Lessons in Leadership Week 8-Emily Lang

Emily Lang discussed five qualities found in great leaders. Which quality resonates with you and your leadership style the most and why? Furthermore, which quality do you think you need the most growth in and why?

Comments

  • Erin Jaison

    The skill that projects my leadership skill would be to be grateful and put gratitude first. When being a leader, you sometimes have to ask for help and that is okay. You need people beside you in order for yourself to grow. Whether that is guiding you or just even there for support, because without those people there won’t be any growth. Learning from others is how you better yourself and to have that environment where your constantly surrounded by those type of people is blessing. A blessing that I’m always grateful for. But one that strives me to have that growth is by not giving up. Emily had a huge public failure yet she still preserved through it and found her way back up. You can have your people around you and let them constantly support you if you don’t get the outcome you wanted, but at the end of the day it is up to you with what you do with your failures. Because as you keep on getting up and retrying on your goals you will finally see the progress yourself, leading you to one day finally achieving your intended target.

  • Cooper Autry

    Out of the five qualities Emily Lane discussed are found in great leaders, I believe the quality that resonates the most with myself and my leadership lifestyle is honesty, specifically that leaders are honest, always – with others and with themselves. I believe honesty fits into my leadership style the most because, on a personal level, I value honesty and recognize its tremendous importance. In order to be respected as a leader, in my opinion, you must be honest, and fellow leaders and followers must be able to trust you. As a leader, I am honest with others by respectfully stating my opinion, vision, concerns, criticism, etc… concerning a particular project/situation. And as a leader, I am honest with myself by understanding my strengths and weaknesses (areas that need improvement) and by owning up to my mistakes. Being honest as a person and as a leader is certainly not always the “easy” road to take, but in my opinion, being honest, even when some blame or fault will fall on you for perhaps a mistake, is vital to the character of a leader in terms of their transparency with others, the respect they receive from others, and even from the standpoint of their own self-respect. Ultimately, in my opinion, honesty is the true foundation/basis that is necessary to be a leader. In terms of the quality I need to improve on the most out of the qualities Emily Lang described, I believe I need to be better about being growth-focused/having a growth mindset. As someone who is very busy and someone who is very task driven, it is easy to get caught up in the flow of life. I often see life as a checklist, completing one task at a time and only focusing on that task. While I often take time to reflect upon experiences I have had and mistakes I have made, at times, those lessons I have learned get pushed to the back burner, so to speak, because of the direct mindset I mentioned above. As a leader, I need to do more about trying to grow and be better. For instance, when completing a project, I need to open my mind more, reflect upon the past, and ask myself, “What mistakes have I made? How can I prevent myself from making those same mistakes? And, what can I do to grow into a better leader?” I believe by keeping these questions on my mind as I continue as a leader throughout life, that I can be more growth-focused.

  • Blair Majors

    One of the qualities that Emily Lang discussed a great leader having is being growth focused. I resonate a lot with this quality because I am constantly trying to find new ways to grow and push myself. I think that this also plays into my leadership style because I try to always look for opportunities to grow in team/work settings. One of the qualities I think I could most grow in is being able to get up again and again. When something brings me down, I really take it to heart which is something I have been trying to grow out of, so I could definitely improve in the way that I let things affect me.

  • Gracie Barnett

    Emily mentioned many times the importance of being growth-focused. That is what her company values and what she also strives for herself. This really resonated with me because that is my biggest goal as a leader. I want to grow throughout this experience by learning from my failures, getting out of my comfort zone, and growing into my full potential as a leader. I also think that as a leader it is important to help your followers and your community grow. One thing that I need to work on is doing things that make me smarter. This was another quality that Emily focused on. Of course, I am in college so I am learning a lot of things right now. But what I need to work on is finding more things like books and podcasts that I can read and listen to in my own personal time in order to learn more and further my personal growth.

  • Marissa Bumgarner

    Emily Lang spoke about five leadership qualities that have personally affected me and my lifestyle growing up. Three that stood out to me the most were leaders are humble, they are growth-focused, and they are gratitude forward. Growing up I have been taught, especially in sports, that I am not the best, and recognizing that being humble goes a long way. In the past year, I have recognized that focusing on bettering yourself by learning from mentors or role models helps exponentially because they have learned meaningful life lessons.  There are many ways to share gratitude and I try to share that through my faith by praying for others or simply sharing with someone how important they are. Showing humility is the most important to me and is something that I value because the greatest leaders in life put others before themselves and do the right thing when no one is looking.

  • Emma Martinez

    I think the quality that resonates the most with my leadership style is being a lifelong learner because I enjoy growth whether it is knowledge or more personal, and because I believe it is an essential part of leadership. Without constant learning it becomes harder to be a good leader because it doesn’t allow you to grow as much as possible.
    I feel like the quality I struggle with the most is being honest with myself because most of the time I talk myself out of opportunities I know I could get out of fear and self-doubt.

  • Bryce Atkins

    Of the five qualities of leaders that Emily Lang discussed I feel that resiliency resonates the most with me. Throughout my life, I have had to face different challenges that I feel have made me into a stronger person. These challenges have also helped me to discover what I want my leadership style to be by forcing me to find mentors who I look up to. I think that great leaders have to be mentally strong and that anyone who has had to demonstrate resiliency can be a great leader. I think that the strength I personally need to work on is being growth-focused. I know that I struggle with getting stuck in the same patterns and habits and that I need to work on challenging myself to be more proactive in my leadership growth.

  • kathryn irwin

    the quality that resiganted with me that I leader get back up again and again. This is a life life lesson that I learned very young. in a literal scince because I have relearned 6. times in my 18 years, but in an emotional sence being bullied amog other things I think that these events that I’ve had to go through when I was so young they painful events physically and emotionally as affected my leadership style test lets me pull people up instead of stepping over people to get try need to go because more people you have behind you the better. I think that this also has taught me that everyone has pain of some sort and no one’s pain is any less found in another’s. Even though maybe irritating will have to pull her self up sometimes. Not something my mom has taught me my mom has always been the person who does what she have to do for kids for herself her family then we just have to laugh when you fall and even if you don’t right away you will eventually and if you don’t laugh come to terms with the fall because sometimes the biggest balls I will pick up some motivations no matter how much they make you want to stay down to drive you to prove a point. People oriented I also struggle with being brutally honest with people because I try not to offend because I have been offended when it is unnecessary. So sometimes I compromise I won’t lie but I know the greatest leaders are the ones that are being honest I met a friend of mine who is the most blonde person do you want to meet in fact the first day we met she hurt my feelings. The thing I’ve seen from her though always show you how to run and coach a high school girl soccer team when the coaches didn’t know how because she didn’t make excuses for anybody and there were no exceptions even if it was 20 something degrees outside if the school said it was safe enough that’s girls were out there practicing she knew how to run a tight ship you can’t do that if you people please. Lesson of hers was not to make up words for certain things because if people don’t know what you’re talking about and then that’s another way of beating around the bush she is definitely affected the way I live my life. I try to be as honest when it is necessary but I’m still working on it.

  • Jackson Mckinney

    One of the qualities of great leaders that Emily Lang discussed was that great leaders are growth focused. This quality resonates with me and my leadership style because I feel like it is a leader’s job to not only grow themselves, but to also help others improve and grow. Another one of the qualities that Emily Lang mentioned was that great leaders always get back up. This is an area I could use the most growth in because I often find myself trying something a couple times and deciding that it is not for me. Instead, if I care about something, I should keep pushing through the obstacles to reach the goal I set. The reward is not only the goal being reached, but the difficulties getting there making you stronger.

  • Ariel Luna

    I think humility is a big quality for someone to have as a person not just a leader. We all get too caught up in what we’re comfortable with and what we agree with and never want to listen to other people that have different opinions but deserve to be treated with the same human respect as we do. There’s so many people that are struggling in the world and we need to give people grace and help them instead of ridicule them. Nobody wants to follow someone that they think is overly judgmental of them. I think the area I could work on is gratitude. I’m a helper and an action person so sometimes I don’t think I verbally thank people enough so I’ve been working on being better about that. Also giving myself gratitude. I’m very self-critical and don’t realize my accomplish enough or how hard I’ve worked to achieve a goal.

  • Chloe Falls

    The quality that resonated with me the most from Emily Langs talk was that leaders are growth focused. I feel that in my everyday life, I like to always be thinking of new ways to grow as a leader. Whether that be through meeting new people or developing different leadership qualities as I get older, I am always looking for ways to grow. Growth is a part of life and I find it’s better to embrace it than run from it. Change can be daunting to many including myself but at the end of the day it is inevitable. One leadership quality I think I could work on is being gratitude forward. I have found that being more grateful for the opportunities presented to you can make such a difference when things get hard. It is so easy to let a hard day ruin your week or even month, but focusing on the good things I am blessed with can help lessen the frustration. I recently started a gratitude journal where I can write about things in my life I am grateful for, this can be a great way to improve as a leader.

  • Isabel Celedon

    I believe that I resonate with the second quality the most: I get back up, again and again. I am a pretty dedicated person when I am doing something I am very passionate about. Although I can get discouraged at first, I remind myself that this is just a bump in the road and look for ways to come back stronger. I definitely think that I need to work on humility (first quality) so much more. I was raised to be a very independent person and never rely on others because your life is how you make it to be. However, as I have become more leadership oriented, I have learned that working as a team can get you so much farther in life rather than always making yourself do everything. I also do not like others to see my failures because I want to always put my best foot forward and let everyone see the good things I can do, which I need to work on because showing others my mistakes and failures can help motivate them to work past the bad moments.

  • Carsyn Cardwell

    The quality that Emily Lang mentioned that resonates with me is that leaders are growth-focused. It has always been a goal of mine to make myself better. I think that focusing on how you can grow even if you have accomplished great things already is how leaders become greater. Even when leaders make mistakes, focusing on learning from them and owning them is a part of growth. Life won’t be as fulfilling if you never grow and become a better person.

  • Conner Mclaughlin

    The quality that resonated the most with me is being gratitude forward, because giving people gratitude is something I like doing because it builds people up in a way that also helps them. Helping people and being empathetic and progress oriented is my leadership style. I think the quality I need the most growth in is having gratitude for yourself, which is something she said about being gratitude forward. I often spread myself too thin and don’t leave myself time to work on myself, and it’s been some of my favorite people who have said it’s okay not to be okay, and that I need to make time for myself aswell. this class has already helped me with this aspect of leadership.

  • Out of the five qualities of a leader that Emily Lang listed, the quality that resonates with my leadership style the most would be being growth-oriented. I fully believe that we learn something from everyone and everything. Sometimes what we learn is positive, and sometimes we learn what NOT to do. Regardless, I try to take advantage of every learning opportunity I can and apply what I learn to my leadership. By focusing on continuous growth, you can only become a better person, leader, and acquire skills that will follow you throughout your life. One of the qualities that I can strengthen is being honest with both myself and others. Sometimes, the truth is hard. Whether it be admitting your wrongdoings or delivering hard truths to others, it can be tricky for me. But just like Emily Lang said, “You can have hard conversations with great love”.

  • Lauren Clark

    A great leader must be humble, get back up again and again, be honest always, be growth focused, and be gratitude forward, as Emily Lang stated during her presentation. Have found that my top quality of leadership would be that I am growth focused. Throughout my academic and athletic careers, I have always driven myself to be better. I believe that there is always room to grow in every aspect of your life and that you should never settle for anything. In order to continue to grow and become better within every aspect of my life I must also be honest with myself always, which is my weakest quality of leadership. When faced with tough and uncomfortable conversations I find it to be hard to be completely honest. I believe that if I can improve on being honest always it will not only improve my growth in all aspects of my life, but it will also improve the other three qualities of being a great leader.

  • Halle Melton

    Emily Lang had a brilliant lecture about the 5 qualities in a leader. That a leader should be humble, determined, honest, growth focused, and grateful/encouraging. I found it to be on par with my idea of a leader. Her additional commentary on ethics and checking in with your 5 senses was really cool.

  • Adjoa Yeboah

    I think the quality that resonates with me the most and aligns the most with my leadership style is that leaders are gratitude-forward. I’ve always tried to focus on the positive aspects of leadership itself, and I like to see things as getting to do them and not having to them. I am so grateful for the opportunities that have been presented to me as a leader and I am hopeful for things to come. One quality that I think I need to work on more is getting back up, again and again. I tend to let things really knock me down sometimes and I definitely want to focus more on not doing that so I can learn to be more resilient through my trials.

  • Marian Simon Coric

    Emily Lang took us on a journey through her professional life and her everyday life at work. I found the following statement particularly interesting: ‘If you loose in a government race, everyone knows’. This shows that as soon as you are in the public eye, you have to be mentally prepared for it. She also introduces us to five qualities of a leader; ‘1. Be Humble. 2. Get back up again 3. Honesty 4. Growth-focus 5. Gratitude forward’. She also mentioned that reputation, ethics and mentors matter.

  • Norah Stephenson

    Out of the five qualities of a leader Emily Lang spoke on, the one that resonated with me and best fits my leadership style was being growth-focused. One of my top strengths on the Strengthsfinder test was Restorative. I always feel like I’m looking for ways to improve myself, as well as make my team or group more cohesive

  • Abby Harelson

    I think out of the 5 qualities that Emily discussed, being humble is one that I practice the most and resonate with. I try my best to never be prideful or arrogant, especially as a leader. It is important to lead humbly and be okay with working behind the scenes; you won’t always get credit for your accomplishments. As for the area I need to grow in-this would be being “growth-focused”. I have the tendency to forget that I need to work on growing every single day. Being able to recognize there is room for improvement is a good quality that every leader needs to possess.

  • Norah Stephenson

    Furthermore, the quality that I need to grow in is humility. I am personally a perfectionist and it has been a challenge for me to ask for help and rely on others. (I accidentally pressed the submit button before I was done typing).

  • Jenna Gaberino

    I think the quality that resonates with me most is resilience. I am able to get up and try again when something does not work out the way I intended. It is important for a leader to be flexible to overcome the challenges thrown their way. I do think I need to work on being able to see the big picture in a task to work on growth and development instead of holding myself back in the small details. It is important to be goal oriented and focused on everything you want to do well.

  • Chase Sutton

    One quality that stood out the most to me that Emily talked about was the quality of humbleness. I feel like often times it is easy for a person with lots of leadership positions and power to get a big head and forget where they came from, but if that person is able to stay humble, they can relate more to the people that they are trying to lead. I think that the quality that I need the most work on is being able to get back up and try again. I feel like often times when I fail once, I tell myself that I shouldn’t do it again which is something that I need to work on.

  • Olivia Sander

    I think the one the I identify the most with is the gratitude forward. Gratitude is the quality of being thankful. I believe I possess that quality because I have always been taught to be thankful for what I am given, and I continue to be thankful for everything. On the contrary I believe I need to strive to be more of a leader that gets back up again and again. For me I get brought down so easily trying again and again on the same task discourages me. I believe Emily did an amazing job and her points of being a leader and it was an amazing talk.

  • Lily-Marie Fraley

    I think that gratitude resonates with me and my leadership style. I’ve always shown recognition and appreciation toward others. It’s part of my personality. Also, I feel like this is a good trait because showing affirmation to others creates a positive atmosphere. Something I definetly have a hard time is getting back up when I fail. I hate the feeling of failure and it really gets to me. Lately, I have been trying to not feel overwhelmed when something unaccordianly happens.

  • Ahlaam Elmi

    I think the quality I resonate with is being honest as well as gratitude forward equally . I have really tried to approach life honestly and with the outlook of gratitude.
    I do think I need more growth in the aspect of implementing more inner growth for myself , it’s easy to see what needs to be changed but the action of doing the change consistently is the key .

  • Ahlaam Elmi

    I think the quality I resonate with is being honest as well as gratitude forward equally . I have been trying to approach life honestly and with the outlook of gratitude. I value being honest as well as being grateful, they go hand in hand for me so its a quality I value to see in people I lead, or people in general.
    I do think I need more growth in the aspect of implementing more inner growth for myself , it’s easy to see what needs to be changed but the action of doing the change consistently is the key .

  • Zach Kernal

    The leadership quality that resonates most with me and my leadership style is getting back up, again and again. I’ve had my fair share of hardships here and there but I’ve always been fairly good at dusting myself off and trying again and trying again from a different angle. The quality I could use some growth in is honestly, especially with myself. I often find myself overestimating the amount of things I can get done in a set amount of time because I won’t be honest with myself about how productive I can be in a set amount of time. Recently I’ve been trying to take steps to manage my own expectations of myself by being honest about my own abilities.

  • Lane Willoughby

    I think that I see gratitude forward most within myself. I try to juggle a lot on my own so when someone is willing to help me or even give me some kind words I always reciprocate or give them so much thanks! I value this in myself. I consider myself humble but do not like to fail publicly. I get extremely embarrassed, and even mad at myself for messing up. I will make sure to pay special attention to this going forward.

  • The leadership quality of that a leader posses of being honest and true to others and themselves, resonates with me and my leadership skills the most. When leading you need to be honest with the people around you if they are not performing the way you need them too. You may not have them in a position they are the strongest at and you need to be truthful. Tho I am a direct person and I have to be honest with myself about that and watch my tone of voice when speaking about such topic. You want your followers to feel open and trust you as well. Show that you care about them and their best interest and that you are here to help. Be honest about flaws you have, it makes you human. But also show how you are actively combating these flaws to better yourself. I struggle with the humility quality of leadership because humility allows you to pick yourself back up and try again. This is hard for me because I want to be the best the first time around. I am working on humbling myself and telling myself it’s okay to not be perfect.

  • Alisyn Dunn

    The quality that resonates with me the most is honesty, always. Honesty is important to me because if you’re building relationships based on false virtues and false beliefs nothing is real about that connections. Honesty leads genuine and real connections and that is important with my leadership style. I think the one I need the most work on is getting back up over and over again. I tend to get discouraged with not being able to get in on my first try or attempt. I have trouble with remembering that failure is okay and expected. Overall, honesty is a core value of mine and I value it within all of my connections. Accepting failure and trying again is something I am trying to work on.

  • Brynn Coppedge

    Emily Lang discussed five qualities found in great leaders. According to Emily, leaders are humble, they always get back up, they are honest, they are growth-focused, and they are gratitude forward. Of these qualities, the one that resonates with me and my leadership style the most is honesty. I have always valued honesty, and I believe that you will not get anywhere if you are not honest. The quality that I think I need to work on the most is getting back up, again and again. I find it hard to keep going with a goal after I fail more than once, but I will continue to work on that.

  • Grace Hibbs

    I believe humility is the quality that Lang discussed that resonates best with my leadership style. I think one of the reasons I have this quality is because of my perfectionist personality. I’m the type that wants any project I’m a part of to turn out the best it can, so I’m always willing to hear about what I need to do better and admit to what I’m not as good at. I enjoy working in teams because I can lean on others for support in areas I know are weaknesses of mine. On the other hand, the quality I believe I could use more of is resilience. It’s not necessarily that I cannot continue after a failure, but that I let that failure bring my attitude down, which could affect the morale of the people I’m leading. I need to learn not to let failure affect my mood so that everyone else’s mood isn’t affected as well. This way, we can bounce back from failure more quickly.

  • Sam Gillis

    The quality of a great leader that resonated with me the most was that leaders are always honest. Honesty allows people to trust you and if someone cannot trust the person leading them then there is no possible way that the movement they are leading can go anywhere. I always strive to be honest to people and sometimes I might be too honest but I rather let out the truth than hold it back or tell a lie. The quality I feel I need the most growth in is being humble because I have known in the past that I have needed help but I just refused to reach out to people. Another aspect of being humble I need to improve on is allowing myself to fail. So often I refuse to let things fail but sometimes things need to fail and we need to let go, get back up and try again.

  • Kinesey Sherman

    We could all apply the qualities Emily shared to our roles as leaders. The main goal of my life is to be growth-oriented. I want to achieve the greatest success possible. Adapting to the ever-changing world is part of our role as leaders. In my opinion, the quality I need to improve most is being honest, not with others but with myself. It can be easy as leaders to get so focused on goals that we fail to take a step back and be honest with ourselves. The need for a break can become apparent to us. Having heard Emily’s ideas, I am truly grateful.

  • Sheba Saju

    The quality that resonates with me is humility. One of my top 5 strengths was developer. As a leader, I acknowledge other peoples’ achievements first. I think of my own achievements and accomplishments less and focus on others’ growth. I am always willing to hear other peoples’ opinions and learn from others. I strive when others strive. The quality that I need the most growth in is perseverance. I always strive for perfection no matter what I do. Whenever I don’t reach my point of perfection, it easily brings me down. I need to better realize that making mistakes is okay and I just need to get back up again.

  • Sheridan Robinson

    Among the five leadership qualities, I found that the idea of being “gratitude forward” the most similar to my leadership style. How I lead is through learning more about those I am leading through connection and using positivity and enthusiasm. I love to be thankful and kind in every interaction, because you never know what someone is going through, and how much a smile can go when someone is down. Within leadership, there are always others who contribute and might not feel recognized, and through being thankful, they can feel appreciated. I feel like I need to grow more in the quality of being honest, specifically towards others, because I am brutally honest about myself. I struggle being honest to others, even when they need it, because I dislike being critical since many become discouraged and upset when they are.

  • Breanna Henry

    Emily Lang discussed many positive attributes of a great leader. I think the one that resonates the most with me is humility, I have been raised to always remain humble, all the leaders that I have ever admired have had a huge sense of humility. I tend to surround myself around honest, humble people because I have huge respect for those who put others above themselves and don’t let their success affect their mission. One quality that she mentioned was how a leader is resilient, and gets back up again and again. This is a quality that I tend to struggle with as a leader, I often let my failures discourage me. If I fail at something once, I have a tendency to think that it will just happen again and I would rather save myself the time. It is a quality that I work actively to fix. I know that failure is just a part of life, and you can’t let it define you. I am working on actively implementing that mindset into my daily life.

  • Caroline Cowherd

    While listening to Emily Lang’s speech over the 5 qualities of a leader, I found myself resonating with gratitude forward the most. I have always been filled with appreciation and love for those in my life and the impact they have made on me. I often reflect on my blessings and take time to appreciate them. I was also introduced to the reality that I need to focus my attention on improving my honesty. I often brush off confrontation in fear of creating a messy situation. In turn, I am dishonest about my thoughts, opinions, and beliefs for the sake of harmony. The statement, “hard conversations with great love” revealed to me that honesty can nurture love and trust in relationships.

  • Kade Williams

    I believe that the quality that resonates with me the most is honesty. I try my best to keep things open with people that I cooperate with to ensure that everyone is on the same page and people can keep effective work going. This makes helping others easier and makes others trust me more easily.

  • Jesse Brooks

    The quality that resonates the most with me is a leader’s ability to get back up again and again. There are a couple of different reasons this resonates so much with me. One is that I have been in sports all my life and to be in sports you have to know how to fail and keep getting back up again. In sports, like baseball, you fail so often that in batting you fail seven out of ten times and still make it into the hall of fame. That is an incredible concept and it teaches leaders how to keep going through and doing their best even though they fail. The second reason in school I have always strived to do the best I can and make the grades I want, and that doesn’t always happen, which means I have lived this concept a lot in my life. The quality that I need to grow most in is being growth-focused because it is easy to get sidetracked and want to take a day off, so I have to remind myself to stay focused and work on this quality.

  • Mariah Deere

    The five qualities I’m being a great leader she listed are be humble,get back up again and again, homest always, growth focused, and gratitude forward. I feel a strength I have put of these is being resilient. I’ve have had many fails in my life and always pushed myself to get up and keep going. I never had much support so I had to rely on myself to keep going and do it for me. At first I didn’t think I made a big impact until friends and other people told they looked up to me and said I inspired them. They knew I went through a lot and still have a lot of success and ot pushed them to keep going. I can be more gratitude focused and grow in it. I’ve always pushed myself top much and crifize myself I don’t take the time to appreciate what I have done.I think it would do be good and save me on burn out.

  • Lillie Taylor

    I feel like humility is the quality that resonates with my leadership style the most. Most of the leadership positions I have held have been ones I was elected to, or selected to hold. Simply because of this, I was given some authority and people might have viewed me as more “important” than others. This isn’t something I agree with at all. Just like my followers, I too have leaders that I look up to. I wasn’t selected to be a leader because I wanted to be more important than others, but because I can easily identify with my followers since I am one myself. I feel like the quality I need the most development in is that of being constantly growth-oriented. Sometimes when I struggle with certain components of being a leader, I may not see a reason to become any better of a leader. When I see my leadership skills making positive differences and creating a successful result, I may become complacent in my abilities and not see a reason to make an improvement. However, there are always differences to be made in the world and it takes leaders with different strengths to solve those problems. By always being willing to grow and improve, I would be able to impact more lives and further change the world.

  • Of the 5 qualities that Mrs. Lang mentioned, I think honesty was the quality that resonated with me and my leadership style the most. I think this is because when you are a leader, you are always doing what you can to empower others, and communicating that message honestly helps keep the people we lead focused and motivated. I know it’s out of order, but Mrs. Torres’s statement today about having “common goals” with the people she leads really solidified this point for me. We have common goals with the people we lead, so as long as we communicate those goals, motivation should not be an issue and I think this is a core principle to remember and communicate when leading. In regard to the quality that I need to work on the most, I would say is working on inner growth. I find that I often focus too much on results and less on the personal growth that I stimulate because it is harder to quantify. In order to work on this, I just need to make a conscious effort to not tie my self worth to outcomes of my leadership, but rather focus on introspection and how I can better myself even when it doesn’t show up on paper.

  • destiny ryan

    For me, there were two leadership qualities Emily Lang spoke on that really resonated with me. First was, “Honest always.” I believe it’s important to evaluate if everyone, including yourself, is in the right seat as Ms. Lang said. You have to honest with yourself about what your strengths are and know when someone else is stringer in your area of weakness. A good leader knows when it follow. It’s okay to pass on responsibility to others. The second qualities that resonated with me was, “Gratitude forward.” I believe starting and ending with thank you is important. If the people you are leading don’t feel appreciated or valued then they aren’t going to want to follow you. Gratitude goes a long way.

  • Bergen Bailey

    The topic that Emily talked about that I can relate to the most, is to stay growth focused. For as long as I can remember, I have always been growth focused whether it be sports or academics. While leading, my end goal always includes the growth of my followers. No matter the situation, growth is always a main aspect of the way I think. Growth allows for change and building on mistakes or setbacks. Without setbacks and mistakes, no leader can grow to their full potential.

  • Rylee Lindsay

    During Emily Lang’s presentation she mentioned many important leadership qualities. Out of the five, I think that I am mostly gratitude forward. At work, organizations and any leadership positions I try to prioritize the people around me. I will go out of my way to make sure that everyone feels seen. Recognition makes people feel appreciated and happy. In my opinion people will work harder towards their goals better when they are happy and feel seen.

  • Tyler Gleason

    In this season of my life, particularly the last 6 months, I have embraced Lang’s point of growth. I wasn’t home for the summer, and the independence gave me a chance to see my faults outside of the shadow of my family. I was faced with two choices, complacency and growth. I chose complacency at first, but when I chose growth, it changed everything for me. I don’t just talk about advice anymore, I do my best to take it. But I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for my community and God showing me grace and leading me to this point here and now. Showing gratitude, another point of Lang’s, is something I often forget to do, but thankfulness for events that got you to the present often times changes your outlook on it as well.

  • Ben Hastings

    Of Ms. Lang’s five leadership qualities, the one that resonates with me is “leaders are always honest; to others and themselves.” People expect their leaders to remain honest with them to keep things in perspective and keep them updated, but most probably don’t consider their mental health. Leaders must remain true to themselves to prevent over-commitment and make decisions according to their judgment rather than what people tell them. I think about these things regularly, and they help me relate to my leaders. On the other hand, of Ms. Lang’s five leadership qualities, I struggle with “leaders are growth-focused.” I typically look at the present and how things aren’t where they should be rather than focusing on future growth and development. Frequently, this leads to pessimism and frustration, which are unappealing to your people. This is something I need to continue to improve as a leader.