Leda Tsene, Ph.D Department of Communication, Media and Culture Panteion University, Athens Greece Comics Activities

Self-confidence

4C: COMIC WORKSHOP - Character Development (p. 38) OBJECTIVE: To help the participants feel more confident about their skills and self by creating and presenting their own comic story. ESTIMATED TIME: 1 hour MATERIALS: internet access, pens, A4 sheet papers, markers or crayons, post it notes DESCRIPTION: Self confidence appears to be one of the most crucial skills for a young leader. Self confidence is also one of the most acknowledged characteristics of comic heroes as developed by comic script writers. Create a character and write a short script based on a story that underlines self confidence. Discuss the stories within the team. Further Reading  Instructions on how we create a character (focus on the character development and not the visual development)

Trustworthiness

5D: COMIC WORKSHOP - Superheroes (p. 51) OBJECTIVE: To help the participants understand the importance of trustworthiness and to be able to find solutions (as leaders) when trust is lost ESTIMATED TIME: 1 hour MATERIALS: Internet access, pens, A4 sheet papers, markers or crayons, post it notes DESCRIPTION: In the superhero universe we all trust that everything in the end would turn all right. People trust Batman or Spiderman to save them from villains. They even trust Superman to fly them to the skies. What does make those heroes trustworthy? And how did they earn people's trust? Can a leader act as a trustworthy superhero? Pick a superhero you like and make a research. Spot down and make a list of their characteristics. Try to find a story where your superhero either earns the trust of people, either loses it. Discuss the cases and draw some conclusions. Ask yourself and team members’ questions, such as why people trust superheroes? Write and draw a short comic story featuring a superhero where either earns or loses the trust of people and what he/she does in order to earn or gain it again. Present the stories and discuss them.

Optimism

6D: COMIC WORKSHOP - Wile E Coyote (p. 66) OBJECTIVE: to help the participants understand the importance of optimism as one of the key elements to leadership mentality ESTIMATED TIME: 1 hour MATERIALS: internet access, pens, A4 sheet papers, markers or crayons, post it notes DESCRIPTION: One of the most persistent optimism in cartoon history is Wile E Coyote. No matter how many trains, cars or other things ran over him, no matter how many rocks fell on his head, he just stand up and go after Road Runner again and again. According to researches and papers optimism is a key element to leadership mentality. Try a short of role playing. A member of each team will play the leader of a company/institution/organization and the others will play groups putting pressure on the leader (might be colleagues, NGOs, journalists etc) on a time of crisis. Write a short script, describing the case and how the leader will confront the crisis maintaining his/her optimism. Finally, visualize your story and share it with other teams.

Strategic Thinking and Planning

7A: COMIC WORKSHOP – Strategyman (p. 80) OBJECTIVE: To help the participants understand better the importance of strategic thinking and planning process as a leadership skill ESTIMATED TIME: 1 hour MATERIALS: Internet access, pens, A4 sheet papers, markers or crayons, post it notes Strategy is the number one element of a successful company and so strategic thinking is the number one skill of a successful leader. Strategyman gives some fine advice through his personal story. Read the story here. And how do you develop relevant strategy for your company? Read a different manual in the file provided. After reading the comics discuss in teams the key steps in developing strategic thinking. You are Lucius Fox, Wayne Enterprises CEO. Think and write a strategic plan in order to enrich and expand your company's social impact. Lucius Fox

Analytical Decision Making

8B: COMIC WORKSHOP – Decide for your character (p. 93) OBJECTIVE: To help the participants understand the importance of applying analytical decision making process. ESTIMATED TIME: 1 hour MATERIALS: Pens, A4 sheet papers, post it notes, boards DESCRIPTION: When a writer starts working on a script he/she has to make analytical decisions about the plot, the characters, the backgrounds, and the story. The writer also makes a research, gathering all possible elements might be useful to the development of the story. And he/she keeps asks questions before taking the final decision. Analysis and synthesis are important during the decision making process. So a leader, just like a comic script writer, researches, thinks, questions and then decides. You are a comic writer and you have created a famous character. After long time you have to decide whether the character will go on or you will let him/her go. Write down your decision and try to think all the arguments that support your decision. Discuss your decision and arguments with other team members. Create a board where all of you write your arguments and possible impact of your decisions. Comment on them and reach on a final decision collaboratively. Apply the same process to real situation dilemmas.

Creative Problem Solving

9D: COMIC WORKSHOP - The “what if” approach (p.106) OBJECTIVE: To help the participants cultivate and train their creative and innovative thinking while facing problems ESTIMATED TIME: 1, 5 hour MATERIALS: Internet access, pens, A4 sheet papers, markers or crayons, post it notes DESCRIPTION: We are living in the era where the terms creativity and innovation have become crucial to almost every aspect of our lives. In order to stand out and add value we need to think creative ways of solving problems and producing solutions. Here are some nice tips on creativity from “five very funny people”. In comics universe there is a common practice creating stories based on existing characters but with a “what if” twist. For example, what if Superman suddenly lost all of his powers? We will borrow this technique in order to practice in creative problem solving.nice tips on creativity from “five very funny people” Think of a problem you might face as a leader. Tell the story of “the problem” in comic form (outline the problem, sketch the main characters, have them arrive at some solution). Put the first comic aside. Then ask “what if” questions (or have a facilitator ask them): what if the character wasn't limited by this? What if he could fly? What if he had superpowers? Draw a simple comic story based on each option and see where it leads you. Compare the stories with the original story and then try to replace each “superpower” you might have given to your character by real powers and creative thoughts. Do this 3-4 times if possible.

Collaboration and Teamwork

10F: COMIC WORKSHOP - Superhero Teams (p. 124) OBJECTIVE: to help the participants understand better the roles within a team, the leadership drive and the importance of working collaboratively within a team ESTIMATED TIME: 1 hour MATERIALS: Internet access, laptops, pens, A4 sheet papers, post it notes, markers or crayons DESCRIPTION: In comics we often meet teams of superheroes. People from different backgrounds and with different abilities work together towards a common scope. Fantastic Four, Avengers or X-Men are some from the most popular superhero teams. What makes them so successful? Pick a superhero team (Avengers, Fantastic Four, X-Men etc) and describe each member (abilities, character, contribution to the team etc). Try to find out why and how the team works succesfully. Notice if there is a team leader and write down his characteristics as well Find and present examples. Then, apply your findings to real life team members and describe the perfect team. Finally, create your own superhero team. Each of the member of your group has to draw and describe his/her superhero. All members should decide collaboratively what is the purpose of the team and which is the role of each member. Give your team and characters names and present them to other teams.

Building Networks & Connections

11D: COMIC WORKSHOP - Batman Incorporated (p. 137) OBJECTIVE: To help the participants the importance of building networks and connections, especially in our era, in our connected societies ESTIMATED TIME: 1 hour MATERIALS: Internet access, pens, A4 sheet papers, markers or crayons, post it notes DESCRIPTION: Batman Incorporated is a global organization publicly funded by billionaire Bruce Wayne, who acts as its leader in his secret identity as Batman. Their mission is to turn Batman's crime-fighting agenda and ideology into a world-wide presence. Wayne hand-selects and trains international vigilantes to each act as his representative in their own country, swearing them in to the established values with an oath. As a leader he tries to build a global network, expanding the Batman symbol/icon in order to create a more efficient and powerful collaborative team that shares the same vision and goals. Taking as an example Batman Incorporated discuss the importance of building networks and connections, especially in our era, in our connected societies. Write down what a leader should do in order to pass the torch and to connect with other peers sharing the same values. Find and discuss examples of network building. Finally, write and draw a story featuring Batman talking about the power of networks in his aim to inspire others join his team.Batman IncorporatedBruce Wayne

Interpersonal Communication

12F: COMIC WORKSHOP - Visual Storytelling (p. 159) OBJECTIVE: To help the participants find creative ways to interpersonal communication, especially when communication act is performed between teams/members from different backgrounds. ESTIMATED TIME: 1 hour MATERIALS: Internet access, laptops, pens, A4 sheet papers, markers or crayons, scissors, glue, magazines (or other sources from where participants can cut off images) Description: One of the most difficult and challenging issues in leadership is communication and thus interpersonal communication. Visuals and storytelling can make this process not only easier but more efficient as well. Researches have proven that messages have more impact when they are part of a story and moreover when they are visualized. After a short research on visual communication create a presentation deck based only on visual storytelling. Create your own images or use existing and tell an influential story about yourself. Note that this story should be easy to be understood by a wide audience with different background. Share your deck with other team members without talking (just show the images)

Motivating others

13C: COMIC WORKSHOP - Professor Charles Xavier (p. 174) OBJECTIVE: Τo help the participants understand the importance of motivating others as a significant skill of a leader and to motivate them to use storytelling as a tool of inspiration for their teams. ESTIMATED TIME: 1 hour MATERIALS: Internet access, laptops, pens, A4 sheet papers, post it notes, X-Men comic books (can be also downloaded) DESCRIPTION: An important skill for a leader is to be able to inspire his/her team. A leader must understand the power of a great story. A good story can motivate, inspire and ignite action. We will take as an example Professor X, leader and founder of X-Men. Xavier's students consider him a visionary, he is respected by various governments and trusted by several other superhero teams. The character is considered to have been inspired by Martin Luther King and according to Business Week, Charles Xavier is listed as one of the top ten most intelligent fictional characters in comics. Professor X gathers all the characteristics of a good leader, among them, inspiring others.