My Leadership Philosophy

In every application I’ve submitted thus far, the single most repeated word has undoubtedly been “leadership”. At face value its meaning seems incredibly obvious. Most simply, a person who possesses leadership qualities such as organization and intelligence is a leader. However, this crucial attribute in becoming a successful individual is not one that holds a single, simple meaning. Defined by Merriam-Webster, leadership is the “capacity to lead” and “the act or an instance of leading.” Similarly defined by the Oxford English Dictionary, leadership is “the action of leading a group of people or an organization.” Defined by myself? Leadership is the ability to attract, influence and motivate others in order to accomplish a task or enforce a
I’ve discovered many attributes I never realized I had and have learned manners through which I could become a better contributor to my community. Firstly, I value the comments and opinions of others, and consider myself a great listener and communicator. Since my sophomore year, I’ve been a member of my school’s dance team and was elected as a captain at the start of my junior year. Crucial in leading my team has been the ability to balance between instructing the dancers and listening to their ideas and feedback. I’d like to believe this has made me a successful leader, considering the most powerful ones know when to talk and when to
My parents are both fluent in French, my father being a native speaker, and found it vital to educate me and my siblings in the language. To keep up my fluency, I have used the language to reach out to my community. As French teachers in our county, my parents helped organize yearly Francophone festivals, and it was at these events where I was able to put my knowledge to work. I led mini-events and entertainment programs all the while speaking French. My work with the Francophone Festivals has allowed me to reach out to the underrepresented francophone community in my county. In addition to French, I have also studied the Spanish language and culture. Though I cannot boast the level of fluency I have in French with Spanish, my moderate understanding of the language has helped me connect with certain parts of my community that I otherwise would have thought to work with. Truthfully, the knowledge/understanding of multiple languages is not a stand alone quality of a leader. To fully take advantage of this skill in order to be a leader, one must also be knowledgeable of the cultures that accompany the languages they speak. Through my work with the Francophone Festival and joint events held between my Black Student Union and the Hispanic Students Society at my school, I’ve successfully utilized my multilingualism and background of the cultures associated with the languages in order to remain an