#fsucobperu

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Leadership Observations: One Week In Peru

Well, it has been just over one week since landing in Peru and, as we depart tomorrow, this evening is time for reflection on an amazing experimental learning adventure.

First, our wonderful and ever insightful tour guide from Reach Out And Learn, Chad Fugate. Chad, an Idaho native, has been involved in and has led numerous humanitarian trips to villages in Peru….ours was his 38th trip! His inspirational style and devotion to servant leadership makes him a wonderful leader. He took great care of our team and helped to organize our day of service in a local village.

Our “behind the scenes" guide, Cesar, also demonstrated exemplary leadership qualities. A native Peruvian, Cesar is a business leader with an exceptional network of contacts. He not only organized our adventure in Peru, but sought out a village in need through his own humanitarian organization. He also shared stories of his entrepreneurial past. Cesar has started many small enterprises from scratch and, like our book IN FOCUS PERU explains of Peruvians, when one venture failed he quickly started another.

And of course, our professor, Dr. McClellan, who was the guest speaker of the leadership seminar we attended in Cuzco. The participants, mostly doctors and nurses wanting to better lead their hospitals, were enthralled with his presentation and were actively engaged. His gusto and, shall I say “charisma," with the subject of leadership makes it hard not to appreciate and learn.

What an amazing trip to Peru that definitely accomplished its goal……to learn more about leadership.

- Wayne

[waynefsu-blog]

Leadership Observations: One Week In Peru

Well, it has been just over one week since landing in Peru and, as we depart tomorrow, this evening is time for reflection on an amazing experimental learning adventure.

First, our wonderful and ever insightful tour guide from Reach Out And Learn, Chad Fugate. Chad, an Idaho native, has been involved in and has led numerous humanitarian trips to villages in Peru….ours was his 38th trip! His inspirational style, and devotion to servant leadership, makes him a wonderful leader. He took great care of our team and helped to organize our day of service in a local village.

Our “behind the scenes" guide, Cesar, also demonstrated exemplary leadership qualities. A native Peruvian, Cesar is a business leader with an exceptional network of contacts. He not only organized our adventure in Peru, but sought out a village in need through his own humanitarian organization. He also shared stories of his entrepreneurial past. Cesar has started many small enterprises from scratch and, like our book IN FOCUS PERU explains of Peruvians, when one venture failed he quickly started another.

And of course, our professor, Dr. McClellen, who was the guest speaker of the leadership seminar we attended in Cuzco. The participants, mostly doctors and nurses wanting to better lead their hospitals, were enthralled with his presentation and were actively engaged. His gusto and, shall I say “charisma," with the subject of leadership makes it hard not to appreciate and learn.

What an amazing trip to Peru that definitely accomplished its goal……to learn more about leadership.

Wayne

[frostburgcobperu]

Author Tim McIntosh, in his final thoughts of his work, Leadership Peruvian Style, wrote: " Peru needs a different leadership approach to take advantage of the country’s advantages. Peruvians recognize that effective leadership is possible when their leaders act with integrity through teams. If leaders listen to the clamor of their followers and changes their practices, Peru may very well witness a country wide change" ch. 10, pg. 1.

Today, FSU Team Peru met with Cusco’s Wanchaq’s District Mayor Clodomiro Caparo to discuss leadership topics. The mayor is a doctor by training, and when asked how this education has prepared him to lead his city, he stated that as a doctor, he must listen to his patients in order to treat them. As mayor, he must listen to his constituents, similar to that as a doctor, in order to best serve them as well.

As we have learned throughout this trip, the ability to listen is a very important step towards effective leadership…and servant leadership in particular...in Latin America.

Wayne

[frostburgcobperu]

Political Leader

Today we were able to sit down and interview the mayor of Cuzco to gain a better understanding of leadership perspective in Peru. The four key characteristics of a good leader he says in honesty, being prepared to support what you say, being humble and knowing your weaknesses.

He states, “You must surround yourself with people that share similar passions and drive to make a difference within the communities. I trust people to be successful and productive with economics/ budgeting, and other aspects of politics that I might not be good in, so we can become a stronger team. The biggest struggle is to make people believe that I am an honest politician, due to so much corruption in politics in the past. I try to overcome these through a no-tolerance policy and mediation among the people.”

For me this was the most powerful experience of leadership during this trip. To see leading in a formal leadership style in politics and be able to compare it to informal leadership styles within social leaders has opened my eyes to the way leadership is looked at and used within Latin American countries.

- Donald Ross

[frostburgcobperu]

Levels of leadership are very different on the outskirts of the cities of Peru. They carry very traditional routines within the household where the woman does the cooking, farming and raising children. The kids help the mother while the father goes into town to try to sell or negotiate trade.

Along with the experience in these villages, we were able to meet a great social leader, Cesar, who has been working with these villages throughout Peru providing schools, food, toys and necessities.

He demonstrates great informal leadership qualities through building relationships among the village representatives and organizations like Reach Out and Learn to come and experience and make a change in the communities as well.

While working with him he demonstrated great leader servant skills by directing the older kids to take on leadership roles over the smaller kids. He also listened to the other adults and collaborated on what would be the best plan to go forward.

- Donald Ross

[frostburgcobperu]

"Kaufman (1995) believed that building confianza (trust) is essential for effective leadership and success in other endeavors in Latin America. He stated that foreigners are particularly vulnerable to poor communication, that causes mistrust and that once trust is broken in Latin America it is difficult to rebuild. Clark (n.d.) held that Peruvian mistrust of foreigners dates to the conquest of Peru by Francisco Pizarro and his betrayal of Atahualpa." - McIntosh, Ch. 2, Pg. 21.

Our day today (29th July) was spent in a village outside of Cuzco, Peru where we interacted with mostly younger children. Playing with them builds this trust which is so important in developing and fostering a good relationship between our two cultures. The FSU group worked together as a team, and this had a positive impact on our new friends.

Servant leadership can be difficult to achieve, and as McIntosh alludes to, servant leadership between two cultures presents its own unique problems. Today was a step towards a more perfect servant leadership role between our two cultures.

Wayne

Photos by Becca Ramspott

[waynefsu-blog]

"Kaufman (1995) believed that building confianza (trust) is essential for effective leadership and success in other endeavors in Latin America. He stated that foreigners are particularly vulnerable to poor communication, that causes mistrust and that once trust is broken in Latin America it is difficult to rebuild. Clark (n.d.) held that Peruvian mistrust of foreigners dates to the conquest of Peru by Francisco Pizarro and his betrayal of Atahualpa." - McIntosh, Ch. 2, Pg. 21. Our day today (29th July) was spent in a village outside of Cuzco, Peru where we interacted with mostly younger children. Playing with them builds this trust which is so important in developing and fostering a good relationship between our two cultures. The FSU group worked together as a team, and this had a positive impact on our new friends. Servant leadership can be difficult to achieve, and as McIntosh alludes to, servant leadership between two cultures presents its own unique problems. Today was a step towards a more perfect servant leadership role between our two cultures. Wayne

[frostburgcobperu]

Leadership is a social influence process that is directed towards achieving some end. Every day we influence others. The results of our leadership include the relationships we build and the outcomes we achieve as a result of our influence efforts. Every day as we influence others, both intentionally and unintentionally, we experience positive and negative outcomes in both areas. In sum, we are all good and bad leaders daily. I think the important question is simply are we becoming better at building or destroying through our leadership efforts? I have witnessed amazing examples of leadership on this trip. Thank you to our students, faculty, staff, and support team Chad, Casar, etc.) and our new friends who have done some great things!

- Dr. Jeff McClellan

Photo by Becca Ramspott