How my understanding of leadership has changed

My understanding of leadership has changed greatly throughout the course of this semester. What started of as only focusing on the traits and personality of a person to determine the kind of leadership they will have has changed to how these types of leadership styles affect the person as a whole and the group. By this I mean that I am focusing on how personal experiences, values and beliefs can affect the group rather than just if the leader is confident or not. I use to believe that a good leader is someone who is extroverted and develops the traits that were listed in the trait theory. However, now after many self reflections, lecture reflections and the media paper project, I think that I understand the big picture of leadership. I learned a new concept of leadership with every assignment that I did that required me to reflect on my own leadership and someone’s else leadership. In general, through the reflections I did about leadership I was able to explore my development as a leader. In my first reflection I did a journal entry that discussed how leadership will affect my life because of my future aspirations of a career in medicine. I discussed how important it is for doctors to gain the trust of their patients and how if they do not gain their trust the patients will not trust their course of treatment. My main point behind the first journal entry was that without some loyal followers a leader can not be successful. My understanding and analysis of leadership was very surface level as I explored how leadership affects me and how the trait theory is not a good conclusion of distinguishing leaders. In my second reflection I discussed through a poem how I could gain courage. I discuss that at start of poem I am a person who scared to be front of many people and this results in my followers not taking me as seriously as their leader. Then as the poem continues I show how I develop a leadership style that encompasses a balance of fun and authority. The end of the poem I discuss the change of how even though I am nervous and having anxiety I can overcome that with courage In my third leadership reflection I discuss how it use to be daunting to me to be a leader because I would be scared to be in front of many people. Through the lecture reflections I was able to understand not only the textbook definitions of the types of leaderships, but also how personal values, integrity and ethical leadership all tie together. The two lectures that impacted me the most were the Cuddy complex and Monika Korra. Through Monika Korra I was able to understand how self empowerment and courage can rebuild a person after a traumatic event. She inspired me because she was there not to discuss her about her attack, but how an event like that should not consume your life. In the Cuddy Complex it discussed the social issue that is racial inequality. I learned that a good leader is not just someone who has a good attitude and focuses on the good. I learned that a good leader has to take into account both sides a situation and stand up for his or her followers. Through the speakers I was able to learn about how to become a netter leader because they were speaking from experience.

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