Linh Hoang

For the Introduction to Honors course, we were asked to write a personal leadership essay. To an effective leader, you need to first understand your own dynamic as a leader. Using the StrengthFinder assessment, I learned and reflected on my own personal leadership strengths. Alongside that, the essay discussed what I learned about myself as a leader and my own values as one. Through observation as a follower, I drew an example of a leader I personally have had experience with that exemplifies many of my values.

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Through the leadership essay, I was able to meet levels 1,2, and 3 of Values.

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Contrary to what society may lead us to believe, there are many kinds of leaders, all with their own strengths. To play to your strengths though, you first must know exactly what your strengths are. When I had taken the StrengthsFinder test, my five strengths were Restorative, Connectedness, Harmony, Individualization, and Context (Values 1). Within my artifact, it goes further in depth about how I can see my strengths within my leadership style, and specifically with Restorative. Considering my own personal background and future pursuits, I can see why those five ended up as my strengths. Referencing back to Restorative, I can see that quite strongly in my leadership style, especially when looking at when I was a Student Experiences Coordinator (Values 3). As mentioned in that reflection, I am someone who likes to ask for opinions from experienced leaders. This was a perfect representation of Restorative as one of my strengths, but also as one of my weaknesses (Values 1).

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That is why it is important to also look at other leaders see and how they use similar strengths to yours to their advantage. In my essay, I discuss the leadership of one of my former speech captains and how that was effective. For him, his strengths were in connectedness, and he was able to make everyone feel like they were part of a team (Values 3). In the artifact, it goes further in depth on this.

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This essay was important because it helped me to identify my own leadership strengths. By knowing what they are, I can continue to fine tune my strengths to help me become a more effective leader. There are still many areas of growth with how to best use my strengths, but hopefully, as I continue to move forward through life, the skills I have will only become stronger.