Leadership is Learned in Community

Leadership is learned in community.

While I have learned a great deal about leadership by reading books, I have come to appreciate and become the leader I am by living in communities.

My understanding of leadership has been shaped by many different communities: in my family, in schools, in different work environments, volunteering in community groups, in several social networking communities. Each has given me lessons and opportunities that have shaped the leader I am becoming. Each has helped me recognize and practice the leadership that is uniquely mine.

Our communities show us the possibilities.

One of the communities that has played the most significant roles in nurturing my leadership is my faith community.

I grew up in the faith community. It has shaped me and helped me discover who I am in my deepest self. It  has taught me lessons and introduced me to people who have helped me see myself in new ways. My faith communities have challenged me and given me opportunities to struggle with my core values.

Some of the earliest leadership experiences I can remember were in a faith community. It was in a faith community that I learned that I could talk to groups of people, that I was organized, that I could get to the heart of a question. People in my faith communities demonstrated that they respected me enough to try to answer my questions, to tell me when they thought I might be making a mistake, to help me understand.

People in my communities have helped uncover the leader I am today. They continue to shape the leader I am becoming. Person by person, conversation by conversation, I am learning leadership in community.

What communities have helped you become a leader?

What experiences in community have shaped your leadership?

[Image by See-ming Lee 李思明 SML]