At the beginning of the Fall semester, my StrengthsQuest test results determined that my top five qualities were “Includer,” “Positivity,” “Developer,” “Responsibility,” and “Woo.” Initially, I did not understand the relevance of my StrengthsQuest results and their connection to my Leadership 101 course; however, this semester has enabled me to implement and develop a greater understanding of these strengths inside and outside of an academic setting.

In my Leadership 101 course, we began the semester with William Cronon’s “Only Connect,” a detailed inquiry on the foundation and value of a liberal arts education. Cronon’s “Only Connect…” places emphasis on the idea that a liberally educated individual must be able to effectively communicate, comprehend, and criticize. He achieves this emphasis through outlining 10 qualities of a liberally educated individual. Cronon’s ideas also acknowledge that not all ten qualities influenced by liberal education are equally resonant within an individual; however, “Only Connect…” was written with the intent to encourage individuals to discover their talents, which then gives them the potential to connect with others. The qualities of a leader presented in Cronon’s “Only Connect…” are relevant to the Leadership 101 course because it provides the basis of the idea behind the StrengthsQuest assessment: the idea that each individual has the potential to be a leader if they liberally educate themselves through finding their strengths.

The StrengthsQuest assessment serves the purpose of finding leadership qualities in any individual and gives the individual their resultant top five. The StrengthsQuest assessments looks for 34 leadership qualities divided into four categories: Executing, Influencing, Relationship Building, and Strategic Thinking. I have learned from the assessment that it does not tell you whether or not you make a good leader, it gives you your top five qualities and allows you to build those or work on others. As mentioned earlier, my top five qualities determined by the StrengthsQuest assessment in order are “Includer,” “Positivity,” “Developer,” “Responsibility,” and “Woo.” Throughout my Leadership 101 course, I was able to take my StrengthsQuest assessment results and build on them using the ideas from Cronon’s “Only Connect…” along with other course readings, exercises, and materials.

During my Leadership 101 course, we participated in critical thinking, writing, public speaking, and teamwork, all of which allowed me to improve my top five leadership qualities and strengthen my weaker ones. We engaged in critical thinking through assessing reading materials given to us inside and outside of class and forming our own responses and rebuttals. We also participated in critical thinking through being able to listen to our classmates’ ideas and engage in debates. I would say that my participation in critical thinking in Leadership 101 has improved my “Responsibility” and “Includer” qualities. We also focused on writing in our Leadership 101 classes by writing extensive essays arguing for one philosophical perspective against another. The writing assignments in my Leadership 101 class have allowed me to improve my “Responsibility” quality. Public Speaking in my Leadership 101 class has allowed me to improve my “Includer,” “Positivity,” and “Developer” qualities by being able to form my own arguments, premises, and conclusions and receiving feedback from my peers. Teamwork was arguably the largest component of my Leadership 101 course, and it allowed me to strengthen all five of my StrengthsQuest qualities. Teamwork in this course included peer review, team assessments, and team discussions. Working as a team has enabled to reflect and improve on my ability to communicate, criticize, and comprehend.

Overall, my participation in my Leadership 101 course has given me a greater appreciation of the idea behind leadership. This course has taught me that specific qualities do not define a good or bad leader; rather, it is the individual’s reflection and improvement of their own qualities that makes the leader. The course has also taught me that leadership is not defined solely by how others view an individual, it is also about the individual’s ability to engage in self-criticism and be able to lead themselves to improvement. In reference to my own capacity to lead, I would say that I have improved as a leader due to the fact that this semester has encouraged self-criticism.