True Leadership: Leadership Skills and College Success by Catherine

True Leadership: Leadership Skills and College Success by Catherine - March 2015 Scholarship Essay

The college environment is one of life’s greatest opportunities to establish the habits and beliefs of leadership that are so valued in every aspect of life. In fact, a successful college experience is often determined by one’s leadership ability. As I considered the question of leadership, whether it contributes to college success and in what ways, I had to acknowledge that leadership is a much more profound concept that simply exercising one’s ability to tell other’s what to do. I will talk about three types of leadership skills that I believe are foundational to success to both college and beyond.

The first aspect of leadership is the foundation upon which all success in almost every area of life is built: self-leadership. Self-leadership in college encompasses everything from getting to class on time to keeping track of important dates to getting enough rest and exercise. Truly gifted self-leaders are those who have a conscious awareness of who they are and do what is necessary to promote successful outcomes for their endeavors, a concept that, at first glance, seems so obvious and yet can often be one of the barriers to thriving in a given environment. A simple, but very powerful example of self-leadership from my own academic life was learning when I was most receptive and alert to learning.

When I first started college, I had the idea that I would take the pressure off of myself in terms of getting to classes on time and schedule my classes and homework sessions for afternoons and evenings. It seemed sensible and also a treat to myself, after so many years of getting up early for school. What I found is that I was often late for class or missed class altogether. It wasn’t until I took a break from school and returned that I realized that I was operating against my own natural rhythms. I am simply more alert and more receptive to learning in the mornings. In fact, beginning the day with the mental challenge of classwork helped to maintain my energy and ability to focus throughout the day in a way that much more effective than starting the important business of my schedule later.

The next aspect of leadership that leads to college success is social/interpersonal. This set of leadership skills does not arise from commanding others or having a huge social network. It arises from simply acts of integrity and human kindness. At its heart, social leadership is ‘being a good friend.’ A gifted social leader is one who is able to speak honestly and compassionately to those around them without concern for what is popular. They are able to listen deeply when other speak, truly hearing what is being said rather than simply waiting for their turn to talk. They are patient, generous and good-humored. Social leaders model the ideal behavior rather than talk about it.
The final form of leadership that I will discuss is what I would call ‘situational leadership’. I think of this as the ‘leader of people.’ This leadership is at its most effective after mastering the self and the social. It is as we understand ourselves and learn to truly listen to others that we are able to take on the responsibilities that come with leading organizations, events, etc. We learn to balance the needs of the individual with the needs of the organization. We are able to prioritize and establish a clear course of action because we have taken the time to do this for ourselves. Our words are trusted by our supervisors as well as those whom we a are leading because we have established patterns of integrity and honesty through our interpersonal dealings.

Leadership skills are foundational to college success. Self-, social- and situational- leadership help us to succeed at every level of the college experience. While an individual can still graduate without having mastered any of these skills, I believe they will have merely survived their college experience rather than thrived. The leadership skills that I have outlined here make us more confident, resilient and empathetic and more able to succeed in an extremely fast-paced and ever-changing world.