As I begin the spring semester of my junior year I realize that I need to start implementing what leadership really is. I play volleyball at UD and going in to my senior year I want to be able to lead my team as best as I can. I am taking a class called Lead200: The Leadership Challenge, in this class we have schedule readings and last night as I was reading in Kouzes, J. & Posner, B The Leadership Challenge, it described the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership. They consisted of Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, Challenge the process, Enable Others to Act, and Encourage the Heart. My favorite section was Enable the Heart. With being on an athletic team you have to build relationships and encourage your teammates to keep going. K & P said it perfectly.
" Grand Dreams requires a team effort, solid trust and strong relationships, deep competence and cool confidence, group collaboration and individual accountability to get extraordinary things done."
Next season I am going to put this in my locker to remind myself that as being a leader I need to look around at all my teammates and ask myself, "what do I need from them? and what do they need from me?"
