Opportunities After College

I follow the "brand yourself.com" blog because it has plenty of good information about personal branding for entrepreneurs, small business owners, and individuals. This entry speaks directly to undergrads and recent grads who are having a hard time moving into the "real world."

College grads are swimming in a sea of rejection letters. According to a recent survey by the Association of Colleges and Employers, a mere 20% of 2009 college graduates who applied for a job actually got one. So what are the options for the other 80%? Well, many are setting up shop back home for the time being, and as depressing as that may sound, it could actually be the best thing that ever happened to them.

That is because although opportunities after college seem very few and far between in this bleak job market, being young and unemployed actually opens up a staggering amount of opportunities, that is of course, if you’re willing to operate a little outside of the box.

Opportunities After College | Brand-Yourself.com Blog

...Then of course there is a contrarian view...

“I don’t want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career. I don’t want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed. You know, as a career, I don’t want to do that.”

—Lloyd Dobler, Say Anything

Brothers come together to help end homelessness across the globe

We met Donald through the LinkedIn Sigma Phi Epsilon Group. The work he is doing is inspiring, to say the least, so we asked him to send us some information to post on the blog. Be sure to visit his web site at www.reach4children.org 

Winchester, Virginia, December 16, 2008: In 2004, a tsunami ravaged South East Asia leaving little hope and many without shelter. A fellow SigEp, Donald Stevens, was motivated into action to help rebuild and provide relief to those affected by the storm. After spending time serving the citizens of Sri Lanka, Donald founded Reconstruction Efforts Aiding Children without Homes (REACH), an organization that brings environmentally friendly and sustainable buildings to children affected by natural disaster, poverty, and war around the world.

This mission has ignited and spread among many through various projects and networking tools such as Linkedin.com and Facebook. Among those around the world drawn to the work of Donald and REACH, were two fellow SigEps, Christopher Ellis (Virginia Iota) and Deryck Boulanger (New Hampshire Gamma). Both found Donald through the professional networking site Linkedin.com, and were brought on board as action advisors to help REACH accomplish its mission of aiding those in need.

Banding together and reestablishing your connection with the fraternity has never been easier. Through the internet, brothers have been able to reach across borders and strengthen the brotherly love that holds this fraternity together. These SigEps have proven that with every graduating generation, this fraternity has succeeded in their mission of “building balanced leaders for the world’s communities.”

Living the life of a balanced man doesn’t stop at graduation. The lessons taught in undergrad propel you into being successful in balancing work, life, health, family, and much more. The ancient wisdom that guides the ideas and values of SigEp can be seen in use by its members serving their communities and the world. These ideas of existing to contribute to making the world a better place, and being a part of something greater than ourselves, can also be found in the building blocks of REACH.

Helping Donald see his vision become reality is a huge motivating factor for both Chris and Deryck. Both played prominent roles in their respective houses, but have had difficulty finding the kind of fulfillment that comes from serving others. With what Donald, and REACH have accomplished already it is no wonder why so many are drawn to aid in their efforts. With the help of more SigEps, REACH could grow to new levels, providing more and more children around the world with the opportunity to develop into the leaders of tomorrow.

About: REACH is a Virginia based non-profit, charitable organization filing for 501(c)3 Federal Tax Exemption status with the IRS under application EIN# 33-1211165.

Please visit www.reach4children.org and find out how you can work with fellow SigEps and others to help build chances for children around the world.

New Book: "Guyland" by Michael Kimmel

Chuck Eberly is a longtime volunteer and a person who has strong academic credentials. He sent us an email recommending "Guyland" by Michael Kimmel and noted that our "Balanced Man" program is favorably mentioned. Rather than try to restate what he said, here is his email.

Dear Friends and Brothers,

Please consider purchasing this book. In all my years as a fraternity chapter advisor I have never read anything quite like Michael Kimmel's "Guyland". John Robson, Editor of the Sigma Phi Epsilon Journal for 28 years, and my mentor, used to say that everything published about men and the college fraternity from academic circles was about "white heat" and never about "red heart." He lamented frequently that few understood what was behind young men's behavior. Michael Kimmel's Guyland is such a book.

Please note, in particular, the last entry on the back of the book cover (scroll down the entire document and the book cover will appear).

Would it be possible to advocate this book on the Sig Ep Headquarters website? I quote specifically from the next to last page of the book:

"Sigma Phi Epsilon has embraced a new "balanced man program," which the fraternity developed in the 1990s to combat a culture of "boozing, drugging, and hazing." They've simply and unilaterally done away with the pledge system; new members have virtually all the rights and privileges of brothers. The brothers are presumed to be men when they begin; they don't have to prove their manhood to their peers. Scott Thompson, the fraternity's national spokesman, told a journalist:

New members don't pledge for a certain period of time, get hazed, get initiated, and then show up for parties until they graduate. In the Balanced Man Program, men join, and they are developed from the time they join until the time they graduate. Part of that development focuses on building a sound mind and sound body, a simple philosophy that we took from the ancient Greeks.

Here, in the words of a former frat guy, lies the hope of guys everywhere: that the culture of entitlement can become a culture of integrity—in which guys know that each person's integrity is equal to his own.

Interfraternally,
Chuck Eberly, Chapter Counselor
Illinois Nu of Sigma Phi Epsilon

HQ will have to make their own decision about the book, but we like what we see and what Chuck said. Chuck followed up with this further information:

This is an outstanding book, and I am so very pleased that two Illinois Nu brothers, Jimmy Friesema and Michael Nowak, were selected to endorse the book on the back cover. Jimmy was SigEP Pt in 2006-2007, and Michael was IFC president for two years, during which time he was the first undergraduate Sig Ep to accept a NIC Award of Distinction at the NIC meeting in Washington, D. C., for the best IFC in the nation. He is now a graduate student in Communication Studies at EIU, and a GA in Athletic Fundraising. Jimmy is completing his student teaching in social studies, and plans to graduate in December 2008.

This book is in the "S&P Recommends" panel on the sidebar.

Betas Push EIL

Emotionally Intelligent Leadership

In recent years, Beta Theta Pi has invested its time and financial resources into leadership development. A search for the word leadership on Amazon.com returns more than 178,000 results. Amazingly, a similar search on Google yields 269 million hits! Consider that you can read more than 2,000 published definitions of leadership. Yet, although the topic of leadership is far-reaching, surprisingly few books focus on leadership as it applies to college students.

Part of the motivation behind Emotionally Intelligent Leadership: A Guide for College Students includes the belief that Betas and all undergraduates have a terrific “learning lab” at their disposal. The campus environment provides a rich and plentiful array of opportunities for students to practice leadership skills for four (or maybe five) years. Campus-based organizations, residence halls, teams and related opportunities provide students with many different ways to get involved. Students can experiment with different approaches to leadership — honing the philosophy and style that best suits them.

However, as the General Fraternity’s leadership has realized, unless there are opportunities for students to intentionally reflect upon successes and failures, much of the learning opportunities may fall to the wayside. In addition, without consistent guidance from advisors or local mentors, undergraduate leaders may make the same mistakes over and over. Our exploration of emotionally intelligent leadership (EIL) provides undergraduates with the opportunity to pause and reflect on how they can better approach any leadership role, positional or non-positional.


About Emotionally Intelligent Leadership
Emotionally intelligent leadership synthesizes two major bodies of research and theory: emotional intelligence and leadership.

In 1990, Peter Salovey and John Mayer published a scholarly paper in which they coined the term emotional intelligence. They defined emotional intelligence as “the ability to monitor one’s own and others’ feelings and emotions to use the information to guide one’s thinking and actions.”

In 1995, the term was made popular by Daniel Goleman in his book Emotional Intelligence. In his follow-up book, Goleman (1998) defined emotional intelligence as “the capacity for recognizing our own feelings and those of others, for motivating ourselves and for managing emotions well in ourselves and in our relationships.”

Foremost in this model of emotionally intelligent leadership, the leader must be conscious of three fundamental facets that contribute to the leadership dynamic: consciousness of context, self and others.

Here is an example to clarify what is meant by consciousness of self, others and context. Let’s examine President John F. Kennedy as an exemplar of this model. Kennedy (self) was elected at a time (context) when his personal leadership attributes and his message aligned with that being sought by the people of the United States (others). Would President Kennedy be elected today? No one knows. Based on our reading of theory and research on leadership, one thing is certain — were he to seek election today, Kennedy would need to align his message with issues that mesh with our current reality and context.

Effective leaders in any organization or sector of society ensure that their message resonates with the interests and desires of others (Goleman, Boyatzis, & McKee, 2002). Effective or ineffective leadership is therefore a relationship between these three facets: consciousness of context, consciousness of self and consciousness of others. Leaders’ ability to monitor all three intentionally will aid in their ability to lead effectively. After all, leaders must be aware of their capacities, the needs of those who follow them and the environmental factors that come into play as well.

Along with the general framework mentioned above, EIL consists of 21 capacities to which a leader should pay attention. In the American Heritage Dictionary, capacity is defined as “ability to perform or produce; capability.” This word was chosen because everyone has the capacity to develop the ability to lead others effectively. The question comes down to choice — do we want to?

In essence, effective leadership is like being on a golf course and using the right golf clubs well in the right situation. The best players have mastered this technique. They are aware of how the weather, the course and the competition contribute to the equation. The best players have the skills to choose intentionally and play effectively with different clubs, given new or changing circumstances.

Developing Your EIL
If you are interested in developing your EIL, then you need a healthy balance of these capacities. There is no fixed formula for which capacities you must demonstrate; that would minimize the complexities and realities of leadership and of us as human beings.

It is not effective or advisable to demonstrate any one of these capacities to excess. For instance, leaders can take teamwork to an extreme and become bogged down when trying to progress and move forward. On the other hand, leaders may completely negate the importance of teamwork and alienate themselves from the group. In addition, leaders with low capacity for empathy may have a difficult time convincing others to believe that they have others’ best interests at heart.

The bottom line is that each capacity requires balance. The trick is that the right level of being in balance is dynamic — it’s constantly shifting. In other words, an appropriate capacity for developing relationships in one context may be inadequate in others, based on the leader, the followers and the context. The best leaders realize this, and they intentionally adjust their approaches or levels based on the needs of others and the context.

Leadership development is a long-term endeavor — a journey that all of us must consistently work on if we want to develop and grow. And as with any knowledge, skill or ability, you need to reflect on your successes and failures, observe others whom you admire and respect, and engage in trusting relationships with people who will provide you with open and honest feedback. Finally, and perhaps most important, to demonstrate emotionally intelligent leadership you must transfer this knowledge into action.

— S. Allen and M. Shankman

Scott J. Allen, Ph.D., Minnesota ’95 and Marcy Levy Shankman are co-authors of Emotionally Intelligent Leadership: A Guide for College Students. Allen is the founder of The Center for Leader Development.