What I Learned In My Leadership Class

This week's assignment helped me to understand more about the meaning of leadership and what it takes to become a true leader. It might sounds discouraging; however, I have known I am not the material to

When I was told I was coming to the Advanced Leaders Course (ALC) I was excited to get it out of the way and I thought I would learn a lot because I am new in this Military Occupational Specialty (MOS). I turned down ALC for my last job because I heard I can learn a lot for my new MOS. Since, I have been here the only leadership part of this course, in my opinion was the class leader and when I had to lead physical training (PT). We were told, the leadership part was front loaded in this course and we would only learn from our peers. This course is setup in a way with the instructor only guides us through the topics and the peers teach each other. For me, being an older soldier, this was a huge difference in the way I am used to being

Every person who enters the field of education has both the opportunity and an obligation to be a leader (Dufour, Marzano, 2011). Leadership defined by Owen (2002) is, “A journey of discovery. It is the expression of a person at his or her best whose aim is to transform something for the better and to develop this potential in others. It is not a solitary pursuit but one that harnesses the energy of those around you. Leadership is a process in which leaders and followers engage to achieve mutual goals. Prentice (2004) defines leadership as the accomplishment of a goal through the direction of human assistants. A great leader is one who can do so day after day, and year after year, in a wide variety of circumstances.

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

Growing up, I watched all of the cringe worthy movies and TV shows that displayed the cliché example of leadership, where the popular protagonist delivered a booming heartfelt message from a stoic position to inspire their peers. These programs taught me that this idea of leadership was the one and only idea, and I held on to it up until my early high school years. Around this time I was starting to figure out myself mentally and emotionally; I realized and accepted that as a person I am naturally and simply introversive. My idea of leadership came into fruition when I

I have learned many important and relevant concepts in this course. Perhaps the most relevant concept is understanding leadership. Now that I am almost done with the course, I realized that I knew nothing about Leadership. I thought leadership is the act of being in control of people and leading them to do a certain job. I thought of a leader as a boss, manager, or an owner. Although what I knew about leadership was partially true, Leadership is much more complicated and different than what I thought it was. Leadership has been defined in multiple different ways depending on different views. Peter G. Northouse said “there are almost as many different definitions of leadership as there are people who have tried to define it” (2013, p.4-7). Despite the multiple ways leadership has been defined, a

My philosophy of leadership has changed after taking this course with Dr. Jim Street and Erin Parish. I would personally consider myself a leader from past positions or actions, although I have “expanded my frame” a lot after being in the Leadership and Legacy class. At the beginning of this semester I saw leadership as a position or skill. I still believe that it is a skill that can be retained, although it is not based off position but rather actions taken. I did not know the large variety of leadership that is surrounding me on a daily basis. I have been taught leadership previously by being in student council, public speaking class, Girl Scouts and being a guest service manager at Lowes Foods. This class has really tied all of those things together for me. Communication is crucial when it comes to Leadership, between other leaders and followers, to be a successful leader one must properly communicate which also means knowing how to listen.

In Chapter 10 and 11 explain more in depth on being a good leader and what it takes to accomplish the leadership skill. Being a leader you have able to recognize and contribution with the people working with or lead by leaving a thank you note, smile, and public praise. By making the contribution will allow a leader to be able showing that they care and express their pride with the accomplishment with their team. A good leader will always have confident and respect with the people working with allowing the employee know that you build a trust and believe in them. Another part of being a good leader able to give feedback and able to take risk with their team member. Be able to have the courage and believe in your team. You have to celebrate

Throughout my life I have experienced a variety of things. Among those things I have dealt with is leadership. Leadership is having the ability to lead or guide others. Anyone can become a leader if they set their mind to doing it. A quote I always liked said “Leadership is unlocking people’s potential to become better” –Bill Bradley. This quote to me simply says that you have to enhance the lives of other if you want to be a great leader yourself. In my paper I would like to discuss a few leadership experiences I have been involved in while here at The University of Southern Mississippi.

The best example of me being a leader is the fact that I have worked in a specific class that has helped me develop leadership skills: Yearbook. In Yearbook, I learned how to direct a staff of students to work on specific jobs that would eventually lead to the development of the Yearbook. During this class, it was my job to properly organize the responsibilities of upperclassmen, assign them specific events to cover, and even place the example of how some of the jobs were done.

Last semester I took the Leadership Skills Workshop class (LD 225) here at Blackburn. Dr. Wiedlocher was the professor for this class. She decided that the class was going to be based around helping the community here in Carlinville. We decided to help the Macoupin Center for the Developmentally Disabled, MCDD, here in Macoupin County. We decided to put together two fundraisers for us to reach our goal of purchasing floor scooters for the students at MCDD.

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.

Taking this course and reading most of the book from Peter G. Northouse as well as listening to the lectures and videos that have been throughout, I have learned that there are many different aspects of leadership and there are many different definitions and aspects that can change those definitions. According to Seeman (1960), “leadership is acts by persons which influence other persons in a shared direction” (p. 3). This is the definition that I have been following my whole life. Wherever I go I thought that whatever you do as long as you have followers who tend to follow the same direction that makes you a leader. I never thought of the actions being right or wrong or the followers going down their own path I was simply stuck on this definition. After reading the book and learning there was more to that definition I was able to come up with a definition of leadership that I have been living by since this past spring and it has elevated my leadership skills to a great height. I think that leadership has three components: to listen, to inspire and to empower. Since becoming a president of an organization here at Florida State University those three things have made being a President so much easier. I have learned a lot from others just by simply listening to what they say rather than being focused only on my needs. It has caused me to learn from others and really understand people’s point of view. Being an inspiration is important. As a leader you want the people that

Upon finishing this course, I have learned an important lesson to be a manager and a leader of my own life to lead others successfully. First, I have learned to manage and align my actions with my core values because that will bring the satisfaction and fulfillment to what I do; this approach will reflect positively on my work ethics and standard of care toward patients and coworkers. The second lesson I have attained is to manage life boundaries intelligently and integrate my work and my life successfully; which was clearly stated in module one upon discussing leadership and management in correlation to problem-solving, decision making, and critical thinking. The third lesson I have liberated as a manager I have to embrace changes courageously and adapt to any situation that is not in my comfort zone; module two emphasizes that changes will fulfill the management role; yet a good leader is always perceptive and open to changes and view it as an opportunity for growth and development.

How have you grown as a leader? Be specific and try to use examples of your leadership in and