A641.2.3.RB - Am I a Resonant Leader

Am I a resonant leader?

 I find self-evaluations and reflections difficult because I must look deeply at who I am and answer honestly, which is humbling yet a struggle because I am capable of being honest with myself but I am also able to mentally lie. If I am going to be a resonant leader integrity, inspiration, attitude, compassion, and authentic behavior are important because one cannot lead others if they are not setting the best example.

Am I inspirational and do I inspire others? I would like to believe that I am inspiring and others, including my children, see the work that I do as something to be proud of. Resonant leaders are more than inspiring, they set a positive example, understand feelings and emotions of others, and their behaviors which push them to work harder and overcome challenges they face daily. My co-worker recently pointed out to me that I am an inspiration to her because I work full-time, have a family, go to school, work with the youth group at church but she said what inspires her the most is that I keep going every day despite the struggles I face. You see, about a year and a half ago I had to do the unthinkable with one of my parents, I had to be the one to put a stop to their alcoholism and take them to get help, this hurt more than words could possibly express. But I knew it was time or I would end up burying my parent. I chose not to let the struggle I was facing in my personal life stop me from being a mom, wife, employee, and youth sponsor. She said this inspired her because I faced struggles head on and kept going.

I fall short in areas where I may be put into a vulnerable situation such as confrontation. This is an area where I will back away and keep my feelings to myself and put on a smile to avoid a fight or conflict with another individual. Confrontation puts vulnerability front and center because in conflict emotions are at their peak and rarely do we realize what was expressed, stated, or felt in the moment. This is a time when emotional intelligence lacks and clear thoughtful judgment of decisions is clouded. This also leads to masking authentic behavior at time’s because I avoid conflict for the sake of keeping the peace. This means I am not always who I appear to be on the outside when on the inside I am feeling anger and frustration.

Another area where I found strength in this exercise is compassion for others and their feelings. Recently I was faced with a situation as a supervisor and an employee, the individual I was speaking with was not telling the whole truth. Instead of being upset, angry, or mad due to the circumstances that lead to the conversation, I chose compassion. I realized the individual was leaving out a key piece of information, however; after talking for a while they revealed what was going on and apologized to me for what they had said. Having compassion for others but not being walked on is a fine line, one must know when to push for honesty and when to back off and handle the situation and individual from a different approach.

Overall, the questions helped me understand my personal level as a resonant leader and where I need improvement as a leader. I am not suggesting I should be combative and argumentative because selecting arguments that are worth fighting for is more important than always being right. Instead, being authentic in a more tactful manner is where I need improvement. Compassion, integrity, inspiration are areas where I work diligently to keep an understanding of others to not lose sight and become dissonant.