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What Leadership Means to Me Essay

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What comes to mind when you hear the word leader? Martin Luther King, Jr., John F. Kennedy? According to Webster's Dictionary, a leader is "one who leads." After participating in the Leadership Program, I have learned that a leader is hard to summarize.   I entered the Leadership Program with a narrow mind. I thought that I knew the expectations of leadership along with everything that leadership entails. After all, how difficult could it be to persuade others to see your personal opinion and then, get them to follow your dreams? All one needed to do was be passionate about a cause and have good public speaking techniques. Little did I know, there is a lot more to being a leader than meets the eye. By participating, I was …show more content…

The leader must be sure to take the group dynamics into consideration. It is important to make everyone involved feel that their needs are important. For the project to be a success, everyone participating must feel as if they are contributing and that they are being valued equally.   On a more personal level, the Leadership Program has taught me the value of time management, organization, and confidence. Each of these characteristics was developed through the personal service project that I designed. My personal project was focused on my area of interest, dietetics. I chose to work with pediatric obesity patients at the University Children's Hospital. Lori Hardford, a local dietician, and myself will be holding a five week seminar with these children. During these five weeks we will work to teach the children the importance of good nutrition through hands on activities. The main emphasis will be to teach the obese children the four food groups, balanced meals, portion sizes, and healthy snack options. Then during the fifth week, the group will meet to play a game (similar to trivial pursuit) that reflects on what they have learned the previous four sessions. By planning my individual project, time management was essential. I had to balance my class load with planning the project and meeting with Lori Hardford. It was very difficult to find time when both Lori and I were available to talk.

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