Michael Jordan

This past week I was recognized for my own leadership qualities. I was nominated to join a leadership honor society on campus called Rho Lambda. I am really excited to be given this honor and to better myself as a leader through this organization.

A leadership lesson I came across this week is that it is okay to fail as a leader and that it actually is usually beneficial. Michael Jordan's "Failure" commercial led me to this realization. Failure makes you grow as a person and learn from your mistakes. Everybody fails throughout life. But I think that one key aspect of failure that will help a leader is admitting when they have failed. In this clip Michael Jordan speaks of all the times where he failed. Followers respect someone that is humble and takes responsibility for these short comings. On the other hand, if a leader pretends to be perfect at everything, then the followers will be discouraged and think that anything they do short of perfection is a failure. I also loved how at the end of this clip Michael Jordan says that it is wasn't for his failures he would not have been successful.

Dr. Snavely

This week Dr. Snavely came to talk to our class and it was the first time I was fortunate enough to hear him speak. Dr. Snavely is the type of leader I strive to be. I already consider myself an optimistic person but I do have my times of weakness. Listening to Dr. Snavely motivated me to become an even better person. It is so true, as he stated, that your attitude is your choice. You should keep a positive attitude for everything that you do and it will make the tasks much more enjoyable. I loved that he was so optimistic about his broken foot! His analogy of leaving your problems in a bucket by the door was also great. My downfall is stress. I need to remember that the things I need to get done are not going anywhere so it is okay to push them aside at times and not let it effect my attitude. Dr. Snavely also spoke on not "lighting up a room by leaving it". That night I went out to a bar with a couple friends and I saw this idea happen right before my eyes. One of the girls was just whining and putting people down the whole night. The second she left, the whole group was so relieved and was able to loosen up. I thought this concept was so obvious but clearly some people are not aware of it. I really loved Dr. Snavely's energy and strive to be like him! Thank you Dr. Geist-Martin for asking him to speak with us!

Leadership for the Greater Good

On Friday I volunteered for a program called Project Connect. We set up a Thanksgiving dinner for homeless families, ate with them and then volunteered at a carnival afterwards. It was so eye opening and impacting being able to spend time with the families. As we were going on with the evening I could not help but notice that this event would not have been successful without the extreme amount of leadership. One leadership trait that I think all of the organizers possessed was character. They were not doing any of this for themselves, they truly wanted to help others. I think that it is so important that leaders have good character and do things for the group. In my eyes, someone who is able to lead an event like this and to give to others is the ideal leader.

Leaders at All Ages

Every summer I work at a salon in my hometown. This summer there was a woman who would always come in to get her hair done and bring her 5 year old granddaughter, Juliette, with her. Every time they came in Juliette would always sit at the front desk with me and we would play tic tac toe for hours while I answered the phones and helped customers. Just from talking with her I could tell that she was not like the average 5 year old. She seemed very smart and had such a positive energy to her. I eventually found out that Juliette was battling leukemia. She had participated in a Walk 'N Rock for Kids in Sacramento and had a goal to send 21 kids to a camp for children battling cancer. It costs $1,000 to send one child to the camp but through fundraising for the camp Juliette succeeded goal. Althogh she is only 5 years old I think that she is a leader and has many qualities to be valued. Her positivity and high goals are something that many adults lack. Through these qualities she was able to reach her goal. As we have mentioned in class, children possess the belief that they can accomplish anything they put their mind to. I think that the only thing seperating children and adults is extreme positivity and big dreams. Maybe adults should start dreaming bigger and BELIEVING that their dreams can become a reality.

http://www.examiner.com/sacramento-river-cats-in-sacramento/walk-n-rock-for-kids-making-a-difference-sacramento