Strengths Based Leadership: Matthew Felsted 4/26/2012
Leadership Philosophy Paper
We’ve examined a variety of leadership styles, read some relevant material, and participated in some exercises to learn more about the process of leadership. In the beginning of the course we were introduced to a strengths based assessment called strengths quest to determine some natural talents we might have. With these hidden talents we may not have known about before we have a stepping stone and starting point of were to most effectively grow with.
I found the hands on activities useful for activating a lateral thread of conscious collaboration. We used activities such as having a leader guide the team member followers with voice alone to replicate patterns of blocks - a process that is a little harder than it sounds. Every time we participated in an activity I felt involved in the leadership - follower relationship. I feel that the best way to learn something is to either watch someone do it, actually do it yourself, or even have someone highlight good and bad examples. Institutions craft leaders, for example, a college creates professors, a company creates executives, and churches make priests.
We watched a six minute clip online called “Imagine Leadership” that highlighted major world wide concerns and problems while inspiring with developments and good news. This kind of message is an easy way to make a point. Seeing that I am a film student and have an interest in creating short clips, I have decided that I’d like to create an infographic like film to inspire a creative passion in the audience to do something useful while learning about leadership theories.
I think I have learned something, maybe just some small bit, but I’ve learned something from every student in the class. When I took the strengthsquest assessment I tested for 5 different traits. They were: strategic, ideation, connectedness, achiever, and competition. I plan to work with my strengths and use them to gain an advantage, after all, the class is called Strengths Based Leadership. I found my weaknesses too. The test helped to determine my strengths, but throughout the class I have come to realize I have some weaknesses and problems to solve. Out of all the strengths I tested for, I was surprised particularly by the one for connectedness.
There is a leadership lab assignment that came with this class. I’d like to see an additional unit that serves as a lab, but uses the last hour of class to pursue the student’s independent leadership projects, overseen by the teacher in class. That’s my feedback.