Are We In A Recession 2022?

 Usually, there are two things always happen during a recession. The GDP goes DOWN and unemployment rate goes UP. That make sense since we feel recession while we start worrying about our jobs. These two factors feed on each other. When companies do not make money, they start to layoff workers. When workers are losing their jobs, they spend less. And, when people spend less, companies generate less revenue from its sales. A recession can start from each of these points. Right now, the GDP is going down. However, the unemployment rate is also FALLING. Right now, people are not worry about their jobs. The Labor Participation Rate is as low as it’s been in four decades. This unsustainable! How can companies are not making enough money but still keep hiring more people? What issues will we face in the recent months or years? 

Different from management, leadership is focusing on leading and influencing people for achieving a common goal

 Different from management, leadership is focusing on leading and influencing people for achieving a common goal. However, there are multiple ways to achieve a common goal but not everyone prefers the same route. Most definitions of leadership reflect the assumption that leadership involves an influencing process whereby intentional influence is exerted by the leader over followers. However, different kinds of influencing processes and intentional influence tend to result in different outcomes. Many business owners think that they only have to lead their employees by paying them wages. If leaders do not communicate and explain the vision, it would be hard for them to motivate people to attain the essential vision. Followers follow their leaders for multiple reasons. Whether for the same benefits or merely don't know where to go, leaders must bring hope, credibility, and safety to their followers. 

Businesses face ups and downs. Without someone to push forward in optimism, the company will likely be unsuccessful. I ought to hold my emotions in check, especially in tough situations. To increase my positive energy, I start exercising regularly and eating healthier diets. In addition, positive thinking is a mental and emotional state of mind that focuses on the good and expects positive outcomes and also involves more than merely thinking happy thoughts. 

A story that could potentially help someone reach their potential AND resolve a problem or conflict

 Conflicts are almost inevitable in human life. It is also inevitable in organizations or even between nations such as Ukraine and Russia or the US and China. The conflicts in the organization or between two countries may arise due to competition, leadership styles, or even scarcity of resources such as oil. Conflicts within a company need to be well and timely managed, else it can lead to low productivity or service delivery, or worse, losing its market share. Believe it or not, conflicts can also give positive results, if managed well and be viewed as a positive opportunity. However, most people think conflicts are evil and should be avoided even though it means they have to sacrifice something. Resolving conflicts requires the causes to be understood and having high emotional intelligence. High emotional intelligence means you can understand and manage your own emotions, and those of the people around you. For leaders, having emotional intelligence is essential for success. 

An Example | The Prisoner's Dilemma 

According to the Game theory, a theoretical framework for conceiving social situations among competing players and the optimal decision-making of independent and competing actors in a strategic setting(Hayes, 2022), the Prisoner's Dilemma is the most well-known example of how people make their decisions. Typically, it is described as two criminals arrested for a crime. Prosecutors question each one in separate chambers and neither prisoner has the means to communicate with the other. Even though we already know that for the prisoners, the most favorable strategy is to not confess. Neither one is aware of the other's strategy and without certainty that one will not confess, both will likely confess since they both want to win the case privately.

A Story | A Price War

A long time ago, one of my friends was facing a tough situation. He runs a small hotel in an old mining area. The mine was no longer operated anymore and became a landscape. More and more hotels have been built and started operating in this area. However, the good times didn't last forever. In recent years, due to the pandemic of COVID-19 and some economic events, it was not crowded anymore and the profits of those hotels started shrinking. Now, they have to decide how to make a change in response to the shrinking tourists. 

While each hotel owner wants to survive, they began to engage in a new price war. They all think the cheapest price is the only solution to attract customers. However, it was a big mistake. When they began a price war and competed viciously, they also found themselves in a vicious circle. Their revenues stopped growing and even shrinking combined with lower profit margin and lower quality of their services. The lower quality of their services will lead to bad reviews and eventually lower their revenues in the future. All these signs are showing that they are heading to an end if they don't make a radical change. 

My friend decided to hire a new seasoned CEO, Eddie to handle the hot potato. Eddie started to make a radical change and avoid such a price war. He called a meeting and discussed with every hotel owner in this area. Of course, many conflicts arose. Alta, CEO of The Alexia Hotel, the biggest hotel in the area, thought they still have a tiny space to offer even more discounts. So, she was having conflicts with the other hotel owners. Eddie told him that her strategy is a suicide and also killing the whole hotel business in this area, why not do something that can save everyone including The Alexia Hotel itself? A win-win strategy that everyone can be happy? Alta asked him how to do it. Eddie encouraged those hotel owners to improve the language skills of their employees and do not lower their prices without the permission of the committee. Secondly, those hotels must focus on the quality and report their efforts regularly. The committee developed an award program to award good efforts in providing great services such as customer reviews and other supervisors' reports hired by the committee to investigate the efforts. Eddie successfully inspired them to peruse a vision that all hotels are profitable and to keep upgrading their services. Now, this area is thriving as it was. You would have to book a room for your stay at least one month earlier, or you will see “Sold Out” on every website. This story teaches me a lesson that both two sides of a conflict can be winners if we uncover the great opportunity behind the vicious argument.

References

Conflict is inevitable in the Human life essay. (n.d.). Retrieved August 6, 2022, from https://www.ipl.org/essay/Conflict-Is-Inevitable-In-Human-Life-Essay-PJQVAMHNAG 

Hayes, A. (2022, June 16). What is game theory? Investopedia. Retrieved August 6, 2022, from https://www.investopedia.com/terms/g/gametheory.asp 

the Mind Tools Content Team By the Mind Tools Content Team, Team, the M. T. C., wrote, M., wrote, regonzales80, & wrote, M. (n.d.). Emotional intelligence in leadership: Learning how to be more aware. from MindTools.com. Retrieved August 6, 2022, from https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_45.htm 

Leadership styles for the five stages of radical change” and reflection

 According to The Leadership Style Inventory (LSI), which is designed to measure the unique leadership style of current managers, executives, and other types of organizational leaders, there are four basic styles, commanding, logical, inspirational, and supportive(Reardon, Reardon, Rowe, 1998). The commanding style focuses on performance, short-term goals, productivity, and results-oriented. The logical style pertains to leaders who insist on covering all alternatives, using analysis, and for long-term goals. The inspirational leader is those who are able to develop meaningful visions of the future by focusing on radically new ideas. They learn by experimentation(Reardon, Reardon, Rowe, 1998).

According to the scores I got on The Big Five Project - Personality Test, I am relatively open to new experiences(percentile:72%), very well-organized and can be relied on(percentile:92%), and tend to be good-natured, sympathetic, forgiving, and courteous(percentile:66%). However, I am a generally anxious person that tends to worry about things and is neither particularly social nor reserved(percentile:50%).

Overall, I am open to new experiences means I am able to accept and come out with new ideas quickly. When a physical store I am operating, is affected by negative events such as COVID-19, I will make new solutions to solve such an issue quickly and switch sales onto platforms such as DoorDash. My well-organized character also helps me to implement new strategies with higher efficiency. However, I am a generally anxious person that tends to worry about things. Therefore, I must transfer the power of fear and anxiety to the fuel of execution. 

I reckon it is hard to pick up just one leadership style that applies to me the most since I usually prefer a hybrid way. Although I am relatively open to new experiences and do not like to command people for no reason, my anxiety will rise if there is no logic behind a decision or if there is actually a very lazy member in my team. Therefore, I prefer a hybrid of logical, inspirational, and supportive. In all stages of radical change, I tend to inspire them with a vision, convince them of the change by providing them a sense of logic, and keep their effort by supporting them. 

I did try to just command people to work or make changes. However, I think it was ineffective. People listen to commanders only for some bad reasons such as fear or needs(money or other things). In this situation, they are not self-motivated. They always waiting for your orders. A few years ago, I was hired to be a manager for a coffee shop. As a manager, I tried my best to "manage" things and people, and keep everything under control. I set up many SOPs(Standard Operating Procedure), from how to handle issues and complaints to promotions and how they should clean the environment. However, I think it was not a good way. As a result, they tend to see those SOPs as fuel and they remain stagnant and waiting for my next order. It is a big issue if there is always have to be me and an SOP. I was hired to be a good manager and also a good leader. I reckon that leadership is about creating a shared vision of the future and then inspiring others to help achieve that vision or influencing others to work toward a goal. Now, I am looking forward to working out a plan to get rid of the defects.

References

Hickey, K. F., Sri, V., Rosenstein, J., Tormey, T., Thai, J., Desroches, Z., Gittens-Ottley, S., & Schwartz, J. R. & C. (2016, November 29). Dustin Moskovitz shares his lessons on leadership. Wavelength by Asana. Retrieved March 16, 2022, from https://wavelength.asana.com/workstyle-dustin-moskovitz-leadership/

Identifying your personal learning style. Department of Health | Identifying your personal learning style. (n.d.). Retrieved June 27, 2022, from https://www1.health.gov.au/internet/publications/publishing.nsf/Content/drugtreat-pubs-front1-wk-toc~drugtreat-pubs-front1-wk-secb~drugtreat-pubs-front1-wk-secb-2~drugtreat-pubs-front1-wk-secb-2-5~drugtreat-pubs-front1-wk-secb-2-5-ide

Reardon, K. K., Reardon K. J., & Rowe, A. J. (1998). Leadership styles for the five stages of radical change. Acquisition Review Quarterly, 2.

https://my.uopeople.edu/pluginfile.php/1585144/mod_book/chapter/344618/reardon.pdf

The Big Five Project - Personality Test. (n.d.). Retrieved February 4, 2022, from https://www.outofservice.com/bigfive/