Month 1 - Executive Leadership - " The Road to Leadership"

"Leaders aren't born, they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. And that's the price we'll have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal."

- Vince Lombardi

Class Reflection

The first class that I had to take for the program was Executive Leadership. This class teaches us about leadership and how to become a better one. It taught us students that leadership is a characteristic that everyone can develop and that anyone can become a leader. In this class we were given two books that were required for us to read. The first book was “Developing the Leader Within You” by John C. Maxwell. This book was life changing because it taught me a lot about leadership and how to accomplish it. In addition to that, Maxwell gives excellent examples to support the point in what he’s trying to say. The second book that we got was “48 Laws to Power,” by Robert Greene. This book was very interesting and eye opening. It taught how to accomplish power and uses examples from history to illustrate how the laws can lead to power. However, my favorite thing about reading the two books is that they compliment each other because one talks about how to be a leader and the other teaches how to accomplish a position of power.

In doing the Entertainment Business program, one of the requirements in doing this program was to do a Capstone project that requires us to get involve in the community and demonstrate our leadership skills. We were given a choice to use any medium to document our activities and I chose to use a blog to document my involvement in the community and titled it “Memoirs of L.A.” For this activity, I decided to include in my blog a reflection of what I learned from the class and leadership assignment and my community involvement along the way. My objective will be to illustrate my progress as I begin on my journey toward becoming a leader in the entertainment industry. By the end of the entertainment business masters program, I look to have 11 entries with reflections and thoughts on my experiences while looking to produce a final presentation of my Leadership Portfolio along with my Business Proposal.

The first assignment we got for the leadership portfolio was from Executive Leadership. For the assignment given in Executive Leadership we were to choose an organization in which we will work for in order to demonstrate our leadership skills. In choosing the organization to work for, I chose to work with Revelations Entertainment.

Revelations Entertainment is an innovative independent production company owned and operated by Morgan Freeman and Lori McCreary. This Organization integrates together artistic integrity with technological innovation as one of the most promising independent production companies in the industry. I chose this production company because as an aspiring filmmaker, the opportunities to learn and be mentored by a team of individuals who share the same passion and vision, as myself was something I felt I wanted to be a part of. As an intern at Revelations Entertainment, my goals are simple; to gain a deeper understanding and a better appreciation of the film entertainment industry, receive hands on experience, and improve my leadership skills by learning from the people of whom I work with. In addition, my experiences there will help mold me into a better leader, as well as a better person.

After I’ve finished the class I learned a lot about leadership. In taking Executive Leadership, I’ve learned so many things about how to become a leader. In participating in taking the leadership assessment skill test I learned that I am highly effective in problem solving, that I possess a positive attitude, make positive assumptions about people and possess a clear vision of what I want to accomplish both personally and professionally. I have also learned that I need to improve in certain areas such as prioritizing tasks in order to make progress, discipline myself to stay on track, and improve my ability to influence others to follow my vision as well as myself. The class was definitely life changing and it totally met my expectations of what the class was about. I feel that I can become a better leader after taking this class and I look forward to the rest of the program.

Leadership Activity 1

At Revelations Entertainment I was given the opportunity to sit in on production meetings and participate in problem solving sessions, assist in writing script coverage, and aide in the day-to-day tasks and activities of the company. I am also able to work on small projects with other interns, which will allow me to demonstrate my leadership skills and ability to create a positive change. During my first month at Revelations, one of the key things I had to do was train new interns as they come because everyone in the company was so busy that they relied on me to teach and train new interns. In doing this, I was able to teach new interns and display my leadership to them by leading with example.

This internship gives me an opportunity to improve on my communication skills by interacting with people in a professional environment. Furthermore, this internship allows me the opportunity to attend events that will enable me to create contacts and network with other people in the industry, which will be essential to have when I start up my own production company.

- L.A.