Characteristics of a Good Leader

Nov 10th, 12:46

      Through out the year being that I am in a Leadership program I have been continually being stretched and have been growing in my leadership qualities and ability to lead. We have had opportunities to learn from others and their experiences in Leadership, as well as we have had the ability to follow others and opportunities to step up and lead ourselves. Some of The charecterestics that have really stood out to me and have been learning more and more in my life are Integrity, Patience and Humility.
   
       Just being in a group of students who are working under authority and have rules I have really respected others and been able to follow others in the way they have been intentionally following. Being able to feed off of them and lead others in the right path has been really cool. Integrity can be contagious and its a lot easier to follow someone who has Integrity than to follow someone who isn't doing what they are preaching. A leader without Integrity reaks havok on those who are following him. For why would someone faithfully follow a leader without integrity, there would be no point for why would you follow the rules if your Leader does not. It has been great to see great integrity in the leadership we have here and a great example in that is having an intern who is really down to earth and relatable. For Integrity is doing the right thing, but also just as much or more importantly is admitting when you screw up and making an effort to fix it. That is true Leadership in a very vualnerable way which in many ways I think inspires a greater response in that it shows that you are human but you are really doing your best.

      So after consoling at the Jr.'s retreat one way I was pushed and something I needed a decent amount of was patience. Patience is something I think so often we lack, but the results that come from someone who is patient are super beneficial. Having Patience is in my opinion one of the best ways of showing you love someone who may not necessarily feel loved. Showing unconditional love to people again and again where others would have lost it shows that you really care about people, and people are way more inclined to follow someone who cares for them. This was so really cool to see as in the Jr's retreat I had some very crazy kids and even though I had to tell them things again and again and again,  and having patience with them was tough when your a tired consoler, but they respected me more and more as the week went on. I think my highlight of that week was one of the kids who was wearing my hat and pretending to be the new "consoler" said he wanted to be a consoler like me one day. It was like the coolest moment for me and seeing them listen to me little bit more and more without having to change the way I talked to them was really cool. I know that would not have been possible without patience and would have been received as well without the patience I had, I think that was only do to God putting it in my heart.

      I think something that I have been pushed with more and more in my spiritual life and in life in general is Humility and also seeing how powerful it can be in leadership. In my life one way I have been understanding leadership greater and greater is that it is only in christ that I can have the ability to do any good, and understanding that I am not a great person but that God can do great things through me. Understanding this creates a greater reliance on God and I belive this allows for you to do greater good. In a non spiritual way I have seen when I have been following people who lead with humility my willingness to follow them has sky rocketed. I can think back to times in love croften when I have had leaders who lead from a real point of humility my enjoyment in working for them skyrocketed cause I wanted to the best of them not because they demanded it but because that was the type of person you really wanted to work for. Some one who is humble in their Leadership is more approachable and  more willing to hear your opinion even when it sucks and so even when they denie it you still want to do it their way.  I know in two of my experiences of love croften I could have been a little more humble in my leading. Becuase I had pride I didn't address certain situations correctly and although they were small things in the way I demanded stuff they hit me right when it happened and it was humbling to see my pride come out. I think this is great thing to strive for becuase of all the gentleness and respect that is associated with hummility and one person I think of when I say that right away  was our prof Dustin Resch and how he lead his class it became so engaging and sparked lots of good conversation I believe because he lead from a gentle humble stance. These are all theings I can see happening here at camp and characteristics I am striving for.