Servant Leadership!

I would define leadership as a quality that anyone can possess where they serve the ones they lead, and motivate others to do unite with them in achieving a common goal.
One thing that has really impacted me this semester is when we learned about being a servant leader, someone who is willing to serve those they lead. I loved talking about Divine Centered leadership and really enjoyed reading all about it. This is why I BYU is so awesome - in your leadership class you learn how to be a leader through following Jesus Christ's example because he is the perfect leader. He didn't do things to get glory or power. He did them to serve because he loves each and every person he leads. One part in the Divine Centered Leadership talked about doing God's will and not your own. It talks about how we need to ask Heavenly Father in our prayers to help us know what he would have us do each day. Instead of asking "What would Jesus do?" we can ask, "What would Jesus have me do?" We have opportunities that we need to embrace and can truly create and seek leadership opportunities more easily if we are willing to ask what Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father would have us do. I have tried to implement this habit of asking the Lord's will in my daily prayers and have been more aware to the opportunities I have every day in my life to be a leader to others by serving others. I am so happy that this class really emphasized servant leadership because it is a different concept of leadership compared to the world's view of its definition. We, as members of the church, need to be willing to lead humbly through our service. We shouldn't seek powerful roles to get gain or the praise of man - we should seek to first serve the Lord through serving his children. Jesus said, "If ye love me, feed my sheep." I truly want to encompass this statement and show my love for the Savior by having charity towards all people.

Leadership for Change

This week's lecture was a little bit confusing, but Tamara Gray did make some really good points that I want to emphasize. I understood the source strategy of Personal Motivation. We can motivate ourselves or motivate others by allowing self discovery, creating personal experiences or vicarious experiences, and we need to end with an invitation. I liked that she talked about making a personal experience that will make you or the person you're influencing care about that change. When I really understand a cause that's when I want to join. In my English class last semester, for our research paper, we were supposed to do more for our reader by giving a personal story compared to a statistic. When we can create a vicarious experience, it makes the issue more personal. In this way we can "consciously connect to values."
Another point I liked was about goals and social motivation. When we really want to achieve a goal, we will tell somebody who will hold us accountable for it. We need to choose good people to surround ourselves with so we can harness good peer pressure. When you are with good people, you will feel more accountable to them to be the best you can around them. We can find strength in numbers.
This approach to setting a goal to change seems like a good way to harness your own abilities, use others in a good way, and take advantage of our environment (structure).


P.S. Love language - Service (I think?)