First off, I think it is funny that viewing from a balcony is the theme of this week because I am reading The Perks of Being a Wallflower right now, and a wallflower is basically somebody who sits on the outside and internalizes. The book talks about the experience from love and friends and growing up rather than the development of a student organization (haha) but I think it is just a little serendipitous that I can learn something to apply to the professional world and my personal life that are along the same lines from two completely different sources at the exact same time. Kinda neat.

I have always been a fan of balconies... as an avid traveler, I have seen many views from many balconies, whether from my grandmother's veranda in India, to the small balcony of a condo on Hilton Head Island, to the balcony of a small store on a Greek Island. Trust me when I say that there are moments on each of these balconies where I have been able to appreciate the bigger picture a lot more.

For this assignment, I stood from the balcony of an organization that I used to hold an executive position in: The Interfraternity Council. My actual project for the semester is focused on the group Sustained Dialogue, but their meeting for the time period of this assignment was nixed, so I had to focus on a different group. The meeting I looked in on was a meeting of the Interfraternity Council's Executive Board.

I think the fact that I used to be on this Executive Board provides a really interesting learning experience. I think I have a really good sense, after observing, of what I could have done better as a member. When I was on the Executive Board, I served as Vice President of Civic Engagement, so a lot of what I did was the coordination of Philanthropy and Service. Some of my main points in observation were that everybody seemed to be really passionate about the Greek Community, but the discussion was more research and development than action based. I think you really need both sides, and looking back to my experience, I wish I realized how much I lacked being action oriented. It was a strange feeling to be a watcher of the meeting rather than assuming my normal role, but it allowed me to see how each executive position fit into the big picture, rather than just focusing on my motives. I think in emotionally intelligent leadership, it is really important to be able to see the big picture so that your motives are able to fit into the context of everybody's goals, not just your own. I saw, from the balcony, ten really passionate fraternity men. Unfortunately, I also saw ten men who had really strong values whose written out values were aligned with their community's but implied values were a bit different. As chapters, we each have values that we abide by, but it is really tough to get the entire community to buy into coming together as a whole, which I do not think I realized when I was on the Executive Board.

In the actual assessment, I scored pretty well on understanding context, and I think I do understand it pretty well, but it also reflects my thoughts of how I fit into organizations. I really realized that I am a good people manager and a really good general member. Extremely specialized positions like those in IFC can be tougher for me because they make me gain a personal agenda that can sometimes distract me from the big picture and the large group goals. I guess a really good way of doing things would be to make sure your individual goal fits into the group's mission at large!

With all of this newly gained info, I think I know a lot more about how to aid Sustained Dialogue as I look into the future and how I want to impact the group.

This experience has provided a great lesson: If you do not take time to look at your life and its situation's from the balcony, you will never truly realize what your work is about.