Leadership Journals Leadership Journals Journal 1 I think

Leadership Journals

Leadership Journals: Journal #1 I think that many leaders lose their way because they feel as though they are invincible. Just like we can see in the scriptures how some leaders have fallen because of the temptations they fell into. Even the greatest of leaders are human and the natural man can deceive you into temptation that will bring out the worst of consequences. There are those leaders that can stay strong ad lead others in the right path but the adversary will always be there, and it is for their sake to have a guard up and continually seek the counsel from God. I have seen it happen in high priesthood leaders, who at one point were great amazing leaders but fell into the comfort and temptation well overtook them. There are many signs that can be seen; red flags seem to go up to others but the reality of the person realizing they are doing something wrong is only in their eyes. Leaders can fail in any type of circumstance, whether it’s about ethics, adultery, theft, deceiving, etc. it can definitely happen to any of us. This is something that we have to be truly aware of. As members of the church we know the power of the atonement and the repentance process, how great the love of God for us to give us his beloved son to die for our sins. If we fail as leaders, we can repent with the full intention of not doing it again and be the leader that you know you can be. I once told my husband that he is a very intelligent man and knew his covenants, but the evil is out there and at any given moment he could fall into temptation.

Leadership Journals: Journal #2 As I think back at some of the Leadership experiences I have had, I don’t truly believe I have had supreme leadership experiences. I have always thought myself to be a great employee and worker, and everything that I do. I guess my idea of what constitutes an amazing leader is someone like President Thomas S. Monson. I personally do not feel up to a level of leadership as our dear prophet. I do believe that I have much to grow when it comes to leadership. I have been a leader in church callings even in groups works I have tended to demonstrate good leadership skills, but I know that I have much to gain and learn. I use to be a peer counselor to young teenage girls in this program called Girls Inc. I remember how much of a responsibility it was for me to be a good example to these girls. This to me was a form of leadership; although I was young I was able to communicate my life experiences through humble and genuine advice. Being in young women’s as a leader for our age group I understood how important it is to lead by example, sometimes this can be the basis for just about everything to make someone look up to you and follow your advice. I know and feel that I have great potential to become a great leader, I have to focus and not think that I am not capable of having great leadership, this is something that I sometimes struggle with myself. I want to be a leader that promotes motivation and changes people’s lives for the good. I will continue to learn from those examples that demonstrate great leadership.

Leadership Journals: Journal #3 A couple of years ago I used to work at Bank of America as a teller. I had prior experience in working at banks as a teller, so I found it easier to adapt to the Bank of America culture and structure of performing. As the months went by I did notice that I struggled when it came to referrals and the sales side of the business. This actually became a big challenge for me because Bank of America required us to meet monthly referral goals. In the previous bank I worked it was not as demanding, which is why I guess I did not give it much importance. My challenge was asking people and communicating with them the products that we offered, I was in some ways intimidated because of the fear of rejection from the customers. I was really struggling in getting any sales referrals as much as I felt I was trying, but I can honestly say I don’t think I was putting as much effort as I knew I was capable of. One day my direct supervisor talked to me and conversed with me about why I could not meet my monthly referral goals. I felt a little embarrassed and glad at the same time because I was able to explain to her how I felt about the situation. I asked for her advice on how I could improve and I took into consideration her guidance and leadership skills. I set a goal for myself not just to improve in my referrals but a goal of being able to succeed in something that I totally did not feel comfortable in doing. Two months later I was the top referral sales associate in my branch, and I was able to pass on my advice to my other associates who were struggling. I set a personal goal for myself to be able to come out of the comfort zone and speak without having the fear of rejecting. I knew that if I asked every customer I would at least get one person that I could refer. This was a challenge that helped me realize that I have potential and that I can do many things if I just set my mind to it. From then on I have always tried to dedicate myself to create positive results in work and personal life.

Leadership Journals: Journal #4 Values that are important to me in my life would be integrity, honesty, loyalty, balance, commitment, dependability, neatness, open-minded, respectful, efficient, self-drive, and caring. The way I would rank them in importance would be that they are all equal. I think as human beings we should strive to have equal importance of values no value should be greater than another. In my opinion I feel that a person who is not fully honest does not meet into having integrity as an important aspect in their lives. I feel that all values interconnect in one way or another. I feel that by ranking the values that are important in my life would not really define what is important to me. Having a balance in my life is as important as being loyal to my family and friends because this means I can keep my commitments and promises to them. It is also true that some values depend on the situation which you are facing but I don’t think that a person’s integrity for example should ever be compromised in any given setting. I value what is right and I would not ever want to be put in a situation in which my integrity can be neglected. I know sometimes things will not flow as we wish and we may have to make certain adjustments in given situations. But I do feel strongly about the value of integrity being inviolate.

Leadership Journals: Journal #5 I measure success in my life right now by the accomplishments that I so far have created for myself. One of my biggest goals was to graduate college and in 4 weeks I will be doing just that. To me that measures part of my success, also what I have gained and learned in my last couple of years of schooling determines where I stand as far as success. I have not yet to find a job after graduation but I know that the Lord will bless me with the right job. My personal scorecard is how I have carried out my newly year marriage. I was married in the temple and that to me is a huge part of my personal achievements that I have accomplished. There are many long term achievement I would like to achieve in my life but It all depends on timing and where I live or were my mind stand in the future time. I would love to work and establish a career in Human Resources, for a long time I struggled in finding out what it is that I liked to do when it came to a career choice. I decided on Human Resources because I enjoy the work. Alongside those goals a more personal goal is to have babies and be a great mother, once my kids are of age to attend school I would like to become and elementary teacher. This may or may not be my actual path but I know that being with my family raising my kids and being of great support to my husband will be what brings me the greatest happiness in my life, everything else is just secondary. I would like others to know that life can have a balance whether we want to have a family and a career or just being a housewife, there is nothing wrong with the choices you make in life.