EAD 801: Leadership and Organizational Development
Spring 2007
Dr. MaryLee Davis
This class has allowed me to reflect on what leadership and qualities of a leader really mean to me. I believe this a learning journey of mine to figure out how to become a leader with qualities that are reflective of who I really am and not what people want me to be! In this class, several guest speakers discussed their own leadership philosophies and what they individually and collectively looked for in the people and organizations they worked with and for. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to each one of the guest speakers. Each speaker was so inspirational and had a good story to tell. They really gave me great insight into my own reflection of being a leader in the future. I am appreciative of Dr. Davis’s efforts in inviting the guests to speak to our class. I had not met Paula Cunningham, former President of Lansing Community College, nor, Sam Singh, Mayor of East Lansing and President of the Michigan Nonprofit Association. They were both passionate and dynamic speakers who really embodied the concept of being a servant leader. I never really thought of what kind of leader I was or even if I was a leader. After hearing all of the speakers it helped me see that, I hold servant leadership qualities.
My paper, “Personal Leadership Philosophy”, allowed me to further explore leadership concepts like servant leadership and transformational leadership and what they mean individually and collectively to me. When I was writing my philosophy paper I did a lot of reflecting on my mentors and their leadership qualities, my own qualities and how I wanted to be seen as a leader. To often people live their lives without reflecting on the qualities that they have and how they can improve or change them. This assignment really helped me not only on how to strive to become a great leader, but it has helped me reflect on the kind of person I want to become professionally and personally.