Leadership Interview

I had the opportunity to interview one of the biggest influences and leaders in my life, Mr. Ben Betteridge. We've grown up together and he's been a the greatest builder in my foundation in the gospel. The best part about Ben is he probably doesn't even realize influence he's had on people. He has never tried to lead people with words nor has he ever desired a leadership position, but by his example, he has been a huge influence on me and many of my friends.

Here are a couple select question and answers from the interview:

How do you define leadership?

· A leader to me is someone who can lead both vocally and by complete example.

How does a leader influence others for good?

· By showing others how to be positive and how to be a positive influence on others and not getting down on themselves or others. Especially not others. And never criticize unless it is very clear that it is meant to be constructive to the person you’re trying to influence. If you want to show someone who doesn’t like you how to do something, forget about it, cause its not going to happen.

What qualities do you think a good leader needs to have?

· Patience*

· Outgoing

· High Values

· Integrity

· Walk the talk, but don’t talk about your walk.

If you were to choose one person who represented the ideal leader, who would it be?

· President Monson

o As far as I know, he’s not like some church leaders who are imposing on others. He’s a leader who sees himself as a member of the body. He’s not condescending.

What makes a leader a leader?

· A leader obtains his legitimacy only by the agreement of his peers.

What stuck out to me most from the interview was this:

Walk the talk, but don’t talk about your walk.

I just think that statement defines Ben's style of leadership. It shouldn't matter who knows about what you did, or all the awesome things you've done. What matters is that you represent what you think is good.

This upcoming week in my leadership roles, I'm going to try to be a "silent" leader. I want to just represent who I am by how I act, rather than talking about it. I'm going to try to be less of a visible leader, and more of a supporting character. Granted a movie can't be made with one main actor, what makes a good movie is the whole cast. So being a supporting actor isn't a bad thing or a lowering of my sights or what have you. I think that focusing on this aspect of my leadership will really help me grow! Thanks Ben!

Situational Leadership

So, this week during class we learned about a method or theory of Leadership. This method is called situation leadership. It's pretty self explanatory, but basically it's the idea that different situations demand different kinds of leadership. A really good leader can adapt their leadership style to fit the situation they are in at almost the push of a button. An awesome example of this came to mind when I was in New Testament.

Jesus is most well known for how meek and kind he was to others. He loved everyone and suffered pain and death to save us from our sins. But there is one specific instance in the New Testament that I read about today that suggests Jesus can be very forward. In John 1:13-16 Jesus has entered Jerusalem and has been observing the Jew's in the temple. He sees people selling oxen, sheep and doves, and "the changers of money sitting." As he sees this it seems that he makes a "scourge of small cords" or a whip and drives everyone out of the temple, saying, "take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise."

It's obvious that Jesus was angry with the disrespect the people were showing to the temple. But, he didn't lose it. At this time in his ministry he was needed to be very direct and forceful in his leadership, but right after, in the next chapter, Jesus is teaching and healing and testifying and speaking revelations of the divinity of his life.

In this divine centered leadership style class, everything that we learn is helping our progression towards becoming more like Christ. I think that developing good situational leadership is something that will help me be more patient and observant in how I act towards others in all different types of situations.

This method is an awesome way to think about leadership and I'm really happy I got to learn about it this week. As I serve in the Adaptive Aquatics and Gym Kids programs, I am going to try to adapt to the situations I am in and display the best style of leadership for that situation. We'll see how it goes!

Leaders In History

Who do you think of when you hear "Leaders in History?"

Lincoln?

Washington?

Ghandi?

MLK?

Winston Churchill?

Mother Theresa?

Jesus?

possibly Hitler?

Stalin?

Mussolini?

Joseph Kony? (look him up, he's a very bad man)

Everyone listed above was a leader in history one way or another. So what sets the people in the first group apart from the people in the second?

Ohhhhh, I dunno, the people in the first group cared for human life maybe?

Obviously, but what power did the people in the first group have that has made us revere them? Not just what sets them apart from a group of dictators and mass murders, but what sets them apart from us? What did they each do to deserve a place among the most influential leaders of all time? And how can we become more like them?

What thats stands out to me most is they each had a purpose. They either died fulfilling that purpose, or saw that their purpose was met. But they didn't just have a purpose though, their purpose was sincerely good and their conviction to accomplish that purpose was strong. That shows loads about their character. They must all have been extremely perseverant. They truly believed in their cause and were able to convince others the importance thereof.

Do we all have a purpose to fulfill? Do we have goals and aspirations? If so, are they selfish? Will others benefit from the achievement of such goals? Do our friends and family share our desire to accomplish them?

(From here on out, the leaders I'm going to refer to do not include the people in the second group, cause those guys were just plain bad)

I know that each of these leaders wanted to make a change, but I'm also pretty sure none of them expected to make such great a impact. They're probably all pleased in heaven with how things turned out, but I doubt any them knew when they decided to make a change that we would be talking about them today.

So should it matter how big or small, or how personal or global our goals are? Probably not, but what should matter is our intentions are sincere and our conviction is real.

What I learned from analyzing these leaders is that I need to have a purpose and the conviction to accomplish that purpose. I understand better that, if a person wants to make lasting change, he or she needs to find a purpose and with strong conviction, see that that purpose is fulfilled.

So, whats my purpose exactly? Well, I think it varies from time to time but right now, it's indefinitely preparing to serve a mission.

What will it be after my mission? More then likely deciding on and pursuing a career that will allow me to support a family.

During that time, I'll definitely have to focus on starting a family.

After I've started a career and had a family, what's next?

There are lots of possibilities, and I've got a lot of time to think about them.

But for now I need to reel in my imagination and focus on the purpose at hand. Thanks Winston, George and Abraham... I've learned a great lesson. (I'm not discounting Ghandi, MLK, Mother Theresa or Jesus in anyway, I just thought Winston, George and Abraham sounded better in the sentence.)

My Leadership Role

So, for this awesome Student Development class that I'm taking, I have to find a leadership role and apply the things I learn in class to that role. Sweet, huh?! Thats what I thought til' I started looking for a leadership role I could use!

I waited for awhile hoping I would get a calling in my ward that I could apply to this project. Something easy like, Ward Door Greeter... Then I could write about something like brightening peoples day! Woohoo! But all my wishful thinking backfired and I have yet to receive any type of calling.

But I've decided that was a good thing, because this project is suppose to stretch us... So instead of waiting for a leadership role to come to me, I went out and got one! Hurray!

I went to the Y-Serve office (which is just a place people can go to serve or learn about service opportunities) and had an awesome chat with one of the executives there. He gave me a list of service programs currently at BYU and asked me to fill out an officer request form. I filled out the form, but I really don't think I want to be an officer, too much time. Ehem, but anyways, I found this awesome program called Adaptive Aquatics. You meet every Thursday or Friday for one hour and work with special needs kids in the water! You work with them on their motor skills and also their social skills.

I have yet to attend this great service opportunity (they don't start meeting til' Thursday), but I am soo excited to be able to apply the knowledge I gain from this class to such an awesome and fun activity.

I'll keep posting how everything goes. And if any other leadership opportunities pop up in my life, I'll be sure to write about those.

I am sooo grateful for such a wonderful college, where leadership is centered around serving and not decorating for a dance... hahaha.

Goodbye High School Leadership

Hello Divine Centered Leadership

:)

Leadership.. WHAWW?!

The past year or so has been a really big one for me as far as the leadership experience I have gained. I was the ASB Treasurer at Curtis Senior High School, I went to numerous camps to improve my "leadership" skills, I was a leader where I worked and attended a Foundation of Leadership conference right before I entered my Freshmen year at BYU. So, if you asked me what I thought leadership was, I'd like to think I'd be pretty qualified to answer, and hopefully you would agree.

But one of the only things I've learned at leadership conferences and as the ASB Treasurer is leaders are mostly motivated by pride and are too worried about their self image to stand up for an ideal that might define them and their personal beliefs. Leaders are too often grey area people. They are people who are very agreeable because they don't disagree with anything. But since when has anyone who didn't stand for anything make a lasting change?

Anyways, basically, what I want to say is that the only time I truly feel like I grow as a leader is when I serve others. I've determined that this life is about serving people around us and having Christ-like love for family, friends and strangers.

I'm soo happy now, that I can learn about leadership from the perspective of the gospel. Where I will be given the opportunity to learn from the greatest example of leadership ever.

This class is totally gonna be awesome! And I'm soo pumped to publish this blog post! WHAWWW?!!

Hope it all makes grammatical sense.

PEACE!

Macy Halladay

I am currently using my laptop in the middle of class.... mwahahahahaha!