I love Strengths!

And I also love learning about leadership. Since honorably separating from the military in 2011, I’ve spent a ton of time researching the attributes that make up an effective leader.

There was a time in my life when I didn’t think about leadership. I mean…I thought about it, but never about the impact a great leader can have on someone’s future.

I just taught a leadership development class to 24 high school and freshmen college students. I gave them the task of defining leadership in their own words. While I appreciate brevity, I did ask that they write between 250-500 words. My hopes were that they would do more than simply Google the word LEADERSHIP.

The youth of our nation get a pretty bad rap. Throughout the class the students seemed somewhat engaged. It was hard to tell if they were paying attention. We meet every other Tuesday, so I half expected them to brain-dump most of the content between sessions.

Today was the day (20 October 2015) the students were scheduled to read their definition of leadership. I asked for volunteers to go first, and a young gentleman’s hand shot up like rocket. He quickly broke into his first paragraph. When he finished, the class applauded and I stood there…still. This young man had just taken the thousands of dollars I spent on leadership books, and distilled their teachings down to three or four paragraphs. His words were well thought-out, accurate, and insightful.

How could a 17 year old know so much about leadership? He must be a highly intelligent academic rock star…right?!

23 students later I heard nothing but the same. In that one hour class I realized just how important leadership is to everyone. No matter the age, race, sex or social status leadership was a topic everyone was passionate about.

That experience prompted me to share this video. I created it over a year ago, and I always enjoy looking back to see if my opinions remain the same.

Thank you for taking the time to visit my site, and engage with me as a fellow lover of Strengths. Life is good when you can sit behind the computer and share your thoughts with the world! #vivalastrengths