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."