Grand Canyon University Self Evaluation Discussion Response

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please respond to the following discussion post as a peer making a comment. I did not always think of myself as a leader. I used to think that in order to be a leader, you had to have some sort of assigned title so that people will look to you for guidance. Over the last 7 years, that has changed for me. Although I am not sure at what exact moment my vision of leadership changed, I know that now I will always think of myself as a leader.

My leadership skills were built when I started doing volunteer work. I knew that no one was going to help me except for me, otherwise there would not be such a need to volunteer help. So what I did was I made myself the professional in what every area I was assigned to, and I searched for opportunities in experiences that I am familiar with. As our book describes, leadership includes attention to common goals. Leaders direct their energies toward individuals who are trying to achieve something together. (Northouse, P. G., 2019) I was able to volunteer for women’s shelters for domestic violence victims, cancer walks, AIDS walks, financial literacy, and a few more. What happened is that I started having more and more confidence in myself, the more I learned how I can help people. Everyone is useful and everyone can use their skills to help other people, it became clear to me that I was a leader. I was someone who people depended on for influence.

I don’t take this skill on lightly, leadership is something I will continue to work on for a long time. As a gain more skills I can use to help people, I will continue to try to influence people. It is the responsibility of leaders to make sure that their actions reflect the value of their influence. Whether a leader is put in charge of people at work, or is amongst an incoming batch of new employees, the leader must have an expectation of themselves to influence the people around them in a positive and uplifting way.

Resource:

Northouse, P. G. (2019). Leadership: Theory and practice (8th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

  • JM