Leader Self Reflection

Leader Self Reflection Essay (Part 2)

Starting this semester, I was pretty confident in the type of leader that I currently was. Being a part of the United States Air Force, it is expected that I always lead by example. After the first half of this semester, I have slowly learned that some of the ways that I lead are wrong or can be corrected. After hearing opinions from the whole class including the professor, I have realized that everyone has a different way they go about things. No matter who the person is, they will have a different opinion on what they look for in a leader. In this self-reflection essay, I will discuss what I have learned in this class so far this semester along with some real world experiences I have had with some of the concepts learned in class.

My expectations for this class started off pretty low. I had a buddy take this class with a different professor last semester and absolutely hated it. After hearing this, I dreaded what this class was going to be like. Seeing that we had to make a twitter for this class was the first red flag for me. I do not associate myself with twitter nor know how to use it. Thankfully, my assumptions of this class were wrong and I am enjoying learning about what kind of leader I am. It is also broadening my knowledge of the use of social media and learning that everyone in class has different views of what a leader consist of. The first thing I liked about this class was the discussions that did not necessarily have a right answer. In my mind, I thought I knew what was right. Lo and behold, I was wrong. This class has taught me to stay humble on my views of leadership and open my mind up to different perspectives of leadership styles.

One topic we discussed that got me thinking about my leadership style is motivation. When I think of motivation, I usually think of it based on the lack of it being used in the work force. Motivation is either external or internal in the fact that enthusiasm and persistence is key to pursue a certain course of action. One experience I had was working at a golf course over the summer at TPC San Antonio. This is one of the nicest courses in San Antonio and you must always be on top of your game to make the customers happy. One afternoon, I was working outside and it was over one hundred degrees outside. My boss, who never motivated employees, was working outside but standing under an umbrella not doing anything to help the outside operations guys. My whole team was worn out and tired. All our boss had to do was show that he cared about his workers and motivate them to excel. He failed to do that and lost the respect of all of his workers. I made good money at this job but I could no longer work there because the work environment was physically and emotionally tiring on your body. As a leader, you are expected to motivate your followers to keep up morale. I will be going to pilot training for the Air Force this