My Thoughts About What Being A Leader Really Mean

Growing up I always thought of leaders as people who commanded a room, made the rules, were loud, expanded my knowledge, helped me grow, and told me what to do. In my life, leaders were people that took on roles such as parents, teachers, advisors, mayors, presidents, captains, and coaches. And while leaders can be and do all of those things, it wasn’t until I started school at the University of North Texas that my view on leadership shifted. Throughout this journal entry I will discuss how I define leadership, what motivates me to take on leadership responsibilities, and what the purpose of leadership is in my life. Starting school at UNT, I had no intentions of leadership being a major part of my college career, and before college I never even considered myself to be a leader.

I think that was partially because I didn’t know what being a leader really meant, also because I didn’t realize that everyone possessed the ability of becoming a leader. In our textbook, Exploring Leadership, leadership is defined as “a relational and ethical process of people together attempting to accomplish positive change” (p. 33) Leadership can mean so many things to many different people but to me, leadership combines action, trust, communication, perspective, vision, and focus but is always changing to the environment or situation that I am in. I have also come to realize that learning new things about leadership and myself happens almost everyday so leadership is forever growing and changing in my life. In the first chapter of our textbook, the three basic principles of the leadership process are explained.

Those principles include knowing, being, and doing. This section of chapter one stood out to me because the first principle is about knowing yourself. My leadership journey consisted a lot of getting to know myself, and you must know yourself before you can go on to lead others. You have to realize how you view things and that others might view things differently. When I went to college I was immediately surrounded by a flood of new teachers, new peers, new advisors, and new friends. These new people not only taught me a lot about myself but kick started my journey of becoming and considering myself as a leader by inspiring me in all aspects of life.

The new people in my life gave me a fresh outlook and perspective that made me realize being a leader is working with the people around me to make positive strides in this world and that is the main thing that motivated me then and still motivates me today. Creating a positive change in my life and the lives of others is what motivates me to take on leadership roles and responsibilities because positive change is needed in our world and if I have the opportunity to be a part of that, I will most certainly take it.In chapter 2 of the textbook leadership is described as, in a more contemporary setting, a “relational process based on mutual goals toward some action or change” (p.51). This description, and the definition I stated previously, closely relate to what I believe to be the purpose of leadership.

To me, the purpose of leadership is to work effectively by holding yourself and others accountable, whether that be high standards or values, and to substantiate the contributions and efforts of yourself, the people that you are leading and leading alongside. This will result in a collaborative effort and performance in a respectful and trusting environment. One of the first things we should be and expect others to be when it comes to leadership is Purposeful. Before my college career started I took on many leadership roles but I just didn’t know it at the time because I didn’t realize my purpose or what being a leader was all about. Relating and working with the people around us matters so much in leadership and I believe it all starts with knowing yourself and finding your purpose of leadership.