Leadership Conference Reflection

I was fortunate enough to attend the 2016 H. W. Sumners Leadership Conference where I would have the opportunity to meet a unique pool of influential individuals. Most of my leadership experiences had come from group projects with students who I were familiar with, and the conference gave me the chance to become a team with strangers from across the United States and Mexico. I was not aware of how much I was actually going to get out of the conference. Through the elective workshops, I learned much more about my leadership style and who I could become as a leader. Through the speakers, I learned about the power of creating a vision and pursuing with unyielding faith. Most importantly, my team showed how all the skills we learned in the conference …show more content…
I attended the “Who You Are is How You Lead” workshop that emphasized introverts and how they lead. My leadership style is predominantly extroverted where I am addressing issues head on and trying to complete tasks as quickly as possible. I learned that introverts do not engage problems the same way as I do. In fact, they prefer the exact opposite. Introverts tend to sit back and analyze the pros and cons of every available option before acting. For them, solving problems is an analytical task. The exercise we were given was to rank items from most necessary to least necessary in order to survive in space. The initial discussion was led by three individuals who identified themselves as extroverts; however, as the discussion continued, it was the ideas of the introvert that had the most influence on the overall team …show more content…
Leaders have to be able to create a vision and lead their team in achieving that vision. Our activity was to create a plan to solve unsafe working conditions in third-world countries. Our team consisted of two students from UT-Austin and one international student from Mexico. Through this exercise, I learned leaders need to know when to adjust their message to their target audience. As I was expressing my ideas to the team, I was rushing through my speaking and ignoring the needs of my team members. While the other UT student followed what I was saying, the international student could not keep up with pace at which I spoke. After the activity, we were to give feedback on how the activity went. The international student struggled to register everything I was saying, and if I had slowed down, she may have been able to get more. As a leader, it is important to know who the audience is and how they will best receive your message to share your