It has been an incredibly journey over the past couple of months as I have grown in my leadership store of knowledge. I believe that the two course learnings that stood out for me have been the power of critical thinking and servant leadership philosophies.
I have been applying the critical thinking philosophies into my life whenever I have disagreements or discussions with friends and loved ones. I believe that it has made me less of an argumentative person as I have now realized that it was my ego that I was desperately clinging to. When the ego is threatened, we lash out in order to defend it. I have found that this has been effective in all spheres of my life from work to relationship to political discussions. There are always 2 sides to every story and we must approach a discussion with an open mind because everyone understands something better than ourselves. Ultimately, it comes down to putting the ego aside and seeking to find the truth. This is especially pronounced in the political realm: as no side is necessarily “right” but instead, truth is found in the middle. I believe that critical thinking has really opened up my mind to the power and gravity of this concept. I believe that I will take this lesson and apply it to my life in the future, as it will be pivotal to my success as a leader. As Albert Einstein once said, “Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything one learned in school” (Einstein, n.d.).
The second concept that I have been applying to my life is the essence of servant leadership. This paradigm is unheard of in the business sphere as most companies engage in savage capitalism. It was refreshing to learn about the extraordinary impact that an individual can have simply through serving and empowering others, especially how this can have a rippling effect throughout the organization and society at large. Although it will be a concept that I will have to consistently practice, I believe that serving others first can eventually have a profound impact in our world. I would like to close with a quote by Winston Churchill about servant leadership, “We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give” (Churchill, n.d.).
Christina
References
Einstein, A. (n.d.). Albert Einstein quotes. Retrieved from https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/alberteins390808.html
Churchill, W. (n.d.). Winston Churchill quotes. Retrieved from https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/winston_churchill