What?
Consciousness of self is the understanding of yourself and the people around you. Having the capability of fully taking into account our and others’ actions, as well as taking in our strengths and weaknesses. As leaders, we have to utilize ourselves to the best of our ability and that starts with knowing ourselves. I believe I learned this value time and time again throughout my three years at Tech. In my sociology courses, I learned how to better understand the world around me and understand who I am in the eyes of society. In my philosophy courses, I learned to see the world from many different perspectives and to analyze everything taught to me. In my leadership courses, I learned how to lead not only others but myself as well. In my leadership courses, I was given the skills to work with people who are much different than me.
So What?
Why does understanding yourself and others matter so much? As I have grown up, I learn more and more each day. To me understanding yourself, makes you a better person. The better you understand yourself, the better you are at understanding others. At the same time, we can’t know ourselves fully, so we need to take others’ insight as well. This is how we become better people. Giving and receiving feedback is vital for change.
Now What?
Given this information, how will I apply it to my life? I had an interview recently discussing an internship I had last summer. I explained how the internship taught me many new things but left me realizing I have much more to learn. This internship was at an all-girls camp in New York. When I first came, I was under the impression that I would be an in-bunk camp counselor for about 10 girls and help run programs. After being there for two weeks, and getting certifications in lifeguarding, CPR and RTE, I was approached by the directors. They wanted me to lead the program I was a part of. They saw my potential as a leader and promoted me. This was not what I expected, and I most definitely didn’t anticipate how the rest of the summer went. While the program I lead went fine, it could’ve gone much better. I was not prepared for this role, I wasn’t trained on what to do, and when I had questions, they barely got answered. This taught me a lot, it mainly taught me how to think on my feet and do what I can. I’m going back to this camp this summer and the head director reached out to me to help him change the program. He saw that the program had many flaws and wanted to take in as much help as he could. I’m excited to go back this summer, I feel more confident in my ability to succeed there and to learn more.
References
Komives, S. R., & Wagner, W. (Eds.). (2017). Leadership for a better world: Understanding the social change model of leadership development. John Wiley & Sons.
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