Final Reflection of LDR 101

As I approach the end of my leadership course here at Agnes Scott with Dr. Vela, I have come to articulate my understanding of leadership. Leadership is not all about being able to lead your team to success, but being able to do so because you compassionate, loyal and able to see all different ways to do just one thing. After the reading and analysis of the Cronon essay, a credible essay written to give 10 things a liberal arts education should have, I was able to see that a leader is not just the person in charge. It is the person who can read clearly and understand without clouded judgement. Someone who can talk to anyone about anything because they are well rounded, able to talk about array of topics and objects. Before this class, I explained a leader as to be  responsible, loyal, and smart. Not that they had to relate others and who they are leading or even should they ask for other opinions. I believed in the iron fist style of leading though I did not like being lead by one like that. It was weird having a sense of a strong leader, but at the same time not wanting to be lead by the iron fist. The biggest impact on me and my leadership skills was the personality test that we took before coming to Agnes. My top 5 were: futuristic, competition, includer, achiever and input. Using these traits throughout the course, I was able to see how they all fit and how I showed them in my day to day life as well as leading others. For example, in the course I was able to create a development group, where we would talk about thee task and see how we are able to lead and other things that pertained to personal and leadership development. Near the end, I was required to make and present a powerpoint on a leader in the math community. I chose Benjamin Linder was my topic. Be able to see how Ben Linder lead the people of Nicaragua with no fear right after college. He wanted to help those in need in any way he could. He was who he was and that was all that matter. It made me realize that you do not need to be the best at what you do to be a leader. You have to be compassionate and be able to learn from others and teach those in need. At the end of my research of Benjamin Linder, my eyes were open to the fact that being a leader and leading did not all rely on the fact that you can tell people what to do. Linder was a leader as he brought the knowledge and shared. He was not afraid to stop learning and clearly no afraid of what the world had to offer as he went into the world full on with no hesitation. That is how I will like to be a leader. Throughout this course, I have grown on what leadership really meant and why leaders are needed. So as I come out of the class, I have grown to know that I am a leader. I am compassionate, determine, loyal and will get the job done. But at the end of the day that’s not all that makes me a leader. There are so many more traits that can be justified to make a good leader. As to be caring and a good listener can make all the difference. In the end, Leadership 101 will hold a special place in my heart and a big push in the quest for me to find and understand who I truly am. Thank you Dr. Vela.