Three Semester Review

Over the past three years in PL, my understanding of leadership has grown tremendously. Coming into the program I assumed anyone who was in a position of power was a leader. However, this is not the case. Leadership is earned. You are a leader by inspiring those around you and continually believing in the cause you are a part of. I have also learned there are many different kinds of leaders with many different styles of leading. Depending on the situation some may be more effective than the other, even if one person has more experience than another.

Personally, my leadership style is more consensus than directive. I enjoy working with others and value their opinions. I think it is very beneficial to incorpoorate your peers opinions into your work and final product. However, in some cases this does not work in my benefit as I may try to please other people too much even though it may not benefit the group. One activity from PL that changed my understanding of leadership was participating in the privilege walk. Even though everyone in our program is a student at the University of Maryland, I discovered that each and everyone of us came from a different background and had faced different struggles in life. This, and the activities we completed after, really showed me that anyone can be a leader no matter where they are from.

I have used PL in my life during group projects for school. PL made me realize that because of my leadership style, I sometimes don't speak up for what is the most beneficial to the group. I have really found my voice and begun doing what is best for me and the project and not just the other group members. For example, if another member did not finish their part of the assignmnet I now speak up instead of just doing it myself.