Week 16: Realizing Potential

This is the last week of class.  The readings seemed to circle to the beginning.  They allowed me to be reflective of the semester journey I've almost completed.  One of the readings, Nidfiffer, discussed the masciline and feminine traits of leaders; more like how the attributes or competencies were established (naturally or acquired).  Depending on the mixture of competencies, a model could be feminine-deficit or mascuiline-deficit.  In a feminine-deficit model, the women must work on acquiring specific competencies to be successful.  On the other hand, in a masculine-deficit model, the men must work on acquiring specific competencies. The study recommended a model that focused on both women and men to have equal amounts of natural competencies and aquired competencies.  It sounded great while I was reading it, but I wonder how realistic it really is.

"Leadership has little to do with formal authority or where one is in the chain of command, and a great deal to do with forming and sustaining relationships that lead to results in the common interest." (Preskill & Brookfield, pp. 3-4).  This is really a large part of what I believe is leadership.  Relationships are key.  If "followers" do not connect with the "leader," it will be difficult to get tasks accomplished or move forward.  Formal authority vs. informal authority is a topic of debate and I agree with those who say informal authority is much more effective.

As I wrap up this semester and this first part of my leadership journey, I think about what I originally wrote at the beginning of the semester.  (This paper will be the following entry in the blog.)  After reading it again, I feel that this class gave me the opportunity to think more about the concepts I wrote about.  The things that resonated with me in class are things that I initially discussed in my "initial thoughts" paper.  So, does that mean my thoughts on leadership are pretty authentic?  That I am more intuned with my leadership journey than I originally thought?  I'll let you ponder those questions . . . among others.

Thank you to all of you who've read my entries and provided feedback.  In your own ways, you've supported my leadership journey this semester and I know you will be there for my future quests of leadership awareness and development.