What does it mean to be a Leader?

I've been taking a leadership class this semester for grad school, a class taught by my now former boss but current role model.

I was asked to make a project answering the two questions: What is Leadership? and Who am I as a Leader?

I immediately began going to work on constructing my project, and I made a beautiful puzzle to answer each of the two questions. As I finished making my creation, I felt pretty proud of myself, very in the know and so sure of myself. I was so certain that I knew the answers to those two questions.

Then training happened. Mine and Anne's replacements started at the office on Monday, and we began a week of intense training. Long story short, I truly understood what it meant to be a leader by the time we made it to Friday.

I'm a leader because...

I am approachable,

I take the time to explain myself,

I ask people if they have questions,

I demonstrate a new task and then ask someone to demonstrate it to me,

I take the time to get to know people,

I go above and beyond to help people feel welcome,

I genuine care about people.


I never would have understood the full extent of my own leadership qualities without the opportunity to be a leader this past week. I am confident that I can do amazing things, and that I am a competent leader-in-training.