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MLDP Recap: Kick-off to Network, Connect and Communicate with Darin Eich

Read a student's account of our most recent session in our Management Leadership and Development program below. For more information about MLDP, click here.
If you were asked if you could sing, would you raise your hand? How about dance? Draw?
Darin Eich, Founder of InnovationLearning.org, asked us these very questions as we squirmed in our seat and looked around to see who were the singers, dancers, and artists of the group. But Eich said that had we been in kindergarten, we would have jumped at the chance to say we were all these things. This had happened when his mother asked her kindergarten class the same questions. Somewhere along the way, we began to think we had to be the best in order to raise our hands.
Like this exercise, Eich’s other exercises taught us to think outside the box. As we introduced ourselves, Eich pushed us to not generalize but instead say something innovative. You could talk about your ambitions, passions or even an important childhood character. By saying very general and safe statements, we defeat the purpose of an introduction. We blend into the crowd and don’t create a deep impression.
Eich’s other exercises, such as naming our strengths or imagining what a rope could be, introduced me to many students I had not met before. Bonita Chen ’16 agreed and said, “Through these creative, engaging activities, we easily broke the ice with other participants whom we didn't know before.” I’m starting a food appreciation group and through his exercises, I was able to network with other students. It makes me wonder how many opportunities I have missed when I haven’t reached out.
-- Written by Victoria Li ’16, MLDP Winter 2014 Participant