E.H. and J.N said...

Our assigned reading for the week was chapter 7, entitled, ‘The Voice of Influence-Be a Trim-Tab.’

In the eDiscussion many people talked about Coveys view on not being the victim. According to Covey, admitting fault and not placing blame on others is a powerful way to lead others to do the same and be a good role model and positive influence in a company.

B. and J. were the discussion leaders for this week. They mentioned that Nike is the greek goddess for victory. And that Nike’s motto is ‘just do it!’ This motto is very similar to the point Covey is trying to convey in this chapter.

Another good point they brought up was the quote from page 128, which says, “Victimism gives your future away.” This means that when we allow ourselves to be the victim we let others control who we are and what we do.

We then broke into groups and discussed victimization experiences we may have had.

We got back together as a group and some students shared their experiences. One student brought up a situation about her and her boyfriend. Her friends kept telling her that he was controlling but she didn’t realize this until she stepped back from the situation and looked at it from the outside in.

Next, we discussed the Seven Levels of Initiative. Some students shared experiences with different steps and discussed where and when they can/should come into play. E. brought up the fact that on the side of the chart it says ‘trustworthiness’ on the bottom and ‘trust’ on the top. This shows that one must start from the bottom of the chart to prove their trustworthiness and as they progress they will eventually gain the trust of their employer/teacher/parent.