Thinking about my values is something that I've spent some time doing the past view months. what do I value? The answer has changed greatly over the past 3 years of college, if I had been asked this question as a freshman I would have most likely stared at the person like a deer in headlights. I never put together the though of what my values are and leadership ability but after the book brought it to my attention it was kind of an "oh duhhh" moment for me. A leader needs to have strong values that they can stick by when questioned. I love the quote "leadership development is first and foremost self-development." This stuck with me because I think I sometimes forget that to be a strong leader you need to be continually developing yourself and to have what the book calls an authentic voice. I think it's sometimes challenging to have your own voice when you are a leader because you also want to do what everyone else wants and also to make everyone happy, but as we learned in the last section of the book you cannot always make everyone happy. Putting together what I learned in the last section and in this section it seems like it is more important to stick to your own values and convictions than to waiver so that everyone is going to like you. I know this is something I struggle with because I do want everyone to like me and to make everyone happy.
Another quote from this section that has stuck with me is "Exemplary leaders have the confidence to turn themselves into followers." Leaders should want everyone to succeed and want everyone to gather and develop leadership skills. An effective leader should want their followers to be able to step up and become leaders themselves. Isn't that the best way to leave a legacy, to make sure that someone can be the next leader when it's your turn to be a follower? I think a valid question that every leader should be asking themselves on a regular basis is, am I teaching my followers to become effective leaders? I also think it's important to remember that the sometimes the best form of teaching is by being an effective role model. A leader did not just get there by waking up one day and saying "oh I think I'll be a leader today", they had to learn from someone how to be an effective leader and therefore they should in turn be teaching others to become an effective leader. Leaders sometimes focus on what is, 'mine' and not what is best for the organization, sometimes what is best for the organization is for leadership to be fluid. Sometimes one person may be better at leading a certain aspect of the organization and other times they may not be. In times when they may not be the best person for that particular situation it gives the leader time to be an effective follower.
The last piece in this section was about how you don't have to be a leader to lead. This has stuck with me because I actually just had a conversation with another sister in my organization who felt like she couldn't plan or make effective changes in our organization just because she wasn't in a leadership position. This is not true at all and I plan on sharing this section of the book with her. It is important that people who are not leaders understand that they are the ones with the ideas and that leaders are there to serve them. Leaders wouldn't be in a leadership position if it wasn't for followers.
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