Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Building a Better... Introduction


"You keep that attitude up, you'll be a leader here next semester!" This was said to me only a few weeks ago at a small class I attend outside of NOVA. As odd as it sounds, this is not a rare occurrence in my life. Shakespeare once said that some are born in greatness, others achieve greatness, while others have greatness thrust upon them. I believe it is the same of leadership. Some people are born leaders, some try to be leaders, and other just end up leading. I am not too sure which I am. My name is Colin Watson. I'm a student at NOVA Woodbridge. I'm also a leader. From leading an acting troupe in high school, leading a bible study on monday nights, and whenever there is a need for one. I started 'leading' when I was only six or seven years old. I lead my siblings in the backyard where we played games. When I was eleven, I directed a small play for my church. I spend much of my time leading, and thinking about leadership.

Being given leadership does not mean that I know what I'm doing. More often than not, I learn by trial and error, and more error. I am by no means an expert on leadership. This is painfully obvious in retrospect. The bible study I lead meets from house to house, sharing the load of having a bunch of loud and crazy teens at their house. For a long time, I took no measure to solidify where we were meeting. This lead to panicked phone calls an hour or two before the meeting, asking where we were meeting. Now I know better and I have a planned schedule of the house we're meeting at. Despite leading often, I am still a novice in understanding what it entails. This blog is an experiment; looking at leadership as a whole, analyze it bit by bit, and then putting it all together again.

I am interested to learn about what leadership means in the bigger picture, and then apply it to the short term. Why should one become a leader? What are the qualities of a good leader? When is it time to let go of leadership? What is the goal of leadership? I don't intend to have an answer for all these questions. I want myself and others to think about what it means to lead. Beyond that, I want to take it a step further. Talking about leadership is not as useful unless I apply to my own life. So, as part of this experiment, I will find personal application and goals for myself, and attempt to become a better leader. Will it work? Stay tuned to find out.

1 comment:

  1. This is an excellent first post. The only leader I can think of who was really "born" to it was Julius Caesar. To read a very interesting treatment of his childhood, get a copy of Colleen McCullough's First Man in Rome series (I think young Gaius Julius Caesar comes around in book 3...).

    You're right--leadership is something that absolutely needs to be evaluated. More of us need it and can learn. What a great blog topic to have. I look forward to hearing about your goals in detail and seeing you apply your leadership to them. One post should certainly be to determine which leadership style you wish to emulate/adopt.

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