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How to Be a Great Leader

Andrew Gardella

Mr. Dykes

English 255

24 April 2012

How to Be a Great Leader

“The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been.”- Henry A. Kissinger. There have been many leaders since the dawn of man, but very few have upheld the reputation of being a truly great leader. No matter who you are or where you come from, there is always a need for a leader. Unsurprisingly, this is not an easy task; it takes a lot of hard work and dedication to become someone who is capable of leading others. However, this is why I am writing this paper: to inform you how to lead others. The definition of a leader, as defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary, states that a leader is someone who has “commanding authority or influence”. Throughout the years, there have been excellent examples of people who personify what it really takes to be a great leader. I have selected three leaders who demonstrated brilliant but different leadership qualities in their lives. In no particular order, I chose Alexander the Great, Mahatma Ghandi, and a more recent leader, Steve Jobs. Each of these candidates is a proven leader, but they also have their own unique ways of leading.

One of the reasons why I chose Alexander the Great as an example of a great leader is because he did something that will likely never occur again. He ruled, what was then, the entire known world, and what was even more impressive, he did this all by the age of thirty-two. His empire extended from Ionian Sea to the Himalayas. He is also considered one of the greatest military minds of all time because of his revolutionary military tactics and his calculating demeanor. But what separates Alexander the Great from other leaders is that he led by example. From what ancient historians have gathered on him, his followers admired most because whenever he said he was going to do something, he did it. There were no “maybes” or “I might”. Without a doubt, he set the bar high for future leaders in front of him.

Despite having no military background, Mahatma Ghandi is another great example of how to be a leader. He was a political leader during the Indian Independence struggle during the early to mid-twentieth century. He is particularly known for his ideology of 'Satyagraha' or non-violence, which led to the freedom of India from the oppressive British rule. His beliefs on non-violence have even inspired great leaders of today, like the Dalai Lama and Nelson Mandela. But what really made him a great leader was his ability to communicate effectively with his followers. Nearly everyone who listened to him was inspired because he gave a clear direction of what he believed and his tactics on non-violence. However, a Hindu extremist assassinated Ghandi in 1948 because he believed that he was weakening India due to his beliefs.  Although the assassin may have succeeded in killing Ghandi, he failed in trying to eradicate his beliefs. Ghandi became a martyr to his people and stood for something far more important than himself. He became an international icon for peace.

A more recent leader, who is largely considered one of the greatest minds of his generation, is Steve Jobs. Despite his recent and untimely death, he was still able to revolutionize the computer, music, and publishing industries. As one of the co-founders of Apple, he was able to set the groundwork for what would eventually be one of the most successful computer companies in the world. But what makes Jobs a great leader was not just his creativity and his ideas for innovation, but his persistence to never give up. In the mid-80’s, Jobs had a “falling out” with one of his partners and was left with what he felt was his only option. He left, Apple, the company he helped create. He then went out and started a new company called NeXT Computer. However, only twelve years later, Apple saw the innovative work he was doing, and the company decided to acquire the company. Jobs was then selected as the new CEO of the company. He could have easily have given up after resigning from Apple and lived off his small fortune he made, but that was not enough for him. Because of his persistent nature, he did not give up, and he ultimately became the face of a new generation of technology.

Without these three leaders, I think it would be safe to say that the world as we know it would be much different. All three of these leaders are considered great because of what they have accomplished and for what they have instilled into future generations. However, you don’t have to be a world renowned leader to be great, and that’s why I’m not asking you to do that. I’m here to tell you that if you want to be a great leader, no matter who you are, you should follow these leaders example, and take from each one of them what they did best: the ability to lead by example, have a clear direction/vision, and be persistent. I’m confident that if you can learn from these leaders’ actions, you will become a successful leader in your own right, no matter the magnitude of it.

English Journal

English Journal

19 April 2012

Essays, Letters, or other Text

·         Interesting: Meaningful/insightful

·         Must have “Flow”- ideas proceed naturally and logically. Prose is clear and appropriate.

·         Stays on topic. Doesn’t go off on tangents/unrelated subject.

·         “Correct” grammar- usually standard English

·         Mechanically correct

·         Clear purpose/ thesis statement

·         Clear audience

·         Tone- appropriate to your purpose and your audience

How to Procrastinate

How To Procrastinate

            Last night, I sat in my room and thought about what I could write about for my in-class essay today. However, that didn’t last very long. I decided that I will come up with an idea tomorrow morning before class. When tomorrow morning came, I woke up with about fifteen minutes to get to class. Naturally, I had absolutely no idea what I was going to write about in class. As I walked into the classroom, it hit me. I’ll write about procrastination. There is no doubt in my mind, that out of all the things I know how to do best, this is definitely at the top of the list. To procrastinate is defined by Merriam-Webster Dictionary as “to put off intentionally and habitually.” Obviously, I have mastered this concept. After numerous years of experience and practice, I have discovered five easy steps as to how to procrastinate like a pro.

Step 1: Take your time

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand that, generally speaking, procrastinators never get anything done. So why not just slow everything down and enjoy the little things, like lying in bed for an extra hour or watching reruns of Baywatch. 

Step 2: Avoid thinking about the future

No real procrastinators have any idea of what they will be doing the next day. You take everything as it comes. “Just wing it” is my motto.

Step 3: Make leisure time more important than work

Any real procrastinator will tell you that working is overrated. There is a saying among us procrastinators, “Work occasionally and play a lot.”

Step 4: Create a Facebook account

I don’t care how old you are or how much you hate social networks, having a Facebook account is one of the greatest procrastination tools known to man. I can’t even begin tell you how many times I have needed to get something done and then five minutes later I find myself on Facebook reading people status updates and looking at girls newly updated pictures.

Step 5: Have a carefree attitude

This part is essential. Don’t care about what others think. You shouldn’t feel guilty about putting things off. Do what makes you happy, and for procrastinators, that is usually doing nothing.

Nxt-Generation Eyewear

Andrew Gardella

Mr. Dykes

English 255

29 March 2012

NXT-Generation Eyewear

“There are no dreams too large, no innovation unimaginable and no frontiers beyond our reach.”- John S. Herrington. Imagination and creativity are a key component to surviving in today’s business world, and even then, you are not guaranteed success. It has been the mission of my company, NXT-Generation Eyewear, to develop a product that will revolutionize the eyewear industry. After years of painstaking research, my team and I have finally integrated some of today’s most advanced technology and put it inside what appears to be just normal ski goggles. However, I am here to tell you that they are anything but ordinary. Most of the features you see in these goggles have never been attempted by any other company. Some of these features include: state-of-the-art GPS tracking, advanced proprietary lens technology that incorporates a polarized filter that prevents 99% of the glare from the sun and slopes (reducing eye fatigue), automatically adjusting lens light level, HD 1080 p camera on front of goggles, and, finally, blue-tooth technology that allows you to sync to your cell-phone and even to listen to music all while you ski.

In a business that has been dominated by a few companies for countless years, it’s, undoubtedly, going to be difficult to break through. But that is why we are focusing on one specific factor: location. Obviously, it cannot be stated enough that location is key, especially for something as particular as our product.  Since the inception of our company, we have based our operations out of Denver, Colorado, which is clearly a great place to start. However, now that we have our product finished and ready for production, we want to act fast and market our product to people further west and even further up north in Canada, where skiing and snowboarding are parts of everyday life. Eventually, we would like to evolve globally and be capable of selling our product all over the world. We are confident our goals will be met, but we also know to remain patient, because good things take time. We have also been working on other aspects of our marketing campaign that will help our sales. Of course, skiing and snowboarding are for people of all ages, but we want to focus our marketing strategy on a certain demographic, primarily, males and females between the ages of 18-30. We feel that this group is the most involved in skiing, and that in today’s social media dominated world, the younger crowd can even help market our product to people everywhere.

Because we are trying to market to this certain age group, we feel that our overall look needs to be eye-catching and to the point. We feel our company logo and motto is exactly what the youth of today wants. The logo is a dark setting with a mountaintop in the background and with a single skier on top. Beneath the logo, it states: “Seeing is Believing”. It’s simple and we believe it connects to our audience.

Of course, we also know that one of the best ways you can market your product to people is by having someone famous endorse it for you. This is why we have already been in talks with famous skiers and snowboarders around the world who may want to help us. Some include Lindsey Vonn, Shaun White, and many more. Ultimately, if these professionals decide to endorse our product, there is no doubt that it would prove to be huge for our marketing campaign. We have also been in contact with the local media who has been greatly interested in our new product. We have already had several interviews for different newspapers that have proved to be very beneficial because we have now garnered national news coverage from TV stations like ABC and NBC.

Since our product has not officially been released, there have many questions about the affordability of our product. First off, it’s clear that our product is not just everyday goggles that people wear every day. Our product is an advanced piece of technology that is new and innovative that has never been seen before in the skiing and snowboarding market. However, I also believe that making this product affordable is key to our successful marketing campaign, especially since we are trying to market ourselves to a younger and trendier crowd who may not have as much money as their older counterparts. I have had numerous curious friends and family members who have expressed their worries to me. They simply don’t believe that this product will be affordable to our demographic. To their surprise, I told them it is actually going to be very reasonably priced. I have had long talks with my company partners and we have come to the conclusion that having such an advanced piece of eye-wear for fewer than five-hundred dollars is a bargain. We have done the math. We know we can still make a profit with these prices and that, hopefully, our product will catch on fast so we won’t even have to worry about the price of the goggles.

Ever since this company was founded in 2003, we have made it our goal to have the most technologically advanced piece of eyewear the world has ever seen. We have had many people along the way tell us that it couldn’t be done. However, it is now 2012, and I am here to tell you that they were wrong. After all the work my team and I have put into this product over the years, the only thing I have to say to those cynics now is, “Seeing is Believing”.

English Journal 8

English Journal 8

3 April 3, 2012

A poster’s main objective is to catch your attention and inform you of something. After going over the reading in the book, it became apparent that there are countless different ways for posters to catch your attention. My favorite poster in the reading is the movie poster for “Vertigo”, starring James Stewart and Kim Novak. The main reason why I find it so appealing is because of how simple it looks. I also get the feeling of knowing exactly what to expect in the movie because in the front of the poster James Stewart and Kim Novak are holding each other tightly as if something intense is happening. My least favorite poster in the reading was the movie poster “Attack of the 50ft Woman”. The reason why I dislike it so much is because she is way taller than fifty feet in the poster. I wish the makers of the poster would have drawn her to scale instead of drawing her looking like she is five hundred feet.

English Journal 7

English Journal 7

27 March 2012

• ·         When promoting a product, you should not use “I think” or “I might”, etc.

• ·         Don’t just describe your product and say it’s awesome, say why it’s awesome.

• ·         Use Adjectives: positive, dynamic, avoid clichés and overused language

• ·         Adverbs and other modifiers

• ·         Verbs: active verbs, simple verb forms

• ·         Incredibly boring sentence: “I believe that people might be interested in a concept like this one. Vs. “Conscientious people believe in existentialism.”

• ·         Be specific

• ·         Avoid self-reference

• ·         Make paper more exciting first, then bring in more details later

English Journal 6

English Journal 6

1 March 2012

My brief definition of Affirmative Action:

I don’t really know many details about it, but I’ll just tell you what I know. It is the government helping the racial minorities in our country gets jobs and admittance to certain programs. This is in place to help counteract the past discrimination of certain races.

My opinion of Affirmative Action

For the most part, I believe that Affirmative Action is good thing. However, I do think that in some ways it is flawed. I feel that some people may try and take advantage of the system. Though I believe there are far more people who don’t abuse it than people that do. Overall,  I think that some things could be change but for now I feel that it is a good measure to help disadvantaged minorities.

English Journal 5

English Journal 5

28 February 2012

                I have just finished reading Lynda Barry’s comic “Common Scents”. At first, I found it to be a little boring and I didn’t really get the point right away. But as I kept reading, I began to understand what she was trying to get across to her readers. She uses how people smell as a way to judge people. In her comic, a boy comes across different people who have unique smells, some good and some bad. Lynda shows how shallow people can be by judging them on how they smell. If people smell differently from you, then we can judge them as a bad person. The boy in the comic is confused by the way we judge people, and he seems to believe that if we can see how smells bind and separate us then we can make more educated decisions about other people. From what I have read, she is trying to instill that classic thought into her reader’s minds. “Don’t judge a book by its cover”. By the end of her comic, I found myself thinking if this is how I act in real life. Lynda Barry really challenges you to think of others first and their situation before you judge them.

English Journal 4

English Journal 4

For an English assignment, my teacher asked me to think of some “groups” which I might belong to. Here are some that I thought would be relevant to me.

1.       Male

2.       White

3.       American

4.       Presbyterian

5.       20 years old

6.       Upper-Middle class

7.       College educated

8.       Fraternity

9.       Single

10.   Boxer

English Journal 1

Reaction Paper

English Journal 1- 1/19/2010

This article reminded me that there are still good people out there in our world. This man changed the lives of everyone he met. You don’t see many men like him today. I think the article pretty much summed up his life when the writer wrote,” that it might be greedy to demand a miracle when you’ve been looking at one all your life.” After reading this article, I realized he is a true American hero.

Why Peyton Manning Should Return to the NFL

Why Peyton Manning Should Return to the NFL

"He's been such a highly accomplished performer year in and year out. Just when you think you've seen his best, he improves upon it." – Jim Caldwell. There is no doubt that Peyton Manning has already cemented his legacy as one of the greatest NFL quarterbacks of all time and a bid in the Hall of Fame. However, many people see his past accomplishments and see his current health problems, and think he needs to just retire while he is still on top. I say those people are delusional. If all goes well with his upcoming surgeries, he expects to start at the first game of the year. The current situation with the Colts and Peyton is a difficult one, and it has many people wondering whether or not he will ever wear a Colts jersey again. But even if he doesn’t play for the Colts, he is still capable of being the best quarterback in the league no matter what team he plays for next season. After having thought about this topic for a while now, I have put together three reasons why Peyton should return to the NFL.

Reason number 1: One of the main arguments against him coming back is that he is too old and his health is failing. However, it’s been proven time and time again that age is just a number, and his health is actually better than people are led to believe. When asked in an interview recently concerning his health, Peyton said, “I really feel good. I continue to make progress every day. Everything that the doctors have told me has been on point, which is encouraging to me.” He will turn 36 during next season. Granted, that is pretty old for an NFL player, which, according to a Businessweek article from January 2011, the average age of an NFL player is 27. There is no doubt he still has the physical tools to compete at a high-level. Have we forgotten that in 2010 he passed for over 4,700 yards and threw 33 Touchdowns? He did that as a 34 year old.  As long as he has that mental drive to play the game, I don’t think his age will play any factor, at least not for another three or four years. It’s not crazy to think that Peyton has a couple more good seasons in him, if not more.

Reason number 2: From the NFL’s perspective, they would love to see Peyton stick around for another couple years. But it’s probably not for the same reasons why most people want him to stay. The NFL has become a giant business whose main drive isn’t football anymore, but money. Thus it’s no surprise that they would want him to stay since he has been in the top 10 best-selling jerseys for the past 5 years, according to NFLShop.com. The NFL would lose a lot of money just from jersey sales alone if Peyton retired now. From there eyes, there is still a lot of money to be made from him. Also, just having the name “Manning” on something, the NFL is making money off of it.

Reason number 3: Peyton is a competitor and he is still capable of winning another Super Bowl. Also, who wants to be “one-upped” by their little brother? By the end of the 2010 season, Peyton is third on the all-time TD passes, passes completed, and total yards list in a career. Either the Colts don’t want another Super Bowl or they are already preparing for the future with their number 1 overall pick in this year’s draft. Regardless, they are being foolish. There is no downside to keeping him around. They can still use their pick to get Andrew Luck in the draft, and then have him sit behind Peyton for a couple years learning from one of the best quarterbacks who have ever lived. Peyton is the once in a generation type of quarterback who has changed the game for the better. He mastered the concept of reading and breaking down defenses. Defensive coordinators have often times called Peyton a “headache” to coach against because of his uncanny ability to dissect the defense. He could audible at the line because he noticed something in the defense he didn’t like, and the majority of the time he was right. Even in the NFL, not many offensive coordinators like their quarterbacks changing the plays at the line, but Peyton has proven to be different. After one of his games in 2010, he said, “We were aggressive the first series of the second half. I was changing every play. Tom (the offensive coordinator) was calling some run plays. I just kind of got hot and changed it.”

There are good QB’s, then there are great QB’s, then there is Peyton Manning. For the last 14 seasons, he has set the bar for most QB’s in the NFL today. Even if the Colts can’t find a spot on their roster for Peyton, I am sure another team will, and when that team does, they all but guaranteed themselves a shot at going to the Super Bowl. Peyton Manning has inspired many, and will continue to inspire those around him. Thus it shouldn’t come to a surprise to people when Peyton walks out playing in the first game of the season.