Exploring Leadership
Designed especially for first and second year students (but open to all), as the gateway to the leadership thematic area of the UHP. Course activities, assignments and discussion will cover foundational leadership theories that have been influential to many of today's popular leadership theories and emerging transformational lines of thought. The overall outcome is for students to develop inter- and intra-personal understandings of the process of leadership.
(uc.edu/honors/seminars/spring14)
For this honors experience, I registered for a spring semester seminar entitled, “Exploring Leadership”. Several others students and myself met for three hours each Monday afternoon on UC’s main campus. Though I read about, learned, and discussed several different types of leadership theory along with what makes a great leader, I was also given the opportunity to coach someone else on the topic of leadership and relate to them the information I was learning.
When registering for this class, I simply expected to learn about different theories of leadership while honing in on and fine tuning my own abilities as a leader. I have always considered myself as more of a follower, and though I have held leadership positions in the past, I have not ever felt totally confident in my leadership skills nor one hundred percent willing to pursue positions of leadership, so I registered for this class with the goal of changing that mindset. Fortunately, this class far exceeded any expectations I held before starting. Spending my Monday nights in this class not only provided me with the tools and information I needed to improve my leadership habits, but provided me with an opportunity to be a leader and mentor to someone else. Great leaders do not hold positions of leadership for power and recognition, but to teach and mentor their followers. A book I chose to read during this class, titled “How Remarkable Women Lead”, stressed the importance of finding mentors and sponsors as well as being a mentor to someone else. This class provided me with the opportunity to mentor my younger sister, Megan, and teach her the material I was learning.
Due to the fact that I was involved in teaching someone else, my learning and understanding of the material far surpassed what I would have comprehended without the coaching aspect. Each week, I was not only responsible for reading the material on a level necessary for class discussion, but on a far deeper level needed for relaying the information to my sister. Instead of reading for participation points, I was reading for understanding. This also led me to pay very close attention during class discussion and stay up to date on the suggested material outside the book so I was able to answer any questions Megan might have had for me. When I first started coaching Megan, we spent around a half hour each week talking about the qualities and skills of a leader and the various types of leadership there are. The process was slow, the conversation was one-sided, and there were several times when I contemplated giving up and choosing instead to develop and write an essay on my own leadership style which was the alternate choice. As the weeks progressed, however, I quickly found that my approach to teaching Megan about leadership was not what suited either of our personalities. I also learned that Megan is currently the vice president of a philanthropy club at her high school (one that raises funds to support girls enrolled at the school who can’t afford high school associated costs such as school supplies, field trips, and even tickets to prom) , a leadership role I wasn’t aware she held. This realization led to more in depth and personal discussions about leadership methodology, as well as how she personally can take the information I taught her and apply it to her own life.
As for connecting this experience to prior life experience, when I was a high school student, the main leadership position I held was when I planned and led a religious retreat that involved several aspects of servant leadership. I try to live my life selflessly while putting the needs of others before my own, so learning about a leadership theory that encompasses that idea really struck a chord with me. Megan’s philanthropy group, titled Seton helping Saints, is also based on the idea of empowering, empathizing with, and nurturing others, so our discussions about acting as servant leaders were fruitful and fulfilling. Additionally, though women in leadership is not necessarily a leadership methodology nor have we discussed women in leadership as of my reflection, I enjoyed learning about powerful women and how they lead, both through the class’ textbook and through studies of my own. I previously attended and Megan currently attends an all-girl high school, so she benefitted from learning about women in leadership as well.
Throughout the course of the semester, I realized that Megan knew much more about what it takes to be a good leader than I had ever imagined. Instead of feeling like I was leading her into uncharted territory, she was able to teach me things about herself that I never even knew. When asked about what she thought about her experience being coached on leadership, Megan said, “I think leadership is an incredibly valuable skill and the things I was taught in this course will help me in the future endeavors, including but certainly not limited to my foray into the collegiate world.” She also recently mentioned that she hopes this class will be offered in the future, should she decide to attend the University of Cincinnati after she graduates. Finishing this experience with the knowledge that I have impacted someone else’s life in a meaningful way inspires me to pursue positions of leadership and mentor others in the future.
When registering for this class, I simply expected to learn about different theories of leadership while honing in on and fine tuning my own abilities as a leader. I have always considered myself as more of a follower, and though I have held leadership positions in the past, I have not ever felt totally confident in my leadership skills nor one hundred percent willing to pursue positions of leadership, so I registered for this class with the goal of changing that mindset. Fortunately, this class far exceeded any expectations I held before starting. Spending my Monday nights in this class not only provided me with the tools and information I needed to improve my leadership habits, but provided me with an opportunity to be a leader and mentor to someone else. Great leaders do not hold positions of leadership for power and recognition, but to teach and mentor their followers. A book I chose to read during this class, titled “How Remarkable Women Lead”, stressed the importance of finding mentors and sponsors as well as being a mentor to someone else. This class provided me with the opportunity to mentor my younger sister, Megan, and teach her the material I was learning.
Due to the fact that I was involved in teaching someone else, my learning and understanding of the material far surpassed what I would have comprehended without the coaching aspect. Each week, I was not only responsible for reading the material on a level necessary for class discussion, but on a far deeper level needed for relaying the information to my sister. Instead of reading for participation points, I was reading for understanding. This also led me to pay very close attention during class discussion and stay up to date on the suggested material outside the book so I was able to answer any questions Megan might have had for me. When I first started coaching Megan, we spent around a half hour each week talking about the qualities and skills of a leader and the various types of leadership there are. The process was slow, the conversation was one-sided, and there were several times when I contemplated giving up and choosing instead to develop and write an essay on my own leadership style which was the alternate choice. As the weeks progressed, however, I quickly found that my approach to teaching Megan about leadership was not what suited either of our personalities. I also learned that Megan is currently the vice president of a philanthropy club at her high school (one that raises funds to support girls enrolled at the school who can’t afford high school associated costs such as school supplies, field trips, and even tickets to prom) , a leadership role I wasn’t aware she held. This realization led to more in depth and personal discussions about leadership methodology, as well as how she personally can take the information I taught her and apply it to her own life.
As for connecting this experience to prior life experience, when I was a high school student, the main leadership position I held was when I planned and led a religious retreat that involved several aspects of servant leadership. I try to live my life selflessly while putting the needs of others before my own, so learning about a leadership theory that encompasses that idea really struck a chord with me. Megan’s philanthropy group, titled Seton helping Saints, is also based on the idea of empowering, empathizing with, and nurturing others, so our discussions about acting as servant leaders were fruitful and fulfilling. Additionally, though women in leadership is not necessarily a leadership methodology nor have we discussed women in leadership as of my reflection, I enjoyed learning about powerful women and how they lead, both through the class’ textbook and through studies of my own. I previously attended and Megan currently attends an all-girl high school, so she benefitted from learning about women in leadership as well.
Throughout the course of the semester, I realized that Megan knew much more about what it takes to be a good leader than I had ever imagined. Instead of feeling like I was leading her into uncharted territory, she was able to teach me things about herself that I never even knew. When asked about what she thought about her experience being coached on leadership, Megan said, “I think leadership is an incredibly valuable skill and the things I was taught in this course will help me in the future endeavors, including but certainly not limited to my foray into the collegiate world.” She also recently mentioned that she hopes this class will be offered in the future, should she decide to attend the University of Cincinnati after she graduates. Finishing this experience with the knowledge that I have impacted someone else’s life in a meaningful way inspires me to pursue positions of leadership and mentor others in the future.
Above is the link to my artifact for this Honors Experience, my final presentation for the class. I chose to feature this presentation because along with my reflection above, it is a good representation and final summary of my leadership coaching which was the core project of the semester.