"In a culture obsessed with measuring talent and ability, we often overlook the important role of inspiration. Inspiration awakens us to new possibilities by allowing us to transcend our ordinary experiences and limitations. Inspiration propels a person from apathy to possibility, and transforms the way we perceive our own capabilities.” - Scott Kaufman of the Harvard Business Review
Circle of Change Leadership Conference
Inspiration is something that I find everyday. If it's not from social media, it's from a conversation I have had with someone during the day. During the month of November 2019, some OSCR students and I gracefully had the opportunity to travel to Los Angeles and we had an eye-opening experience at the 10th Annual Circle of Change Leadership Conference. Right at the very first meeting at 9 a.m. sharp (actually we were a few minutes late), we were greeted by student ambassadors with such immense energy, that it scared me a bit. The culmination of student leaders from all over the country, around 500 in total, was very refreshing, especially since this was just weeks before midterm finals week. I carried a box full of business cards and passed them along to empty seats and empty hands. I never experienced a conference where a person was to have dialogue with a panelist as soon as the session was over.
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The keynote speaker of the three-day conference spoke about his triumphs growing up and when it seemed as though he would give up his process, he would keep moving forward. The next couple of days lead to a series of personal conversations with our random small groups and what had started out as being a nerve-wrecking activity of speaking in front of strangers about my life story, came to being almost as if it was natural. Whether it was the many practices of conversing with students or being in such an intellectual atmosphere with so many great students, I undoubtedly grew because of this experience and can say that it was by far my most favorite conference by far.
I recall meeting a person named Chris that was in my small group and we struck up a conversation about passions and activities we were involved. He seemed to have so much drive and after asking why he was so determined, he said that he just loved helping others and wanted the best for the community that raised him. Although we came from two different worlds, we both had the same love for the communities that we were from. The personal conversation between us two lasted around ten minutes, but it felt like we had known each other for years. His words inspired me to do so much better and after swapping social medias, we left our conversation telling each other that we inspired one another. Leaving the city of the angels made me motivated to do so much better academically so that I could finish the semester off in great standing. I was inspired by students that I had created relationships with and panelists that joined my network and needless to say, I am looking forward to attending this conference again!
I recall meeting a person named Chris that was in my small group and we struck up a conversation about passions and activities we were involved. He seemed to have so much drive and after asking why he was so determined, he said that he just loved helping others and wanted the best for the community that raised him. Although we came from two different worlds, we both had the same love for the communities that we were from. The personal conversation between us two lasted around ten minutes, but it felt like we had known each other for years. His words inspired me to do so much better and after swapping social medias, we left our conversation telling each other that we inspired one another. Leaving the city of the angels made me motivated to do so much better academically so that I could finish the semester off in great standing. I was inspired by students that I had created relationships with and panelists that joined my network and needless to say, I am looking forward to attending this conference again!
As a leader, it is important to embellish a sense of empathy in order to relate amongst your community that you are serving. Even if you are not serving a specific community, to lead, you would need some sort of empathetic bone in your body, otherwise the issue that is being targeted will not make you feel empowered enough to create an everlasting and positive change. An example of this would be working a job that you absolutely dislike. You may come into work and complete the tasks you're supposed to do at fifty percent of your effort, while doing something you love and are passionate about will lead you to lead others at one hundred percent effort.
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The most notable characteristic traits that many leaders possess are passion, empathy, and having the ability to assess your own strengths and weaknesses. Passion is the driving force towards a goal for most individuals. Life experiences shape this passion that people obtain and empathy falls in line, enabling those leaders to relate to others in order to address the issue that they are aligning themselves with. As a leader, I love the idea of bringing together displaced communities. My passion for this comes from living in a broken community and coming from a dysfunctional family.
Lessons Learned While Working Within the CollaborativeWhile at the Office of Civic and Social Responsibility, us students have been given professional development opportunities to develop our skills as leaders. What sets us apart from other students is that we all have electronic portfolios that cover our academic, professional, and personal goals, which show who we are as people. Having the ability to teach other students and help them build their own academic e-portfolios and resumes is a great example of how I have led in this program.
The Collaborative program has given us the opportunity of leading groups during our service days as well, which has developed our communication skills as professionals by stepping out of our comfort zones and speaking with other volunteers, as well as site supervisors at the service locations. The quarterly retreats have given us various scopes of how to manage being a leader effectively, as well as diversity and inclusion training to broaden our perspectives as human beings and how to navigate through the world, knowing that every person should be treated with superb respect. While being given the development and conference opportunities so early on in my career, being employed at the office of Civic and Social Responsibility has greatly shaped me into a better leader and has opened my mind to a more diverse and inclusive environment. |
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