Executive Leadership

My very first month in the Full Sail University Entertainment Business Masters Degree was a class entitled Executive Leadership.  In this class we were introduced to our degree-long Leadership Portfolio projects.  Leadership Portfolios are a way for a Masters level student to track their personal development, basically from the standpoint of who you are as an intelligent proactive human being.  We have one per each of our eleven courses, plus an additional six outside activities.  Our first Leadership Portfolio naturally was assigned in our first month of the Masters program.  It was basically meant to assess yourself with three attributes of high efficiency and an equal number of areas needing improvement. 

The areas of high efficiency I listed were attitude, vision, and people.  My areas needing improvement were problem solving, creating positive change, and influence.  We had to think of an outside leadership project in which you would be able to utilize your strengths in a way that would help you develop your weaknesses.  My idea, which would have covered all six of my outside activities was to use my personal story as someone who went through the traditional route of school and my first round of traditional college before realizing that entertainment schools even existed.  It is long known that traditional schooling generally hinders creative expression in the classroom and pushes students down the ignorant “get a real job” path of college.  I personally traveled that route until I was so fed up that I dropped out.  Once I finally found out about schools like Full Sail University, I found my calling and have excelled in this school beyond my wildest dreams.

I wanted to hold assemblies at six Orlando high schools right before career days and college searches to give the students insight on the opportunities that exist out there.  Along with a few other Full Sail students by my side, I wanted to inform these high school students that entertainment colleges do exist, they cater to creative people, and they lead to some of the most exciting “real jobs” in the world.  In other words, I wanted to give high school students the information I wish I were given at that age to possibly bypass paying for two years of traditional college with no degree to show for it.

Through this initiative, I would have been able to use my strengths to effectively work on my weaknesses.  Unfortunately however, I was not approved for this because I failed to realize the issues of being a student representing Full Sail in that large of a capacity versus as an employee representing Full Sail.  Though I had to find alternative activities throughout my Masters degree, I was recently hired onto the Full Sail staff and may approach this again in the near future from the standpoint of an approved employee.