Empathy, Woo, Developer, and Communication…These are four of my strengths from the StrengthsFinder test I took over the summer. All of them connect with people and the ability to understand them. Empathy is quite literally understanding people, their emotions, and where they’re coming from even though I might not agree with them. Woo is winning others over, the ability to have conversations with people and make connections. Being a Developer is helping those around you reach their full potential. These four strengths correlate to William Cronon’s list of key attributes that he believes a liberally educated person should have. About Empathy Cronon says that the liberally educated person can “ultimately empathize with the person who is feeling those emotions”. The connection here is stated plain and simple. He addresses Woo in his third point when he asserts that that liberally educated person can talk with anyone and make connections easily. Both Woo and Communication deal with people and the ability to connect with them. The final parallel between my StrengthsFinder results and Cronon’s list is that between his belief that a liberally educated person helps those around them grow and prosper and the Developer strength. I am making these connections because I am at the beginning of my liberal education reflecting on what it means to be a leader. So, what does a leader look like?
My experience with LDR 101 and school, in general, has taught me two standout things about leadership. The first is time management. I have never had great time management skills so coming into college was stressful, to say the least. I had told myself that I wouldn’t procrastinate and that I would do all my work way before the deadline so that I wouldn’t have to worry about it. Turns out that’s easier said than done. I had so many things consuming my time that, in my head, seemed so much more important than writing that paper that was due tomorrow morning at 9 am. At some point, I knew that I would have to put all that aside and put school first. I was forced to do just that with group projects. Specifically the WomanHouse project in LDR 101. WomanHouse forced me to consider other people and their grade, not just myself. For the project, we were required to meet with a tutor in the CWS which meant that all of the members of our group had to coordinate schedules. We also had multiple meetings to work on our project and I realized that I needed to be flexible because there were four other peoples’ schedules we had to take into account. Part of being a leader is being able to make sacrifices. Those sacrifices for me were sleep, the gym, time with friends, etc… Knowing what’s important and considering others when making those sacrifices is what made me a leader with the WomanHouse group project.
The second skill that I used was social skills. More specifically knowing how to handle a group member that raises an issue or creates unnecessary difficulties. During my group project in Sociology, we had a member that arguably didn’t have the best social skills. They could be rude and bossy and also have a problem with the way in which we had all agreed to complete the project. Dealing with that situation in a calm, diffusing manner was vital to keeping the group functioning so we could get the project finished. By speaking up when everyone else kept quiet to try and work the conflict out, I took on a leadership role. Leaders can recognize the discomfort of a situation but that doesn’t stop them from taking charge of it.
Reflecting on this semester, I realize that I have had many opportunities to lead. Some of them I passed up and some of them I took. But with those that I took, I know that I made an impact in that situation. My leadership supported others and myself. It’s important to be a leader in whatever you do but the question is-what does a leader look like?
