I have never been able to use the word “good” and really mean it in all of my 20-odd years – until my July 1-13 sojourn to Virginia this year that is.
The two weeks I spent at the University of Virginia, which hosted this year’s Universitas 21 Students Summer Conference at their inspirational Central Grounds at Charlottesville, was an unforgettable experience for many reasons.
In particular, the topic of this year’s conference presented an excellent opportunity for me to reflect on my leadership in an intensely personal manner. This was especially the case for me, given my role in the past year as executive editor of The Campus Observer, an online campus newspaper I started with a group of friends in May last year.
While the conference content largely did not come across as being totally foreign, my familiarity with it merely made the readings and lectures a powerful reminder, in getting me to reconsider in particular my cognitive chasm between the kind of leader I want other people to see me as, and the type of leader that I really am.
This helped draw me back to the basic premise of effective leadership of other-centredness and humility, among a whole host of other positive attributes, in helping me achieve a greater level of personal self-reflexivity and awareness.
Additionally, as the official title “Leadership in a Global Society” suggests, the conference also challenged us to consider the cultural nuances of leadership in an increasingly globalised society and perhaps more crucially, how that might be manifest and handled in practice.
I remember a particular session conducted by Martin Davidson, an associate professor of leadership and organizational behaviour at the UVA Darden Graduate School of Business that involved a lively case-study discussion time.
This revolved around a hypothetical situation where a white woman in a managerial position had to decide whether to recommend a promising black subordinate for a posting at an overseas office which was apparently regarded to be conservative and not very receptive to coloured people – which might achieve the opposite and retard his career growth since this might mean he might not be as effective a manager as his potential might have otherwise suggested.
Her dilemma is compounded by many other real-life complications like whether the racism in the overseas office was perceived or actual, and all the moral and ethical dimensions that comes with being trusted to make such a recommendation.
The ensuing discussion provoked many interesting reactions and thoughts, but what struck me was how despite the obvious differences in the value-systems we were all socialized in, there was a rather universal set of values being articulated in such an intercultural and global setting, as we talked about how the situation could be diffused.
The conference was attended by students from U21 partner universities in places like the United Kingdom, China, Hong Kong, Sweden, Australia, New Zealand and of course, the United States of America – who in turn hailed from other countries such as Czech Republic, Kenya, Germany and Sri Lanka.
It was just truly a great blessing to have been able to live and learn from such an international and cosmopolitan mix of students around my age-group, where we not only got acquainted with each other’s idiosyncrasies, but also come to celebrate each other’s differences.
Perhaps the best evidence of the great times we had at the rather superbly-organised conference was how so many of us found it so hard to say our goodbyes when we had to leave Charlottesville when it all finally ended on July 13.
It might have been the intensity of the program that helped us formed such authentic bonds over such a short period, but nothing can possibly dilute the fond memories of my first July 4 Independence Day celebrations where we witnessed a citizenship naturalization ceremony at Monticello, the home estate of UVA founder and one of America’s Founding Fathers, and former president, Thomas Jefferson.
Or being addressed by an ex-governor of Virginia, Gerald Baililes; or my first baseball game at the home of the Richmond Braves and the goosebumps-inducing fireworks display after the game ended past midnight that was easily the best I have seen in my life.
But what I would miss most is actually the company of the people at the conference who are now my friends, despite being total strangers from disparate ends of the world just two weeks before.
It is for this reason that I find myself reminiscing about our everyday routine every now and then. After all, there must be a reason that accounts for the explosion of activity on my Facebook account that started after the first week of the conference.
Like the memories of our breakfast at the steps outside Minor Hall where we had most of our lectures and only trooping down to restaurants at The Corner for dinner at nine in the evening after playing soccer way into the extended summer light.
And who can forget the after-dinner lounging at the basement or the small quadrangle at Brown College where we lived, and of course, tubing down the James River on a hot, summer Sunday afternoon.
Personally, this trip also solidified my desire to attend graduate school in the United States, preferably when I graduate in July next year. Being there just made what previously seemed like mere pipe dreams of graduate study, appear all the more tangibly plausible.
My time at Charlottesville was truly akin to a midsummer night’s dream that I never wish ended, and it is to the credit of the organizers at UVA for making my Charlottesville experience such an unforgettable one.
This article was written for submission to both my university and the U21 secretariat, about my experience at the 2007 U21 Students' Summer Conference held at the UVA campus at Charlottesville, Virginia.
The two weeks I spent at the University of Virginia, which hosted this year’s Universitas 21 Students Summer Conference at their inspirational Central Grounds at Charlottesville, was an unforgettable experience for many reasons.
In particular, the topic of this year’s conference presented an excellent opportunity for me to reflect on my leadership in an intensely personal manner. This was especially the case for me, given my role in the past year as executive editor of The Campus Observer, an online campus newspaper I started with a group of friends in May last year.
While the conference content largely did not come across as being totally foreign, my familiarity with it merely made the readings and lectures a powerful reminder, in getting me to reconsider in particular my cognitive chasm between the kind of leader I want other people to see me as, and the type of leader that I really am.
This helped draw me back to the basic premise of effective leadership of other-centredness and humility, among a whole host of other positive attributes, in helping me achieve a greater level of personal self-reflexivity and awareness.
Additionally, as the official title “Leadership in a Global Society” suggests, the conference also challenged us to consider the cultural nuances of leadership in an increasingly globalised society and perhaps more crucially, how that might be manifest and handled in practice.
I remember a particular session conducted by Martin Davidson, an associate professor of leadership and organizational behaviour at the UVA Darden Graduate School of Business that involved a lively case-study discussion time.
This revolved around a hypothetical situation where a white woman in a managerial position had to decide whether to recommend a promising black subordinate for a posting at an overseas office which was apparently regarded to be conservative and not very receptive to coloured people – which might achieve the opposite and retard his career growth since this might mean he might not be as effective a manager as his potential might have otherwise suggested.
Her dilemma is compounded by many other real-life complications like whether the racism in the overseas office was perceived or actual, and all the moral and ethical dimensions that comes with being trusted to make such a recommendation.
The ensuing discussion provoked many interesting reactions and thoughts, but what struck me was how despite the obvious differences in the value-systems we were all socialized in, there was a rather universal set of values being articulated in such an intercultural and global setting, as we talked about how the situation could be diffused.
The conference was attended by students from U21 partner universities in places like the United Kingdom, China, Hong Kong, Sweden, Australia, New Zealand and of course, the United States of America – who in turn hailed from other countries such as Czech Republic, Kenya, Germany and Sri Lanka.
It was just truly a great blessing to have been able to live and learn from such an international and cosmopolitan mix of students around my age-group, where we not only got acquainted with each other’s idiosyncrasies, but also come to celebrate each other’s differences.
Perhaps the best evidence of the great times we had at the rather superbly-organised conference was how so many of us found it so hard to say our goodbyes when we had to leave Charlottesville when it all finally ended on July 13.
It might have been the intensity of the program that helped us formed such authentic bonds over such a short period, but nothing can possibly dilute the fond memories of my first July 4 Independence Day celebrations where we witnessed a citizenship naturalization ceremony at Monticello, the home estate of UVA founder and one of America’s Founding Fathers, and former president, Thomas Jefferson.
Or being addressed by an ex-governor of Virginia, Gerald Baililes; or my first baseball game at the home of the Richmond Braves and the goosebumps-inducing fireworks display after the game ended past midnight that was easily the best I have seen in my life.
But what I would miss most is actually the company of the people at the conference who are now my friends, despite being total strangers from disparate ends of the world just two weeks before.
It is for this reason that I find myself reminiscing about our everyday routine every now and then. After all, there must be a reason that accounts for the explosion of activity on my Facebook account that started after the first week of the conference.
Like the memories of our breakfast at the steps outside Minor Hall where we had most of our lectures and only trooping down to restaurants at The Corner for dinner at nine in the evening after playing soccer way into the extended summer light.
And who can forget the after-dinner lounging at the basement or the small quadrangle at Brown College where we lived, and of course, tubing down the James River on a hot, summer Sunday afternoon.
Personally, this trip also solidified my desire to attend graduate school in the United States, preferably when I graduate in July next year. Being there just made what previously seemed like mere pipe dreams of graduate study, appear all the more tangibly plausible.
My time at Charlottesville was truly akin to a midsummer night’s dream that I never wish ended, and it is to the credit of the organizers at UVA for making my Charlottesville experience such an unforgettable one.
This article was written for submission to both my university and the U21 secretariat, about my experience at the 2007 U21 Students' Summer Conference held at the UVA campus at Charlottesville, Virginia.
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