fandomhigh | Leadership, Thurs Period 1, Class 6 (10/9/08)

"You can tell people what to do but they're not necessarily going to agree with you," Nathan said. "In order to get that agreement you need to motivate them."

Nathan passed around handouts. "A guy named Maslow had the idea that we do things based upon where we are in a hierarchy of needs. At the very bottom are basic physical needs such as food and sleep. Going up the list are things like security, relationships, and self-esteem. At the top we have self-actualization, which is being the best we can be. It's worth noting that we don't achieve that level so much as strive for it.

"Putting this in terms of leadership, we have two takeaways. One: people aren't going to follow you on a level 3 need when they're down on level 1. In other words, someone who's starving isn't going to be too interested in putting their energy into trying to make new friends. How many of you have a difficult time learning before you have your morning cup of coffee?

"Two: if you figure out where they are in their needs, you can explain what you want in those terms. For instance, if we make new friends then we can work together to get food. If we fund our schools then our communities will grow stronger. And, a popular one come election time, if you vote for me I'll make sure our country doesn't come under nuclear attack.

"For today's class exercise I'd like you to get together in the following groups and use the hierarchy of needs to figure out how to motivate others to help you out with a problem," Nathan said. "The problem is that your country's economy is failing. You believe you have the solution, but you need to get people to agree with you and follow along in order to fix things. Don't worry about what your solution is, I'm not expecting anyone here to be an expert economist - well anyone besides Turtle - " Nathan grinned. "For the purpose of the class just focus on how this applies to the hierarchy of needs. What needs do people have because of a government that lacks money? How can a leader talk about those needs in a way that motivates people to believe in the solution?

"As always, I'm here if you have any questions."

Group 1
Momoko Akatsutsumi
Dor
Andrew Wiggin
Jaina Solo
Joan Girardi

Group 2
Evey Hammond
Hinata Hyuuga
Tony Foster
Ben Skywalker
Agnes Nitt

Group 3
Summer Roberts
Andros
Bender
Teyla Emmagan
Lucas Scott

Group 4
Alex Drake
Meg Powers
Teddy Altman
Tabitha-Ruth Wexler

[ooc: OCD is up!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"A proper government probably wouldn't also be going broke," Ben pointed out.

Ben was a little cynical.

"If the economy's failing, people will be worried about having food and a place to live," Tony said. "You'd have to reassure them on that stuff before anything else. No matter what the government usually does."

Ben nodded. "But if the government isn't usually good at providing those kinds of services, aren't they going to screw things up even more when they try?"

"... maybe? Aren't we part of the government in this exercise?"

"I think so," Ben said. "The people aren't going to have a whole lot of trust in us to do anything right if we've gotten them into a mess so bad they're afraid of losing their houses and not getting fed. How would we fix that?"

Tony considered this. "Maybe we weren't the ones who screwed up. Maybe we're taking over someone else's mess. We'd need to show people that we're going to be different. Could we put some kind of freeze on the banks and stuff? No one loses their home until this gets sorted out?"

"Do we know any rich people we could ask for help from?" Agnes contributed. She wasn't all that used to a country whose entire population couldn't all run and fit inside the castle when times were tough.

Tony laughed. "I don't," he said. "But that'd be one approach. Ask the rich people to help the poor."

Leadership, Thurs Period 1, Class 6 (10/9/08)

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