Power of One 3/5/10

The video that stood out the most to me was the Power of One, because that boy had the passion and heart for life itself that a leader could only dream for everyone on their team. Even though he only had one leg, he was always optimistic about everything which is crazy because almost every one of us would look at it as a downfall. Instead though, he had the courage to keep moving forward and be the best he could be, which ended up being better than many others his age without any disabilities. And along with affecting the boy, the parents also had to make huge sacrifices. It wasn't easy for them to decide to have their son's leg amputated, but they took that leap of faith and in the end it really paid off. Their son used what he had to excel, and he passed up everyones expectations. Without courage or sacrifice from anyone in that family, he wouldn't be anywhere near where he is today. That is an excellent example of leadership for us all to follow.

Courage and Sacrifice 3/5/10

In one of John Maxwell's books he writes, "The heart of good leadership is sacrifice," and I believe this is true because without true sacrifice, you can't lead. In your heart you must be willing to give up your wants and needs for the wants and needs of others, because truly you should care more about the success as a team than the success of yourself individually. I don't think you can be considered a "good" leader unless you're selfless and are willing to take sacrifice to an intense level...as said before you have to be willing to take risks and step out into the unknown in order to increase your leadership potential.

When looking at those who you influence, courage must be evident. I think this varies with the person or the sport, but personally I show courage by being able to stand up for my own ways and beliefs, no matter what others say about them. In Leadership Gold it says, "I can't lead people if I need people" and this makes sense. Not in an arrogant way considering technically everyone needs people, but in a sense that at times a true leader must move forward, taking a courageous step and not waiting for others' approval. I'm not great at this of course, but I'm really working on it because I believe, or hope, that if others see me being courageous and not trying to blend in with the crowd then they will admire this and want to follow.
Your dedication to potential must remain stronger than your desire to appease others.

You have to have courage to lead because you can only take great steps ahead if you risk something in return. The whole point of leading is to take others where they are too afraid to go themselves without someone else taking that first step; you must be willing to sacrifice your own feelings of contentment and be courageous in order to move forward. Martin Luther King Jr. said, "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stand at times of challenge and controversy." For your true character to come out as a leader you must first be willing to show courage.

Krueger's Talk 3/5/10

I thought Krueger's talk was really great...it had a lot of depth to it and totally hit all the points we've been working on in class. He talked about how what we think our main trait is may very possibly be different than what others see in us, and that's interesting because I think most of the time we don't really consider that. And it works the other way too...what we see in others may be different than what they see themselves. I think that's a big reason to have communication and form relationships, so everyone knows how they view themselves and others. He also talked about how as you get higher and higher up on the leadership ladder, things get harder. Some assume that by being the "best" things are easy for you, but really it's the exact opposite; you have to experience even more to make sure you're helping others succeed their goals. As John Maxwell said, "Leadership is like an auction," and this is a great analogy because in an auction, as the price to pay gets higher, less and less people want to buy into it...when leaders have to start sacrificing more of their time and give more to the team the number of people willing to do it starts to drop. In my opinion, you only know who the true leader when in the end, they are the one who gave the most for the smallest reward; the success of others. This goes to what I want to remember most: sacrifice means selflessness. Krueger gave us a quote saying, "Selflessness is the soul of teamwork," and although I've never thought of it this way I think it's so true. Sacrificing what you want in order to help others excel and for you to improve as a team requires the job of putting others before yourself, and pushing your wants and needs aside. In order to lead you must put yourself last, because, "The difference between good and great leaders is that great leaders make their teammates better by being selfless."