PMcrunch

The report sits on my desk, its pages crisp and fulfilled, the folder that binds them all together as prim and gray as a gun’s mouth. I know Jenny worked nights for this reports, so I’m relishing the last few minutes before it gets shipped off to my pigeonhole and fall in line for my checking along with other submitted works. The report is supposed to be a group project, but I know the truth: This English teacher is fully aware of the dynamics of classroom leadership and politics.

No, Jenny’s not your typical nerd who volunteers to shoulder all the work just to win friends: that’s way too much Hollywood high school flicks. In real-life classroom, true geniuses claim to be the best strategists: If they know group mates won’t deliver, then they grab leadership by the collar and go ahead with the project. Alone. They don’t see it as martyrdom; it’s just time management and self-preservation. Afterwards, they can just charge their group mates for the expenses.

For Jenny, this means more work but less hassle. For me, this means a self-imposed project on creating teaching methods to promote the values of [tag]leadership[/tag] and working as part of a group. 

In this world, status is based on what was acquired, not how it was acquired. Thus, it seems a long way before leadership is seen as something that inspires and group work means [tag]empowerment[/tag]. And those who know these values are at an advantage over other project managers out there.