. From this point it is possible to get to work effectively.  The group was chosen on abilities and attributes; so when the team becomes acquainted and familiar with the other members abilities and attributes they are in a position to take on tasks.
Task-facilitating roles come into play as soon as objectives are laid out.  These roles are accepted by task oriented members of the group by choice.  These members are inherently task-focused and are looking to be the first to be in the know.  They reach out to other members to familiarize themselves with the content, they ask probing questions, they give insight into their knowledge base, they process the information they are obtaining, test it, enforce it, and are able to summarize it.   They want to get the task done expediently and nothing but the understood facts will allow this to happen.  These roles can often be abrasive and require a counter part.
Relationship-building role bearers achieve their own victories; they gain consensus throughout the group to allow others to probe and bring more information to light, they feed each other with positive supportive feedback, and try to keep negative attitudes out of the lime light by confronting the issues seen as non-productive redirecting momentum towards solution resolution.  These group members are a glue to which remaining members will stick.  They give the members of the group the emotional return they require by empathizing and asking developmental questions "How can I help you?"
With both sides working together to achieve cohesiveness while attaining mile stones within projects, the end product will undoubtedly turn out better. Yen and Yang of team projects is a good way to describe this relationship, both roles have goals and  the abilities to accomplish goals but with added direction, a lot of the grey matter is taken from the scene without either side having ever focus on its presence.

A520.5.3.RB_MarshallJohn

Russ Foresters' article "Empowerment: Rejuvenating a potent idea" focuses more on what not to do than what you should do, but he does cover both extremes well.  I find his examples poignant and informative; and  I understand that when you are trying to achieve something, it is very beneficial to understand what not to do and where not to turn. 
Both the text and the article describe the inputs needed to empower others yet they have different names for most of them.  Self-efficacy is explained in both and seems to carry the torch leading the charge into empowering all levels of the organization.  You have to allow everyone to feel like they are contributing to the cause. You have to bare witness to attitudes and competencies of individuals at this point to ensure that abilities and attitudes match tasks given and that they are ready to accept the responsibilities.

Self-Determination plays a key role in empowerment and sets the pace for amount of delegation.  People will show you how driven they are by the way they cut their path, more responsibility will go to those who have demonstrated their worth and are scratching at the door for more.
Tooling those who have made it this far is a necessity, you have to train them in various aspects of their responsibilities in order to make them effective.  This is costly and may be a deal breaker for some organizations.  Ambiguity may become an issue here as well, people are going to be chomping at the bit to gain as much from the company as possible.  This is beneficial but can be costly, not only to the budget but also the structure of the organization.  If you give the person the tools to accomplish a variety of tasks they may find that they are now highly employable in other fields.  So scrutinize those trying to grab across the line into other levels yet be open to the idea for proven company individuals who have bled with the company and interject positive ideas regularly.

A major motivator in the empowerment system is personal consequence, most people think they want more power but are ignorant to the consequences that coincide with their choices.  This drives individuals to do more research to empower themselves with knowledge and foresight to be in a position to make crucial decisions quickly and effectively.  This all ties back into determination and efficacy because those who want to empower themselves will do what they can for the company in hopes that the company will respond in kind.
Trust and meaning are other crucial building blocks of an empowered organization and also holds close ties to the aforementioned criteria.  Those in power have to trust those under them to make decisions on their behalf, and those on the underside have to trust that the delegation given to them is for the organizations benefit. 
A meaningful job is something that most of us strive for.  We want satisfaction and reward for our accomplishments.  This a balancing act for an empowered group because they are incorporated into so many facets of the structure.  They may do a lot of things that they don't particularly enjoy but it is important that they give their all for each sub-task.  If not personally balanced some will move into a comfort knowledge base and fall short on other duties.
The main implementation criteria with delegation empowerment is to take it slow and assess everything and everyone individually to ensure cohesiveness and structural feasibility. Some people will still have more power then others, but that will be on their own accord in conjunction with their personality.
   

A520.4.3.RB - Motivation Beyond Money

     This video was very relevant,  I have always been one to move with the money. I have a family to support and I feel that in some cases I need to do things that I may not want to do to support them.  This is clearly not fully the case. Sure money is nice to have and it alleviates some of the stressors in our lives, but money really does not equal happiness.  I have left jobs in the past that I really enjoyed doing, and I left for either for the internal politics or the money.  Hind sight right, I can now call it foresight because I have the inside scoop on what basic kinds of work atmospheres make me happy.
     I feel that I have always felt that my jobs were interesting, and that I have wanted to be amazing at my job.  In fact right now I feel that my current job is the most interesting yet, million dollar decisions based on facts and not interpretation.  I get to find the answers and act upon them, I dig that.
     One thing is seems curtain, employers give the employee more in the long run than the employee contributes to the company.  The company training along with the access to additional tools add so much to the employees resume to take with them when they find the next big offer is a great motivator.  I feel as though I am drinking from a fire hose with my current position, so much information and so many new tools; if I can become competent with the half of the tools I have been given I will be setup for universal success. 
     My work is scrutinized by all levels of the company, I have to do the research and make smart decision all day everyday.  This level of exposure brings recognition constantly, sometimes not all good, but the negative instances allow me to find a balance for output, and feedback allows me to make smarter choices.
     I feel that one of my major motivators is the flight benefits that receive, when I have weighed out other jobs in my field with comparable work environments and wages, they are offset by this benefit.  I know that a lot of my cohorts feel the same way are motivated to stay within our community to keep these privileges.
     Another motivator would have to be company success. Working for a regional airline is tricky, we are not paid as well as larger carriers and the smaller size of the organization means that we pay more for things like healthcare, but the drive to grow a small company is intrinsic in all employees.  We want to set the standard for other carriers, even the larger ones.  We want them to look at our practices and find the merit and devotion that goes into them.
     I also find that subordinate feed back is also a major motivator. I want to know that what I am doing is being perceived and accepted the way that I intended.  You can't make everyone happy with every decision, but if subordinates understand the goals behind the decision, then they are less likely to get disgruntled because of it. Blanket actions with no explanation leave a lot of room for ambiguity and misunderstanding.  I follow up with all my people to make sure that we are on the same page goal wise.  

A520.3.5.RB - MarshallJohn

     The first thing that I could see changed at my work, in terms of supportive communication, would be the amount of electronic communication that takes place.  Inundated, is the best term to describe the amount of correspondence that occurs over these low quality medium.  I have been thinking about creating a template to use for all technical correspondence; this way all the information that I require to do my job would at minimum have some detail into the problem that I am asked to correct. 
     Another problem area with our communication, is expectation criteria.  Ambiguity is not the best way to start a project; and much time is wasted because of the need for clarification.  This entails many facets of the eight attributes including:  descriptive problem description, individual specific tasking instead of the global "this is what you need to address", conjunctive elaboration (we weren't all at that meeting), owned responsibility for tasking (we need to know who we are trying to communicate of resolution with), and supportive listening (hear me so that I can confirm that we are on the same page).
     I think that all of these can be addressed with more face time question and answer at the beginning of a project in lieu of the comprising and interpretation of multiple emails.  Looking at someone in the eyes while they are conveying their views and expectations allows for a more pertinent acceptance of responsibilities.  You are less likely to miss a deadline or lack sufficient information if you were tasked and didn't ask any questions for clarification of expectations.    
     Meet regularly to maintain the lines of supportive communication.  These meetings would greatly improve the amount of missed information through-out the organization.  If you have questions about how to move forward with a task, ask probing questions that you feel will bring all underlying issues to the forefront, "what are you hoping to see happen through the implementation of this program".

A520.3.1.RB_MarshallJohn

I find myself to be more cautious than ever before in my decision making style.  Currently it is based on the agonizing associated with the decision.  I have so many tools at my disposal for making decisions and a lot of the time the tools give conflicting data. 
In turn I also find myself concerned with the most logical decision, in my job there aren't many ways to solve an issue without the correct solution.  It's not a matter of opinion I have to find the issue, be it an electronic, pneumatic, mechanical or hydraulic discrepancy, and find a cause for the problem.
 I occasionally find myself making many decisions based on the influence of people who have worked directly on my current issue in the past. When this is the case I act prior to doing all the leg work myself, I have no reason to question the information given and will waste time researching the information for myself.
Impulsive decisions would fall on the other side of cautious decisions.  I feel that with the decisions I have to make at work, impulsive decisions are not credible.  You have to KNOW what is wrong with a system in order to give a corrective action, and if you act on impulsive thought processes you take a high risk of wasting a lot of money and resources .  There may be times when the decision needs to be made in a very timely manner, and the risk of making a wrong decision out ways the costs associated with a correct fix. But at the end of the day you have either made the correct decision or an incorrect decision.  Compliant, for my job, tends to be the opposite of logical.  If you take the advise from someone whom you aren't familiar with, who has an authoritarian job title and attitude, you take the risk of smearing your name and not theirs.  This is not a good place to be in my position, people need to know they can count on my decisions every time.  This also falls in with my influenced decision making style, because I do like to get information from people who have crossed the bridge before and tailor my decision process around their suggestions.  This is a case by case process and I need to make sure that every time I throw my name on something I take advantage of all my resources to make an informed decision.

A520.2.6.RB_MarshallJohn

My time management skills are always improving, this is because it wasn't very long ago that they were nonexistent.  I have always been able to get things done on time, but I would only do them when the stress and pressure of due dates drove me to complete them.  Through some self-reflection I came to the determination that I need timelines and due dates to be aggressive with projects.  This is why I am now making these timelines myself and holding my calender up to the almighty as his word.  Deviating from my calender will mean something else will get bumped and next thing you know I am in the same situation as before working late every night to finish everything.  Reworking the schedule is possible but the end goal is the same.
I would have to say that this has not affected my locus of control, because mine is of the internal nature.  I have always been able to hold things as my own, even in group settings.  My goals may have some outside influence, i.e. must dos and emergency contingencies, but are never completely out of my control when it comes to the final product.  I feel that I am able to adjust well to issues and make the adjustments necessary to meet the timeline in place, and even if one occasionally passes this timeline I own it and don't scape goat my way through it.

With my new job, and taking a new direction for my masters it quickly became apparent that my old habits weren't sufficient to keep track of everything.  I have started to use MS projects, this allows me to keep my work and school projects in order and also allows me to update them from anywhere with my phone or tablet.  This is such a great tool because I can also have some data mining from access sent to this program to allow me to edit priorities in seconds when the need is there.  I think that this is one tool that will allow for me to be on top of my obligations so that I won't fall victim to deadline stress again.
Another thing that I have started to do is write down everything that comes my way.  This ties into the Projects software, but it is separate because things only get put into project if you remember to do so.  This gives me confidence that I will not forget something, in the past this was one of my main stress agents.  So much info is now thrown my way that it is impossible to remember all of it, quick notes on the tablet and then transferring those notes into projects should eliminate the stress associated with it.
The last thing that I have started to do, is early morning mantras, one of them is "I'm good at my job and my work gets done in a very timely fashion" this allows me to take demands from executives and prioritize them properly.  Executives want results NOW, and if you let this stress you out it will forfeit the priorities you already had going.  It has to be added to the list every time and assessed  in relation to your other obligations. By doing this you have the tools and answers to give the executives when they come by for a follow up.  "Why isn't this done?"  "Because, the following compliance issues took precedence." 

A520.2.3.RB_MarshallJohn

I very recently got a new job as a technical publications writer for an airline.  I say this because I am on the opposite side of the table for previous conflict issues.  As a mechanic I would get documents written by my current department and if they did not fit into my perceived workload I would defer them to be done at a later date.  I now realize how they came to be in the first place and the amount of eyes checking into to completion of the assigned task.

The conflict:  Oftentimes a document written by one person with a known scope for it's completion is misinterpreted by the reader.  The document I am mostly talking about is a technical order, I see a trend or delay taken for an issue and I write a document to mitigate the issue.  This is done through a statement in the discrepancy and then troubleshooting suggestions to help accomplish the fix.

Upon taking this job I immediately went to the floor to get suggestions to help me write better documents, in comparison with the current format.

When I approached a certain mechanic who holds several decades of company seniority on me, the first suggestion was to let the mechanics do their jobs without interference from my department. I am on call for technical advice as well, and this is what the mechanic assumed my job was limited to.  Being able to understand his suggestion, from feeling the same in the past; I was able to explain that this was part of my job.  "I find recurring or fleet wide problematic issues and take a proactive approach to solving these issues before a issue stands customers in stations with no resources to fix them." This was something that he already knew, but these TOs are something that is more of a suggestion than an order, so it is easy to find reasons not to accomplish them in a timely manner.  

In our discussion, I asked "what would make these easier to accomplish?"  His response has now changed the way that my department writes TOs.  His suggestion was to give verbiage allowing the technicians to start on the task and blow off the rest if time or resources become an issue.

This in it self is a non-issue, these documents have had this capability all along, but they have never stated this fact within the task itself.

For several more minutes we discussed the topic, at the end I asked "if a TO came to you with this new format would you be more likely to start it." Yes, was his answer.

So to explain, I have to add a few more words to my documents, without changing the scope of what I want to accomplish, and the technicians are more likely to work these tasks.  WIN WIN.   

A520.1.6.RB_John Marshall

As I mentioned in my earlier post, I have a lot of work to do.  I think that I will be learning more about myself this next nine weeks than I have to date.  I find that I put myself in a bracket that is created through what I think people expect me to be, especially since having children.  I am confident yet lost, not sure how that happens but it does and has.  In regards to the Five Core Aspects of Self-Awareness, I feel that my struggles lie in Emotional Intelligence and Core Self-Evaluation.  I have been lying to myself for such a long time about what I know and/or understand about myself, and will really have to dig deep into self-evaluation to begin to grow again.  I feel that my values, cognitive style, and attitude toward change  are on the right track and in-line with who I think I really am. I am a good-hearten person who genuinely wants the best for his family and those around him.  This covers many aspects of the values segment in that I make decisions that I know my children would approve of, and that could never harm them. I seem to fall in the gap for cognitive style, I like to think of myself as having a Knowing cognitive style yet have a lot of the attributes of the other two. As I further evaluate myself I will be able to narrow these down to one dimension while avoiding the possible liabilities associated with them.  The attitudes towards change section confused me a bit,  especially in regards to the internal and external locus of control.  I rate in both aspects, according to the questionnaire.  I do take a lot of weight for my achievements and for my mistakes yet I do not always accept that I am solely responsible for these things, many outside influences affect not only my decisions but also the outcomes.

A520.1.2.RB_John Marshall

I have a long way to go!  This is the first assessment of self-awareness that I done, surprisingly, and I have found that I have the emotional intelligence of a new born.  This was rather surprising to me because I have held the torch many times for projects and programs and have never even considered self-evaluation to be to important.  I always hold to my competencies such as program analysis and resource management on my arm and lead with MY GOALS as the criteria for an end result.  This evaluation sheds new light on my short comings and I think that it will allow me to be more aware of my surroundings.
I do like getting feedback from other members of a group but have never tried to evaluate others emotional competencies to allow me to better connect to them and  in turn produce a product that has been thoroughly evaluated before submission.  I feel that I have always been "lucky" in my results and have received kudos for my product, but the difference may have been missed job opportunities or at least superior submissions which could have put the lime light more on me and my groups for future considerations.
I was not surprised by some of the results, especially in my fore-mention competencies. I take pride in my successes and the accolades that have resulted in turn. I have not always given praise to others for the work that they do and may have, in some cases, taken credit away from the rightful recipient.  I also feel that I have grown a lot in the past few years and that my successes have been a direct result of those who have assisted me.  The saying "it takes a village" means more to me now than ever before, and without the communities and work associates in which I depend, none of my successes would have been possible; because I am that kid who has always needed a little push to get motivated.  There is always room for growth, and I think that this class may teach me to walk a straighter line towards accomplishing goals.