Title: The Real Estate of Fear (Episode 2) “Fearing Leadership”
To: Professor Ellis
From: Mariah Rajah
Date: March, 13th 2016
Re: Project 3 Memo – leading without fear
Dear Professor Ellis,
For this project, I have presented to you and my classmates the topic of how fear influences the life choices we make. These choices either enable us to deal with that said fear or completely ignore them. For this podcast, I will be focusing on the fear of leadership in a professional aspect. Being that this project has to encompass a non-fictional storyline I believe that this would be a good topic to focus on. I have feared leadership even though over the years I have grown into assuming the position time and time again. The fear is still very much alive in me but every time I assume the role I have learned how to become a better leader.
My take on episode in the collaborative podcast as mentioned will focus on how to deal with fear of leading. I will focus on three defining aspects which are as follows:
What makes a good leader?
This section of the podcast will list characteristics of some of my most  influential leaders and how this defines what it means to a good leader (Barack Obama, Adolf Hitler, Nelson Mandela, Oprah Winfrey)
These individuals exert the ability to inspire, exude confidence, find solutions for unmanageable problems, connect with people on a personal level, and take responsibility for mishaps with grace and dignity.
My Fears of Leading
When I was growing up I have been afraid to speak up. I was afraid that me taking a stand would place me in the role of a leader and that was a scary place to be. I was afraid of being a leader because it meant that I would have to point people in what I thought was the right direction and  I would have to assume a role in which I knew little to nothing about.  Being a leader above all meant that I would have to take the responsibility for every ones’ actions and I would have to be the face of blame if it all failed.
These were things I feared and to this day I still fear even though I have placed myself in leadership roles time and time again. It has not gotten easier to lead a group of people but each time I do it I realize that maybe I am better at it than I feared. That me taking this role and exercising these fears help me to become a stronger leader. That by knowing I am responsible that I will take better precautions and approach the role with care and the utmost respect.
Understanding Leaders fail too.
My biggest fear, and I believe all people when assuming a leadership role fear what is most inevitable: dropping the ball. In this portion of the podcast I will explore through interview how others have dealt with coping or fleeing from leadership roles because they did not want to feel the overwhelming guilt of letting everyone down. I will also explore my own thoughts on this area and explain how I have managed to deal with it.
5 ways to assume a leadership role and how to get the best possible experience out of this role.
This section will include researched material of what is the best way to approach a leadership role which will play off my own examples and experiences. This concluding section of the podcast will also elaborate on how I have managed to deal with fear of leading, what I have learned, and how I have become a better leader by facing my fears and accepting that I am a good leader.
In executing theses three very important sections, I believe that the podcast will be able to effectively approach the subject of how to face fear in a leadership role whether in a professional or academic setting. Learning to be a good leader comes from practice and this podcast has the potential to help others assume that role and learn that their voice as a leader matters.
To: Professor Ellis
From: Jodieann Stephenson, Samantha Pezzolanti, Pamela Drake, & Mariah Rajah
Re: Project 3 Collab. Memo “The Real Estate of Fear”
Date: 03/14/2016
Dear Professor Ellis,
After much deliberation and brainstorming we have come to the conclusion that this third project should be based on the overall arching theme of fear and how it plays a part in determining aspects of our professional lives. Since this project will be be both collaborative and non-fictional based we have all chosen issues which we have faced in our personal lives that we believe many professionals also face.
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Jodieann Stephenson has chosen to take on the fear of public speaking and how it has affected her in such a way that she has gone out of her way to create a “persona” in able to cope with her speaking fear. She has even chosen a career of writing which will allow her to say what she physically cannot. Her Podcast will be an insightful and eye opening podcast about public speaking, anxiety, and coping mechanisms.
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Samantha Pezzolanti has chosen to take the root of understanding the fear of change and how it keeps it sometimes keeps us grounded in one place because we fear the unknown of what comes with change. She explores this through her own life experiences and will illustrate ways in which to face this fear in many ways like she has. This podcast will allow for professionals to have another perspective on change and the way it can be seen as opportunity and not a rabbit hole.
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Mariah Rajah has taken on the task of understanding and illustration the fear of leadership. In her own life she has been afraid to assume the role of a leader due to the fears of failing in the eyes of other and dropping the ball in that role. Her podcast will give examples of what she believes to be a good leader and will share her story of how she has even moved past her fear by assuming the role of a leader time after time. This podcast will be an overall look into leadership and the fears individuals can approach the role in such a way that they understand its responsibilities enough not to fear it.
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Lastly, Pamela Drake will paint a picture of how individuals fear criticism, the way in which it affects an individual, as well as ways in which learning to make it constructive instead of destructive. Her exploration into the fear of criticism allows for her to relate to Ms. Stephenson’s podcast due to the fact that many of those who fear speaking fear being criticized for their voice.  This podcast will reveal the ways in which a professional can understand the differences in critic and how the separate fear from it.
The podcast we hope to create will focus on these fears we speculate many professionals fear. We hope to produce an episode in which our audience can learn, engage, and realize that all fears are essentially inevitable but they do play a larger role in our lives that we may recognize. All in all we hope that this podcast will meet all requirements for the project effectively and our stories will be able to connect with not just an Openlab audience but a larger one.
Reflection:
This project has been by far the most challenging for me due to its nature of voice recording. It was a work in progress while being a work in progress. I had to record myself so many times I memorized my script. The constant back and forth changing, reworking of words and adapting the script to the way I talk was a new challenge for me. I found myself saying things many different ways but none of them quite fit the overall tone of the podcast. This meant that I took hours to record minutes worth of words. I also had the challenge of addressing such a wide audience. I wanted to just address professionals in both an academic or office setting but I believe I totally missed that target and created a rabbit hole for a larger audience to enter into. If I have the change to redo this assignment I would try to make my script more specific as to narrow in on my intended target audience. On another note, collaboration was used in my interviewing portion of the podcast, and not to mention the creative concept of the podcast. My classmates and I were able to come to an agreement of a topic and we built separate podcasts that reflect that very topic. I thought this was a great way to keep some type of consensus yet to venture out and create in our ways.
