Month: April 2013

Women and Business Challenges

Women in Leadership

You can launch 1,000 clichés about women in business, but it doesn’t change the fact that they’re hardwired to be caretakers. Does that mean they cannot be great leaders? Of course not! Women have to properly navigate the fine line between mothering and smothering. There’s mothering: teaching skills, setting up the company for success, being tough when it’s necessary. Then, there’s smothering: doing it all yourself, wrapping everyone else in proverbial bubble-wrap and taking all the stress and all the consequences upon yourself.

You don’t want to devolve into a caveman, using brute force and intimidation, but you also cannot be soft as a marshmallow. If you’re a successful and benevolent leader, when you do exercise tough love, it will be all the more powerful and effective.

Contractors

It’s probably in your nature to hear problems or excuses and respond with soothing encouragement. If you’re working with a contractor, don’t fall prey to this instinct. Enter into projects with clear expectations and deadlines. Hold service providers responsible for their end of the bargain. Never (okay, almost never) pay in full up front. If you have an issue with the work, document it in writing. If construction or contractor services go wrong, even just off-schedule, it can cost your business time, energy, stress and money. Unless you’ve thoroughly documented everything, it will be hard to seek damages or any other sort of reparation. When it comes to contractors assume the worst — that if you give an inch, they’ll take a mile — so you can achieve the best possible outcome.

Business Partners

Don’t be afraid to negotiate with service providers and business partners, especially if you have a significant amount of purchasing power. Keeping good records, making concise requests and paying your bills on time (or early) will keep you in their good graces. By being a good customer, you’ll earn the credibility to ask for a rush shipment or special favors from time to time. If something isn’t as promised, give them the chance to correct it. If it’s a one-shot deal, like a rush printing job for a major meeting, tell your provider that it’s a high-stakes job. Give the provider an opportunity to wow you. If you’re using a Plum Card from American Express to pay vendors, you’ll have the added benefit of purchase protection, just like a personal card, which can take a big load off your plate.

Customers

It’s a catchy saying: “The customer is always right.” It’s less catchy to say, “Most customers are right, but some customers are users and not worth having at all.” The latter, however, is closer to the truth. In every industry there will be customers who take you for granted. They’ll want to take advantage of a tiny misprint in an ad or return an item that’s been used until it’s nearly unrecognizable. Customers that are leeches are generally not worth having, but it’ll be up to you (the leader) to identify and deal with them. Asking your entry or lower level associates to do so could end in disaster.  

Employees

No great leader I can think of wakes up saying, “Wow, if I can scream at someone it would really make today fantastic.” Likewise, no employee walks into work thinking, “Gee, getting a verbal lashing today would really improve my morale.” Identify what is non-negotiable in your office and have clear job descriptions. Find areas where there’s a little room for interpretation or flexibility. Be clear with employees on firm and soft rules. When someone transgresses on a hard and fast rule, correct it immediately. If it isn’t addressed quickly, the employee might think it’s not such a big deal and escalate the behavior.

Women should never feel they are any less prepared and suited to be business leaders than men.

Antonio Maurice Daniels

University of Wisconsin-Madison

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Be Careful about the Enemies You Intentionally Choose

Fighting

(Photo Credit: therepublika.com)

Although it would be great to live in a world where we don’t have any enemies, the reality is we all have enemies.  Most people don’t choose their enemies.  Some people elect to make individuals their enemies.  If you intentionally work to develop an enemy, you better make sure you can completely handle that enemy.  This can be the person who ruins your life forever.  It’s quite foolish to actively seek a person to become your enemy.  Most people work tremendously hard to keep people from being their enemies and avoid those who are their enemies.  While it may sound strange for an individual to want someone to be his or her enemy, this happens more often than one may think. 

When this does happen, the person who desires for a specific individual to be his or her enemy thinks he or she really knows the targeted individual.  Once the person learns that you’re trying to start a feud with him or her, the individual will probably not employ tactics you anticipate.  The person will probably adopt a strategy or strategies to respond to your attacks that will surprise you.  Will you be ready for the surprises your newly desired enemy has for you? 

Don’t start a war that you cannot win!

People’s egos, arrogance, poor judgment, emotions, low self-esteem, unhappiness, and etc. often cause them to begin fights they cannot win.  This is why it’s vital to take a serious moment and deeply reflect on things before you make drastic errors.  A moment of irrationality can cause you a lifetime of pain.

Antonio Maurice Daniels

University of Wisconsin-Madison

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5 Practical Uses of Social Media in the Classroom

Social Media

(Photo Credit: New York Times)

The purpose of this piece is to offer five practical ways in which social media can be employed in meaningful ways in the 21st century classroom.  Students are actively using social media while they are away from school (and while they are at school) and, therefore, incorporating social media as part of instructional activities enables teachers to increase student engagement in the classroom.  In no way does this piece attempt to suggest that these five recommendations are the only and most meaningful ways to use social media in the classroom.  For the teacher looking for ideas for including social media in his or her instructional activities, this piece presents five ways he or she may find useful. 

1.      Create Class Fan Pages on Facebook.  Classroom discussion activities and assignments can be posted and completed using Facebook Fan Pages.  This is truly an interactive, creative and fun way to have classroom discussions and to allow those discussions to take place beyond the classroom.  For those shy students who are afraid to speak up in class, they may be more comfortable participating in class discussions hosted via Facebook.  For those students who are more vocal in class, they will find that they have a space where they can have full freedom to express themselves without dominating the discourses by consuming too much of the allotted classroom time. Through a Facebook Fan Page, teachers can post announcements and assignments.  When teachers at home and find some interesting resources they want to get to their students immediately, a Facebook Fan Page makes this possible.  Teachers may want to offer students additional tips for assignments they may be working on and a Facebook Fan Page is a good medium to promulgate these tips.

 

2.      Have Twitter Chats.  Teachers can use Twitter to have class discussions and engage others who are across the world in the discussions using hashtags and “lists.”

 

3.      Use YouTube Videos to Supplement Instruction.  Instead of always doing a lecture or explanation yourself, use one already available on YouTube or post one of your own on YouTube.  This helps to disrupt the monotony of how lectures or explanations are traditionally delivered.   

 

4.      Have Students to Create Their Own Blogs.  Assign students to create a blog with frequent assignments to be completed using their blog.

 

5.      Use Facebook Instant Messenger for Student and Parent Conferences.  For parents who may not be able to meet with teachers in person, a conference via Facebook Instant Messenger is a viable alternative.  Instead of always having face-to-face conferences with students, teachers can use Facebook Instant Messenger to conduct conferences with students.  This is also a way students and teachers can connect with one another when outside of the classroom when students may need clarity and help with assignments.   

Antonio Maurice Daniels

University of Wisconsin-Madison

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Social Media Apprehensions in Public K-12 Education

21st Century Classroom

(Photo Credit: nscollegeprep.cps.k12.il.us)

Although higher education professors and instructors are increasingly embracing and implementing social media in the classroom, many public K-12 teachers have been highly averse to employing social media in the classroom.  K-12 teachers understand they are responsible for ensuring student safety.  Many teachers contend it’s too difficult to monitor all activities that transpire on various social media platforms, and they see the inability to supervise all activities that can occur via social media as creating numerous potential safety risks.  It can be quite challenging to explain to administrators and parents why the use of social media in the classroom is worth potential safety risks.  If something undesirable happens involving one or more students using social media as part of instructional activities, then many administrators and parents will pose serious questions about whether teachers had the best interests of students in mind during instructional planning.  Many public K-12 teachers fear the probing scrutiny that may be involved when they use social media in the classroom.

Higher education professors and instructors face little to no legal liabilities when incorporating social media into the classroom, however.  Their students are adults and they are, therefore, legally released from most institutional and legal liabilities associated with potential problems with the use of social media in the classroom.  K-12 public school teachers are dealing with minors and have to ensure they guard themselves from legal and institutional liabilities associated with the use of social media.

Many K-12 public school administrators see little to no value in the use of social media in the classroom and they discourage or forbid teachers from incorporating social media into instructional activities.  For K-12 school administrators to gain a greater understanding of the value of using social media in the classroom, scholars and teachers who understand the power of using social media in the classroom must do a better job of arming them with research that evinces the true worth of social media in the classroom.  These individuals will need to work to dispel many of the frightening myths about social media that have been promulgated in multifarious media venues.

Teacher education programs should train new teachers on how to incorporate social media into the classroom and establish best practices for implementing social media in the classroom.  When more teacher education programs make training in social media a part of their curriculums, it will help to buttress the perception among more public K-12 administrators that the use of social media in the classroom is a “professional” pedagogical practice.  To be fair to those K-12 administrators who discourage or prohibit teachers from employing social media in the classroom, many teachers who use or have a desire to use social media in the classroom do not have a strong sense of how to use social media in a way that promotes high academic achievement.  Numerous teachers see incorporating social media in the classroom as enabling them to advance higher student engagement, considering social media is wildly popular with young people across the nation and globe.  While elevated student engagement is important, teachers need to know that the specific way(s) they implement social media is effective in leading to expected student learning outcomes.

Higher education professors and instructors have greater flexibility to experiment with social media in the classroom than K-12 public school educators.  If things do not work well with their use of social media, higher education professors and instructors face little to no serious consequences.  Unfortunately, public K-12 teachers do not enjoy the same liberties.  If things do not work well in the classroom with their use of social media, they can receive backlash from students, parents, administrators and the community.

In short, public K-12 teachers have to weigh the risks and rewards in using social media in the classroom.  Many of them contend that the risks outweigh the rewards.  Higher education professors and instructors do not have to devote much attention to the risks of social media in the classroom, so they are experiencing how social media in the classroom has the potential transform the way in which we think about classroom instruction.

Antonio Maurice Daniels

University of Wisconsin-Madison

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Arkansas Has A New Razorback: Kevin Richardson

Razorback Football

(Photo Credit: 247sports.com)

The Arkansas Razorback football team has added Kevin Richardson to the roster.  Read “Kevin Richardson Opts for Razorbacks” to learn more about him making the roster.  When you see his highlights film, you will understand why the coaches at the University of Arkansas believe Richardson has the potential to be a star for the Razorbacks.  At Jacksonville High School in Jacksonville, Arkansas, Richardson played wide receiver, quarterback, safety, punt returner, kick returner, and running back.  He has legitimate triple-threat talent; that is, he can make an impact on offense, defense, and special teams.  In the SEC, the competition is fierce and continues to get better each year.  For the Arkansas Razorbacks to have success, the team will need special players like Richardson.

Kevin Richardson is a gifted football player and a quality walk-on recruit for the Razorbacks.  He’s a great team player, has great character, and good grades.  This young man will have a positive impact on and off the field.

Revolutionary Paideia was the first media source to advocate for the Arkansas Razorbacks to recruit Kevin Richardson.  Through the efforts of Revolutionary Paideia, Richardson received strong support from former players, many Razorback fans, and Arkansas sports reporters, including leading Arkansas recruiting reporter Richard Davenport, and this strong support helped bring Richardson to the attention of Razorback football coaches.

Although Richardson got a late start in getting his recruitment materials out, he did not let his dream of being a Razorback end.  Because he continued to work tirelessly to prove himself to Razorback coaches, he earned a spot on the roster.

His mother, Sanci Richardson, and older brother, Airic Hughes, devoted significant time and effort to advocating for Kevin to be recruited by the Razorbacks; their efforts paid off too.  Kevin comes from a highly supportive and great family.  At the University of Arkansas, I taught and mentored Airic Hughes, a graduate student and scholar in History at the University of Arkansas.  Hughes is also a University of Arkansas alum and staff member and great student.  

Follow Kevin Richardson on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/itsyaboy_KRICH.  Welcome him to the Arkansas Razorback family!  I’m confident Kevin will emerge as a star for the Razorback football team.

Antonio Maurice Daniels

Transparent, Direct and Substantive Critiques

Black Men Arguing

When you’re attempting to critique someone, be sure the critique is transparent, substantive and direct.  If you truly intend for the critique to have an impact on the individual, then deliver the critique directly to the person—not to someone else or through any other indirect communication medium.  Now, if you’re just blowing off steam, that’s one thing but if you have an authentic desire for your critique of someone to have a lasting effect, then you want to say what you have to say about the person via a face-to-face meeting, over the phone, email, or a letter.  In order to ensure what you have to say has substance, be as specific as possible about what you intend to communicate.

America is filled with too many people who are cowards.  If you’re going to “tell someone off,” when are you actually going to talk to that person directly?  Are you really “telling someone off” when you are talking about that person to everyone except that particular person?

Before your critique will have any significance, you’re going to need to shed any sugarcoated language that may be a part of the critique.  Stop worrying about hurting people’s feelings when you get ready to critique them.  If what you have to say is going to destroy a person’s life, then just allow it to destroy the person’s life; he or she is the one who is crazy for letting what you have to say destroy his or her life.

One way to shut someone’s mouth who is trying to critique you in a clandestine and malicious way is to engage that person in a public discourse.  If he or she is really interested in having a truly transparent conversation, then he or she will not mind having the needed conversation in front of an audience.  I’m a person who loves engaging in a public discourse with people who want to critique me, especially those who like to offer their critiques of me in devious and malevolent ways.  The more people listening to me really “let you have it” is always more interesting and fun for me.

It’s time out for playing games with people.  Don’t let someone verbally pound away at you indirectly.  When you’re able to recognize that someone is running his or her mouth about you in private to people, which can be made obvious by how certain people respond to you now and how they respond to that person, call that person out!  Stop letting people off the hook!

Do you really want to offer a critique about someone or would it be better for you to keep it to yourself?  Are you really prepared for the person’s rebuttal to your critique?  Is the reason why you will not give your critique to the person in a direct way a result of your cowardice?

You have to realize that people aren’t going to keep letting you say negative things about them and not eventually respond to you in ways you may not be ready to handle.  Think about the things you say and do before you let them go forth.

Be sure you have the appropriate evidence to substantiate what you have to say about someone.  The people you’re making angry might be able to respond to your critique with arguments and evidence of their own about you that can shut your mouth for eternity.  Again, think before you react!

Antonio Maurice Daniels

University of Wisconsin-Madison

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Steroids, Ben Johnson and Lance Armstrong

Steroids

In the postmodern sports world, it’s not uncommon to hear stories of cheating, steroid use and doping.  However, a former student-athlete, I find it mind-boggling that anyone would want to take them, especially since the health and personal repercussions aren’t worth it.  This piece examines Ben Johnson and Lance Armstrong and their connections to steroids and doping.

Ben Johnson

Sprinters in the 1980s seemed to be cheaters, according to Bleacherreport.com. With the increased use of drugs in the track and field world, it seemed that all sprinters used performance-enhancing drugs, and Canadian Ben Johnson was no exception. He used steroids to increase his performance, but alleges that everyone sprinting at that time cheated too. In the sports documentary 9.79*, the story of the 1988 Seoul Olympics is told, and, more importantly, the story of Johnson and his world-record breaking time. Johnson was stripped of his medal after testing positive for steroids. The medal was given to runner-up Carl Lewis, Johnson’s greatest rival.

“Why should I train hard doing it clean and then these other guys are not clean. Fair is fair,” Johnson said in the documentary. Yes, fair is fair, but in what universe is cheating?  Back in the day, athletes would only get tested at prominent sporting events. Therefore, those who were doping could, theoretically, wean off the product and test clean.

Lance Armstrong

Undoubtedly, one of the most inspiring and successful American athletes to date is Lance Armstrong. With seven Tour de France titles under his belt, being one of the most recognized cyclists in the world and overcoming cancer, which led him to create the Livestrong Foundation in 1997.  (Do you remember those yellow rubber bracelets everyone wore?) He seemed to have everything. Then rumors circulated that Armstrong used performance-enhancing drugs. Inevitably, a substantial blow was delivered to Armstrong: The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency banned him from competing for life and stripped him of his seven titles.

But right from the start and more than two dozen times during the first of a two-part interview with Oprah Winfrey on her OWN network, the disgraced former cycling champion acknowledged what he had lied about repeatedly for years.  “I didn’t invent the culture, but I didn’t try to stop the culture,” he said in the interview.

Pastor Ed Young, prominent figure in Grapevine, Texas, referred to Armstrong in a recent Facebook post as one who made a compromise. In a recent “What Would Jesus Say To…” series, Pastor Young told his congregation that Christ would tell the disgraced cyclist to stop running away from the truth, stop lying and turn to God.  “If everybody cheats, is anybody cheating?” That’s a good question. But if you’re living your life based on what other people are doing, well that’s like saying, “I’m going to jump off a bridge because my friend jumped off a bridge,” he said.

Antonio Maurice Daniels

University of Wisconsin-Madison

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Posting & Sharing Your Child’s Photos Online: Etiquette & Safety Risks

Kid's Birthday Party

New parents are eager and enthusiastic to share photos of their precious new bundle of joy with everyone they know.  Prior to our digitally dependent culture, baby photographs were mailed to friends and family.  Your loved ones would open the mailbox and be delighted with a beautiful snapshot of your little one.  Now, with the popularity of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube, the Internet has made it easy, more convenient and cost-effective to share these prized pictures with everyone online.

Keep in mind these etiquette and safety tips while sharing your child’s photos with the digital universe:

  • Avoid identity theft and safety risks by adopting LifeLock protection as an added layer of online security.  Photos can be exploitative material—just as much as credit card information and personal data.  Ensure that your privacy settings on social networking and photo-sharing sites meet your safety expectations.
  • Keep an eye out for a sinister new type of malware customized to target image files, thus exposing people to identity theft, blackmail and fraud (according to Security Watch on PCMag.com).  Known as the Pixsteal-A-Trojan, the malware locates images on infected computers and transfers them to a remote FTP server.  These files include .jpg and .jpeg files, which are commonly used for photos.  Called “virtual burglary,” “remote burglars” can access financial papers and other confidential documents through a single image.
  • The Mercury News mentioned that parents who snap photos with their cell phone should turn off the device’s geo-tracking feature, which records the date and location of a photo. Therefore, when you post your photo online, it’s free of private information that can be traced back to personal details such as your whereabouts.
  • Using a nickname when posting baby pictures online is an added cautionary measure.  Mercury News shares the story of one mom who explains that you just never know who might see the cute pictures of your child online.  In her case, one of her Facebook friends was a registered sex offender.  Since then, she has been very careful about what she posts.  She also asks friends who repost photos of her children on Facebook to please remove them from their pages.
  • Innocent picture tagging can also lead to potential online threats.  Parents who are hosting a birthday party should be sensitive about posting pictures of other children online.  Avoid tagging other children or their parents on Facebook and using real names unless you have permission.
  • Never post any photo online that you wouldn’t want the whole world to see.  The moment a photo is posted on the Internet, you’ve lost control of the hands it falls into.  Despite the most secure privacy settings, copies of your images can be easily shared.  Inform your teens about the dangerous consequences of posting private photos and videos on the Internet.  As an extra safety measure, limit the number of pictures you post.  For instance, share two photos from your child’s birthday party rather than all 60.

Antonio Maurice Daniels

University of Wisconsin-Madison

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The Importance of Limited Government

Thomas Jefferson

(Photo Credit: biography.com)

As I have thoroughly studied African American history, I find that one of the most important concepts America’s Founding Fathers treasured that is central to the continued progression of Black people is limited government.  Limited government was one of the founding principles of our representative democracy and this concept is deeply woven in the fabric of America.  At the core of the Constitution is the fundamental principle of limited government.  In reference to the notion of limited government, Thomas Jefferson said, “That government is best which governs least, because its people discipline themselves.  If we are directed from Washington (heads of an organization) when to sow and when to reap, we will soon want for bread.”  When one support the concept of limited government, this does not mean he or she does not believe government does not have a vital role in the lives of Americans.  As Jefferson alludes to in the aforementioned quotation, a government that only surfaces when it’s needed is the best form of government.

When one considers the ingrained history of racial prejudice and discrimination Black people have experienced and the brutality atrocities Black bodies have endured at the hands of a too powerful American government, Black people should passionate supporters of limited government.  A too powerful American government had Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X under constant surveillance—knowing every move these two men made.  Black people, therefore, must be mindful of how dangerous it is for government to have too large of a role in our lives.

Unfortunately, too many Blacks have embraced a big government philosophy.  While there’s certainly nothing wrong with expecting some things from government, we cannot become too dependent on it.  When we become too dependent on government, this is when government capitalizes on this dependency and intrudes into every aspect of our lives possible.  Even though looking to government to help solve most problems might be alluring, this leads to government trampling on our individual liberties in the most egregious ways.  When we become too dependent on government, it feels that we owe it something: the right to reduce our personal liberties.

If any group in America has a sincere reason to be highly skeptical of governmental power, it’s African Americans.

Malcolm X was tremendously apprehensive about Black people looking to government for economic and political support.  In examining “The Ballot or the Bullet,” I disclosed how Malcolm X zealously advocated for Black people to seek economic self-sufficiency through racial solidarity—not through a reliance on government.  “The Ballot of the Bullet” can be read as a warning of the dangers of big government and how vital limited government is.

In a recent event hosted by Tavis Smiley, Dr. Cornel West, a prominent liberal/progressive scholar, professor, public intellectual, and racial, social, and economic justice activist, promulgated to former Speaker of U.S. House of Representatives Newt Gingrich, a leading conservative Republican, that he agrees with him and other conservatives in part about the advantages of limited government—noting how a too powerful American government in the past resulted in slavery and Jim Crow, causing Blacks to be victimized by governmental terrorism.

Government can play an essential role in aiding in engendering a milieu where individuals can thrive with little to no support from government.  For those who are poor in America, government should provide them with food stamps, childcare assistance, and etc.  Government should work to assist those individuals in finding gainful employment in the private sector to free them from governmental dependency.

Support of limited government does not have to be a partisan issue.  If people give the concept of limited government a fair assessment, they will see how it’s the proper role of government, and this role of government ensures that Americans will enjoy maximum individual liberties.

Antonio Maurice Daniels

University of Wisconsin-Madison

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