Running head: THIRD PEARL DIVING ASSIGNMENT 1

ENCE424 Third Pearl Diving Assignment

Layefaa Eke-Spiff

University of Maryland
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Table of Contents

ENCE424 First Pearl Diving Assignment Introduction ...................................................... 3

Quote ..................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.

Concepts .......................................................................................................................... 4

Reflections. ................................................................................................................. 5

Personality Assesment ........................................................................................................ 8

Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 8
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ENCE424 Third Pearl Diving Assignment

This week’s pearl diving assignment has a slight twist compared to the previous two.

Unlike the last two, this one focuses on analyzing quotes discussed in class, concepts and topics

covered, in-class debate and finally a personality assessment. These four topics summarize all

that I’ve learnt within the past few weeks of ENCE424.

Quote

John C. Maxwell once said, “Leadership is influence, nothing more and nothing less.”

This quote is extremely significant because in my opinion it defines the backbone of what it

takes to become an effective project manager. In my opinion a project manager is leadership

position given to a person who can effectively guide a group of people to come together and

accomplish a task. So, with that in mind and considering what John Maxwell said we can deduce

one fact. As a leader, you can’t force anyone to do anything that he or she is willing to do. You

can however make things difficult for them, i.e. threaten to remove them from their job but when

it’s all said and done nobody is going to do anything just because. So best leaders in any

situation are the ones who can positively influence those around them. Good examples include,

Barack Obama, Martin Luther King Jr, Tom Brady and LeBron James.

The one thing all 4 have in common is the ability to influence others to work towards a

goal that’s bigger than any individual. Neither one sought the use of force to motivate their

followers, the same goes for being a project manager. In regard to ENCE424, we might have a

class activity like the debates and different roles need to be filled out. Now the leader of a

particular group isn’t the person who automatically labels themselves as group leader. And even

though we as a class have only spent half a semester together, subconsciously every student has a

feel for who is capable of leading a project and who isn’t. And that’s not to knock anyone, some
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people are natural born leaders, and some have to learn the necessary skills required to become

one.

Concepts

Similar to previous pearl diving assignments this one analyzes concepts learned

specifically from the readings and how I apply those concepts. The first of which comes from

Chapter 7 of Crucial Conversations (Patterson et al., 2011). This chapter introduces a concept

called “State My Path,” which basically is a way of speaking persuasively and not abrasively.

The acronym for these 5 skills is STATE and stand for; share your facts, tell your story, ask for

others’ paths, talk tentatively, encourage testing. Now these 5 skills help project managers

understand how to maneuver their way through a conversation rather than just interacting with

another person like artificial intelligence. Now I apply all 5 by making a conscious effort

throughout my daily conversations with anyone I meet. For example, I feel like professor

Trotman and I don’t see eye-to-eye and that conflict is affecting my grades. Instead of

approaching the professor with my mind already made up saying “I know you don’t like me” I’m

better off sharing my facts. So, I can say “professor I noticed your body language towards me

isn’t the same as the rest of the class and you also tend to single me out for the little things

during class. Now maybe I did something that offended you, but I would like to fix it because my

grade is becoming the victim in this situation.” In the first statement I already came to a

conclusion but in the second my goal is to be rational and have open discussion with my

professor.

The next concept from the readings I found interesting was on giving ideas “verbal

beauty” through the use of analogies and metaphors. A quote from Steve Jobs that puts that into

perspective says, “The computer is a bicycle for our minds.” Both analogies and metaphors are
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rhetorical devices that help improve the persuasive strength of a speech by engaging the

audience’s attention. In chapter 14 of Carmine Gallo’s Five Stars I discovered the importance of

incorporating rhetorical devices into one’s speech. Analogies are meant for comparing two

things and are normally used to clarify misunderstandings. A great example is, “emotions are to

humans as algorithms are to computers.” By using an analogy I’m capable to explaining what

makes humans different from computers. On the other hand, a metaphor is a figure of speech that

refers one thing by citing another. For example, “As a child my mother always called me her

sunshine.” My mother has now referred to me as a bright spot or form of happiness in her life by

citing me as her sunshine.

The easiest way to apply these two is by constantly practicing them, so when I’m with

friends having a sport debate I might throw in an analogy like “LeBron James is to basketball as

Henry Ford is to cars.” In that example I’ve given clarity on my opinion on Lebron James,

insinuating that I believe his talent is revolutionary. I think with rhetorical devices anyone can

get better at them by just trying to use one per day, even if you state a metaphor that doesn’t

make sense after a while, they’ll become more natural. And as a project manager if people are

able to visualize your ideas or thoughts then you’ve made the execution phase of that project a

lot easier. So now, instead of your teammates trying to come up with ideas of their own they can

put together a picture of what you’re expecting them to produce in the end.

Debate Activity. Regarding the in-class debate activity I was part of the group against

“Big Dig.” Our job was simple, convince our fellow panelists that “Big Dig” was an architectural

failure. My role on the team was researcher and I was responsible for finding key information to

help build our case. But if I was appointed team leader my first responsibility would’ve been to

discuss with my group and get a feel for what everyone feels comfortable doing. I think that
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would’ve been important because I’d rather give others an opportunity to voice their opinions

rather than I tell them what to do. Once everyone got the chance to speak, they all would’ve

become comfortable speaking and that would lead to everyone contributing. But overall, I was

definitely impressed with my team’s performance, there was equal participation by all members,

and nobody felt pressure to participate. Even those who professor Trotman demanded more

participation from obliged with no hesitation. Even with all the success we experienced I believe

we made errors that could’ve been avoided. For example, we had so many points that we didn’t

do our best focusing on the main ones. We also didn’t appeal to ethos, pathos or logos with

strong argument points and as part of the research team I take ownership for that. My biggest

takeaway from this activity was, the beginning and closing of any speech no matter the topic are

the most key parts of effectively delivering the message. Looking back at it now my team

could’ve done a better job with our delivery. And I think that stems from having so many points

to use that we got carried away.

Personality Assessment. For this pearl dive we were asked to complete a personality

assessment test. The DISC is unique test that produces “specific distribution of scores on the

DISC personality test is an indication of your unique personality.” The results from my personal

test came back; 37% dominance, 32% influence, 23% steadiness and 9% compliance. I don’t

completely agree with my results and if I could change one thing, I would switch dominance and

influence. I don’t think of myself as an individual who prides himself on dominance, in fact, I

believe I’m more of an influential person. But other than that, I didn’t see any surprising insights

I think all 4 components of the DISC personality report do a great job of defining who I am.

Having self-awareness of my personality type can definitely help me become a more effective

communicator and project manager. Reason being, I’m able to better understand my personal
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strengths and weaknesses. For example, dominance made up majority of my personality, so I

might consider being more understanding when it comes to communicating with others during a

project.

Conclusion

In conclusion this paper touched on a quote from John Maxwell that was discussed in

ENCE424 a few back. But more importantly my interpretation of that quote and how it directly

applies to becoming a better and more effective communicator and project manager. I mentioned

the power of influence outweighs dominance and only those who are able to successfully

influence others will be seen as great leaders.

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References