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Guest Post- Life Lessons You Can Learn From Travelling

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Today’s guest post is courtesy of writer and entrepreneur, William Bourn. Thanks, William! 🙂 

Buddha says: there is only one mistake one can make along the road to truth; not going along the way, and not starting. But let’s make room for one more along this road: not looking at what’s right in front of you.

When people are under pressure or stress, they tend to shut other people out. History class was the worst for me. My teacher would always make us write essays, and I’d do my essay at home, but then suddenly I realized that everything I wrote was all wrong, and I’d get all stressed about it since tomorrow is the deadline, and then I’d start yelling at my brother whenever he tried to pester me. Well, that may be a bit milder than the usual situations, but the point is when we become stressed, we tend to vent it out our frustrations on other people.  Actions like this stick with every aspect of their life. They become distrustful of other people. They then treat the present world as a one painful yesterday. It may help them get through the feeling of confusion and pain at the time, but they will realize later on how it affects their life decisions.

You can spot these people from a mile away because of their irrational statements. They say things like, “people can’t be trusted” or “people are idiots”. These are the roots of prejudice.

How can you possibly feel hostility towards somebody who loves his community and reaches out to visitors? The only way to do this is by failing to see the person for who they are and only seeing the shadow of a past enemy instead.

Travelling and communicating with the world are the solutions to these problems. We were raised knowing certain traditions and norms, and when we come across people who go beyond or below the standards, we develop hatred. By traveling, we become exposed to different cultures and people, which broadens our understanding of different kinds of people. It’s the way to cure our prejudices.

There are tons of life lessons we can learn from traveling, and since I’m pretty fond of traveling from one place to another, let me show you some of my favorites:

It’s okay not to plan everything

We’re used to planning things out before we execute them. We need to plan our weekend. We need to plan for our future. We need to plan who to marry. We need to plan which clothes to wear. We need to plan when to go to the dentist.

Planning has already become an important aspect of our life that attempting to do something unplanned seems frightening. But when we travel we realize that no matter how hard we try to plan everything, things won’t always work out the way we want it to.

I once booked a plane ticket to California to attend our family reunion. All my cousins were there. I was really looking forward to talking with them again after we’ve been separated for five years. I booked the ticket three days early. When the big day came, I was so excited to step out of the car and board in the airport, but as I did one of the employees told me that my flight was delayed and will resume the following week. Needless to say, I wasn’t able to come to the reunion. What’s the moral of the story? Things won’t always go the way it’s planned. That doesn’t mean you stop caring about everything that happens to you. It just means, do your best to prepare, but if you left out some details, that’s okay too. Things will just fall in its proper place.

It’s okay to be lost

Everyone who knows me knows how bad I am at taking directions. I’ve been commuting to my new workplace for a couple of months now, but there are still times when I find myself lost in the middle of nowhere. And then I have to ask people where I am just so I can maneuver my way back to the office. When you’re in the city having poor navigation skills is a bad thing. You can’t get to places. Even if you did, it’s going to be a while before you get there. But when you’re a traveler, you know that getting lost is just another new opportunity to explore and learn new things. Instead of feeling sorry for yourself for your lack of direction sense, just embrace it. Take the time to look around and appreciate nature’s beauty.

There are times in our life when we feel lost. We don’t know if we’re on the right track. What do I mean? Well, there are times that we feel like we’ve made wrong decisions, taking us to places we shouldn’t be, but instead of hating ourselves for our mistakes, we should just enjoy the ride and see what happens next. We can’t avoid mistakes, but we can learn from them.

Talk to strangers

Contrary to what our parents taught us, talk to strangers. The truth is, we can be a bit choosy when it comes to people. We only want to talk to people who we think are a lot like us, and ignore the ones who we think are uncool. And oftentimes, this brings us to a situation where we feel like everyone’s up to no good. We’ve all been there a couple of times: our best friend betraying us, boyfriend or girlfriend cheating on us, a workmate working towards ruining us. But it’s only because we don’t look beyond our gates.

We get to meet amazing people when we talk to strangers. There are people who think that they are travelers just because they travel a lot. You’re only a travel lover when you can travel by yourself. Real travelers feel excitement upon having to meet new people.

Don’t stress over things you can’t change

We want things to go our way. To do that, we study until we drop, we work until there’s nothing left of us, we train until we’re in tip-top shape. But sadly, this never did anything but got us frustrated. We just have to accept that there are things that we can’t change.

I used to be so upset when our bus broke down. But ever since traveling became an integral part of my life, accidents become another opportunity to just chill and enjoy the moment.

The world isn’t so scary

Stepping out of our comfort zone has always been scary. Just think about all the wolves and lions that could devour us at any moment right after we step out of our gates. But when you’re a traveler, you’ll realize that all those scary characters we hear about are just simple people being themselves. They’re not really going to swallow us whole. They won’t be hurting one piece of our body. We just have to accept that people are what they are and that we just need to adapt.

Author Bio:

williamb

William Bourn is one of the pillars of crazy essay, alongside his college peers. He functions as both writer and social media ambassador for their business.  He occasionally makes podcasts for students and newbie bloggers to better their writing. William continuously practices corporate social responsibility by donating to various foundations.

Guest Post- Stop Trying to Find Work-Life Balance. Start Creating It.

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Photo courtesy of Pixabay by TheDigitalWay

~Today’s Guest Post is courtesy of Career Coach and fellow Blogger, Julie Morris. Julie has graciously written a lovely article about stress management advice that I know my readers will love. She has a wonderful outlook on living life to the fullest and I am honored to feature such a great post on my tiny blog. Thank you, Julie! 🙂

Enjoy!

The modern business world pressures us to be workaholics while glamorizing the habit of staying busy as if it were an art form. Perhaps this is why so many entrepreneurs, freelancers and businesses professionals find themselves craving work-life balance. Some people have started to believe that work-life balance in modern society is actually just a myth. Speaking from experience, it’s very possible to achieve a healthy balance between work and personal time; we’ve just been going about it all wrong. As a society, we talk about “finding” work-life balance as if all we have to do is walk into a room and simply look for it. Instead of expecting the work-life balance to be an effortless task, we must actively change habits and shift priorities to build the happy, fulfilling life we’ve dreamed of.

If your New Year’s Resolution is to find more balance, here are some changes you can make today to start working towards your goal:

Unplug

I know, I know, you’ve heard it so many times before. Here’s why…

Unplugging (turning off the computer and putting down your phone) is important for us to do on a regular basis. In addition to improving work-life balance, studies have shown it has actual health benefits for the human body. Give your brain a rest, reduce stress and anxiety, sleep better, and get back to enjoying the moment.

Schedule It
If you’re having trouble finding time to unplug, try scheduling it on your calendar like you would for any other task. This holds true for ME time, exercise, self-care time, or any activities that will make you feel less stressed about work.

Start Small
When you first start to prioritize yourself, it can feel strange. If you’re finding it difficult or even shameful to pull yourself away from important projects and deadlines for the sake of reading a book or relaxing with friends, here’s a tip that might help. Start small. Instead of scheduling a whole hour for self-care time, try blocking off a smaller window of time. The length of time is up to you. What feels realistic to you today? Even if you start with just five minutes per day, you will eventually start to feel the benefits – and you can always work your way up from there.

Shift Your Perspective
Instead of beating yourself up for the things you didn’t accomplish by the end of the day, start re-training your brain to focus on positivity. Business coach and former Google employee Jenny Blake offers the following advice: At the end of your workday, create a list of everything you did accomplish that day, even if it was only chipping away at a much larger project.

Work-life balance isn’t something that can be found because it isn’t something that just magically happens. You have to prioritize it and work for it, just like anything else in life. It may feel strange scheduling time for yourself at first. You may even feel a little guilty not checking your work emails. Over time, however, you’ll start to find that you’re less burnt out and more productive at work because you’ve created some healthy boundaries and prioritized your own well-being. Optimizing your home for stress-free living wouldn’t hurt either. You get enough stress from work.

You certainly don’t need your place of living to add to that.

Julie Morris – juliemorris.org

~Doing What We Have To Do~

thetinywriter 4 Comments

~Sometimes doing what we love or doing what we want isn’t in the cards. Sometimes doing what we have to do is what we must do… right now. I came to this realization after finishing school in April.

I was completely broke. I hadn’t had a full-time job in over a year and moving into a more expensive living situation started eating up my savings.  I desperately wanted to start my business and I gave it a good try for about a month, but I decided I had to put my dreams on hold to make money. So that’s what I did all summer: I made money.

I haven’t been writing on my blog and I’ve gone silent on my social media accounts over the last few months. I needed a full-time job and that’s exactly what I got. I gave up most of my summer to work every day to try to push myself ahead once again. In just 3 months, I worked my way into a front desk manager position at my office after the previous manager walked out. I was suddenly it.

So I owned it.

I looked at my situation and said to myself, “Just do it!” I buckled down and worked my entire summer away. I took responsibility and proved myself worthy of the workload.

Starting a business is a lot of work. More work than I was willing to put in with the amount of money I had; which was next to nothing. I did the research and discovered I wasn’t ready at all. I didn’t have the time or the money and I knew right away it wasn’t going to work out. Which in the grander scheme of things is just fine with me. I don’t want to rush into something that I’m not ready for. Don’t get me wrong; I love writing and I still have every intention of starting my travel website, but only when the time is right.

My new job took up all of my energy. I was mentally drained after long days of training new people, working in a very busy office and picking up the pieces of the previous employees who had left a big mess behind. I had absolutely no mental capacity to sit down and write what I wanted to write. I only took two weeks to go have some summer fun with my boyfriend and that was the only time I had off. We did a mini road trip through the Kootenays, hit up Shambhala Music Festival and went camping beside a gorgeous waterfall beside a beautiful lake. It was pretty awesome!

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I chose to do what I had to do. Doing what we have to do is not always what we want to do, but I am happy with my decision. Life is full of choices and I chose to work full-time to better my money situation before starting something much bigger.

I’m still young. I still have so much time to do what I want 🙂 And so this minor setback is actually not a setback at all. It’s just a bit of a detour on my life long journey to get to where I want to be. I will still travel. I will still write. I will do what I want to do eventually when the time is right.

Right now I’m doing what I have to do and I’m ok with that. I like my job and the people who work in my office so working towards my dreams by putting them on hold for now is not such a bad thing.

It’s just what I have to do 🙂 Staying hopeful, keeping positive and still enjoying life. That’s what life is all about, right?!

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The Road to Self Employment ~ Step #1: The Business Plan

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~Every business starts out with an idea. Then that idea is turned into a business plan of action. There are many steps to follow when starting your own business and with a lot of hard work and determination the last step ends with success.

What’s your key to success?keyboard-621829_1280

I’ve tried a handful of different business ideas and none of them ever worked out for me. But it wasn’t because they weren’t great opportunities full of potential, it was that they were not the right fit for my future. I have tried many multi-level marketing companies that involved selling products such as dietary supplements, cleansing kits, health food alternatives, telecommunications and even coffee.

I also tried out self employment as a Personal Trainer for a few years and ran my business by going to people’s homes, personal gyms and group training boot camps. Each business had a great compensation plan and a bucket load of wonderful people involved, but they just did not fill my heart with passion. Although writing has been my passion for years, I have always held myself back.

I ask myself: “What if I’m not good enough?” or “What if people don’t like what I have to say?”

And those two questions have stopped me in my tracks many times. Now I am finally ready to work on the business plan that I’ve wanted to do for a very long time. It’s travel blog time!

A business plan consists of many things: statistics, numbers, time frames, information and facts that secure the business idea.

You have to ask yourself: Is this a viable business that can make money?

Will my costs be more than I am willing to pay out?

Can I put in the hours that are required to deliver results?

Do I have the start up funds I need to get going?

mark-516277_1280Once these variables are sorted out then the business plan  can finally be put together. I think of it like a mind map. You must fill in the bubbles with the ideas and connect the dots to create a road map to success.

Well it’s time to get started.

There is a lot of work to be done and step by step I will collect my information and start working on my material.

Are you self-employed? Maybe you might have some advice or would like to connect and chat about self employment.  I would love to hear any success stories out there or even network with others just getting started on this same path. 🙂

If you would like to chime in, please leave a comment in the box below. I love connecting! ~T

Thursday Thoughts: The Job Hunt

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~It’s always a bit scary going back out into the working world after a break from the typical 9-5 workday for 5 days a week. And after school it feels a bit intimidating as I am now looking for a completely different kind of career. I was a Dental Assistant for so many years and I’ve never really ventured away from that particular field, even when changing to reception.

Now it’s time to promote some new skills. It is now time for The Job Hunt.

Business is everything from small start-up companies to large corporations and I am ready for something exciting and interesting. But how do you find exactly what you’re looking for when you don’t really know what exactly it is you are looking for in the first place.

I suppose I just have to test those waters and stick my hands in a few different pots.

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I’ve been looking for intriguing job postings that sound fun and lively such as small marketing firms and graphic design companies. One of most appealing postings I found is a small start-up company that specializes in creating mobile apps, online marketing and other cool techy stuff. The best part about the posting was that they want someone who likes Foosball and handing out snacks to the team. Those are two of my favorite things! I love snacks 🙂

Digital Marketing is the future of almost everything if you think about it and I want to be a part of it all. So those are the kinds of positions I will be looking for. Flexible hours, creative thinking and a fun team of people is just what I need for my future endeavors. I need to get into some serious research and find a company that has all of those things.

I would love to do something like an internship where I learn everything about the organization and follow cool people around all day learning about what they do. I definitely don’t want to settle for the same old job anymore. It’s time to branch out and gain some experience with my list of new skills and abilities.

My objective: to find employment in an establishment where I can apply both my business and writing skills.

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Wish me luck!
xo

Another Phase of Life Completed~Now for the next step

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vision-board-520757_1280~I have finally completed my 12 week business program at the University of Victoria. It’s been an incredible journey and extremely intense to say the least. With a final exam every week and homework every night, my blog posts have yet again been few and far between.

But now another phase of life is completed. Now for the next step. To make my world what I want it to be.

I’m feeling a bit nervous to go back out into the real world and everyone keeps asking me what I am going to do now that I have a certificate in business.

In all honesty, I have no idea.

I do however know exactly what I want to do. I want to write and travel the world and somehow make those two things go together. Whatever the next step is, I’m actually not quite sure where it’s going to take me. I have always ended up answering phones, greeting people and filing at a reception desk and I would like to try to do something completely different. I’ve always defaulted to working in a dental office because that’s really the only field I’m experienced in. But now I want to do something different, exciting and new! 🙂

And since nothing is written in stone, I nothing-is-written-in-stone-527756_1280need to build up the confidence to try something I’ve never tried before. I can now say I have extra abilities and skills I didn’t have before.

I’m done looking for postings on Craigslist and I’m ready to start networking through people who are doing what I want to be doing. I would love to get into a publication where I can learn the ins and outs of the writing industry. I want to know what it’s like to work directly with an Editor.

So I’ve revamped my resumé and I’m working on making my portfolio look perfect. It’s never to late to change something and I guess that’s exactly what I did. I suppose I just need to dive right into the job search as soon as possible and put myself out there.

I refuse to give up.
I refuse to do something I don’t love thoroughly.

I vow to myself I will not stop searching until I find the perfect job. I may not be an extraordinary writer but I am willing to follow my dream as far as I can.

“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.
–Thomas A. Edison

Whoo Graduation!! 😀 Here we go!

International Business Paper #1- The Conservation Controversy

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~This week I am finishing the last part of my business program in International Business. My last course. I have three papers to write and here is my first one:

Write a 2-3 page paper on International Business of any kind. 

The Conservation Controversy

There is an overwhelming amount of poverty, animal decline, and other serious problems in different countries all over the world. There are also many conservation efforts being made and a large amount of travelers either teach English abroad or volunteer at some point on their journey. After some research I’ve realized that there is a controversy hidden within the concepts of volunteering and working in these sorts of international establishments.

There are a number of different ways to get involved in a conservation or volunteer project. You can work by teaching English, rescuing trapped sea animals from the ocean, cleaning beaches or even collecting sea turtle eggs that could potentially be snatched up by poachers. Sometimes you get paid really well and sometimes you just get free accommodations while you work. In some cases you have to pay to volunteer. There is a conservation project for every endangered animal on the planet. The argument is that some of these conservation projects are no more than a glorified travel experience for a backpacker. Young travelers can handle wild animals and go home to tell their friends what an amazing experience they had while making a difference at the same time. As for teaching English, it is said to be a modern, Western-style education system that is taking away from ancient cultures and creating a worldwide mono-culture.

In either case, the Eco tourism and ESL industries are booming. The tourism industry itself is heavily relied on to generate revenues for many communities and travelers rely on these types of projects and jobs to fund their travels. Rosaleen Duffy, a world expert on wildlife conservation, wrote a book called:
Nature Crime: How we’re getting conservation wrong. The book talks about western-style conservation projects harming wildlife and damaging the environment. There is also a compelling documentary called: Schooling the world, which explains the westernized ideals being carried over into other cultures and diluting traditional societies.

With travel becoming more and more popular in developing countries, communities have come to depend on these associations within the tourism industry. International politics surrounding this means of travel have critics extremely concerned. The loss of wildlife and the lack of education around the world is disheartening to say the least. Is there any way to continue these multicultural practices in an ethical way? The social benefits that are coupled with Eco-tourism and teaching English as a second language are essential for many economies. Is there a better way to carry out these practices?

Every year thousands of Canadians with good intentions venture out into foreign countries as overseas ‘Voluntours’ to help build houses and schools, improve communities and educate small children. How could this be such a bad thing? Some environmental and humanitarian activists say that for-profit entities put poverty on display and exploit the people in the families that are involved. It’s hard to make sure the best practices and knowledge when so many of us want to be included in the rejuvenation of our environment and our people. How can unskilled workers who want to make a real difference succeed if time or money is a problem? The short term programs don’t seem to be the best solution in providing to the needs of those overseas communities.

Volunteers need experience, awareness and on-the-ground expertise when it comes to any conservation project. The volunteer travel industry is advancing at a rapid pace and with the concerns around this trade it is difficult to foresee the future and where it will lead us. It goes without saying that there is a lot of good that goes into these programs and the genuine relationships that develop in these subcultures are commendable. With corrupt political systems in place, astonishing poverty rates and the ever growing population, what else are we to do to protect those who are less fortunate and in need?

I handed this in this morning 🙂 Hope my prof likes it!

Financial Accounting Destroyed Me!

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Wow I can’t believe it’s Friday again and I am one course away from finishing my 12 week business program. It has been one intense condensed learning session and my brain hurts. Income statements, balance sheets, T-accounts, accumulated depreciation and allowances got the best of me and Financial Accounting destroyed me.

In the beginning of the course our professor warned us, “I’m not going to lie, this course will frustrate a lot of you.” His computer screen read: DON’T PANIC. Yikes.

With his slicked back ponytail and a little “I balanced” dance around in a circle, he got really excited about teaching us formatting and numbers. Apparently he had been excited for 20 years working as an Accountant. pay-530339_1280

Our Professor, Chris Graham, taught a good course but the amount of information he was covering made most people’s heads pound. Rows and jumbled up patterns of numbers scattered the whiteboards as Chris erased and then filled each board again. The two whiteboards at the front of the class were taking a beating and the blue and black squeaky pens were getting chucked into the garbage one by one. There were more then a few scrunched up faces most of the time and blank stares when he would ask if anyone got it. Granted there were some very smart people in my class who did really well, but they were the ones who like numbers and do better with formulas and math stuff.

I cried one night for a while during that week because I just did not understand. Another classmate also had some tears in one of the quizzes when her memory temporarily went blank. It was an overload of information.

When the final exam hit me, I panicked. It had been only one week of the intensive course and I had scream-307414_1280barely grasped the basic formulas and layouts of the financial statements. But, I certainly was not able to figure it out on my own. I stared at the half-finished statements and then attempted to transfer them to the T-accounts, which in this part of the story you are probably getting bored so I don’t really know what else to say about Financial Accounting that is interesting.

Anyway, the last hour had arrived and after some more tears and my feeble attempt to do the Financial Accounting final, I handed in my partially completed exam and slumped away. The mark that followed was not ideal but I did manage to pass the course. I hoped I wouldn’t have to see financial statements again. Unfortunately after Marketing was over I had to start Finance. To my surprise, because Finance was more about writing an analysis I actually received a higher mark. I was shocked that I did well in the course but again, it was a brain crusher. Projected statements, percentages, ratios and business analysis. Ahhh!!!

I literally left part of my financial statements blank and then explained in my analysis that I knew I had done them wrong. Luckily I could understand the ratios well enough to form an opinion of the case and describe what could happen if sales increased by 10%.

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The courses were specifically set up to split up Financial Accounting and Finance with Marketing between. I believe the main reason for this is to avoid the exploding of brains. The fatigue has finally taken over. I have absolutely no mental capacity to write or even carry on a conversation at the end of the day. This is why my blog has lacked in content lately.

One more course… just one more course to go.

 

 

Good Morning Monday!

thetinywriter 2 Comments

🙂 Good Morning Monday! 🙂

I’m back in action after a two-week hiatus from my dear little blog and I’m so full of posts to post about!

School has taken over.

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Going back to school makes me feel young again. Not that I don’t always feel younger than I am, but I feel like school has brought out the kid in me again. You know how sometimes you get jaded about certain things because you are older. I don’t want to be like that anymore so I have decided to stop worrying so much about the future and live in the now.

A classmate of mine is making a yearbook so we can capture all of our memories from this short 12 week program. I feel like I’ve gotten so close to some of my classmates that we are really just like a family. A family of students who are all on the same path to find ourselves and learn new things.

Finally I’m engaged and challenged in a way I’ve needed for a long time.

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My wonderful friends from the business program have helped me find who I really am once again:
A leader.

After doubting myself for so long I can finally say that I feel like me.
The real me.
That natural-born leader I have always been on the inside. 🙂

Here’s to new friends and new obstacles in life.

New challenges make life interesting 🙂

Have a wonderful week and stay tuned for this weeks posts!!
~T

 

 

What Makes a Good Leader?

thetinywriter 2 Comments

business-561388_1280Going through the motions of an intense business course has really opened my eyes to a lot of things I would have never thought of. Some of the most important points being made to our class seem so “common sense” and straight forward that it’s hard to think you actually have to be taught this kind of stuff.

Having problem solving abilities is obviously essential in business, but in a number of my past jobs I’ve seen the same patterns that create an unhealthy work environment. Positions of power can really drive a person to become arrogant and condescending. I think in many cases, managers or other authority figures can’t see this behavior in themselves so they so they continue behaving in an inappropriate way. Businesses strive on strong leadership, but what makes a good leader?

If a manager is friendly and sociable with staff does it make that manager vulnerable? Does passive aggressive behavior create tension? Can controlling tendencies be adjusted when a person has always been a certain way in situations?

You may recall the saying: “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks!” Is it true?

I’ve come across many problems like these on more than one occasion, and it seems to me that there are many important strategies and approaches being overlooked by influential people in business.

Why does control and power make people so… hungry?

By hungry I mean: power-hungry.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had great bosses as well, but for the most part my experience working for other people has not been ideal. Although I can understand the immense pride that comes along with having your own business, I believe a lot of people end up being trapped in that box with no windows.

To function as an effective manager you always have to think outside the box.

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Yesterday in my Business Administration course, we learned about culture in organizational structures and how culture is created. Culture is developed from the particular history that is uniquely tailored by each organization. Great leaders who pay attention to necessary detail  and build strong professional relationships succeed in the business world because they lead by example. There are various ways in which culture is created. Each company designs it’s own culture whether it be good or bad.

Good leaders create a good culture.

A great leader is motivating and inspiring. 🙂 The adaptable role model will always build on the effectiveness of their decision making while learning lessons along the way.

So, what do you look for in a leader? What kind of characteristics do you prefer when being delegated responsibility? Do you consider yourself a leader or more of a follower?

I’ve always considered myself to be a natural born leader so I guess that’s why this subject interests me so much. Developing ones self has been a key trait in my lifetime. I absolutely love learning about this kind of stuff. 😀finger-man-451211_1280

What are your thoughts? What do you think makes a good leader?