Invitational Leadership

“As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others” according to Bill Gates, while John Maxwell tells people that “Leadership is influence - nothing more, nothing less.” Neither of them completely capture leadership, but at the same time, neither of them are wrong. To be a leader, one must empower and influence those they lead in order to get the results they want. Neither one mentions that a leader must be confident in themselves and show others that they are confident with the decisions they make for themselves and others. As president of the Italian National Honor Society at my school, it is my job to promote excellence in the course, as well as in the community. Since our society values giving back to the community, we put an emphasis on community service. Many of the other students in the society worried about completing their hours. I showed them that they did not need to worry about getting their service hours by completing all of my required hours for both National and Italian Honor Societies before the end of November.

Leadership is the process of influencing individuals or a group of individuals by providing purpose, direction with the support of others, and motivating those individuals with the purpose of accomplishing a certain obligation which is helpful to all individual that is involved.

Leadership is, and always has been, a vital aspect of social and economic constructs. It is essential to the survival of societies, industries, organizations, and virtually any group of individuals that come together for a common purpose. However, leadership is difficult to define in a single, definitive sense. As such, theories of leadership, what constitutes a great leader, and how leaders are made have evolved constantly throughout history, and still continue to change today in hopes of improving upon our understanding of leadership, its importance, and how it can be most effective in modern organizational cultures.

Throughout high school, I have served in several leadership roles that have shaped me into the person I am today. I have been active in student government, most recently as student body president. In this role, I communicate directly with administration, teachers and students, influencing and leading activities such as fundraising, social and spiritual events. In sports, I am a captain of both the basketball and track and field teams. In addition, I am a leader of a student-led organization called Franciscan Friends that interacts with retired Franciscan Sisters. Through Franciscan Friends, I have learned the importance of giving back. I believe this virtue is central to the Jesuit message. These leadership roles reveal my ability to take initiative, and to communicate across all age groups. I believe that participating in the Honors Program will empower me to continue pursuing leadership

I have participated in many clubs where group work and leadership is a necessity: Model United Nations, First Class Leaders, Mu Alpha Theta, and National Honor Society. In these clubs, as well as in everyday life, I have been afforded the opportunity to share my values, listen to other’s opinions, and come together to find how we can share our values and ideas. However, my outreach and voice has been far more impactful in Mu Alpha Theta, a Math National Honor Society, and First Class Leaders where I gratefully serve on the Executive boards. I have organized many opportunities that have inspired members to commit philanthropic acts for tremendous charities, and in accordance there are numerous people that have received items that bring security

“Leadership is a process of social influence, which maximizes the efforts of others, towards the

Throughout my high school career I have encountered the chance to experience the position of being a leader for my peers. I have pursued leadership skills by being an officer in HOSA for three years, leading community service events for NHS, and taking charge on running school events in Key Club. I have obtained valuable leadership skills throughout my high school career, and encouraged the club members to take charge and develop leadership skills to help them in the future.

Winner of the Alpha Omega Contest is the highest honor that can a student at Joliet West High School can receive. To win this award, to me, would be a realization of all the hard work I have put in over the last four years. The goal of my efforts was not to build a strong resume for college applications or even for the Alpha Omega contest, but to challenge myself to grow as an individual, and to serve my community. Joining clubs and sports because they interested me, rather than in an attempt to have something else to write on applications in the future, is a strategy that helped me to excel in these endeavors. My passion for community service was cultivated in Students of Service (SOS), when I joined as a sophomore. However because I of my dedication and leadership ability, I was awarded the position of Vice-President the following year, and those same traits have resulted in me being awarded my current position of President.

Leadership is defined as the ability to obtain followers (Maxwell). Obtaining a following is dependent on one's influence on others. Essentially, everyone influences someone, whether one intentionally influences a

Leadership is a term that cannot be defined or simplified with a standard definition (Bethel, 2011). The term’s complexity is a phenomenon, as it carries a different meaning for each person. During the

This writer decided to read the first three chapters of the book Leaders Without Titles by Steve Sampson. The first chapter was called “Intellectual Dimension” which was mainly an introduction to the book as a whole and introduced some of the main topics to be discussed throughout the rest of the book. What was interesting about this chapter and caused this writer to pause and seriously rethink the idea of leadership was the statement retold by Sampson (2011) which was originally spoken to him by one of his mentors (Kindle Location 224). The mentor stated that “to influence without authority was the key to leadership” (Sampson, 2011, Kindle Location 224).

According to Business Dictionary.com, leadership is defined as the individuals who are the leaders in an organization, regarded collectively. It also can be define as the activity of leading a group of people or an organization or the ability to do this. Leadership involves the establishing of a clear vision, sharing the vision with other so that they will follow willingly, providing the needed information, knowledge, and methods to realize the vision and coordinating and balancing the conflicts interests of all members and stakeholders.

Leadership has been studied extensively and many varying definitions exist. Hughes, Ginnett and Curphy (2015, p.4) review many of these definitions and consequently describe leadership as ‘the process of influencing an organised group towards its goals’. Leadership involves the interplay of a range of different factors, not least the leader themselves, the followers and the situation. For

Over the years, a great deal of time, and research has been dedicate to the study of leadership. Even with extensive data on the topic, many still disagree on what leadership really means. Hence, leadership is a word that has many different meanings and different researched theories associated with it. On a basic level, leadership involves having and establishing a clear vision, sharing that vision with followers, respecting followers, and leading an organization with excellence while ensuring that everyone is part of the team. Leadership is also a method by which a leader uses his or her influence towards getting a group of followers to take ownership or buy into a vision.

The key components of this definition are that leadership is based on influence, not power or authority. Leadership requires followers, but