Leadership. Such a hard word to define in one sentence. What makes someone a good leader? Is someone born being a natural leader or do people develop the skills to be a leader? I truly believed that leadership skills can be learned by most, however you do need to be born with certain personality traits that will allow you to be a good leader.
So when did I become a leader? I can’t pick out the specific moment that I can say “I became a leader at this time.” A lot of people may have that break through moment. I don’t believe I did. I have always been a natural leader. There are situations I can certainly point to that have strengthened my skills as a leader.
I have always been someone who likes to take charge, have my voice heard, and voice my opinion on things I am working on. I am someone that works a lot better in a team with other people than I am working by myself. I typically am not the creative one in that while working in a group, I may not come up with the original idea for something. However, I am very good at absorbing people’s ideas and running with that. Once we get a flow going I certainly like to take charge and make sure things are getting done the way they need to get done in a timely manner.
If I had to try and think back to my earliest moments of being a leader, I would say that it all started with playing games in elementary school such as house or school (those imaginary games us kids used to play). Seems like something so small but hear me out. There was a theme in all of the games that I would play. In almost every one, I was the person who had the power, authority, importance. For example, if we were playing house, I would always be the mom who had to make all of the rules for the house. While playing school, I was always the teacher where I actually made lesson plans and homework inspired by what I was currently learning in school. I would make up dances for my friends and sister and play the role of a dance teacher. Although this may not seem to come across as me being a leader, I do think this was the very first step in shaping the leader I am today because it built up the traits necessary to be team leader.
From then on, I had always strived to have a board position in every school activity I was involved in. I was treasurer of photography club, membership chair for USY, social chair for Impact Dance Company, social media chair for Chabad, and more. I always wanted to have my voice heard in the clubs I was involved in. I love having people look up to me for direction and guidance.
Judaism has helped shape who I am as a leader. In high school I was involved in this program called United Synogague Youth (USY). For my very last event as a senior, I was given the privilege to be one of three convention co-chairs. The convention was a Jewish convention for over 300 high school students for an entire weekend. In years past, the co-chairs have just been student figureheads and helped plan some aspects of the weekend. That year, we did things a little different. Our leader, Ben Varon, looked at us on our first meeting to plan the convention and said "This year, I want the co-chairs to have the power. You guys will have a say in everything and make the last decisions. I want you guys to be the leader and I will be here for guidance along the way. Whatever you need me to do, I will do." So the two other co-chairs and I took charge in coming up with the theme, the hotel arrangements, the activities, and everything you need to host a convention. We then presented to Ben a list of things we needed him to do such as purchase necessary objects for our activities, confirm all the rooming arrangements, confirm the schedule and hire the right staff. He let us do all the work we wanted to do and delegate to him the things he needed to do. For Ben, he was showing a form of servant leadership.
That experience shaped who I am as a leader because I truly was put in charge of the entire convention. That was the most responsibility I had ever been given. It forced me to learn adaptability because not everything ran smoothly and we had to think fast on how to fix it. It was the first time I had a huge following in that I had to lead people from activity to activity, hold staff meetings every night, and had people coming up to me asking what they could do next in preparation for the next activity.
I do think I have many strengths necessary to be an effective leader but sometimes it’s a little difficult to verbalize them so here goes nothing! I would say that I am not a particularly quiet person. While this at times can be a bad thing, I think it’s a strength in leadership because I am not afraid to speak up when something is wrong or I think there is a better way to do it. I am not afraid to have my voice and opinion heard. Another strength I would say is that I genuinely want people to succeed. I am always there to lend a helping hand or guide people if they need it. Being a communications major, I am great at talking to people really try to get to know people on a personal level.
I would say both my parents have been the biggest influences in my life. My dad, without finishing college, took charge of his life and opened up his own photography business. He know leads a team of 5 workers and sets out to teach classes about photography. My mom is one of the hardest working individuals I have ever met. She leads a group of about 20 people in an insurance company. I have picked up skills from both of them on how to be an effective leader.
Well that is just a little about my life being a leader.
Share This Article
