Micheal Ortiz, Mike McGhie, and Steve Ziegler
Comprehensive Reflection on the Rhetoric of Leadership
March 9, 2009
Hey guys, we're three Stanford students who have just finished Dr. Alyssa O'Brien's Global Controversies and the Rhetoric of Leadership Class. We've had a lucky group of students who have made the class dynamic exceptionally fun, but more importantly we've learned a lot about what it takes to be effective leaders.
Micheal Ortiz
Biography
Hello everyone, my name is Michael Ortiz and I am a sophomore planning to major in Computer Science and minor in Economics. Without a doubt, coming to Stanford is the best decision I have ever made. Stanford is a special place not only because it stimulates intellectual growth, but personal growth in general. I’m humbled by the achievements and passions of my peers and to even be considered a peer is an honor. What has perhaps struck me the most about Stanford culture is the dedication of its students to philanthropy.
This philanthropic influence combined with my interest in environmental economics prompted me to enter a start-up idea called Cap-and-Save into the Stanford Social Entrepreneurial Challenge. Cap-and-Save is a carbon offset project that uses a cap-and-trade model to provide economic incentives for individuals to lower their energy consumption and adopt clean energy. I have used this research project to immerse myself in the language of the field and to learn the proper rhetorical strategies to market my own cap-and-trade model.
Reflection
The European Union has implemented a cap-and-trade system, the most economically efficient carbon emissions reduction scheme, since 2005 in order to fight climate crisis. Meanwhile, the United States has done nothing. For my research, I analyzed the rhetoric of Stavros Dimas, European Commissioner for the Environment, to gain insight into what rhetorical strategies the United States could adopt to establish a cap-and-trade system. I found that Dimas was successful in implementing a cap-and-trade scheme, because he implemented four key rhetorical strategies: 1) urgent tone, 2) optimism, despite the urgency of climate crisis, 3) appeal to US leadership and 4) appeal to economic opportunity of cap-and-trade.
These four rhetorical strategies are successful because they speak to the audience. Knowing your audience is perhaps the most important indicator of successful rhetoric. I analyzed President Obama’s rhetoric in an address to a joint session of Congress to see where he could improve his rhetoric. I found that he successfully applied the first three factors to his rhetoric. However, Obama should know that his audience responds, sadly, above all, to one thing: money. If Obama is to swing public perception of cap-and-trade, he must speak to what the American people are willing to listen. He must emphasize, less eloquently and more clearly, the economic advantage, not sacrifice, of renewable energy and how cap-and-trade will help stimulate renewable growth. If Obama learns how to better speak to the American people, they will listen.
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Mike McGhie
Biography
Mike McGhie is sophomore majoring in Economics at Stanford University. His interests in the global community stems from his Jamaican and Japanese heritage as well as his experiences living in Japan, Germany, Holland, England, and the United States. In high school Michael used the internet to place students looking for internships and jobs with employers. Last summer, Michael combined his interests in technology and globalization to cofound a venture that sold websites to local businesses then outsourced the labor to Indians. Michael is currently conducting research for Arijit Sengupta, the CEO of BeyondCore, in the BPO industry through the Global Entrepreneurial Marketing class at Stanford. After Michael graduates, he hopes to tackle the problem of fully utilizing human capital all over the world as a business technology consultant or as an entrepreneur. In his free time, Mike plays rugby for Stanford, and loves to have philosophical conversations with friends and snack on wheat crackers after crazy nights of debauchery around campus ;-).
Reflection
Mike’s thoughts about the rhetoric of leadership: The research I did on the outsourcing industry gave me a lot of insight on how to get people to buy into your vision. I found that companies separated by cultural barriers and thousands of miles can still overcome these boundaries by building their ethos, creating rapport, and clearly communicating the benefits of their vision. So much of leadership has to do with clearly communicating the vision you have--and a person or organization's ability to do this will literally shape the world. My topic focused on an industry instead of an individual leader and was a lot narrower than a lot of the other topics, so I faced challenges in communicating how an entire industry could be seen as a leader and why my research was important to the class. During my presentation, I learned how to move my research beyond technical jargon into something that is meaningful and beneficial to the entire class. It's super cool how technology is allowing us to communicate over the internet with you guys. What do you think the world will look like 15 years from now when new technology and globalization have torn down many of the boundaries separating people from different countries?
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Steve Ziegler
Biography
My name is Steven Andrew Ziegler. I was born in Denver, Colorado and grew up in the suburb of Broomfield roughly twenty minutes north of downtown. I have a brother, Joe (24), two sisters, Sarah (26) and Anna (28), and two wonderful parents. I have been told I have an extremely dry sense of humor; I love sarcasm, and am typically easy to get along with because people interest me. Since I was ten years old I have aspired to be a professional golfer, and am currently following my dream through the footsteps of my idol, Tiger Woods, by playing golf here at Stanford. My dreams are to be able to make a kid’s day by simple interactions, i.e. giving a lesson, or inviting them under the ropes of an event. I aspire to make a difference in our youth: our future leaders.
Reflection
For this class, I decided to analyze the rhetoric of Tiger Woods and Andre Agassi’s educational foundations to see how these men have transferred success from their respective sports into making a positive difference in education. Throughout my research and with the help of my colleagues, I noticed two reoccurring themes in quality leader’s messages: empathy and gratitude.
So, it is not a leader’s superior determination, or intelligence, or talent that makes them influential. Effective leaders are exceptional communicators, and my experience in this class suggests that those who lead gain their audience’s attention and respect through empathy and gratitude. Think about any time someone has thanked or acknowledged you for your contribution, and how you receive that person afterwards. It may not always easy to be gracious, as author Nate Booth describes, “we tend to neglect the practice of gratitude because it involves an admission of our vulnerability and dependence on other people,” but wouldn’t it be nice to live in a world where cultural norms were founded on sharing respect for others?
I believe acknowledging others build teams, much stronger than the individual. Empathy and gratitude filled messages breed effective leaders that work to improve our society, like Woods and Agassi have done by directing attention to education. I too want to make a positive difference in the future generations of this world, and I feel this class has given me the tools to accomplish my dream.
We invite you to read our research further.
Sincerely,
Micheal Ortiz, Mike McGhie, and Steve Ziegler
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