Leadership

For me, one of the most valuable outcomes of taking this course was that it encouraged me to get to know myself and gave me the tools to develop on both a personal and professional level. It also provided the platform for me to examine the multifaceted roles and responsibilities of leadership and understand the many traits that make a leader not only a leader but also a great leader.

When I think of highly effective leaders I think of individuals who possesses a wide array of attributes. Those attributes include intelligence, being an effective communicator, someone with vision, passion and charisma. It has been nine weeks since I submitted my paper on charisma and at that time I began to consciously work on developing a plan to strengthen my charismatic traits, those traits that come naturally to me as well as those that do not. I began by writing down my daily objectives. In the early days my prime goal was to remember peoples names, something I used to be notoriously poor at. I have made great strides in developing this skill and have really experienced the changes first hand. People appear to have more confidence in me, they are certainly more at ease around me and seem to be naturally drawn to me. I have discovered my genuine interest in a wide variety of people that wasn’t there before this class and I feel that by making a conscious decision to work on these skills I have definitely enhanced my social network.

I also began watching individuals that I believe exude charisma and made notes on what I found captivating and began to slowly emulate some of those characteristics and behaviors. Some behaviors felt authentic and I felt at ease from the start some I modified to feel more natural to me. It’s a work in progress and one that I am reaping rewards from already. I have been told that I am now a more open and candid communicator and am enjoying building and developing relationships with those around me particularly those that prior to this class...