I've always been interested in becoming a better person, a greater me, and I think improving my leadership skills is one of the most direct ways to do that.  I've been interested in developing skills since before applying to college, and because I couldn't really gain them through practice, I kept reading up on the subject matter. (I've read multiple books like Leaders Eat Last, Start With Why, Good to Great, and more)

Well, I joined BEST so, I started gaining practical experience. I've also heard about this trainshop for the first time in late november 2018 and I've been waiting since then.

And now, since I have a fairly decent theoretical basis and some practical experience to complement it, I will be a lot more effective in grasping the concepts of this trainshop.

And yeah, I think bePROUD would complement my prior experience perfectly because of its more grounded, actual example-based subjects.












Hoo, boy, there's a lot to talk about in this one.

Let's talk about the more general qualities first.

In my opinion, a great leader is a person who is there for the people. He's extremely passionate and dedicated to improving the lives of the people around him first, and results second.
He makes people feel safe enough to try new things and gives them the freedom and autonomy to experiment and actually think about their actions, he doesn't just tell them to do something and that's it.
He takes accountability for his own and others' mistakes without any hesitation when it's needed, and never blames anyone else other than himself for failure. When it comes to success, however, he gives praise to who achieved the results instead of taking it all for himself.

A great leader knows how to give people a focus point and is there with the people on every step of the way. He knows and deeply understands why he wants things to be done and what the purpose of things are, but is also flexible enough to radically change his plan if provided with enough proper evidence.
When shit hits the fan, a great leader sacrifices his time and effort and takes initiative to do the hardest and the least likable tasks in order to inspire the people around him and leads by example.And the list keeps going.

On the practical ability side of things, a great leader should be able to do these, among other qualities.
He's first and foremost a great listener, he should be able to connect to the people around them and make them feel heard and understood. He is compassionate and knows how to both be accountable and make people feel accountable for their actions.
He can handle himself under stress, and he can hold multiple conversations and contradicting ideas simultaneously, and he can guide originally chaotic discussion into something conclusive.  Though not mandatory, but of immense help is great scheduling and time management skills, which is self-explanatory. And so on and so forth.

There's so much more to talk about the qualities of a great leader. He's a life-changing experience for the people around him and he owns up and takes responsability for it.









Currently I know the "why" and a bit of the "how" when it comes to being a leader, but I have to work on the "what" side of things. I need to hone my skills more.

I think that I am able to lead by example, because once I decide on doing something I commit myself fully.
I'm able to hold multiple ideas and trains of thought in my head at the same time, which allows me to analyze ideas in multiple ways.
I'm rational and a critical thinker, I can analyze things in-depth and can plan ahead things in detail, which allows me to reach a wide overview.

However,
Even though (hopefully) I am eloquent over text, I still need to work on connecting with people.
I need to be calmer and more concise in the way I express my ideas, as I currently tend to have difficulty in striking the balance of being just excited enough to convince people and to immerse them in my discourse.
I also need to get better at delegating tasks, as right now I'm making the mistake of taking too much work upon myself.
Sometimes I tend to be too fluffy and flower power with people.

And lastly, I'm still not as extroverted as I wish to be, I'm still having issues with getting worn out and tired when interacting with people. I can go a long time until I get too tired to be efficient, but I still need some downtime where I'm alone, to recharge my batteries.







Well, right now  I plan on discussing the things I will learn there as much as possible when sharing knowledge (if applicable),  on giving my LBG a presentation of what will be done on-event, and to help deliver trainings with content taught at bePROUD.
But I'm sure that once I actually get there and get that information, other methods