Jessica articulated the definition of leadership effectively and related it to the powerful opportunities that we have everyday to influence others. I valued how she built her response by relating it to her past experiences with good leadership and contrasting it with power-driven leaders. When she points out her personal experience, it made me think of my own experiences with various styles of leadership.<\/p>\n
While completing my undergrad, I worked as a server for a restaurant with poor leadership. The owner and a couple managers looked at workers as a means to an end; a tool that may be exposed of when needed. As a result of feeling underappreciated, good quality employees only stayed for a couple months. Turnover was enormous. In addition, moral was low and it created an overall toxic work environment. In contrast, I have also worked for a wonderful company where I felt very appreciated. It was almost as if I were part of a family and that the leader truly cared about me. This leadership style made me want to produce better work, and go above and beyond for the company. I felt that the leader truly put me first. I was unaware of what was so different about this leader until learning about servant leadership, so I really valued this activity.<\/p>\n
I came to the leadership journey because of my deep passion for personal growth and helping others along the journey of personal growth. I think it is rewarding to have influenced and helped another individual be their best self. While I was working in the toxic environment, I had a personality clash with another server. One day, she was upset that her life was directionless. So I sat down with her and pointed out her strengths and recommended a couple books that might change her perspective. A couple of months later, she messaged me to say thank you because she had made some big changes in her life. I found this very rewarding and it inspired me to become a better leader in my own sphere of influence.<\/p>\n
Looking forward to reading more posts from Jessica!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Jessica articulated the definition of leadership effectively and related it to the powerful opportunities that we have everyday to influence others. I valued how she built her response by relating it to her past experiences with good leadership and contrasting it with power-driven leaders. When she points out her personal experience, it made me think … <\/p>\n