Leadership Fundamentals

V. Mischley- LDR 2010

What is leadership to me?

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To me the most important word in regards to leadership is empowerment. If a leader can empower others to do good and be the best version of themselves, it can lead to an inclusive, ethical and purposeful environment. In the beginning of this class, I believed that trust, communication, and empathy make up a good leader. However, through this class I realized that leadership encompasses much more than just the leader and his or her traits; leadership encompasses the environment that can foster change in both the environment and the members of the organization. Leadership has the ability to transform.

My Core Values- 1. Hard Work

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This value can be includes the other values of commitment, initiative, and purpose. No change can be accomplished without these values. Due to the fact that I believe leadership should make a positive change, this value is imparative.

My Core Values- 2. Honesty

This value is very important to me due to the fact that in order for an organization or group to be effective, everyone must be honest. Everyone should be honest in regards to his or her feelings, work done, and in addition, goals. This will create a lot less issues and can help a group be much more effective.

My Core Values- 3. Unity

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Unity encompasses several different values: forgiveness, open-mindedness, and compassion. These are are very important values for a group. Through unity, one can understand others' situations which can lead to a more cohesive environment. All three of my core values lead to the empowerment of the whole organization which is why I find these values very important.

Takeaway1. Leadership can be studied

Before this class, I thought we would be learning leadership techniques. However, leadership is a real discipline. There is research that shows methods that are most effective and there are in depth analysis of different leadership styles.

Takeaway 2. Leadership is about fostering new leadership

Although this may seem like a minute point, this one really resonated with me. This is due to the fact that my campus organization was going through a problem with finding new leadership. Leadership encompasses many goals that I had not realized before this class. Reading these goals explicitly in the textbook lead to me being able to relate these goals directly to my life.

Takeaway 3. Relational Leadership Model

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The relational leadership model is a huge takeaway from this class. The model really resonated with me and helped me shape my philosophy of leadership. I hope to exemplify this model when I am a leader in the scientific community.

Takeaway 4. Difference in vision

The group project really opened my eyes to the importance of creating a quality and specific vision. Our group had slightly different visions for the presentation, which lead to some misunderstanding. Although this was not a big deal in the context of our group, in a bigger, higher stake environment, a specific vision can be imperative.

Takeaway 5. My Strength Assesment

By taking the strength assessment it allowed me to evaluate my strengths. By identifying my strengths, it allows me to apply this to my leadership style. In addition, it is very helpful when working in groups. The strengths can allow me to know what I am best at and identify the strengths of others so we can effectively work together. Lastly, identifying these strengths allows me to foster them even more to become an overall better person, which I can relate to my professional life.

Commitment

Overall, this leadership class really helped me learn about leadership as a discipline as well as learning about myself as a leader. Many of the reflections were very helpful in me reflecting upon my strengths and core values. As a leader, I will definitely incorporate what I learned into my leading. I expect myself to be the most empowering leader that I can be as well as incorporating the other aspects of the relational leadership model into my leadership styles as well.