Managing teams and ruling small-island nations

We first-years have just about completed our orientation session here. We took a couple of short classes, including one on managing teams. In an exercise that asked us to rate how we would respond to various management situations on a scale from very autocratic to very participatory, my score judged that I was the most autocratic decision-maker in my class. Not surprising considering the creative writing story I wrote in Junior High about a boy who makes a lot of money in the stock market, buys an island, and then proceeds to found a country and rule over its inhabitants.

Unrealistic upon reflection, but only because the boy did not take my orientation class. Had he, the story would have played out differently. The boy would better handled certain situations along his path to ruling the island. He would have been sensitive to instances in which team participation could build buy-in and enhance the chance of successful implementation of his plans. In order to develop his cronies' abilities and competencies, he would have sometimes allowed them to participate in decision processes. Of course, in situations when he had all necessary information, time was critical, and buy-in was less important, he may have acted as autocratically as I tended to do in the exercises. However, his increased sensitivity to the optimal way to lead given various situations would have been evident and he might have ruled over not one, but many islands.

I'm off to a rafting trip tomorrow, and then the quarter starts Monday. Splash!