The LeaderShape Institute 2013
It's 6:00 AM. My alarm goes off quietly, but since I've barely been hovering on the edge of sleep for the past five hours, I notice it immediately. I take a minute to lament my lack of rest, and then gather everything I need to get in and out of the shower as quickly as possible before the start of the day. Breakfast starts exactly at 7:45, and every sink and shower in the bathroom will be taken as soon as the clock hits 7:00. As someone who absolutely abhors waking up before 10 AM, this was really a stretch for me. Getting less than four hours of sleep a night, staying in a room with 30 other girls, sharing six showers and sinks with aforementioned 30 girls, and being hard at work from 8:30 AM to 11 PM six days in a row was one of the most difficult things I've done recently. I know I can tell you this much: it was absolutely worth it.
Ever since I heard about LeaderShape at the Honors Welcome Retreat back in August, I knew it was something I wanted to do. When the application opened, I spend days working on it and ended up writing a short essay on what leadership meant to me. Getting into LeaderShape became a goal for me, and when I was accepted, I was ecstatic. I knew that it would be a life-changing experience for me, and I hadn't heard a single negative thing about it from anyone that'd attended in years past. I wanted to be a part of LeaderShape because I've always wanted to be a leader, but after that week I realized that I already am.
I had almost no idea of what to expect from the experience, since the description I'd read on the honors page was kind of vague. Since I highly value group experiences, I knew I would come out of it with new relationships, but I had no idea that I would meet so many people unlike any I'd ever met before. In fact, I think the relationships I gained from LeaderShape were my favorite part of the experience.
For example, my family cluster. The very first night, the group of 60 honors students split into families of 10. My cluster, the LeaderShip, was definitely the best one (I know everyone says this, but just trust me. There was no cluster better). Though there were tense moments and moments where nothing seemed to get done, there were also moments filled with such a deep vulnerability that I knew our group would be able to stick together through anything.
Ever since I heard about LeaderShape at the Honors Welcome Retreat back in August, I knew it was something I wanted to do. When the application opened, I spend days working on it and ended up writing a short essay on what leadership meant to me. Getting into LeaderShape became a goal for me, and when I was accepted, I was ecstatic. I knew that it would be a life-changing experience for me, and I hadn't heard a single negative thing about it from anyone that'd attended in years past. I wanted to be a part of LeaderShape because I've always wanted to be a leader, but after that week I realized that I already am.
I had almost no idea of what to expect from the experience, since the description I'd read on the honors page was kind of vague. Since I highly value group experiences, I knew I would come out of it with new relationships, but I had no idea that I would meet so many people unlike any I'd ever met before. In fact, I think the relationships I gained from LeaderShape were my favorite part of the experience.
For example, my family cluster. The very first night, the group of 60 honors students split into families of 10. My cluster, the LeaderShip, was definitely the best one (I know everyone says this, but just trust me. There was no cluster better). Though there were tense moments and moments where nothing seemed to get done, there were also moments filled with such a deep vulnerability that I knew our group would be able to stick together through anything.
The biggest breakthrough for me came during the evening of day 2. The topic was discrimination. Until that night, sitting in a circle knee-to-knee with my family cluster, I hadn't realized that ending discrimination was my true passion. I cried for a solid five minutes in front of people that were a little bit more than strangers at that point, talking about the discrimination I'd faced and listening to the discrimination my peers had faced. I realized that psychology wasn't my thing at all. I want to help people in a different way. I want to be a voice for the underrepresented. I want to make sure my children grow up in a world that doesn't make them wish they were the color of the person sitting next to them.
I'm now trying to figure out the process of creating my own major suited to my needs. I don't know where I'll go with it. I might work in student affairs, or become a professor, or anything else that'll help me spread awareness to end discrimination. I'm taking classes based around race, gender, and politics, and I've never been more interested in school. LeaderShape helped me recognize that I have a lot of big ideas, but never the drive to follow through with any of them. It also helped me find the one idea that I could never abandon because it has affected me so personally and intensely.
When I describe LeaderShape to people who ask how my winter break went, I usually always say the same thing to try to define it and sum it up in one sentence. "It's an intensive six-day leadership institute, and it kind of changed my life."
I'm now trying to figure out the process of creating my own major suited to my needs. I don't know where I'll go with it. I might work in student affairs, or become a professor, or anything else that'll help me spread awareness to end discrimination. I'm taking classes based around race, gender, and politics, and I've never been more interested in school. LeaderShape helped me recognize that I have a lot of big ideas, but never the drive to follow through with any of them. It also helped me find the one idea that I could never abandon because it has affected me so personally and intensely.
When I describe LeaderShape to people who ask how my winter break went, I usually always say the same thing to try to define it and sum it up in one sentence. "It's an intensive six-day leadership institute, and it kind of changed my life."
Additional reflection:
On my application for LeaderShape, I was given a question asking what leadership meant to me. Here is my answer from that application:
Leadership is an incredibly important quality to have. I believe it cannot be taught, but it can be refined and improved. In my opinion, leadership can be broken down into a few essential "ingredients": the ability to inspire, influence, or motivate; a vision to turn into reality; responsibility and willingness to step up in times of need; passion; and the ability to make quick and effective decisions.
Being able to inspire, influence, and motivate the people one is leading is, in my view, the most important factor of leadership. A leadership position does not require authority, only influence; this is why almost anyone can be a leader. Leadership requires the ability to motivate people towards a single goal while planning how each person can use his or her strengths to the full advantage of the community. A true leader knows his or her followers well enough to determine the best course of action towards achievement.
Every successful leader has had a vision. For example, President Obama's vision includes a stronger education system, cleaner energy, innovation, creation of jobs, and tax reform. On a smaller scale, I volunteered for a woman who ran for Ohio state representative, Maureen Reedy. Maureen is a former teacher who was Ohio's Teacher of the Year and decided to run for office. Her vision included an educated workforce, high quality of life, a reliable infrastructure, renewable natural resources, and a cooperative and flexible government. Every successful leader, from the national to the local scale, has a strong vision they want to turn into reality.
One of the defining characteristics of a strong leader is willingness to step up in times of need. For example, take Cincinnatus, who worked on a small farm around 450-460 BC until called to serve as dictator during an invasion of Rome. He possessed complete authority and leadership and lead his army to victory, resigning from his complete reign only two weeks after being declared dictator. Cincinnatus was willing to take responsibility of the Roman people, which is now regarded as the move of an outstanding leader.
A leader must have passion. Passion is one of the most important elements of leadership; a leader without passion is unmotivated and therefore cannot motivate his or her followers. As well as having passion, a leader should be able to effectively and quickly make decisions that move the group towards its goal as efficiently as possible.
I personally define leadership with several other qualities and abilities because I believe that there are a lot of requirements to being an effective leader. Above all, a leader needs to be compassionate about the people he or she is leading.
Now, looking back on my original answer, I'm glad I chose to include a vision. Having a vision was an extremely important part of LeaderShape, and I'm happy I can say that I recognized that beforehand as well. Something I would change about my original answer is that leadership "cannot be taught, but it can be refined and improved"; I want to reword it. Leadership is a quality that everyone possesses. It can't be taught because it already exists inside all of us.
After LeaderShape, I decided that since my goal was to spread awareness to end discrimination, I could definitely start with UC. One of my stretch goals was to host a seminar in collaboration with on-campus organizations to educate students on diversity, discrimination, and privilege. Also, after learning more about ableism at LeaderShape, I'm applying to be a counselor at a muscular dystrophy summer camp.
On my application for LeaderShape, I was given a question asking what leadership meant to me. Here is my answer from that application:
Leadership is an incredibly important quality to have. I believe it cannot be taught, but it can be refined and improved. In my opinion, leadership can be broken down into a few essential "ingredients": the ability to inspire, influence, or motivate; a vision to turn into reality; responsibility and willingness to step up in times of need; passion; and the ability to make quick and effective decisions.
Being able to inspire, influence, and motivate the people one is leading is, in my view, the most important factor of leadership. A leadership position does not require authority, only influence; this is why almost anyone can be a leader. Leadership requires the ability to motivate people towards a single goal while planning how each person can use his or her strengths to the full advantage of the community. A true leader knows his or her followers well enough to determine the best course of action towards achievement.
Every successful leader has had a vision. For example, President Obama's vision includes a stronger education system, cleaner energy, innovation, creation of jobs, and tax reform. On a smaller scale, I volunteered for a woman who ran for Ohio state representative, Maureen Reedy. Maureen is a former teacher who was Ohio's Teacher of the Year and decided to run for office. Her vision included an educated workforce, high quality of life, a reliable infrastructure, renewable natural resources, and a cooperative and flexible government. Every successful leader, from the national to the local scale, has a strong vision they want to turn into reality.
One of the defining characteristics of a strong leader is willingness to step up in times of need. For example, take Cincinnatus, who worked on a small farm around 450-460 BC until called to serve as dictator during an invasion of Rome. He possessed complete authority and leadership and lead his army to victory, resigning from his complete reign only two weeks after being declared dictator. Cincinnatus was willing to take responsibility of the Roman people, which is now regarded as the move of an outstanding leader.
A leader must have passion. Passion is one of the most important elements of leadership; a leader without passion is unmotivated and therefore cannot motivate his or her followers. As well as having passion, a leader should be able to effectively and quickly make decisions that move the group towards its goal as efficiently as possible.
I personally define leadership with several other qualities and abilities because I believe that there are a lot of requirements to being an effective leader. Above all, a leader needs to be compassionate about the people he or she is leading.
Now, looking back on my original answer, I'm glad I chose to include a vision. Having a vision was an extremely important part of LeaderShape, and I'm happy I can say that I recognized that beforehand as well. Something I would change about my original answer is that leadership "cannot be taught, but it can be refined and improved"; I want to reword it. Leadership is a quality that everyone possesses. It can't be taught because it already exists inside all of us.
After LeaderShape, I decided that since my goal was to spread awareness to end discrimination, I could definitely start with UC. One of my stretch goals was to host a seminar in collaboration with on-campus organizations to educate students on diversity, discrimination, and privilege. Also, after learning more about ableism at LeaderShape, I'm applying to be a counselor at a muscular dystrophy summer camp.