My philosophy

In my opinion, leadership is about being able to follow others while knowing when the time is right to be confident and voice your thoughts and emotions in a way where others would want to follow you. I think leadership is also about bring able to recognize your mistakes and let that drive you to do better the next time. I would relate the word "strong" because, when you consider yourself a leader, I think it's about how you bounce back from disagreements to losing. My philosophy is most people think of competitiveness and a person being a" know it all" when you think of leadership, but leadership is mostly the opposite because you should understand you have to sometimes have to follow people to get them to follow you back. I know as a leader that you cannot please everyone and make everyone happy, but I feel you have to be likable and be able to relate to others. When you have a common bond or similarity with another person, it is easier to share your opinion and thoughts and easier to help one another. For example when we did the activity with the pipes and trying to get the golf ball in the cup. There were many times where all of us had to follow one another. This was easy to do because we all had a common goal, which is to get the ball in the cup. When one idea did not work we were trying another person's idea and follow their lead. This was a important factor because no one had the attitude that came off as bossy. There might had been times when we disagreed but this was not a obstacle. At the beginning of this course I had a preconceived notion about what I thought leadership was. I was considered a leader to others and to myself but I did not deeply know how to be a follower. I thought leaders never followed unless they really had to. I now see the correlation between the leadership and following others. It does not mean your weak when you humble yourself to follower in certain situations. It simply means you want to be open minded to what others believe in or value.

What altered my perspective on leadership

During the zebra/water activity. The action that re-framed my thought about leadership, was when Adrienne and Anna had a disagreement. I personally never really took the time to understand why a person was shy to voice what they believe or be confident in their ideas although they are a leader. I noticed with Anna's reaction to what Adrienne said and Adrienne's delivery. I know we were crunched for time and we all were trying to figure out a way to solve the puzzle. However, since this was a group setting and we were in a small space, not communicating in a effective way  was a great example of how we as a strong group of leader have to become followers at some point. In this situation, Anna and Adrienne had strong beliefs in their ideas, and they both wanted to heard. They were confident in their thoughts and were competitive about whose idea would be better. I agreed with Matt when he was really excited about the different reactions that took place during this activity. Everyone in groups had different experiences and different types of ways of communicating. This altered my perspective on leadership because before this activity, I thought leaders have different ways of communicating and regardless if it's the right or wrong way, as long as the job gets done it's fine. On the other hand, after this fiasco that took place, communicating clearly and respectively is the right way to communicate. In the end we did not win this activity due to misunderstandings and not communicating with a open mind. I now understand why knowing how to utilize what you think a good leader should be is important to be a successful leader.

Importance of values to leadership and what are my personal values......

Values are critical to leadership because they are apart of the foundation of who we are as individuals ,the choices we make on a daily basis, the people we choose to build relationships with and the organizations or groups we choose to lead. When working for a company that shares the same values or becoming a friends with someone who has the same values, a opportunity for a strong relationship or growth within the company is very high. What I have learned from some of our discussions in class is, when we are in a group setting among other people who have strong leadership qualities, we all have to meet some where in the middle and take something from our conversations. I believe most of us have the same values and this will help us be more open to hearing one another point of views and opinions. As a leader, your values play a important role in a group setting because this will help you communicate with others in effective ways with each person. I think finding a value you have in common with each person will bring understanding and respect and since most people have similar values, this will bring a team together. In reference to the Moral Conversation reading, even though as a leader, you may not agree with something a person says, that person still has  the right to be heard. This would bring up the value of respect and this is something that as a leader you must have to be successful.
My personal values consists of honesty, loyalty,respect, love and morals. I think honesty is a very good value because this helps build trust in the long run. I feel if you want any relationship to work, it.s best to be honest and keep everything out in the open. As you all know, I am very honest in class during our discussions because I always think someone may not feel comfortable saying something that I am. Also that person and many others  may be thinking the same thing as I am, but because of the feeling of embarrassment or awkwardness, that honest feedback or thought is hidden and no one will ever know. However for Matt, our instructor, it's important he receives feedback an our honest opinions so he can know what to fix or what to take into consideration when it comes to our class. Loyalty also plays a role with honesty, and since I have a younger sibling, I always feel it's my job to have her back or help support her. Even though she is a mini me, I strongly feel I have to protect her or be there for her when needed. This value will come into to play with my audience when I start my career because I want to let them know that they can trust me if they need to tell me something personal during our interview. Building that loyalty will help make any relationship stronger and lasts longer. My other values are important to me as well because they factor into my daily routine and be a successful student at Ohio State.

Why am I taking this class?

I decided to join ESHESA 2570 because I want to sharpen my leadership skills. I have been in leadership positions in the past, as a co-captain of my cheerleading team  and captain of my volleyball team back in high school. Time has gone by so fast and now that I am a senior in college, I do not feel my leadership skills have been put to use effectively in certain situations that I feel can turn into great opportunities for a change in my life for the better. For example, I volunteered to be vice president of a new upcoming organization on campus last year, and it felt great the people of the group voted for me and gave me a chance. I explained to the members why I feel I qualified but when it came time to play my position, I struggled somewhat, and suddenly I was voted off out of the organization.I was embarrassed and upset at the same time because of the outcome and the process of everything, but in the end I took accountability for my lack of leadership skills for this type of position. What this class has to offer seems to be a perfect fit for what I am looking for as far as learning the theories or techniques behind leadership. Leadership to me is having that state of mind, where you feel, you can teach, help, or bring together a group of people to become a team or agree on a certain topic. However there are plenty of leadership qualities such as being assertive, sympathetic, understanding, determined, open minded, motivated, honesty, confidence, loyalty, creativity, and have the ability to inspire. I would like to gain more knowledge about in what different ways a a person can be a leader,how to be a better leader than what I am now, an also when is the right place and time to take that leadership role.  So far I feel confident that I will take away a lot of ideas and knowledge from this course This class already has great leaders in it, and the first discussion we had about our first reading really helped me understand how to be amongst a other leaders or a group of people in general and communicate effectively. My major is communication analysis and practice and my goal is to interview well known people, celebrities,and normal everyday people as well for a large TV network. I would also like to produce, video edit, and be on camera someday, so I really think my leadership skills will need to come into play.Once I'm at the level of being on national TV, I will be more confident about my stories, give the interviewee the impression that I have control of the situation, show that I can be trusted to produce a great story and that video will turn out be perfect. I will be working with a TV network family or shall I say team, and being the reporter or correspondent that represents that team, I would be playing that leadership role.