By: Rebecca Malone
Happy NeW Year, ladies! Welcome back to campus and another exciting semester with Network of Enlightened Women at American University.
Just as the new year is a
time for setting resolutions, this spring, NeW at AU is all about
self-development! Our meetings and events will all focus on becoming better
women overall. Network of Enlightened Women seeks to foster the education and
leadership skills of conservative women. This includes becoming better friends,
better students, better professionals, and, most importantly, better leaders in
our communities.
To kick off our semester,
we asked some of our members to describe their idea of a strong leader. A leader has many strong traits; however, our
ladies at NeW at AU describe leaders as…
1. Having Strong beliefs and Perseverance : It
is no surprise that us women here at NeW have strong beliefs and we’re not
afraid to share them! Many of our
members agreed that a strong leader must be confident in their beliefs and
passionate about creating meaning change based upon what they believe is right.
“A strong leader
is confident in their beliefs and is
willing to act on them.” –Emily Curtis, Freshman
“Leadership
is sticking to and taking action on
beliefs that you are passionate about, no matter how unpopular they are.”
–Annamarie Rienzi, Sophomore
“I believe a
strong leader is someone who strongly
stands up for what they believe despite what people say. The strongest
leaders that I've met truly believe in their causes and invest in others who
agree.” –Becca Gonzales, Junior
“A leader is someone who stands up for one's beliefs while
listening and comprehending to the diverse opinions of others, maintains
positive perseverance in the face of opposition, and holds a healthy balance
between fortitude and humility.” –Krista Chavez, Sophomore
2. Being Supportive and Serving Others: A strong leader builds
others up because a successful team depends on the skills and opinions of all
members involved. Without encouraging and supporting others, a leader cannot
inspire and promote change in her community.
“A leader is
someone who stands for what they believe in and supports others.” –Cassandra Pena, Sophomore
“Leadership
is serving others, being a voice for the voiceless, and understanding the needs of others.” –Alex Torres, Sophomore
"Strong leadership stems
from mutual trust between a leader and her team. Trust is earned by managing
expectations through honest and open communications while providing unwavering
support." -Kali
Linette, Senior
3. Having Goals and a plan: Part of being a leader is being able to
initiate projects and accomplish both short-term and long-term goals! Planning
requires both innate and learned skills such as time management, organization,
and initiative. Without these skills a leader cannot spark change in her community.
“At the core,
the definition of a strong leader could be a myriad of things and ultimately
depends on what we determine as "strong." However, for me a strong
leader is anyone who has clear, equal
and attainable goals in mind with a plan to achieve such in a just way fair
to everyone while still being open to others' ideas regardless if they support
or oppose the leader's.” - Elizabeth Ogunsuyi, Freshman
“I think a
strong leader is someone who has the initiative to help others and complete goals.
They make tough decisions and take responsibility.” – Paige Lisicki,
Freshman
What traits do YOU
believe are necessary for a strong leader to have? Comment and share this
article, and support your peers on the road to self-development.
