How the American Leadership Forum Class 1 Makes a Positive and Meaningful Difference
- By Jolanda Jones
- Published 10/7/2009
- Community
- Unrated
This is Part 2 of last week’s article in Vol. 14, Issue 35, September 30-October 6, 2009.
We battled to keep from capsizing. A number of times I knew we were goners. We had to maintain our collective composure and avoid panic, as we struggled to free the raft from the rocks.
Later we came to a 15 to 20 foot rock that overlooked the deepest portion of the river. To jump into the river, we had to climb up the side of this slippery rock using a thin rope which was hard to grip. One person tried before me and couldn’t get up the rock so I thought, what the heck, if not me then who?
Just go for it!
I grabbed the rope, put my fears out of my mind and did it. It was a liberating experience. I had conquered one of my fears.
Another teammate got to the top of the rock and froze. We later found out that this teammate had children who would always jump from the high dive but the teammate never would. The teammate shared that as a child, jumping off high things was the norm but somewhere along the road in life, the teammate became fearful of heights.
Our teammate stood on top of that rock, for probably 30 minutes, trying to work up the courage to jump, as some below were shouting/pressuring for the teammate to jump. Eventually one of the guides made her way up to our teammate and gave the option not to jump. Next came a “promise” to jump.
Eventually the jump occurred and it gave me goose bumps. I learned, during our white water rafting experience, that two of our teammates were some of the most courageous and heroic people I’ve ever known. The first one is the teammate who got into the raft in the first place who was deathly afraid of water and drowning, and by the way, that teammate also had sickle cell anemia and was advised by doctors not to come on this wilderness experience because of the stress and altitude and its potential negative effects on our teammate’s health.
We later learned that our teammate TRUSTED us to get all of us through the rapids alive. One of the rafts did capsize. The second teammate who is my hero is the one that jumped.
There is not a doubt in my mind that this teammate will now jump from the high dive with that teammate’s children. I also believe that that teammate will have the underlying confidence which derives from overcoming your most petrifying fear. That teammate will doubt himself less and achieve more.
Then came the big challenge: to climb to the peak of a mountain. There were a variety of options we had, each with varying levels of difficulty. We decided collectively that we would be a single team, made up of all of us, rather than two or three or four separate teams divided by physical ability or other traits, choosing different goals.
We determined that our goal was to get every person all the way to the summit and back down to base camp, safely. In other words, we optioned to choose the summit which our least physically fit teammate could accomplish, not withstanding that there were at least two teammates who didn’t believe they could make it at all.
Our team on the other hand, knew unequivocally that we’d get them there. We were willing to carry them if we had to. This was an exercise in patience for me, but as with the other activities we worked together and learned about each other’s strengths and weakness, and used that information to get us all up and back down that mountain.
We chose our big boss, the one teammate who had skills in reading topographic maps. He and his co-team leader made the plan/path to the summit and back down. We trusted them.
Four other leadership teams, comprised of two teammates, were responsible for equally number groups within our team. One of us would be at the front of our group; the other would be at the end. I was in the leadership group which was at the end.
Our job was to ensure that no teammate was left behind. It was a natural role for me because it is sort of the role I play in real life; always trying to make sure everyone is included. My co-leader for our group, an esteemed and respected person in the legal profession, a Republican (I am a Democrat), and who I did not really know prior to ALF, would share that passion and commonality.
Interestingly and surprisingly, we bonded over that shared quality. Through those activities we learned valuable skills and information about each other that we will be able to apply when tackling the problems facing the criminal justice system. We all have different perspectives and different experiences and different strengths and weaknesses, and I believe most importantly, have different and better appreciation for what we all do, regardless of position.
Through our shared trust we became a team that will listen and try and help each other and not be so quick to judge and assume. We will use this newly developed relationship with each other, to address the various problems within the system. If an assistant district attorney and rehabilitated ex-offender can share and respect each other to form a relationship of mutual respect, admiration and trust with one another, then it provides the foundation for more open-minded and productive discussion to persistent problems and possible solutions in the criminal justice system.
The experience I’ve had so far with the American Leadership Forum Criminal Justice Class 1 has caused my paradigm to shift. Where as at one point I was skeptical about ALF, I now see it as a gift from God! I’m excited about and am looking forward to the rest of the activities.
If we have come this far in just two months, I can’t even imagine our progress over the remaining 16 months. I’m both optimistic and hopeful that before we’re through, the criminal justice system will be better than when we found it. The challenges we’ve faced as a team effectively broke us down individually only to build us up collectively as a team of better leaders/public servants. End part 2.
We battled to keep from capsizing. A number of times I knew we were goners. We had to maintain our collective composure and avoid panic, as we struggled to free the raft from the rocks.
Later we came to a 15 to 20 foot rock that overlooked the deepest portion of the river. To jump into the river, we had to climb up the side of this slippery rock using a thin rope which was hard to grip. One person tried before me and couldn’t get up the rock so I thought, what the heck, if not me then who?
Just go for it!
I grabbed the rope, put my fears out of my mind and did it. It was a liberating experience. I had conquered one of my fears.
Another teammate got to the top of the rock and froze. We later found out that this teammate had children who would always jump from the high dive but the teammate never would. The teammate shared that as a child, jumping off high things was the norm but somewhere along the road in life, the teammate became fearful of heights.
Our teammate stood on top of that rock, for probably 30 minutes, trying to work up the courage to jump, as some below were shouting/pressuring for the teammate to jump. Eventually one of the guides made her way up to our teammate and gave the option not to jump. Next came a “promise” to jump.
Eventually the jump occurred and it gave me goose bumps. I learned, during our white water rafting experience, that two of our teammates were some of the most courageous and heroic people I’ve ever known. The first one is the teammate who got into the raft in the first place who was deathly afraid of water and drowning, and by the way, that teammate also had sickle cell anemia and was advised by doctors not to come on this wilderness experience because of the stress and altitude and its potential negative effects on our teammate’s health.
We later learned that our teammate TRUSTED us to get all of us through the rapids alive. One of the rafts did capsize. The second teammate who is my hero is the one that jumped.
There is not a doubt in my mind that this teammate will now jump from the high dive with that teammate’s children. I also believe that that teammate will have the underlying confidence which derives from overcoming your most petrifying fear. That teammate will doubt himself less and achieve more.
Then came the big challenge: to climb to the peak of a mountain. There were a variety of options we had, each with varying levels of difficulty. We decided collectively that we would be a single team, made up of all of us, rather than two or three or four separate teams divided by physical ability or other traits, choosing different goals.
We determined that our goal was to get every person all the way to the summit and back down to base camp, safely. In other words, we optioned to choose the summit which our least physically fit teammate could accomplish, not withstanding that there were at least two teammates who didn’t believe they could make it at all.
Our team on the other hand, knew unequivocally that we’d get them there. We were willing to carry them if we had to. This was an exercise in patience for me, but as with the other activities we worked together and learned about each other’s strengths and weakness, and used that information to get us all up and back down that mountain.
We chose our big boss, the one teammate who had skills in reading topographic maps. He and his co-team leader made the plan/path to the summit and back down. We trusted them.
Four other leadership teams, comprised of two teammates, were responsible for equally number groups within our team. One of us would be at the front of our group; the other would be at the end. I was in the leadership group which was at the end.
Our job was to ensure that no teammate was left behind. It was a natural role for me because it is sort of the role I play in real life; always trying to make sure everyone is included. My co-leader for our group, an esteemed and respected person in the legal profession, a Republican (I am a Democrat), and who I did not really know prior to ALF, would share that passion and commonality.
Interestingly and surprisingly, we bonded over that shared quality. Through those activities we learned valuable skills and information about each other that we will be able to apply when tackling the problems facing the criminal justice system. We all have different perspectives and different experiences and different strengths and weaknesses, and I believe most importantly, have different and better appreciation for what we all do, regardless of position.
Through our shared trust we became a team that will listen and try and help each other and not be so quick to judge and assume. We will use this newly developed relationship with each other, to address the various problems within the system. If an assistant district attorney and rehabilitated ex-offender can share and respect each other to form a relationship of mutual respect, admiration and trust with one another, then it provides the foundation for more open-minded and productive discussion to persistent problems and possible solutions in the criminal justice system.
The experience I’ve had so far with the American Leadership Forum Criminal Justice Class 1 has caused my paradigm to shift. Where as at one point I was skeptical about ALF, I now see it as a gift from God! I’m excited about and am looking forward to the rest of the activities.
If we have come this far in just two months, I can’t even imagine our progress over the remaining 16 months. I’m both optimistic and hopeful that before we’re through, the criminal justice system will be better than when we found it. The challenges we’ve faced as a team effectively broke us down individually only to build us up collectively as a team of better leaders/public servants. End part 2.