Leadership : The First Youth Program

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.

My personal experiences of leadership started when I was younger, roughly 7 years old, I was elected the captain of my travel soccer team. At the time I didn’t think much of it, nor did I have any extra duties that I was explicitly told that I needed to perform. Later throughout the season, I started to notice my teammates mimicking my styles and techniques and I highly enjoyed this feeling of being looked up to. I didn 't realize until years after that the recognition and pride I felt was leadership. This privilege of being captain was the first time I had realized that people weren 't necessarily following my actions because I was extraordinarily skilled, but because I provided this role model status with my confidence and encouragement. Some of the most valuable leaderships traits that I acquired and fortified are:

Leadership is a personal skill that has to be developed and improved upon daily, just like an athlete works on his craft. We all come from different walks of life and that is often a factor in the way our leadership styles are shaped. Our differences of race, gender, religion, home environment, and lifestyle all have an effect on the way we are led growing up. It is a skill that is mastered over time, while never being perfected. Like anything else in life, leadership skills are often developed from who we are, where we come from and the people in our life who have taught us their knowledge.

When talking about leadership, I would think of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his influences on the American civil rights movement. His famous speech – “I have a dream” is one of the most compelling in all times. The speech was powerful because it was simple and brought out a clear and focused theme. The audiences’ emotion was agitated instantly by his speech. And the reaction and impact were enormous. Of course, leadership is not only about powerful speeches, but involves the leaders’ characteristics and their abilities to influence others.

Ronald Reagan once said, “the greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things, he is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things.” This quote by our past president, Ronald Reagan, relates to my experiences with leadership. Throughout high school I experienced democratic leadership though playing sports like field hockey and track. I have also experienced leadership during small group projects, as well as being a leader of an organization on a college campus. Through all of these experiences, I have learned essential characteristics and qualities to becoming a good leader. I have also had negative experiences with leadership that have taught me things not to do as a leader. I

Leadership is something that people are born with. It is an inherent charm and it doesn’t hide even if you want to hide it. There is a leader amongst us and he or she is the one that leads other people to great things by inspiring and motivating people to do good deeds. Leadership has been described as “a process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task”. This way a leader can decide what work goes in and goes out. Good leaders in history have left a mark in walks of life. But great leaders, they’re different. Great leaders have the ability to make each and every individual re-think their life decisions and choices by

The moments that shaped my lens through which leadership is pulled into focus are plentiful and occurred over time. The first, shared above, was being thrust into a leadership role, completely unprepared for the job. The next was my becoming a Coast Guard (CG) Boat Coxswain. This is a matter of great responsibility; CG asset, CG people, CG mission, all the responsibility of the coxswain. Amazingly, my coxswain certification was complete simultaneously with my undergraduate graduation. Consequently, becoming a teacher of science as a civilian job was the next leadership

When I was in middle school I was offered the opportunity to join a program called W,E,B (Where Everybody Belongs). It was a transition program for students entering middle school in order to help them feel as welcome as possible in a new school system and help them with tutoring during their first year. I didn’t see myself as a leader because I was an antisocial and close minded kid but when I was chosen to be apart of this program, it said that I demonstrated the attributes of a leader in some way. Myself and another student became mentors to a small group of kids we never met before and didn’t any clue where they came from. This experience had taught me a lot and has made me grow from a student into an inspirational leader that could an

Ever since I was little, I knew that I was meant to be a leader. Whether it be for group projects in school or a church camp for little children, I always found comfort in leading a group and being a role model for my peers. In my summer of going into 10th grade, I was offered the opportunity to be a group leader for a Vacation Bible School at the Palm Desert Presbyterian Church. I jumped at the chance to be a leader for youth, because I love being a positive influence and I’m very skilled with working with kids. As a group leader, I was privileged with explaining to the kids what the Christian Faith means, as well as doing fun activities with them such as arts and crafts. Also, as a leader I was responsible for any questions the children might

Leadership is different to everyone. It may be taking out the trash for one person, and sleeping through the night for another. But not only is it expressed in many different ways, it all comes back to one thing. Character; how you respond to things when no-one is watching. It all comes down to a person’s character, being a leader.

Leadership is one of my weaknesses that I need to work on. From a young age it has been difficult for me to take charge and tell people what to do. In order to work on this I have been volunteering at the after school program. Being in charge of kids is where I am starting but the next step is to start being in charge at school. To show people that I can take charge when need to. This trait is important for me to learn because in order for me to succeed I need to learn to take charge and not wait for people to tell me what to do.

The opportunities we are bestowed with occasionally come at the moments we least expect them to, moments in which we are the slightest bit prepared to take on the challenges and experiences that these opportunities bring. In the blink of an eye, they lead to roads that were once dormant in our lives and take us onto highways bound for the unknown. In the summer of 2013, I was presented with this very opportunity, a chance to co-lead the youth worship team at my church while entering leadership, where I would receive counseling over how to better my direction over others. It’s been an experience that has allowed me to cultivate quality leadership skills in myself and others while also transmuting my own philosophy regarding the way I understand and work with others.

Leadership is an important aspect of life as it pushes us to create leaders out of followers or become leaders for a change. Leadership serves distinct purposes for everyone, but the quote “leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality” by American scholar Warren Bennis directly relates to my views regarding leadership. Bennis shows how a leader guides others to victory by successfully helping them fulfil their plans. As a leader in multiple situations, I believe that a leader always has to prevent others from falling and motivate them to create their aspirations into reality. If a leader fails to do so, he or she decreases the confidence and morale of its followers and averts the followers from becoming leaders in the future.

The book provides an insight into the leadership fundamentals by breaking them into ten truths. These truths form the backbone of the leadership fundamentals. The first issue they address is that leaders make a difference. In this perspective, they argue that before one can lead others, they have to lead

Leadership continues to be one of the most debated and studied topics in management and indeed society as a whole. This can be evidenced by the fact that if you search for leadership on Goggle 175,000,000 worldwide hits are recorded. Success in many arenas, whether it be business, the military, politics or the wider community is often primarily attributed to good leadership. Equally, organisational failure or under-performance is just as readily attributed to poor leadership.