Reflection : Mind Mapping , Idea Generation , and Leadership 

 Challenge    In my university , it is really common for student organizations and even professors in the academe 

 to use lists in trying to conjure and articulate problems and solutions , typically listing and writing 

 things down from left to right , and top to bottom . Being a sports science major , I am a very 

 kinesthetic person , who prefers a lot of free space to maneuver around in . The problem that I have 

 with this old , traditional way of listing is that it promotes very linear , and axial , 2 - dimensional thinking , 

 instead of a planar , multidimensional perspective , thus inhibiting me from being able to map out all of 

 the problems I have , form connections between them and view them all at a glance in oversight . This 

 can limit the potential for idea generation and exploration because instead of a ground - up approach 

 when exploring ideas , a top - down approach is used in place by leaders and managers , attempting to 

 go deep into one idea , at the risk of myopia into and tunnel vision on one good idea , compromising 

 quality of the other succeeding ideas to be tackled .      Selection   Being involved in leadership roles , I must possess trait - openness and creativity in order to innovate 

 and explore new ideas . Thus the Mind Map is my Design Thinking tool of choice when helping a 

 team in laying their groundwork , and in articulating their observations and ideas to figure out their 

 direction .     Application     I once had a really important whole day , semester planning meeting with the executive board 

 members of my organization , wherein we had to lay down the foundation for a 5 - month roadmap for 

 our organization and its respective sub - teams which we were in charge of . The big problem was that 

 in the year prior to our term , the turnover of past leaders to us was insufficient and failed to hand 

 over to us the direction our organization was supposed to be going in . Given this we had to pick up 

 whatever was left of the existing pieces and build a new direction from scratch to fit our context .      I decided to speak up and tell them that making a list , and thinking ‘ vertically ’ in the traditional sense 

 was not the best way to facilitate this brainstorming session for our new foundation , but instead 

 asked them to procure a massive whiteboard , some markers , and post - it notes to stick onto . In the 

 middle of the map was the name of our organization , and the next level of ‘ nodes ’ would be our 

 teams . We each took turns connecting to our team ’s node all the questions , concerns and the state 

 of ‘ what is ’ that existed for each of our own teams off the top off our heads . After each of us had their 

 turn for their team , articulating what was and what is , we all took a moment to step back and view 

 the parts of the map we each laid out , similar to “ touring an art gallery . ” After this , came the moment 

 of insight and connection , Using our sticky notes which were color coded per person , we each stuck 

 personal insights on the paths on the map that were n’t ours so as to give insight and feedback on 

 these articulated concerns . What resulted was the synergy of team leaders and diverse input which 

 gave clearer direction and a unified set of criteria for the whole organization to then set their goals 

 around , all of which were due to building on the foundation of the questions of others . 

 Insight     Before the actual mind mapping process , one thing I learned from utilizing this tool was the 

 importance of an adequate , wide open space , to create a conducive environment before even filling 

 in the groundwork for your foundation and writing anything down . Making sure we had a big , blank 

 canvas upon which to lay and map out our foundational ideas for the semester onto was important 

 for priming us to create the most fruitful mind map possible .     When we started to do mind mapping , we were able to articulate our thoughts and mirror our ideas 

 to other team members , allowing them to think abstractly because of the spatial aspect of mind 

 mapping . Given the context that this team was the executive board of a management consulting 

 organization , it was of utmost importance that our own foundation was strong , as well as the 

 practices and systems we were to implement before we gave consultation services to other teams 

 and businesses .     Approach   Prior to this course , I never deliberately thought about mind mapping or how to optimize the way 

 mind mapping sessions are done . I had only read about them in some psychology books and used 

 them impromptu or when it crosses my mind in the moment . Being able to learn about terms such as 

 Clusters , Design Criteria etc . allows me to facilitate a guided and structured step - by - step approach 

 to the next opportunity on mind mapping I ’ll have in similar foundation setting meetings .     In the coming weeks I also have a lot of new meetings for the year with junior teams wherein they 

 will conduct goal setting , and vision articulation . Introducing the mind map to these junior members 

 will help them think multidimensionally , and through a design thinking - oriented approach , to help 

 them see what is and what if . It will also help them better articulate where they stand and to be given 

 equal respect and attention by each member in their teams . 


EMAIL: 
ID_NUM: 
NAME_STUDENT: 
PHONE_NUM: 
STREET_ADDRESS: 
URL_PERSONAL: 
USERNAME: 

### Task: You are a PII (Personal Identity Information) Detection. Given a essays written by students, you have to identify ONLY the following:
NAME_STUDENT - The full or partial name of a student that is not necessarily the author of the essay. This excludes instructors, authors, and other person names.
EMAIL - A student’s email address.
USERNAME - A student's username on any platform.
ID_NUM - A number or sequence of characters that could be used to identify a student, such as a student ID or a social security number.
PHONE_NUM - A phone number associated with a student.
URL_PERSONAL - A URL that might be used to identify a student.
STREET_ADDRESS - A full or partial street address that is associated with the student, such as their home address.
### Input: Reflection : Mind Mapping , Idea Generation , and Leadership 

 Challenge    In my university , it is really common for student organizations and even professors in the academe 

 to use lists in trying to conjure and articulate problems and solutions , typically listing and writing 

 things down from left to right , and top to bottom . Being a sports science major , I am a very 

 kinesthetic person , who prefers a lot of free space to maneuver around in . The problem that I have 

 with this old , traditional way of listing is that it promotes very linear , and axial , 2 - dimensional thinking , 

 instead of a planar , multidimensional perspective , thus inhibiting me from being able to map out all of 

 the problems I have , form connections between them and view them all at a glance in oversight . This 

 can limit the potential for idea generation and exploration because instead of a ground - up approach 

 when exploring ideas , a top - down approach is used in place by leaders and managers , attempting to 

 go deep into one idea , at the risk of myopia into and tunnel vision on one good idea , compromising 

 quality of the other succeeding ideas to be tackled .      Selection   Being involved in leadership roles , I must possess trait - openness and creativity in order to innovate 

 and explore new ideas . Thus the Mind Map is my Design Thinking tool of choice when helping a 

 team in laying their groundwork , and in articulating their observations and ideas to figure out their 

 direction .     Application     I once had a really important whole day , semester planning meeting with the executive board 

 members of my organization , wherein we had to lay down the foundation for a 5 - month roadmap for 

 our organization and its respective sub - teams which we were in charge of . The big problem was that 

 in the year prior to our term , the turnover of past leaders to us was insufficient and failed to hand 

 over to us the direction our organization was supposed to be going in . Given this we had to pick up 

 whatever was left of the existing pieces and build a new direction from scratch to fit our context .      I decided to speak up and tell them that making a list , and thinking ‘ vertically ’ in the traditional sense 

 was not the best way to facilitate this brainstorming session for our new foundation , but instead 

 asked them to procure a massive whiteboard , some markers , and post - it notes to stick onto . In the 

 middle of the map was the name of our organization , and the next level of ‘ nodes ’ would be our 

 teams . We each took turns connecting to our team ’s node all the questions , concerns and the state 

 of ‘ what is ’ that existed for each of our own teams off the top off our heads . After each of us had their 

 turn for their team , articulating what was and what is , we all took a moment to step back and view 

 the parts of the map we each laid out , similar to “ touring an art gallery . ” After this , came the moment 

 of insight and connection , Using our sticky notes which were color coded per person , we each stuck 

 personal insights on the paths on the map that were n’t ours so as to give insight and feedback on 

 these articulated concerns . What resulted was the synergy of team leaders and diverse input which 

 gave clearer direction and a unified set of criteria for the whole organization to then set their goals 

 around , all of which were due to building on the foundation of the questions of others . 

 Insight     Before the actual mind mapping process , one thing I learned from utilizing this tool was the 

 importance of an adequate , wide open space , to create a conducive environment before even filling 

 in the groundwork for your foundation and writing anything down . Making sure we had a big , blank 

 canvas upon which to lay and map out our foundational ideas for the semester onto was important 

 for priming us to create the most fruitful mind map possible .     When we started to do mind mapping , we were able to articulate our thoughts and mirror our ideas 

 to other team members , allowing them to think abstractly because of the spatial aspect of mind 

 mapping . Given the context that this team was the executive board of a management consulting 

 organization , it was of utmost importance that our own foundation was strong , as well as the 

 practices and systems we were to implement before we gave consultation services to other teams 

 and businesses .     Approach   Prior to this course , I never deliberately thought about mind mapping or how to optimize the way 

 mind mapping sessions are done . I had only read about them in some psychology books and used 

 them impromptu or when it crosses my mind in the moment . Being able to learn about terms such as 

 Clusters , Design Criteria etc . allows me to facilitate a guided and structured step - by - step approach 

 to the next opportunity on mind mapping I ’ll have in similar foundation setting meetings .     In the coming weeks I also have a lot of new meetings for the year with junior teams wherein they 

 will conduct goal setting , and vision articulation . Introducing the mind map to these junior members 

 will help them think multidimensionally , and through a design thinking - oriented approach , to help 

 them see what is and what if . It will also help them better articulate where they stand and to be given 

 equal respect and attention by each member in their teams .
### Output: 