In the Cuddy complex, Natalie is the leader of her group of friends at orientation. She desperately tries to get her friends to go to a party by convincing them that it will be a good way to have fun. By having a good amount of energy and enthusiasm, she was able to motivate her followers to go to the party and relax. This session impacted my understanding of leadership because I learned that with a lot of positive energy, a leader can change the mind of his or her followers. Throughout the whole ride to the party, her friends were uneasy about their decisions. However, Natalie’s energy and excitement about the party allows them to follow through with the plan and attend the party.

I learned that personal values, integrity and ethical leadership all tie to together when creating a leader. Natalie’s personal values are what shape her to be the kind of leader who always looks at the positive. She tries very hard to not be seen as a black woman by not following any of the stereotypes. She thinks that if she does not follow the stereotypical black persona then she will be exempt from the racism that is usually associated with it.  Unfortunately, this is not true as she has to face the bigotry of the fraternity boy and the other people at the party who do not accept her simply because of the color of her skin. By dragging her friends to the party where they are scared of being outcasts, Natalie does not follow all traits of ethical leadership. Natalie is good at having her friends work as a team in order to get everyone to the party. She gets everyone to agree to go and then they all figure out how they are going to get to the party. However, she fails to consider the respect and dignity of her friends when they are kicked out of the party due to the color of their skin. Natalie has the best intentions when she decides to take her friends to the party. However, she is unable to stand up for her friends when they are forced to leave the party and she is pushed aside instead. This ties to her personal characteristics as a leader and the way she leads a group of people. Since Natalie is an optimistic person, she can not be a good leader in a situation that she did not even anticipate happening. Integrity also shapes how someone is as a leader because if the leader has a lot of integrity then the followers are more likely to trust him or her. The followers will most likely be more vulnerable towards a leader who posse’s integrity. It is crucial to have integrity because the followers will decide if they can trust and follow the leader or if they can ignore the leader and not follow them.

After watching this video, I learned that a good leader has to be more than just someone who has a lot of positive energy and focuses on the good. A leader needs to take into account both sides of a situation, so that he or she can stand up for the followers. Natalie was unable to stand up for her followers after they were thrown out of the party because she did not take into account that anything negative will happen. This lead to her feeling helpless as a leader and wondering how she got into the situation in the first place. It is important to take into account the negatives of a situation because the world is not always a positive place. Instead of wondering what she could have done later, Natalie could have stood up for her friends if she predicted the situation earlier.