After the reviewing the lesson plan in class about Empowerment, I managed to build my skills of encouragement up.  We were told that empowerment refers to, “To give power to someone thus resulting in a greater sense of confidence/self-esteem and ability to do a task.” Having experience with being a leader, I am comfortable with empowering my peers with high self-esteem within their selves. Last year I was a softball captain and one of my daily routines was encouraging the teammates to have confidence within their selves when they failed to do a good job on the field. One example in particular was when a new girl made the team and had little experience with softball. Despite her being new to softball I gave her power and confidence to teach her how to be a better batter. Whenever she would go to bat she would always strike out, and I notice she was feeling down on herself, but I would always encourage her and give her techniques to do better whenever she went to bat. Even though her batting skills did not increase that much, she still had confidence within herself to improve her mistakes and practice hard every day so that she could be better in the batter box. After having experience with empowerment I found myself using motivation which is; “an incentive or move to action”, by motivating the aspiring athlete that she could do good when she was in the batter box. Encouragement; “to inspire with hope, confidence, or courage,” I always managed to say positive remarks to her to boost her confidence and courage with softball. Recognition; “to acknowledge the contribution of another” I recognized her for her hard work and dedication by practicing during her free time to get better with her batting skills. Praise; “to recognize others and praise them for good work”, I praised her again for trying her best to become better as a softball player. And appreciation; “to thank others for their contribution”, I appreciated her contributing to a difficult skill but still managing not to quit or give up even though the sport was difficult for her. I often noticed and interpreted that the other team captains hardly empowered the team because they did not have much control of team. The team captains lacked respect from on the team because they would not like a captain, they would always act childish along with the team which should not be a leaders characteristics. This is due to because whenever they would try to be serious and demanding the team would not take them seriously or respect them because they were used to the team captains being silly and immature. But I believe when there is a team leader around who is mature and reliable, their protégés will always look up to them for empowerment and motivation whereas vice versa from a leader who is immature. But having empowerment within an organization builds a bond and strength where nothing could break that individual or team down.

While reading the excerpt I too agreed that trust is the central issue in human relationships inside and outside of organizations. I believe in this statement because two years ago when I was part of a club, many individuals in the group disliked how our leader was making decisions and coming up with ideas that it led to everyone in the group not agreeing on one accord. So in consequence with all the disagreements, many people in within the club began to have little trust in our leader fearing she would turn her back on the group. This was a big mistake because not only did it break the group up, but it led to inappropriate behaviors that were unacceptable because everyone disliked what was going on and did not have trust within one another. Just as the excerpt stated “because they can’t bear to be dependent on the words and work of others…”[they] supervise work so closely that they become over controlling.” And that is exactly what happened in the club I was in because our group leader began to be controlling and evil towards the group. I believe if everyone put their differences aside majority of the members could have clarified their problems and identified an alternative scenario so that everyone could agree on the same thing. It is always best to have trust within people especially within a workforce. Being around individuals who do not trust each other causes an unstable environment and unbalanced team crew. After being in a situation where there was no trust, I learned from that experience and positioned myself to be around a more decent group of people who were trustworthy and dependent. After being elected president for yearbook in my senior year of high school, I adapted ways from my past to manage a calm, easy going organization where trust was the key factor. Having numerous personalities with various people was challenging to direct because there were issues that were not agreed on that caused confrontation. Being the leader I did not want to see another episode of trust going down the drain. It was stated in the excerpt that; “the leaders behavior is more critical than that of any other person determining the level of trust that develops in a group.” I agree with this statement because followers look up to their leaders as an influence of their own actions, as well as guidance in their work field. So if I was to lie and hide the truth from my acquaintances, more than likely they are going to do it also. Therefore when my yearbook committee began to have confrontations, it was up to me as the leader to state the honest opinion to clear the air of negativity. After I broke the ice everyone began opening how they felt on the situation and we slowly began resolving our issue and also began forming a trustworthy foundation.

¢  After the class discussion in class, I polished my understanding of ethics. As defined in class ethics is stated to be “Social rules that govern and limit our conduct, especially the ultimate rules concerning right and wrong. “ I have learned to polish my ethics more widely. For example, I use my schooling, family, religion and experiences to shape my ethics. Being spiritually close to god assists me to be a good leader to other individuals. I learned that by knowing right from wrong increases my chances of reaching out and influencing other to people to follow in my footsteps because god wants his children to resist from cruelty. Also I am shaping my ethics from my family because they are by my side constantly through all my troubles and hardships and push me to continue moving forward. They give me the responsibilities to be mature and handle situations on my own to be a young adult. This correlates with ethics because I am learning self-discipline. I have experienced be being around unethical people that have slightly drove me away from my own ethic beliefs. For example, I was influenced by stealing merchandise from a store which is highly unethical to me because my morals is to serve god and walk in his pathway and by breaking one of the commandments I felt angry with myself because I easily let another person pull me away from my ethics and morals into doing something I was forbidden not to do. After reviewing in class it is not ok to let someone influence into doing something unethical because they are doing it also made me realize I need to strengthen my ethics stronger.  i have always been told the golden rule by my grandfather, but I did not fully understand what he was talking about, but now as I get much older and wiser from past experiences I come to understand how Important the golden rule is. The golden is to be defined as; “Do what you would want others to do to you.” I find this saying very true because from past experiences I have found that wanting respect and appreciation is only returned if I extend it out to others as well. For example, I have always found being respectful to my enemies very challenging. But one day I showed appreciation and gave respect to one of them only to generous and shortly after a couple of more of the same practice to that person, I found myself receiving the same action done towards me. That is why I truly believe that by treating others the way you want to be treated is very true due to my past experiences with the situation. To this day I treat everyone the same respect that I would want to be treated because it is pleasing to me and that person also. I have also found that the rules ethics is an ethic that I tend to follow by. Rules ethics is stated to be, “Do what you would want everyone else in the world to do from now on in this situation.” I believe if we treat everyone the same way that we would like to be treated could lead to peace in the world because everyone is following into the same trend of generosity.

After reviewing the excerpt from Ms. Peggy, my views on that article we content and a bit frustrating. I felt it was irrelevant because I believe everyone is born with different privileges that we did not request. Peggy insisted temporary equal-ness within everyone to exemplify unity but, we obtain certain honors due to the choice of God. I do understand that there are issues everyone attains that we are not proud about, but I believe by confidence and humbleness we all can make way through our flaws. For instance, there is a large number of homeless individuals in the world, and I believe it is not a privilege and choice for them to be without homes, but they were set in those positions and they have to make way through their struggles and tribulations day by day because it is their lifestyle until they make a change for themselves. I agree with this quote from class stating “Horatio Alger in the mid-20^th century said that all men were equal, but some just worked harder than others and that is why they were better off.  If other people worked as hard, they would be well off too.” I believe this is true because men set their selves apart to obtain the dominance that they have now, I believe that everyone should act in this way if they do not respect their privileges. For instance with the homeless, no one in this world can fore take and solve our issues that we have  but ourselves, and either we have to accept it or not but if so they have to make self- change if they are unhappy with the privileges they attain. But in class I did comprehend a different aspect towards people and their privileges. I interpreted that by holding your own identity is a privilege towards yourself. For an example, by me being a young African-American female I have numerous privileges for holding this aspect because there are other individuals in this world who wish to hold the titles that can have and obtain. Privileges are related to hard work because where we stand is from the success or failure we had in the past.  It is how we approach our situations in life to be where or how we want to be in life. “Some overcome barriers created by oppression and succeed through hard work. [Pursuit of Happiness].””Some cannot overcome barriers created by oppression no matter how hard they work.” I believe this quote is where everyone either gives up or push through trials because once again it is up to us to have a great future, or to have a decent or horrible one. But regardless of my interpretations from the excerpt, class discussion and life experiences I do have a better view about privileges we hold in life.

After reading Diversity is Transforming Leadership my views on leaders from different cultures open more because the excerpt helped me understand that by having different leaders from a diverse culture helps widen unalike leadership styles to follow. Recalling from the text when they explained “shaping leadership into a multicultural form” I believe that is true and she be expected because it I time where we see our nation have different skin tones within a business or organization because it expands the association 10 times more than it was before. The excerpt defined multicultural leadership as “an inclusive approach and philosophy that incorporates the influences, practices, and values of diverse cultures in a respectful and productive manner. Multicultural leadership resonates with many cultures and encourages diverse people to actively engage, contribute, and tap their potential.” My middle school played along with this definition by expanding other culture customs. For an example of how diversity is good for leadership was when I was in high school and our ASB committee was general composed of Caucasians and Philippines. The school felt certain races were left out when events came around because they did input any other race opinions. So the school voluntarily cast votes for additional staff on the ASB board to make it more diverse so that all voices and opinions from different background were heard. This also led to a new diverse leadership because the school soon began doing traditions from Mexican American, to African-American backgrounds by following in their cultural traditions. For instance also, we followed our leader’s tradition celebrating Dead Day from the Mexican background and celebrating Kwanza from the African-American background. This not only shaped and diverse our school but also taught the school different traditions from outside cultures they did not know of and brought unity within one another because everyone enjoyed celebrating the events together. Without unity and acceptance from different cultures will only lead our vision of unity to destruction. “The discrepancy between the vision of democracy and the reality of racial and cultural segregation has caused a continuing tension in U.S. society.” I believe this quote is very true because if no one is coming together as a whole from different backgrounds then that can lead to separation and hate between each other. For example, Whites and Blacks did not meet eye to eye because they viewed the opposite race inferior. There was separation for the two races to dine in and eat and also join together in classrooms. This battle between the two lasted for over a decade and caused tension in the U.S. but activist leaders seen differently that both races can and will soon be together as one positively motivating the nation. And soon with laws formed and races soon reconciling their differences, the United States soon came together by the influences of different leaders. In an ending result I am a supporter of believing that diversity can and do cause transformation just by past experiences and well known political uprisings.

Cohesiveness

After reading the excerpt The Nature of Group Cohesion, I came across numerous examples of being cohesive within a group. Cohesion was defined as “strong sense of belonging to an integrated community-are actively involved in their groups are more enthusiastic about their groups, and even suffer from fewer social and interpersonal problems.”  This quote retains to me because I believe and work along with this quote because I believe in order to have success within a group differences within one another has to be set aside in order to accomplish a goal that was settled for the individuals. For example in the passage the hockey team was once against each other because they all remember each other from when they competed against each other in high school. But due to their differences they put their dissimilarities aside in order to win games that were held upon them.  I have been in this predicament before with a group of individuals I played with on my softball team. We all had known each other from playing against one another in recreation softball in our communities and we held hate and competition within each other because we always wanted to beat them. But when we got older and went to the same high school and played softball together, we had to sit our differences aside because being divided within one another would only let our team fall and not win any games we played in. “Forces that keep a group intact by pushing members and countering forces that push them apart.” This quote correlates with me because within the team we set aside issues that we knew would be pushing us apart. As years went by we grew close with each other and started calling each other a family because held similarities and passions with each other because we worked together to accomplish our objectives and did it with positive attitude and unity. Another example of cohesion I settled with was having a roommate. “They would even sacrifice their individual desires for the good of the group.” Having a roommate to me made me be cohesive because my roommate and I shared a little room together that we would take up our personal space, but in order to have a good year in college and with each other we had to come together and make sacrifices and be unified as one.  My roommate and I shared many differences with each other because we were totally opposite, but she and I decided to make arrangements of who took a shower at a certain time to make sure we did not have any differences that would lead to us not enjoying our freshman year in college. “The ease with which cohesiveness can be described has been accompanied by an astonishing difficulty in defining it in an agreed on-matter.” Reviewing this quote acknowledged to me that difficulties should be worked out to have ease.

Leadership

As I read over the excerpt, I highly agree that in order to be a leader there has to be a vision require. I agree with the statement, “The vision operates within both the wants and needs of participants in the leadership relationship while also expanding their zone of tolerance for change”. I agree that this is true because no person alive can establish anything without viewing how they want to for take that dream. There is persistence and drive from supporting participants who want to see that vision come true. For example my softball coach had a vision of winning number one in the championship for our division team. He had assistant coaches who supported his every need and want to make sure his team was well prepared for the upcoming team we were going to play against. Also the assistant coaches and parents accepted and tolerated his request in having more practices during the week to fulfill his vision. Even though it was rough getting the teammates to come to every practice, he still went out on the field working with the little group of people who showed up. Just as the text explained, “Leadership is neither a clean nor constantly satisfying activity for an individual”. That is true because every practice was not satisfying to him because he did not have his whole team on the field participating in working to get better as a team. But he never let his vision go. He was still motivated to walk on that field everyday whether or not he had a full squad or not.  “Importance of vision: provides the leader with an additional moral justification for changing an organization and its members” and that was exactly what my coach had. I like visions because it gives the leader and his or her organization something to lean on for motivation and inspiration. When times get challenging I remind myself of the reason why I am fulfilling this duty. “It is the driving force of the vision of a desirable improved condition for members, the organization, and society that inspires the leader, the benefits of this desirable future plateau generates the duty to endure the trials associated with leadership”. I respect this quote because it reminded me of a time when I wanted to give helping 5^th grade students with their homework at a afterschool program. I continued to push myself because of the vision I had seeing the kids getting good grades on their tests and quizzes from the help and techniques I gave them. I could not let them down and quit helping them because I am one of the reasons for helping them do excellent in school and perhaps is the next scientist for a cure. By having my vision it brought me new friends because we all came together in doing the same thing for the children. “Creates a bond within the leaders and followers”. Having people by your side that is fulfilling the same vision as you creates a positive bond within one another and leads the organization down the right road into making that vision come true.

Leadership

After reading the excerpt “Toxic Leaders”, I am fully aware of what a toxic leader is. My first intentions of a toxic leader was someone who was and leader in general. But after reading the article I got an overall understanding and clear cut definition of a toxic leader. As described Lipman-Blumen a toxic leader is “a process in which leaders, by dint of their destructive behavior and/or dysfunctional personal characteristics inflict serious and enduring harm on their followers, their organizations, and nonfollowers, alike”. In others words a leader is someone who expresses negative behavior towards or around innocent observers or followers. I have been encountered around an individual who performed uncivilized behavior. When I was a sophomore running track, my team captain implemented toxic behavior around me and my fellow teammates. She had a bad problem with having toxic attitude almost daily that was unnecessary and negatively expressed towards the team and coach. Whenever a runner was losing in heat she would yell and cuss at the runner because she was disappointed that he/she was failing to lead the race. I felt her role was taken for granted because as a team leader she was not motivating and establishing positive attitude around her teammates. Her attitude rippled and affected other teammates because they soon picked her habit and began to demonstrate the same negative influence she was distributing. My track captain was a prime example of a toxic leader because her personality harmed and influenced the organization she was leading into destruction. I also recognized that she was a toxic leader because her personality failed to understand the nature of relevant problems and acted knowledgeably and effectively in situations requiring leadership. Also looking up to and admiring pop stars I noticed that they too can be toxic leaders. For example, many people around the world look up to pop star sensation Michael Jackson. Michael was a major influence to young and old people who, but he had many mistakes that he felt were amoral or not wrong. A primary example was when he hovered his youngest child, Blanket over a balcony to show off to his die-hard fans. Many people saw that this action was dangerous and wrong, while on the other hand Mike did not see anything wrong. I felt this was toxic because Jackson was not willing to claim that he was wrong in act of hanging his dangling baby over a balcony. This was an example of a toxic leader’s personal quality. Amorality is a leader makes it nigh impossible to discern right from wrong. Michael Jackson is an example of this because he did not see anything wrong about the danger that he had did towards his child, he thought he was right for showing the world and fans his dear hearted son. While the media and by standers all felt that he was highly wrong for conducting in such act. After reviewing this situation, I believe Michael Jackson is a toxic leader only because he find his actions and moods right when noticeably they are wrong.

Leadership

After reading the excerpt What Every Leader Needs to Know about Followers and having a debate about followership versus leadership, I found it acceptable that everyone should strive to be a leader. Even though it can be tough trying to having various leaders in one area it still can be a learning experience for the followers obtaining to be leaders because they view different ways to approach situations and also learn how to adapt their opinions comfortably with other individuals around them. When I was 17 I found it hard following my parent’s orders because they both had different opinions on certain situations. At the same time I was maturing trying t follow in their footsteps so that I could be just like them by being a leader to my sisters. But due to the confusion of which parent I should follow, I drew the conclusion that I could simply share both of their skills. As I was developing my leadership skills in high school, I viewed certain followers as shared in the reading. For instance, I was very familiar with “Isolates”. In high school isolates were common around because whenever I had to group work in my classes, I always noticed classmates that were completely detached. As explained in the article, Isolates “are scarcely aware of what’s going on around them…they do not care about their leaders and can drag down their group or organization”. This was acted very well in my group. It was always the rebellious students who did not like to cooperate in class and acted devious towards teachers that were isolates. When it was time for group work the isolates would always sit back and watch everyone else take into action of the group project. I disliked very much because they sat back and did try to help with what needed to be complete for our group assessment. As opposite to isolates in my class, there were also the “Diehards”. Even though there were a few isolates in my class, we also had the over achievers or students who wanted to get good grades in class. Diehards were described as “prepared to go down for their cause- whether it’s an individual, idea, or both”. These were the fellows I found myself more acquainted with because they did not sit around and watch things take into action, they were the ones making things get started. Also with the diehards, they supported me and worked just as hard as I did in the group to achieve a good grade on our project. They were a strong asset to the group and the other leading individuals that was in the group. When I was in my group, my classmates who were devoted into getting the work done contributed ideas and solutions to the project that was worthy of completing and accepting a good grade on. Reviewing the excerpt gave me insight that leaders are more dynamic to have to because instead of following individuals into the right direction, we can lead individuals into the right path of success.

Leadership

Being a leader in numerous organizations and extra-curricular activities and role model for my family, I have established my leadership role effectively over the process being. Remaining a leader I enjoy setting an example by positively helping aspiring individuals into change. As expressed in the excerpt, “We view leadership as a relational and ethical process of people together attempting to accomplish positive change”. Standing as a leader, I have to keep the goals and characteristics of a leader in progress because it is up to me to make sure I am positively changing people’s lives and decisions. When I was captain of my high school softball team, I had to make sure that I established a good relationship with my teammates because if a situation occurred where they need my assistance, they had the confidence to come to me because we shared a dominant relationship within each other to make them comfortable around me. I was reminded by the essay that, “that relationships are the focal point of the leadership process”. Numerous times I was encountered with altercations where I had to understand my moral values before I mediated the problem. For example, a few girls on my team were not getting along, so I analyzed the problem that was going on and identified myself by how I was raised and morals I was taught so I could evaluate and solve the problem. By that decision making I was able solve the issue and the girls understood a better outlook on their situation. “Know yourself and others; engage yourself in learning new information as develop the competencies required in your role”. While dealing with other people on the team I had to make sure I knew myself before I started judging and giving other people orders. Also I was confronted with many personalities to where I had to take broaden my horizons by exploring new things. For example, my coach wanted us to take ballet classes so the team could balance better and be lighter on our feet so we could perform better on the field. As explained in the essay, “be open to difference and value other perspectives.” Obligating this quote in my day to day routine on the field helped me be recognized essentially by my teammates and coaches on the team. More on, I am the oldest in my family, and dealing with disagreements with my sisters can be a hassle at times. For example, my sisters love sharing and exchanging shoes within one and another, and when my sisters were not deciding on who wore a certain pair of shoes they both wanted I had to wear I had to practice my listening skills and interpersonal skills. Having a short attention span I had to make myself listen to the ordeal that was happening and not give any special attention for either sister. “Practice listening skills…interpersonal skills” I finally came to a conclusion and solved he issue which led the day with ease for me and them.

Leadership

After reading the article I shared few similarities with article from technical and human skills. After leaning many skills in the excerpt I agreed with what was said about having leadership skills, “Leadership skills can be acquired and leaders can be trained to develop them.” I believe leaders are trained into becoming a leader not born as them. I say this because I was not born with leadership skills, I received them from being told and taught the right way of doing doing things because I am the oldest in my household so I had to set a positive influence to my siblings who looked up to me. More on about leadership skills, I also have excellent technical skills. As defined, “Technical skill is knowledge about and proficiency in a specific type of work or activity”. I had experiences in my life where I demonstrated good technical skills. I modeled technical skills in the kitchen when I make food for friends and family.  I have good technical skills with cooking because I know how to delicious meals without burning the kitchen down or making the food tastes horrible. For example, my friend Jazmine has horrible cooking skills; she never reads the directions on how to cook the foods and her meals do not turn out delightful. While on the other hand I choose to read the directions because I like to make sure everything goes well, and by knowing how to cook a specific dinner by heart now, it is all a master skill to me and I know how to masterly cook a good meal. Continually, I felt the article hit home when they shared another skill for leadership which was Human skill. Human Skill was defined as, “Human Skill is the knowledge about and ability to work with people,” being a leader you must have this quality. As I am a leader in many organizations, I share this skill very well. I was president of my church youth department and I had to deal with many kids my age as well as younger. I always made sure everyone was comfortable around me as well as the other children around them. I am a very sensitive person so I had to make sure no one was discouraged or uncomfortable because I was held accountable for everything went wrong and I would feel disappointed knowing someone was not relaxed under the supervision of me. I always opened up a discussion about how they’re day went just to open them up a little. But as a sad result, I see myself lacking in the skill of conceptual skill. I fear that I do not have the right voice to make something that is a down fall comes up as a big success. I say this because if I cannot persuade people then I feel as if I am a failure. For example, at church when it came time to electing new officers for 2009, it was the most difficult situation I have ever felt myself in. Many of the kids were uncooperative and did not want to elect because they did not want to take the responsibility if they got chosen for any of the selected office that were open. After 30n minutes trying to encourage the kids to vote, they finally gave in only noticing the Pastor came asking how things were going and explaining to him the difficult situation I was dealing with.

Leadership

While reviewing the MBTI worksheet in class Thursday, I was pleased with my results being introverted because all the explanations made clear sense to me. Having introverted sensing as my highest was a joy to me because that is exactly how I am. I always tend to think of past memories that accompany my emotions as today. For example, whenever I hear the word free, I get reminded of my grandfather to when he always said “if it’s for free then it’s for me.” I always laugh to myself whenever I hear that word because my grandfather is a very humorous man who loves anything that is free.  Going through the lesson in class was very wowing to me because I thought this research was phony because I did not know anyone was capable of knowing another person’s mental functions just through a survey. Continually during my amazement time in class I was also brought to the attention that my extraverted feelings were second highest which again seemed right because I always express appropriate concern and appreciation towards people because I am a very caring person. For instance back at home in San Diego I am very known as “Grandma.” I was offered that name due to always being concerned and caring towards others. For example on my cousins 18^th birthday everyone was exited to go out to party with her but my other cousin who caught a stomach flu had to stay in, and instead of me going out with them also, I stayed in with her and helped her get better. Even though this is a name no one wants to be called, I am proud to have such name because whenever someone needs something they could always come to me for assistance and guidance because I have extraverted feelings. Continually, while observing my other functions I noticed my introverted thinking and extraverted intuition were the next highest on my eight mental functions. As said before I was agreeing with everything that was being said on the paper because being an extraverted intuition was absolutely right. I am always creating possibilities for my future. I make goals on a regular to shape my future into something perfect and productive.  For example, I recently chose to put God first as a future goal for myself. Making that as a self-goal was a big step for me because I want my future to be correct by having God by my side. And as I move onto my next function, introverted thinking I see this was correct also. Which meant repeatedly applying system analysis to data to fit them in one’s subjective mental framework. Even though I did not know exactly what this meant, I knew It had to be right only seeing that the past functions were positively correct to my personality. After reviewing the MBTI worksheet, I was highly pleased by the outcome by finding out it was not some phony survey I done in the past, but it was actually a true evaluator to analyze people’s mental functions.

Leadership

While reading Trait Approach, I came across numerous traits that I agree with that are essential to being a leader.  Reading this piece I had a couple of connections that I know all leaders should obtain, for instance responsibility and self-confidence. From experience by being a softball captain from my senior year in High, I had to make sure all the responsibilities on the team were taken care of to make sure that the team was going down the right path in a positive direction. Every day I had to make sure all the players had their equipment and uniforms together before we left our school to go to away games. More on I also had to make sure that everyone on the team was doing their daily routines which was stretching before a game and also warming up before the game. Having responsibilities you must also be self-confident. As mentioned in excerpt, “Leadership involves influencing others, and self-confidence allows the leaders to feel assured that his or her attempts to influence are appropriate and right.” When you’re a leader of a group of protégés, you must stay confident within yourself as well as your team. Whenever my team was faced with a very competitive team I made it important to remain positive and confident at all times because the individuals that I am leading are all looking up to me. I cannot be intimidated and put down by their accomplishments because my team was looking for me to guide them through this obstacle to make a win from this game. If I showed fear then my team would have been in distress also. I also agree that being intelligent is a good trait to have within a leader. A leader should be intelligent to overcome any obstacle that comes their way such as, on my softball team if a player was having a hard time catching ground balls it is the leaders job to find other smart techniques to help that player overcome that challenge. Being intelligent do not necessarily mean you have to be book smart, but knowing the smart and clever ways to get around troubles that come your way and your followers. As explained, “Having strong verbal ability, perceptual ability, and reasoning appears to make one a better leader”.  I agree with this quote because you have to be dominant by verbally approaching your aspiring followers to go forth in what you are directing them to do.  Last but not least Determination is something I can connect and agree with in being a leader. When you are determined to get a goal completed, as a leader you are going to do anything possible to get that job done. For example, I was determined to pitch less balls while I was playing softball, and by stay motivated and determined I managed to get this accomplished with the drive I had in myself and team. In conclusion I admire this last quote from the article, “Determination is the desire to get the job done and includes characteristics such as initiative, persistence and dominance and drive. Being determined includes showing dominance at times and in situations where followers need to be directed.”

Leadership

The readings were very informational to me. But the one that was very powerful and held an interest to me was the excerpt named Loa-Tzu. Reading that piece shared a connection with me that brought back memories from my senior year in High school. I was team captain on my softball team and I felt the burden to make sure that the team was going down the right path in a positive direction. In special part when he compared a leader to water as “water cleanses and refreshes all creatures without distinction and without judgment”. I could relate to that because as a team leader/ captain, you are not to judge anyone that you are helping because no one is perfect and you are to set an example also not only for that person but your peers around also. And by being a team captain I stood in the role to not laugh at any player if they made a mistake on the field, because I am there to guide and help motivate that person into improving on their mistakes. Laughing only sets a bad example and encourages everyone else one the team to do the same also, which not only is healthy mentally but it could also negatively destroy the physically because certain people may not put in much effort on the field anymore because they have their teammates and captain laughing them. More on with this same excerpt, I could agree with the statement he used discussing being an unbiased leader. He quoted “can you mediate emotional issues without taking sides or picking favorites”. I can relate to this because being the oldest child out of 3 girls, I have to be the one to stop and negotiate arguments between my sisters. When things go wrong I cannot pick the one sister who I am getting along with currently and choose her side over the other sister who I just got mad at for not picking up dirty socks. I have look at both sides to the story as to why they are arguing and not get caught up in the emotional frenzy that just occurred, because I have to be biased and be honest as to who side I pick.  Also this can relate back to being captain o the softball team because when girl’s get into an argument I cannot pick sides to the person I like the most. Being a team captain you have to be fair and make sure that everyone is treated equally. I have to be respectful because I am not aware to how sensitive that person is, so by being calm and understanding I could solve those issues out. As the author mentioned “I can do all these things by remaining unbiased, clear, and down to earth”.  By experience I know being a leader it could be difficult at times, by being an older sister and team captain, but that is when you put your ego aside and think of others because even when you do a lot, and say a lot, you have aspiring leaders who want to be just like you, so you have to make sure that you are doing the right positive thing because you setting an example for that person and the next.