Senior Essay 45

I think there is never one quality that makes a successful leader, but the combination of qualities and skills that make someone a successful leader. If I had to pick, it would be the ability to get people to work with you as a leader. Other good qualities are the willingness to do the dirty work with your team. A leader also needs to listen to their members and be able to communicate with them, but when your team sees that you are willing to do the dirty work, they have more respect for you as a leader. A leader also needs to be able to build their team up and give them confidence, and not tear them down. I am always demonstrating leadership, whether it is on the Youth Lead KC field trip, in/out of school, or as the captain of my robotics team. It is something that I have learned that I do naturally in a lot of situations, but the place where I do it the most is during robotics season. I have been on this team since my freshman year. I commit at least half of my time to robotics because we meet at least once a month to find funding for the team and bond with the team. Doing robotics has helped me become a better engineer, but also a better leader. By my sophomore year of high school, I became the captain of the team. My first year on the team, I didn’t know a lot about using tools or coding, but I did pick up on how the team works, and was also able to answer any of the questions the judges had about our robot through observation. With the team’s teamwork, we were able to win our first-ever award.

I plan to demonstrate my leadership quality in the future through many different ways, such as in the workplace, a college club, or a college classroom. It could be seen through group projects, class discussion, or even talking to others about a club I am in. When it comes to the quality of leadership, it is an important skill to have because you will always have to use it in life. It could simply be to advocate for yourself or lead a whole team on a project. Leadership is more than just telling someone what to do, but it is also the quality that lets us pass on our wisdom and teachings. It also helps foster collaborations with the team itself, but with other teams/peoples. With everything that you teach them or vice versa, those skills that you learn can be applied eles were, like personal relationships or even networking.