Leadership: What it is and how to Identify it

Leadership, in my opinion, can be described as someone for others to look up to or towards for guidance. As someone that has held numerous leadership positions for organizations from FFA to HOSA I have been in a lot of situations where without a leader, there would be dysfunction. Someone has to be able to take charge of a chaotic situation! If not, people would always be standing around in groups rambling about what to do next, or worse not doing anything at all. Having strong leaders and motivated members in an organization is vital for its success.

A leader should hold many different Characteristics. Openness, to hear and consider new or different ideas. Consciousness and the ability to think clearly and carefully before acting on the new were different ideas, with the need for achievement. Agreeableness, friendly, and cooperative rather than antagonistic toward others. A leader should also be able to delegate authority to others if necessary, like working as a team once the plans have been laid. And let's not forget honesty and respect. I don't believe you can have one without the other. If someone was in a group of members and told them something they knew was false, how could that person leave them or delegate to their instructions? How could they look to them for guidance? Their words would always be doubted without those qualities.

Not everyone is a leader and has to be one all of the time. That is why it is important to be able to identify when you should be the leader and when you should be a participant. Trying to create a future for members as a freshman was a daunting task. The constant fear of failing after graduation day is the same for most high school students, but HOSA provided me the opportunity to hold the responsibilities of leading both my 70-member chapter and Indiana HOSA’s state members. Those opportunities have opened my world up beyond the health science classroom. While the intentions of participating in HOSA were self-centered just “trying to stand out” my intentions while holding these offices into a different purpose: to encourage younger members to see that they can fulfill their life’s aspirations if they move the focus away from themselves.

My ultimate professional goal for myself is to be an attending physician in either dermatology or thoracic surgery; my decision to pursue this branch of medicine originated from my family farm. Seeing my mother and father have compassion, endurance, and a caring attitude toward livestock no matter the circumstances is what inspired me. No matter how long of a night, how inconvenient, or how mentally or physically strenuous the task -- the livestock's well-being comes first. I have inherited that same attitude from my parents after working alongside them most of my life, but I want to apply that in a different way that will impact more people.

After receiving my view on myself and why I call myself a leader, some of the core things can be identified in any leader. Compassion, professionalism, agreeableness, honesty, respect, and many more is how you can identify a leader. You can even simply type into google “characteristics of a leader” for more examples. While everyone possesses leadership qualities, where people stand out is when they apply those qualities to everyday decisions.