I Am.... a Leader

 I Am.... a Leader

   

    To be a leader, to lead others, to have others follow me, what does this mean to me? So simple an ideal, it is just one word, how hard can it be, right? Well, as with everything else in the I Am requirement, I must dive deep to find out. 

 

   I cheated a little this time and surfed a little to find some ideas and words that helped me defined being a leader. Some of the things that caught my eye that I agree with are; a positive attitude, confidence, a sense of humor, ability to embrace failure, careful listening and feedback,  knowing how and when to delegate, growth mindset, responsibility, a desire to learn, perseverance, decisiveness, empathy, inspire creativity. I know there are a thousand more words and phrases to describe this word but do you really want me to list more, I didn't think so.

    So lets talk about the Canada day demo, in particular the Dragon Dance we performed. What else can I say, I think we absolutely rocked it hard!! I was grinning ear to ear when we were done. With a sense of euphoria, a bucket full of endorphins pulsing through my veins, I wanted to scream "we did it, we did it, I love you all, you were all amazing!!!!". The confidence and competence of this team was palpable, I could feel everyone's energy, surging back and forth through the Dragon, charging it, bringing it and us to life. Working as one but individually, following my lead, everyone doing their part, adapting, adjusting for the hill, a true team, OMG, when can we do this again?!

 

   Now I know some of our moves need work, but if the team can put into practice what we did on that hill, this Dragon will fly. So how to proceed as a leader, I guess that is up to me. As I review the list above, I see that every one of those phrases apply. 

 

I have a positive attitude, check.

I have the confidence that this team can achieve greatness, check.

I have a sense of humor, check.

I have the ability to embrace failure, because that is usually the first step on the road to success, check.

 I definitely have the ability to listen to feedback, in fact I embrace and require it, check.

I struggle with the delegation part, but the team will help me with that cause they are doers and we all want the same thing, awesomeness. check.

A growth mindset is ingrained in me, I am at Kung Fu for that very reason, I grow with every class and demo, check.

I take full responsibility for every failure or miscue, practice practice practice, it all starts and ends with me, check.

A desire to learn goes hand in hand with a growth mindset, check.

Perseverance, I guess my teammates are about to find out about that 😆, check.

Same as decisiveness 😆😆, check.

The last two will show themselves, empathy and inspire creativity, as we progress, the proof will be in the pudding. And this pudding will be epic.

...Sorry this was so long