Linh Hoang

Growing up, leadership was an area that I lacked confidence in. There was always a specific version of leadership that was shown to me: bold, extroverted, and full of energy. For someone who is very shy, this was the opposite of how I saw myself. Thus, I usually gravitated towards the supporting roles. It was when I had joined Honors and had taken the Introduction to Honors course that I found myself truly understanding what a leader meant. Specifically, my Leadership Essay, which I wrote in the course, highlights how I came to reflect on my own personal leadership values. The essay also goes further in depth on how I saw my own leadership in different contexts and how I saw the effectiveness of my own personal strengths in other leaders. This was further explored when I took the Leadership Through Social Change course, as it allowed me to see my leadership in a real setting through joining Peer Educators Acting for Change and Equality (PEACE) and showed me how my values dictated my leadership as well.

 

By understanding my own leadership style, I was able to start applying it in the leadership roles I had taken on and improve my leadership as well. When I had gotten the role of the Student Experiences Coordinator , I was able to see how my leadership style had played on a large scale, and just how my own personal leadership style worked out in teams. In the Leadership Essay , I noted that one of my strengths is Restorative. I am someone who turns to more experienced leaders for advice, and the same applied when I was in my job as well. I tended to turn to other people to brainstorm and believed strongly on feedback. I always want to make sure that the work I am putting out is beneficial to people. When I was the Student Experiences Coordinator, this strength shined through.

 

Even so, I realized that there were flaws to my leadership as well and that each leadership style comes with strengths and weaknesses. When looking back at my experience as a Student Experiences Coordinator , I realize that there are situations in which it just is not beneficial to wait for feedback. Many possible events ended up not happening because of me trying to wait for feedback. While listening is important, there are situations in which I must be firm in my decision and move forward with it. By recognizing that as a weakness, I now am actively working on it as I move forward in other leadership roles. Dr. Jeffery Brown’s Research Team showed me that there were strengths in each leadership style, even if they were different, as shown with observing the change in the primary graduate assistant for the study.

 

These experiences have also taught me how to be a better team member. During my first year, I was the Co-Event Coordinator for our floor. It was one of my first experiences at MNSU working on a team. The position showed me how much you must adapt and be accountable to accomplish the goals you need. In Dr. Jeffery Brown’s Research Team , with the different leadership I experienced in the two years, it also showed me how my role as a team member would change, and thus how to be an effective team member would change as well. When working as the Student Experiences Coordinator, I took the skills I gained from being a team member and combined that with my leadership. There were many instances in which I would collaborate with other people while being in this position, like the Spring Convocation for example.

 

Each of my experiences over my time here at Mankato helped shape my leadership. Many times, the lessons which I would learn from one experience helped build on my leadership as I continued through all my experiences. As I move through my professional career, I will constantly be confronted with situations that require being on a team or stepping up as a leader, and the experiences I gained during my time here have given me the confidence in my abilities to perform effectively in any of the roles that I take on.