Issue link: http://ihouse.uberflip.com/i/1096552
4 International House Times F or over five years, the Robertson Center for Intercultural Leadership (CIL) at I-House has been offering leader- ship development opportunities for residents. e fall 2018 semester included our two-unit, skill-building course entitled "Global Leadership for the 21st Century," our career work- shop "Interviewing for Career Success," the RA Leadership Development program, contributions to the New Resident Orientation Retreats, the Host Family Program, and other offerings. I-House resident Alexander Blom Vigsoe, from Sweden, participated in both the Global Leadership course and the career development work- shop. He kindly offered to let me interview him so that he could share his thoughts on how these two offerings have impacted him and his future. JP: Alex, thank you for doing this. I've got a few questions about your work with CIL last fall. e first question is a general one about the Global Leadership course. What would you say is the overall impact the course has had on you? ABV: Eye-opening, if I were to use one word. What I mean by that is that I got so many perspectives I wouldn't have got- ten at Berkeley, couldn't have gotten in Sweden, and probably couldn't have gotten anywhere else. How do I know this? I have been living in an international dorm back in Sweden, and I thought of myself as being intercultural and good at interacting with people from other cultures. Taking the class made me realize that I wasn't as intercultural as I thought I was. In class, I got to learn multiple dimensions of differences that I didn't know about. It was very eye-opening hearing about it and I said, "Wow, there are many things that I didn't know about." JP: Are there any examples that stand out for you? ABV: e DIVER tool! [A tool for questioning judgments and faulty assumptions, expanding worldview, and welcom- ing diverse perspectives.] It was a good tool to question what you really know about a situation and to question whether you have a prejudice about a situation. I found that very valu- able. I would recommend people take the Global Leadership class. It was extremely good. You can't compare it to a pure academic class or pure seminar because it wasn't like that. It was something that made you think, and challenged what you thought you knew. at was nice. Preparing Leaders Jason D. Patent, Ph.D. Director, Robertson Center for Intercultural Leadership An Interview with I-House Resident Alexander Blom Vigsoe Alexander Blom Vigsoe of the Future JP: Are there ways in which taking the course has affected your life at I-House? ABV: Yes. It has improved my communications with my peers, or whenever I meet new people. ere are the standard questions, like, "Hey, what's your name? Where are you from? What do you study?" But you don't really get to know people by asking them that. What you want to know is, "What do you believe in? What drives you? What's your goal? What gets you up in the morning?" ose are the things you want to hear about. By knowing how you can improve your com- munications — both what you put out and how you can interpret what you receive back — you can get some really meaningful answers and make some meaningful connections. JP: Turning our attention to the "Interviewing for Career Success" workshop, how has that impacted you? ABV: I was applying for internships for the summer when I took the workshop. I thought I knew how to write cover letters, but afterward I thought, "Yeah, I did not know how to write cover letters." So I applied the principles from that workshop to every cover letter, and to how I communicate with people. I got eight interview offers, took six of them, and got three offers to choose from. Honestly, I don't know how that would have been possible without the workshop. JP: Is there anything from the Global Leadership course, or from the Interviewing for Career Success workshop, that you can see putting on your resume? ABV: I will use the class as part of my master's degree be- cause people will ask me, "Hey, what is this course?" I can then share what the class is about. at will be a competitive advantage for me in a rapidly changing, globalizing world. I-House residents: Stay tuned for further opportunities with CIL, including the next iteration of the Global Leadership course in fall 2019. n