“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Attributed to Mark Twain
Welcome to the Global Perspectives on Environmental Leadership: New Zealand Blog! My name is Dr. Dave Houglum and I am the Director for Leadership for the Franz Center for Leadership, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation at the University of Portland and serve as the faculty leader for this new course. This Blog will highlight the learning experiences and reflections of the amazing students who are currently in this course. We are thankful for this collaborative journey ahead with the University of Portland’s Franz Center for Leadership, Studies Abroad, Environmental Studies, and Carpe Diem Education: (https://www.carpediemeducation.org/). I want to give a special thanks to the Environmental Studies Department at the University of Portland for their contributions in sharing about critical topics that we will be experiencing first-hand in New Zealand. In particular, we wish to thank: Dr. Norah Martin, Dr. Greg Hill, Dr. Vail Fletcher, Dr. Katie O’Reilly, Dr. Kristin Sweeney, Dr. Dave Taylor, and Dr. Heather Carpenter (who is also serving as a faculty leader during our time in New Zealand!
Our course has been meeting every week for about an hour and a half during the Spring Semester, developing the critical knowledge, skills, and mindsets to prepare us for the exciting journey ahead in New Zealand. As Marcel Proust once said, “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” We have been drinking from the firehouse of amazing content over the past four months. Here is a brief description of many of the concepts and themes we have been learning about in the Global Perspectives on Leadership course thus far: global mindset, skillset, and heartset, servant leadership – serving first and through that serving we express life-giving generative leadership (Listening, Empathy, Healing, Awareness, Persuasion, Conceptualization, Foresight, Stewardship, Commitment to the Growth of People, Building Community), accompaniment – walking alongside others seeing others at eye-level, slowing down, being truly present, kinship, the interconnectedness of life and that we’re all parts of the same human family, adaptive leadership (particularly the mindset and practice of “Yes, And”…), the Social Change Model of Leadership Development (7 Cs – Consciousness of Self, Collaboration Congruence, Commitment, Common Purpose, Controversy with Civility, Citizenship), Wayfinding Leadership – the Maori indigenous people’s way of understanding the world/leading, Mana, Mauri Ora, philosophy of recognition, sphere intelligence, importance of the journey; importance of engaging with other perspectives, not one single story (expanding our perspectives and consciousness, overcoming the limitations of stereotypes), curiosity – begin with curiosity, wonder, “curiosity, not judgment,” gratitude, compassion – to suffer with; gender, tradition, culture, and leadership; being uprooted/disturbed/awakened (to ourselves, others, and the world), dance floor and balcony (being a part of the “dance” – being actively engaged and participating in the world, and then going to the “balcony” to pause, reflect, notice, become more aware, and see new patterns from a different vantage point), and VUCA – which stands for “Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous” (often used to describe the state of the world, and it’s only accelerating!). We have also been learning about important topics from the Environmental Studies faculty mentioned earlier, including: sustainability and food, indigenous leadership, reflexivity and working with indigenous people, geoscience and earthquakes, seabirds of New Zealand, environmental communication and gender, and ethnobotany. As you can see, we’ve been learning a lot and there is still so much to learn while we are in New Zealand!
Over the past few weeks, each student has selected one of the University of Portland’s Leader Character Habits that he or she will be deliberately practicing during our experience in New Zealand. These Leader Character Habits are: Motivational, Resilient, Reflective, Empathic, Prudent, Courageous, and Purposefully Engaged. Students have also been developing a greater awareness of their strengths and discerning how they will intentionally leverage their strengths to practice their Leader Character Habit of choice.
Please know that each student will have an opportunity to share about his or her experiences on this Blog while we are in New Zealand. It is possible that we might not have internet every day of our experience, however we will post whenever we are able. We welcome any comments and greetings that you’d like to send to your student on any of the Blog entries! Thank you so much for your support of the University of Portland and Global Perspectives on Environmental Leadership. We hope that you enjoy accompanying our group and learning with us during this amazing journey!
Thanks,
Dr. Dave Houglum
