Running head: THIRD PEARL DIVING ASSIGNMENT 1

ENCE424 Third Pearl Diving Assignment

Layefaa Eke-Spiff
University of Maryland
THIRD PEARL DIVING ASSIGNMENT 2

Table of Contents
ENCE424 First Pearl Diving Assignment Introduction ...................................................... 3
Quote ..................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.
Concepts .......................................................................................................................... 3
Reflections. ................................................................................................................. 4
Personality Assesment ........................................................................................................ 6
Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 6
THIRD PEARL DIVING ASSIGNMENT 3

ENCE424 Third Pearl Diving Assignment

This week’s pearl diving assignment has a slight twist compared to the previous two.
Unlike the last two, this one focuses on analyzing quotes discussed in class, concepts and topics
covered, in-class debate and finally a personality assessment. These four topics summarize all
that I’ve learnt within the past few weeks of ENCE424.
Quote
John C. Maxwell once said, “Leadership is influence, nothing more and nothing less.”
This quote is extremely significant because in my opinion it defines the backbone of what it
takes to become an effective project manager. In my opinion a project manager is leadership
position given to a person who can effectively guide a group of people to come together and
accomplish a task. So, with that in mind and considering what John Maxwell said we can deduce
one fact. As a leader, you can’t force anyone to do anything that he or she is willing to do. You
can however make things difficult for them, i.e. threaten to remove them from their job but when
it’s all said and done nobody is going to do anything just because. So best leaders in any
situation are the ones who can positively influence those around them. Good examples include,
Barack Obama, Martin Luther King Jr, Tom Brady and LeBron James.
The one thing all 4 have in common is the ability to influence others to work towards a
goal that’s bigger than any individual. Neither one sought the use of force to motivate their
followers, the same goes for being a project manager. In regard to ENCE424, we might have a
class activity like the debates and different roles need to be filled out. Now the leader of a
particular group isn’t the person who automatically labels themselves as group leader. And even
though we as a class have only spent half a semester together, subconsciously every student has a
feel for who is capable of leading a project and who isn’t. And that’s not to knock anyone, some
people are natural born leaders, and some have to learn the necessary skills required to become
one.
Concepts
Similar to previous pearl diving assignments this one analyzes concepts learned
specifically from the readings and how I apply those concepts. The first of which comes from
Chapter 7 of Crucial Conversations (Patterson et al., 2011). This chapter introduces a concept
called “State My Path,” which basically is a way of speaking persuasively and not abrasively.
The acronym for these 5 skills is STATE and stand for; share your facts, tell your story, ask for
others’ paths, talk tentatively, encourage testing. Now these 5 skills help project managers
understand how to maneuver their way through a conversation rather than just interacting with
another person like artificial intelligence. Now I apply all 5 by making a conscious effort
throughout my daily conversations with anyone I meet. For example, I feel like professor
Trotman and I don’t see eye-to-eye and that conflict is affecting my grades. Instead of
approaching the professor with my mind already made up saying “I know you don’t like me” I’m
better off sharing my facts. So, I can say “professor I noticed your body language towards me
isn’t the same as the rest of the class and you also tend to single me out for the little things
during class. Now maybe I did something that offended you, but I would like to fix it because my
grade is becoming the victim in this situation.” In the first statement I already came to a
conclusion but in the second my goal is to be rational and have open discussion with my
professor.
The next concept from the readings I found interesting was on giving ideas “verbal
beauty” through the use of analogies and metaphors. A quote from Steve Jobs that puts that into
perspective says, “The computer is a bicycle for our minds.” Both analogies and metaphors are
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rhetorical devices that help improve the persuasive strength of a speech by engaging the
audience’s attention. In chapter 14 of Carmine Gallo’s Five Stars I discovered the importance of
incorporating rhetorical devices into one’s speech. Analogies are meant for comparing two
things and are normally used to clarify misunderstandings. A great example is, “emotions are to
humans as algorithms are to computers.” By using an analogy I’m capable to explaining what
makes humans different from computers. On the other hand, a metaphor is a figure of speech that
refers one thing by citing another. For example, “As a child my mother always called me her
sunshine.” My mother has now referred to me as a bright spot or form of happiness in her life by
citing me as her sunshine.
The easiest way to apply these two is by constantly practicing them, so when I’m with
friends having a sport debate I might throw in an analogy like “LeBron James is to basketball as
Henry Ford is to cars.” In that example I’ve given clarity on my opinion on Lebron James,
insinuating that I believe his talent is revolutionary. I think with rhetorical devices anyone can
get better at them by just trying to use one per day, even if you state a metaphor that doesn’t
make sense after a while, they’ll become more natural. And as a project manager if people are
able to visualize your ideas or thoughts then you’ve made the execution phase of that project a
lot easier. So now, instead of your teammates trying to come up with ideas of their own they can
put together a picture of what you’re expecting them to produce in the end.
Debate Activity. Regarding the in-class debate activity I was part of the group against
“Big Dig.” Our job was simple, convince our fellow panelists that “Big Dig” was an architectural
failure. My role on the team was researcher and I was responsible for finding key information to
help build our case. But if I was appointed team leader my first responsibility would’ve been to
discuss with my group and get a feel for what everyone feels comfortable doing. I think that
would’ve been important because I’d rather give others an opportunity to voice their opinions
rather than I tell them what to do. Once everyone got the chance to speak, they all would’ve
become comfortable speaking and that would lead to everyone contributing. But overall, I was
definitely impressed with my team’s performance, there was equal participation by all members,
and nobody felt pressure to participate. Even those who professor Trotman demanded more
participation from obliged with no hesitation. Even with all the success we experienced I believe
we made errors that could’ve been avoided. For example, we had so many points that we didn’t
do our best focusing on the main ones. We also didn’t appeal to ethos, pathos or logos with
strong argument points and as part of the research team I take ownership for that. My biggest
takeaway from this activity was, the beginning and closing of any speech no matter the topic are
the most key parts of effectively delivering the message. Looking back at it now my team
could’ve done a better job with our delivery. And I think that stems from having so many points
to use that we got carried away.
Personality Assessment. For this pearl dive we were asked to complete a personality
assessment test. The DISC is unique test that produces “specific distribution of scores on the
DISC personality test is an indication of your unique personality.” The results from my personal
test came back; 37% dominance, 32% influence, 23% steadiness and 9% compliance. I don’t
completely agree with my results and if I could change one thing, I would switch dominance and
influence. I don’t think of myself as an individual who prides himself on dominance, in fact, I
believe I’m more of an influential person. But other than that, I didn’t see any surprising insights
I think all 4 components of the DISC personality report do a great job of defining who I am.
Having self-awareness of my personality type can definitely help me become a more effective
communicator and project manager. Reason being, I’m able to better understand my personal
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strengths and weaknesses. For example, dominance made up majority of my personality, so I

might consider being more understanding when it comes to communicating with others during a
project.

Conclusion
In conclusion this paper touched on a quote from John Maxwell that was discussed in
ENCE424 a few back. But more importantly my interpretation of that quote and how it directly
applies to becoming a better and more effective communicator and project manager. I mentioned
the power of influence outweighs dominance and only those who are able to successfully
influence others will be seen as great leaders. Next the paper highlights useful concepts from
class readings and how they can be practiced and applied in real life. First always strive to
STATE your path rather than creating assumptions and conclusions. This can help anyone
especially a project manager when it’s time to have those conversations that tend to be tense.
Next, we looked at how the use of rhetorical devices, mainly analogies and metaphors can help
improve the strength of a persuasive speech. Sometimes people use complex diction, these
devices help simplify and create visuals for those who might be confused. The section after that
analyzed the debate activity from class, primarily my opinions on what I would’ve done
differently and my thoughts on my teams’ performance. And finally, the paper discussed my own
personality assessment. The results were certainly interesting even though I consider myself
more influential than dominance based. But in the end this pearl diving is a great assessment of
everything covered recently.
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References
GALLO, C. (2019). FIVE STARS: The communication secrets to get from good to great. Place of
publication not identified: GRIFFIN.

Patterson, K. (2012). Crucial conversations: Tools for talking when stakes are high. New York:
McGraw-Hill.