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Week

10, A10.2
Creative Leadership
MASD, MCAD
04.03.2016

Dear Claire,

I can tell this course has been very eye opening for you and helpful for your personal
growth. You are identifying what is important to you, what you need to work on, and
what skills and strengths you already have that will help you be a great creative
leader. You have always been a bit of a mixed bag as a person you are an ambivert
(right in the middle between an introvert and an extrovert), a thinker and a
dreamer, good at math (critical thinking) and soft skills like writing and history
(creativity), an incrementalist (somewhat a dreamer, somewhat a doer), etc. While
this can sometimes lead to confusion or indecision, this makes you uniquely you and
well placed to thrive in sustainable design, where both critical and creative thinking
are necessary.

One of your strongest unique qualities is that youre a mixture of emotional and
practical. Youre good at seeing both sides of the story, considering both what the
heart and the mind are saying. While it can make decision-making more difficult,
this helps you in relational issues and in everyday sustainable decisions. You are
empathetic and understanding, finding compromise and respecting both
parties/others; and you naturally consider both sides or all options, so you dont
jump to conclusions or decisions quickly, emotionally, or rashly.

Another one of your strong traits is that you are passionate and loyal. However, that
can sometimes lead to stubbornness if you find yourself defending something or
someone youre loyal to or fighting for something youre passionate about (that
others are not agreeing with). You also prefer honesty and leveling with people, but
you avoid confrontation. This is a tightrope you must walk in order to ensure your
message is getting across but you are not offending the other person or making
them feel dejected. This is where your natural tendency toward understanding and
empathy comes into play, so you can tell the other person what you mean or want,
while understanding where they are coming from and what will help them to hear.

You are making a lot of progress in this class, and you seem to be thinking in a new
way about yourself as a person, a worker, and a leader. Its wonderful how honest
you are becoming about yourself, and you are doing a much better job of identifying
your emotions, skills, traits, etc. You are analyzing your strengths and weaknesses
and acknowledging where they lie on the spectrum (which are in your way daily,
which are pitfalls you occasionally fall into, which are daily assets, etc.). If you
continue this personal analysis and growth after this course is over, you will find
yourself in a great position to thrive and inspire and benefit others around you.

A10.2 Reflection

There seem to be two main themes emerging for you of things to work on improving
to become a better creative leader: follow through and building a community. You
have been coming to terms with the fact that you are not always good at following
through on tasks or projects or ideas. Whether its not finishing a book you wanted
to get through or not finding the motivation or zeal to turn an idea you had into a
reality (or at least start down that road), you have come face to face with this
proneness of yours. Acknowledging that this is a trend in your behavior and a
potential obstacle in your work means that you can keep this in mind and alert
yourself when you start going down this path of low fuel. In the last year, as you
have worked your way through the Sustainable Design program, a recurring issue
for you has been inaction, and you have been working on just doing something.
This is a great start, and I firmly believe as your work becomes more and more
aligned with your passions and values, you will face this lack of follow through less
often.

Building a community is also something you have identified as an important part of
you growing as a creative leader. This is a great goal for you to work towards, as you
have not always been great at engaging others in your work, asking others for help,
or making connections with networks or individuals who could help you grow. What
seems to be holding you back is a tendency to work hard on your own toward a goal,
not wanting to bother others, and apprehension with networking. As you have
gotten older, through college and into your early years in the professional world,
you have become better at this community building, but there is a lot more you
could be doing to engage others around you. This will benefit you and your work,
can build lasting connections, and you may find the other person benefits from your
skill sets and experiences. Building a community lines up with so many of your
values, but it is something you have done a relatively poor job of putting into action.

You have become both more confident as a creative leader and more aware of
yourself and who you are. Now, as you go into new jobs and new environments
working with other people, dont fall back into your old habits of working with your
head down. Open your eyes to the tribe around you, stand tall with the knowledge
youve gained in this course, build and engage your community, and live the values
you want to see reflected in the world around you.

A10.2 Reflection

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