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Recently my roommate was describing college to a mutual friend of ours.  He talked about life as a bio major, exploring classes and concentrations that he believed interesting or useful, finding a lab to work in, largely designing, carrying out, and interpreting his own procedures and results, pooling all his resources to investigate a variety of summer opportunities in which he may be interested, and on the whole really setting his own path through college.  Sounds like a lot of self-exploration and thinking in grey areas, right?  All I could think through the entire of conversation was how black-and-white my path is as compared to his (and to be honest, as compared to almost all majors at this university).  As an actuarial science major, I come in with a very defined sequence of risk management, statistics, math, and business courses I am required to take.  These courses specifically cater to a series of multiple-choice math/insurance exams which I am required to take to be certified as an actuary.  To prepare for said exams, I read manuals specifically designed for the individual test with thousands of multiple-choice practice problems.  In the summer, I pursue actuarial internships (based on how many exams I have passed) with different companies that simulate life as an entry-level actuary, though I do get the crazy choice in these of what branch of insurance to try (or even consulting if I’m feeling especially creative).  When I enter the workforce, I am given raises and promotions very largely based on my ability to pass more of those multiple-choice math exams.  Pretty much as black-and-white of a path as one can imagine, right?

With such a straightforward path and in-the-box thinking, I appreciate any chance I am given to make complex, grey decisions.  Thankfully, I have been given such opportunities in our PLA class and my management classes this semester.  In both these classes, the discussions have been particularly valuable, which I would largely attribute to the leaders of both groups.  Ordinarily, a class leadership discussion would consist of the moderator presenting all the information they wish to present on the topic, sometimes adding their perspective on the subject, then opening the discussion for the rest of the group for the duration for the period.  With Professor Knight and particularly President Barron, the sessions seem to follow a different path.  First, we receive a bit of preliminary information on the subject, but quickly transition to an opening question.  As the discussion progresses, the leader presents a new morsel of information that reveals a different aspect of the issue, or asks guiding questions that progresses a stalling topic without revealing his own opinion.  By the end of the class, we know much more information than we did at the outset, and have adjusted our thoughts in line with these new findings.  I personally feel this is much more effective than if we would be initially presented with all the information, for we are given the chance to develop our opinions throughout the class period rather than immediately setting our mindsets at the beginning of the class.  Throughout the discussion, President Barron never gives away his position on the issue, for that would naturally lead us to just all blindly agree with the actions of such an important figure.  Instead, he usually explains his thought process and actions at the end of the discussion if at all, comparing our suggestions to what he had or was planning to actually do on the issue.  This all demonstrates a very self-aware, humble, effective method of leading a leadership discussion, for the discussion moderator enters the room with an attitude of learning other people’s viewpoints and aiding in independent ideological development.

I have tried to take this method to other classes.  In last week’s management presentation considering a situation involving business ethics, I set up the presentation with little initial information and allowed the discussion to begin.  At different points in the conversation, I introduced new facts or tried to play devil’s advocate to any consensuses that may have been developing.  I also find it very interesting to compare thoughts from different classes, so I tried to ask a few questions that paralleled topics we’ve covered in PLA.  My class, a collection of intelligent, motivated individuals, tends to have very different opinions than those of PLAers, a phenomenon I find highly intriguing.  In the end, we did not come to a consensus, but both the class and I were able to hear different perspectives of a very complex issue.  I by no means led the discussion with as much tact, timing, and skill as President Barron, but I thought it was certainly a valuable discussion, and was very pleased at the end when my professor asked my group if he could use our presentation for the next class.  It seems that in PLA I am learning leadership not only through development of ideas and decision-making skills, but also by observing great leaders in action!