I am reading a book on leadership when I came across a sentence which states that leaders always live their lives with values. However, this point is not elaborated further and I am left wondering what the values are.

Personally, I feel that living lives with good values is important not only for leaders but every one of us. However, what are these values? I feel that they are as follows:

• Respect: I figure that I won’t have to elaborate much on this point since all of you have learnt this in your cross cultural communications for two semesters. We have discussed how important respect is when it comes to establishing rapport with others but it’s also important to note the consequences in the absence of it.  Therefore, we should make every effort to respect others as unique individuals with their own strengths and talents.
• Thriftiness: This is a value that is rapidly eroding in today’s society. This is especially so in this day and age where consumerism is becoming more prevalent. In Barry Schwartz’s book “The Paradox of Choice“, the author mentioned that we become less happy when the variety of our choices increases immensely. Therefore, it’s best we think twice about walking into a retail outlet the next time we are in a shopping complex. We should draw a distinct line between what items are “necessities” and what are “luxuries”. This is even more important in recently years where media advertising has somewhat blurred the lines between the two terms.
• Reciprocity: The tendency to reciprocate is losing its impact on society in recent years.  While we used to send season’s greeting cards to friends and anticipating a letter from our pen pal in the past, we are seeing an increased signs of societal isolation in urban society, where urbanites are inclined to listen to a music player than making an effort to talk to their friends. This observation has been given a name by psychologist Daniel Goleman in his book “Social intelligence“, which is “urban trance”. Most urbanites are almost trapped mentally in their own world, and much might be attributed to their bid to avoid the bombardment by media advertising and all the distractions around them. I feel that it’s time that we go back to basics by engaging others in more face-to-face communications.
• Integrity: The value of integrity is also decreasing in value in recent years. You read about it in the papers (cases of embezzlement and frauds), you will observe it in the workplace and you see it in the streets. Personally, I consider integrity as one of the personal values that should be upheld by us because should the value of integrity depreciates drastically, the very social fabric of society will be destroyed, and this will eventually plunge society into a state of decadence.

Personally, I feel that the abovementioned values are good values to hold on to. I hope that you feel the same way too.       

Dear students,

I will like to introduce you to a website for journalists, which is Poynter.org. This is a website that was first introduced to me when I am still a student taking Mass Communication studies. I find it to be a very good resource for journalists and for those of you who wish to join the media sector.

Below are some interesting sections of the website that you might find interesting:

• Design / Graphics:  For those of you who are into the visual arts as well as page layout and design, you might like to explore this section to gain more insights into the intrinsic workings of the visual artists.  Some interesting links include this link where photographers bring art to life. This  link  provides you with some insights into what makes good newspaper layout and design.  
• Photojournalism:  As the title implies, this section takes a look at various aspects of photojournalism.  Some interesting links will be this where a photographer Mona Reeder provides her take on photojournalism. More noteworthy is her perspectives on the qualities of being a news photographer and her advice to all aspiring news photographers. Another interesting link provides a visual treat for enthusiasts of photography.
• Writing/Editing: For this section, this interesting link enables readers to see life through the eyes of a journalist through a comprehensive interview. This link  highlights the outsourcing of editors to India, China and the Philippines and questions the standard in news editing.

There are many useful and interesting resources for journalists and media professionals, so do have a look at the website and hopefully, learn something from it.