So these past two days, we have gone on a hike for around four hours to Jabarkhet Nature Reserve, where we climbed to the top of a mountain and had a good photo session with everyone taking lovely pictures. We also made little stops along the way, and Vipul shared interesting facts. After that, we had a ‘solo’ session where we took time to be alone and reflect. This was interesting and something I was used to because I do it all the time, and I loved it as it is something I seek. Then, we shared our personal and group goals, where I talked about wanting to talk more because I usually don’t, and that has been going okay so far. Next, we visited a market, which I was very excited about, but I ended up not buying much, which was no surprise because I don’t really like shopping in person, nor do I usually buy much, so I was okay with it. However, I was glad that Nischal and Dikchhya were able to buy a lot of things. The markets were really interesting and jam-packed with cars and people, but apparently, that wasn’t even the worst. Being on Mall Road after hearing about it in the US was an experience. The thing I found most fascinating was that we met people who spoke Nepali along the way, which was cool. We even found out that many Nepali-speaking people are working here at Woodstock, which made me feel good. Also, hearing Gaurav and Vishal speaking Nepali and knowing that they understand was a nice feeling.

• What new perspectives did you learn about leadership from the leadership games/activities from the past few days?  Is your perspective of leadership changing?  Why? 

It was my first time playing any leadership games, so it was interesting to see what they were like and how they worked. We played three leadership games; one of them involved finding an item based on three clues, and we all needed to work together. I felt this helped us start our team process for future situations (which we indeed used afterward). The process was that we all put our clues on the ground and used the floor as a whiteboard so we could see and figure it out together. This ties to our future leadership games or any situation in that before we started the task or the game, we came up with a process as a group to see what works best and what is most efficient. Furthermore, our next leadership game involved holding hands together and turning around, and we needed to work together as a team to create a process that worked the most efficiently. Both of these games took some time, but we all ended up completing them in the end. The last leadership game we played as a team so far was the tire game, where we needed to be in a circle and move the tire around all of us once. We were given time to think about how long we would need to complete it, and we thought one minute was a good amount of time; it took us some time to come up with a process that worked.

These leadership games brought different perspectives into my life and taught me a few things. These include common sense or simple stuff that we should all know but is just so hard to remember at the time, or we just don’t think about it. For example, it makes sense to come up with a process to be the most efficient, but when a game or a task arises where it is needed, that just seems to go out the window for some reason, so thankfully, these games help me and us as a group to be aware and conscious of creating a process before we take action. It also taught me that communicating and asking questions again, are common sense stuff because we all think of different ideas and contribute, but we tend not to explain the idea thoroughly or why we thought that was a good idea, and that causes us not to follow or support what the person with the idea was contributing. But I feel mostly that our teamwork has significantly increased as time has gone by and as we play more leadership games. I think the tire one was the most impactful. I think my perspective of leadership isn’t changing in a way but it is being enhanced as I learn more. I think that is the best way to articulate how I feel. This is because, as I said, some of this stuff is something we should all know in a way, but we just tend not to think about it, and it takes time and repetition to get in the flow of it and start getting conscious about it. Even something little like drinking water and the rest of the team unconsciously following you to drink water. Little things like these that we should know but don’t at the moment. This goes with one of my college classes where we had to give a presentation that was a speech, and after it was done, I was more conscious about using ‘ums’ and ‘uhs’. After that class, I noticed it a lot when people speak, so it’s something like that.

• What does a good leader do when they make a mistake?  How can you learn from the leader’s example? 

I think a good leader reflects upon their actions, learns from them, and tries not to make the same mistake again, also helping anyone who might make the same mistake. I think that everyone should aspire to become like this and learn from these leaders because, personally, that might be the best way to go about it when making a mistake. The best way to learn from these leaders is by asking questions to the person making the mistake and how they overcame it, and they might be able to give you tips, and feedback, and share with you their process. I would love to follow these leaders, and I think I already am and would like to do more. For example, Shantanu is one of them who makes mistakes, or someone might misunderstand him, and he goes out of his way to go to that person and clarify things. I think that is wonderful, and everyone should aspire to be like Shantanu or take something from him at the least. I also want to say thank you to Shantanu as he is leaving us tomorrow. He has been the best, and I personally, and I’m sure we all, wish he could stay until the end of the program.”

We are about to go on a shakedown tomorrow and that is exciting and scary in a way but I feel ready so I will talk about that next once I am back. Until then, Good Morning, Good Afternoon, Good Evening, and Good Night.