What does it mean to be a Leader?

I want to start off by asking everyone "What does it mean to be a leader?" Recently I found out. I joined a program called Leadership of Osceola through Community Vision. This program was over a 24 week period where we met and discussed various issues each organization had within the community. Community Vision was started about 20 years ago and it is an organization that works with government, businesses, and individuals to solve issues our community faces on a day to day basis. Over the past few months I have gone to several meetings and programs throughout the community that showed us how we can make a difference in our lives, jobs, and communities. There are many ways to be a leader. You can lead by example, by dictating, by inspiring others to be the very best at whatever they are doing and many other ways. During this course we went to several key businesses and programs throughout the county and saw what organizations and individuals are doing to lead others in helping improve the community. We met various leaders from Mayors, to County Executive Officers, Emergency Service Personnel, Teachers and many others. At each organization you saw the different ways individuals led.



Through my experiences with this course I learned that there are many ways to lead. At the end of this I asked myself, "If I had to define what a leader is what would I say?" My definition of a leader is someone who is willing to go the extra mile and take the time to teach individuals and organizations the right way to do things. Someone who is willing to be the first person to jump into "battle" and show you it can be done. Someone who can acknowledge when someone else has a better way of doing things and getting that person involved to stand up and teach.

Now I want to hear your definitions, "What does it mean to be a leader to you?"

I encourage everyone to get involved in their communities and help lead there as well as in your business.