Up at the crack of dawn or before -- to bed way after sunset. That is part of what SOS is about. But it is way more than hard work or long hours. First and foremost it is about teams and leadership -- with the emphasis being on leading oneself before leading others. Just a week in and it has already been a great learning experience.
The picture from the right is taken after a flickerball practice. I can't say much about how we are doing or what we are going to do in the flickerball events as that is classified. :)
We have been conducting a couple of simulations that are designed to test leadership and teamwork. First time around we were the highest in the entire SOS class. Today I don't think we did as well, but we improved our score -- but others still outscored us. But we learned a great deal about each other and working together. Tomorrow is our 3rd and final exercise with this particular instrument and I'm on point. So I guess I'll learn a bit about what I do when I've got the ball and the pressure is on. As they say, "winners always want the ball".
The weather has been great for November. Perfect time to be in Montgomery. Been doing lots of course preparation and research, even some collateral research into systems dynamics that compliment the curriculum here. Mostly reviewing what I've covered before, but I have discovered some new ideas out there too that help expand one's knowledge base of how people work when you put them together.
A typical day for me thus far goes as such. Up no later than 6am. Class between 0700 and 0800. Classes or experiential learning events until lunch, hour for lunch, then more of same until 1700. Then quick dinner, PT, and back to room to work on academic stuff. Then throw in team meeting to prepare for team events and so forth and it get quite busy.
I can't say too much about SOS as the curriculum is designed to test you with some stuff coming out of the blue so I shouldn't say to much about what is done how. Just there is a combination of instruction then some experiential learning event that will allow you to put it into play but also will test you. The bar is high. The school sets the bar high and the competitive nature of the flights (team versus team) pushes it higher. I feel good about our flight's potential. We aren't there yet as a great team -but we can get there. We have the talent, intelligence, experience, and so forth. We'll see if we get it all together before the end.
One word of advice if you are coming to SOS. Actually 2. First, do it in corrospondance. That will take some of the academic stress off if you know stuff already. Second - be in physical condition. Don't come here to get in physical condition. Come here to put your body to work for you. SOS won't kill you, but it is no walk in the park either.
