Coming To Wartburg Leadership Essay

Being a leader is more than simply holding a leadership position or having the ability to lead. Everyone is capable of being a leader, but not everyone exercises his or her leadership abilities. Each person’s idea of leadership is different. My idea of leadership has developed over time, and being a member of the President’s Leadership Class has helped me develop my philosophy of leadership further than what it was two months ago. My personal philosophy of leadership is the ability to effect change through leading by example, taking initiative, and encouraging others.

"Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it." Dwight D. Eisenhower This quote from Eisenhower rings true on many levels. During my career in the military and the private sector, I have been subjected to many different styles of leadership, good or bad. In my leadership roles I have attained, I tried to model leadership abilities by taking bits and pieces of previous leader’s styles and forming them into my own model. This has proven to work well as dealing with people from all different walks of life there is no one size fits all approach. In writing this paper, I will detail my own leadership platform drawing from the course material and various other sources. The goal of this paper is to show a solid understanding of the course teachings and perhaps give the reader a new found perspective on leadership.

Being a leader is not considered a job or position. Becoming a leader is not a talent, job or position. Although, leadership can be rewarding and difficult at the same time. In today’s society, “the kind of leadership necessary to move social movements forward is very different from the type of leadership required in a military setting, especially on the battlefield. A more sharpened focus on leadership processes versus individual leader traits and behaviors deepens our understanding of the complexities and interactive nature of leadership” (Komives, Lucas and McMahon 2013, 46). My goal is to understand how to face the complexities in life as a leader to communities, universities, organizations, the workplace and the world. As a leader,

Before now, I never really thought about being a leader. I always believed a leader was someone at the top, making decisions like a general in the army. The summit gave me a lot different perspectives on what a leader actually is. One thing that was said that really stuck with me was, “your college degree isn’t just for you. It is also for all those who come after you.” It was then that I really understood what a leader is. A leader is one who works their hardest to become the best person they can be, so they can set an example for others and help those who come after them.

A leader takes diligent time in considering the ability to adhere to other people’s interests and presents their followers with a positive mindset. This summer, I accepted an invitation to participate in the Dale Carnegie Young Adult Leadership Program. Attendees of this program learned several skills that can be applied to future experiences, especially on how to become an effective leader. Everyday, the attendees acted as leaders by accomplishing various tasks that forced them to reach out of their comfort zones. We acted as leaders by leading group

For many years, I have been told by teachers, family, and friends that I am a good leader. Until fairly recently, I had never truly thought about what it means to be a good leader and just took it as a compliment. Leadership is an intangible concept which cannot be properly outlined in a dictionary, but one which must be formed and explained only through one’s own philosophies and experiences.

It would appear that my original theory regarding the applicability and practicality of this capstone was accurate. This course has managed to successfully supplement the knowledge I had previously acquired in other courses. For example, I was familiar with and understood the basic principles of leadership. However, this course has taught me that the ability to lead is not an exact science, but an art and determining how to proceed when faced with uncertainty or a highly volatile situation is an exceptional challenge.

According to Webster’s Dictionary, leadership is the power or ability to lead other people, the act or instance of leading. I believe that Leadership is an art, the art to get others to follow and accomplish a common goal or task in a harmonic manner. A leader can be shown in all kinds of shapes and forms. To be a great leader many people believe it consists of modeling the way, inspiring a shared vision, enabling others to act, and encouraging the heart. Over the course of me learning how to become a better leader and being in leadership roles, I’ve learned that all these are very necessary to be a great leader.

One of the biggest lessons learned from this course is that to be an effective leader, you must have a diverse skillset. I’m not sure if there is any one magical component or characteristic in being a great leader. One influence during my review of the literature was that; although easier for some, I see leadership as something we must continually improve upon. This is in contrast to my belief during my first day of class, when I thought leaders just

The beginning of Junior year has been a semester of leadership. This year I have participated in more events and taken more active roles in clubs that offer guidance both in the community and academically. Not only have I experienced more about being an active citizen, but I have also seen how organizations and leadership of departments are run. In my skills for academic success, I have grown as an academic student through my Animal Project in World Art 1. This project showed me a variety of techniques but most importantly it reflected how I am as a person and how to ensure my best work by not finishing everything on at once, but rather gave me a greater appreciation for the beauty art offers and how important of a lesson it is for the world

Before this class, I had a very primitive and vague definition of leadership. Not only did I define it as per my views and ideologies, but I also said that each individual has their own definition of leadership. My initial belief was that leadership does not have a clear cut definition, but there were well defined leadership traits which made an individual. I also initially believed that personal traits did not translate into leadership traits with no strong correlation. After going through the various modules this class offered, it is safe to say that I have significantly redefined leadership and underwent a strong personal assessment. This paper talks what I took back from each of the class activities, assignments and how my self-assessment compares to the perception of others.

Currently, as a junior, I feel that the past three of high school have tremendously shaped my character. Arriving at the doorsteps of Manatee High School, I knew little of leadership, or service. To me, high school was and still is a journey. I've learned to give back to those who have helped me. Through various extracurricular activities, I've not only learned to be a team member, but a leader as well.

My time attending Southwestern College has provided me an abundance of knowledge on leadership styles, preferences, and traits. The knowledge I have gained has served to make me a better leader in my organization. My definition of leadership has changed as well. My definition of a leader is one who maintains a positive outlook and possesses great skills at inspiring people to action even when the outcome may seem unachievable. Leaders need to have the ability to adapt to ever changing situations. Gone are the days of the one size fits all leadership. Leaders need to understand the situation and adapt accordingly to ensure impacts to the team are minimized.

When I walked into the first class of leadership training, I thought that I had a firm understanding about what leadership was, and how to lead in an efficient matter. I quickly learned that I had a lot of room for improvement to become a better leader. My leadership journey prior to this class was not diverse, most of my leadership experiences were in athletics, there were only a few times I lead in other situations. In high school I was the captain of the varsity soccer team my junior and senior year, captain of the varsity basketball team my senior year, a member of student council my junior year, and a member of the the student ambassador program my senior year. 90% of my leadership experiences have

If I had to narrow it down to my two favorite things about this class, I would say Leadership Journeys and the third reveal. I choose these two because they had the biggest impact on me. Presenting our Leadership Journeys allowed each of us to learn more about one another and was really the first major step in us forming such close bonds with one another. In my twelve years of schooling, I’ve never had to do an assignment quite like that where I have to spill my guts to my classmates and tell them all about the ups and downs of my life. We all had to trust one another and trust that we were in a safe environment so that we could share such personal information. I was really nervous to give my presentation, but as I was giving it, I realized that I had no reason to worry because everyone was supportive and really listening to what I had to say. I allowed myself to really open up and tell people that I barely knew parts of my life that I don’t even like to talk to my closest friends with.