SUNDAY SNAPSHOT: HASHTAG #RESLIFE

'ello!

In my last Sunday Snapshot post, I mentioned that the other resident director and I would be venturing to other halls... and indeed we did!

Home Sweet Homa floor! Love it.

Big Bang Theory, Mario, I Love Lucy, and Aliens.
Really got a chuckle out of the alien floor (literally, a chuckle.)

I LOVE PRINCESS AND THE FROG!
Such an amazing floor.

Two buddy RAs did matching Dr. Seuss and it
turned out so well. One of my favorites for sure.

Angry birds! Van Gogh, dinosaurs, and heroes -
that Simba was an excellent use of window chalk.

Also, our center has been flying solo for a little while on account of our supervisor adding a new little darling to his family. We wanted to send him some love...

Last year we started this "tradition" of picking a theme for our marker board and matching things in that category to staff's personality. The only thing I remember from last year was that I was Rachael Harris (celebrities) & a kiwi (food items.) In addition to the two below, we've done Historical Figures and X-Men so far this year. And if you think this is simple stuff, you'd be surprised at how many battles we have about pinning a person to a categorical item (X-Men was created by one staff member, re-done by two disagreeing staff members, only to be reinstated. It gets real y'all.)

I never knew there were so many Crayola colors in the world.

So. Accurate.

And lastly, in addition to working with my RA staff, I get to meet and work with a wonderful group of freshmen ladies in our leadership program. I send them weekly e-letters about application deadlines, scholarship details, and upcoming events. We have our first dinner next week!

xoxo e

How do you serve?

Traditionally I've always learned about hierarchy as placed in a normal pyramid with the highest positions at the top. Today I learned about people who see their hierarchy in an inverted pyramid with the positions reversed.

I never thought of leadership in this way until now. I could not stop thinking about it for the next 15 minutes. For some, this concept may be familiar, but it was new to me and really resonated.

Using the normal triangle places the executives/CEOs at the point. To me, this is the selfish diagram - it focuses on those in superior positions and places them above everyone else. When at the top, who do you have to look up to? To answer to? Where's there left to go when you're presumably at the highest point? I think sometimes when we reach the top of our triangle, we may grow complacent. We begin to think inside the box, because why exert the extra effort when you're already where you want to be? It is so important that as a leader you are always raising the bar for yourself - because if you don't, those who you are serving will suffer.

An inverted triangle is ideal. When you're in a serving position, who should truly be at the top? The inverted triangle shifts the importance to the people you are serving. With higher positions at the bottom, it becomes visually clear that your duty is to help others, those you are carrying. With the inverted pyramid, you can look up at all the people you are responsible for, an ever-changing population, which perpetuates growth in leadership. Any group of people you are serving will never be identical and for that reason, you cannot always lead these groups the same. It is so important that we are always seeking new and diverse ways to lead, and that we always keep those we are serving in mind when choosing how to lead.

"A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don't necessarily want to go, but ought to be." - Rosalynn Carter

xoxo erikah