Monday, October 13, 2014
Leadership
I suppose what leadership represents most in my internship in Cape Town at the U.S. embassy was that it came in so many forms. Direct leadership, knowledge based leadership, project leads, and in this setting, protection. The beauty of working for the government overseas is they embrace a hierarchy of direction on nearly every level and require you to be aware of it. For me personally, the leadership areas where I was allowed to thrive was taking the lead on projects, as well as outside the gates during our Mandela Day volunteer work. By organizing, instructing, and afterwards, informing, others on what I was doing, I was able to showcase leadership qualities to my supervisors on multiple occasions. I imagine it would be hard to find a setting and organization where leadership was less evident than an American Embassy, so I have been fortunate to see it in action.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Hi Thomas,
ReplyDeleteI remember taking the lead on projects for the first time (not at all implying this is the first time you are doing that), but I did find it exciting and rewarding. Especially because they jobs went well. But what I felt great about was when projects were a little hairy and I was able to get out of them, bruised, yet feeling accomplished that I completed something so difficult.
Nice job on your leadership!
Thomas,
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, your internship sounds awesome! I think the ability to display leadership at such levels of government is really neat and I am glad that they have given you responsibilities. I think that the structure of the organization definitely makes leadership an expectation rather than a trait that someone possess.
Thomas,
ReplyDeleteWhat an amazing internship. You are so lucky, and I am sure you are learning lots!! Good luck and I look forward to reading future posts!!