2/9/09 - Kirk Weisler's Leadership Workshop

One word: AMAZING. I could seriously write pages on the things I learned during Monday's leadership workshop. Kirk Weisler spoke that night and taught us many things about how to be a great leader including love, culture, and passion. We must always be looking for opportunities to take something from good to great. This can be done by doing just a little something extra.

Kirk talked about the 5 love languages during the workshop. I had heard of those before and actually have tried to figure out mine. The languages are words of affirmation, gifts, time, physical touch, and acts of service. As a leader, you should strive to show the people you work with the love they need. One thing he said to do was write thank-you notes because those notes are incredibly impactful. I have a note from a friend from the beginning of this school year that I plan to keep because it means so much. Showing love is so important to being a good leader.

You should strive to have a positive work culture and not a negative one. If you're in a negative culture, change it and don't let it change you. Kirk mentioned that it's a day-to-day process to keep the culture positive, but that's your job as a leader. This ties in with love. A leader commits to a culture of trust, vulnerability, and connections. That, summed up, is love! The culture needs it to be prosperous.

Passion is contagious. A leader with passion is someone everyone will follow. Kirk said, "Seek to be a leader to inspire, not require, to seek the results you desire." You inspire when you demonstrate a passion for life and the organization. It is so true that you cannot motivate someone. They can only motivate themselves. You can, however, teach them. I see this in a club I am in right now. I cannot motivate my members to come to the meetings, they have to want to. I can show them the benefits of coming and make it worth their while when they come by offering important information there.

This leadership workshop was full of amazing advice and information. Kirk stressed that you must be continually growing. We're never done growing our minds, so why pretend like they're done growing? I will, for sure, take what Kirk said about love, culture, and passion and start to apply them to different clubs I am in and the experiences I will have.