LEADERSHIP
Reflection Paper 2
By Anne Mayette. V. Boese
1. External - what are family, environment school and work experience that shaped you today?
2. Internal - your values, strength, weakness and how do they affect on how you decide act
3. How do they prepare you for your future challenges?
Experience is the best teacher. My life experiences and defining moments have taught me, challenged me and changed me. The exercises we've done for the past few weeks have helped me understand myself deeper. I have learned in this class that the journey for authentic leadership requires a lot of inner assessment and reflection. I previously viewed a leader as merely someone who knows how to inspire, manage, lead and have followers. I admit that I am very wrong with this perception because there is a much deeper understanding towards becoming an Authentic Leader. A lot of people can be leaders, but few can be authentic. This course is helping me track my path to Authentic Leadership. The 1st journey is to be SELF AWARE. Now I asked myself, am I on the right path to authentic leadership? Or am I a long way ahead? Or I maybe I'm on the wrong path? The questions in this reflection will help me answer this question
EXTERNAL (Family, Environment School and Work Experiences)
Family
Recalling when I was very young, I was afraid to go out and play with other kids because I only wanted to be around my parents. Then I was introduced to fun childhood games and adventures such as climbing trees, swimming in the river, or running in the street and playing all day. From being fearful at first, I could no longer be stopped from exploring outside my comfort zone. Change had happened to me, and I liked it. My mom said that I cried so hard on my first day of school, and for the second time I feared the new changes. Looking back, I can say that change is actually good. Because of change, I learned to be independent, socialize, and to share. My life was evolving so fast that everything seemed different. My Dad knew that change was inevitable and set out to guide me before society could corrupt my morals and values. My dad regularly reminded us that we could play as much as we wanted and enjoy our childhood, but must be home for 'family time' – also known as 'meal-time.' During meal-time we were all required to stand for the grace. Praying was something that my dad instilled in all of us. We had to be sincere with our prayers, and not just utter the words - but feel it in our hearts. Standing is a sign of respect, and when praying, you show respect. Although I had been learning from society, it was the values and morals my parents introduced in my growing years that I valued and remembered the most. I was very lucky to have a dad with strong moral convictions concerning life and spirituality, and a mom that is hardworking and tough. He always told us that it takes a heart to love and to understand. When there is in heart what you do or what you say, there is a lot of love and understanding to it. Like everyone, we are not a perfect family. We had shortcomings and arguments, but my dad kept glued us together. He used faith and love as our main foundation. We disagreed, but we had to talk it out using our hearts. It doesn't matter who is right or wrong, but what matters is what is inside our hearts.
