how my perspective of leadership has changed

coming into college, my perspective of a leader was a strong-willed person who led a group or organization with strong character. I didn't think there were two sides to leading, I thought the only leader was the one in front telling everyone to do. I did think that a leader should be understanding and listen to his/her group, but I thought it was a one-person job. As mentioned before, my first two classes were leadership in organizations and leadership in groups. One of the first things I learned in my leadership classes were that there were different types of leadership styles and different ways you can lead. There was authoritative, democratic, and laissez-faire. There were also different ways to lead, either on the dance floor or the balcony perspective. Through information like this, my idea of leadership started to shift. It was no longer just a person, but it was a lifestyle, a wholeistic way of leading a group. I used to think that it was one person, but now I realized that it was a group effort, led by the person in the leadership position. 

Throughout my next few leadership classes I started to understand the culture of leadership. I had learned what leadership WAS in my first two classes, the foundation of what it takes to be a good leader. However, through my next two classes I had the opportunity to look at non-profits and women in leadership. These classes weren't telling me how to lead, but were giving me real-life situations that show how leadership is used in the world today. I feel like these two classes did more for my understanding of leadership than the foundations of leadership, although I am aware that I need to know the foundations before I can apply it to my life. 

This last class, leadership seminar, has completed the shaping of my leadership perspective. It has finalized what it really means to lead. Through this class I was able to see how different ways of leading in a classroom can be beneficial or detrimental to a group setting. This changed my perspective because it showed how impacting leadership styles can be and how we can change our leadership style based what the group needs. Without these different classes and my maturity as a person, I would not have understand the foundations of leadership or how to apply leadership in my life. The leadership minor gave a full and complete idea of what leadership is, helping those in leadership positions be the best leaders they can be.