Three Semester Review

Public Leadership has taught me that you don't have to be in a formal leadership position to be a leader. We have explored the idea of there being a leader in every situation, no matter if you're with friends, at work or at school. Before this program, I always assumed to be a leader you had to be elected or formally given a leadership program. Now I understand that there is an opportunity to be a leader in any situation. After learning about informal leadership, I have noticed it more in my daily life. In many informal situations with my friends or my peers, I typically take the lead. Some of my leadership strengths are being communicative and efficient, which is why I tend to take the lead in informal situations.

The first paper I attached is about my leadership philosophy. In this paper, I analyze leaders and their effectiveness during the pandemic. I argued that the three traits that a leader must possess are confidence, transparency, and receptiveness to feedback. These traits are important because people need to respect you as a leader, but should also trust you and feel comfortable giving their opinion on situations. I also explored toxic leadership and why the traits I listed are necessary to be an effective leader because it is important to have a positive relationship with your subordinates.

​

The second paper I attached is my position paper about concealed carry on college campuses. The research necessary for this paper helped my understanding of leadership because it showed that when making important legislation, leaders need to be informed and look at both sides of an argument. In most situations, there are pros and cons so leaders need to be completely aware of the benefits and repercussions of their decisions.

​

The third paper I attached is my paper about if Oprah Winfrey was misguided or inspired when building the Leadership Academy. Personally, I argued that Winfrey was inspired in her efforts to help girls in South Africa. This paper and the debate that occurred in class based off of it was very interesting because it showed that even if someone's intentions are pure, there will always be some sort of backlash. Many argued Winfrey was only helping a select group of girls instead of South Africa's education system as a whole so it brought up the argument if a leader's efforts are less noble if they aren't helping a large group of people. From this paper and the subsequent debate, I decided that a leader should be recognized no matter if they help one person or one million people.

​

As I mentioned before, the idea of informal leadership has been something I have applied to my life. This semester when working on group projects I would take the lead on when we should start the project and the elements involved. When doing everything through zoom, it is easy to procrastinate because we don't see each other so there is less accountability. I made sure to constantly communicate with my groups when we should start the projects and continue to check in on my group throughout the project to make sure everyone was on track and on the same page.

​