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Ana Castillo
Leadership Development
Chris Mott
5 September 2014
When I am 100 and Course Goals
I come from a land where you can sand board down an active volcano, where you
can surf in one the top beaches in the Pacific Ocean or admire Spanish- style architecture.
Yes, I come from Nicaragua, the land of lakes and volcanoes. I lived my entire life in
Nicaragua until now that I moved to Gainesville to pursue my studies as an Engineer. I
come from a third world country where the president acts as a dictator and the people still
admire him for the all great things he gives them. Nicaragua is considered the second most
poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, which means that more than half of its
population get only one meal a day that consists of only rice and beans. This has shaped the
person I am today since everyday I am graceful that I am able to receive three meal a days
and a proper education. Similarly, it has ignited in me a passion for change and for this
reason I looking forward to return back to my country and make a change that will last.
As mentioned before, the president of Nicaragua does not portray the best qualities
for an exceptional leader. However, this has made me analyzed all his leadership qualities
and made me realized that the type of leader I want to be is the complete opposite of him. I
admire leaders such as Mother Teresa, Steve Jobs, Dalai Lama and many more. For this
reason, when I reach 100 I plan to have created something that will generate a change that
will influence thousands of people. If I continue with chemical engineering as a major I
planned to have created various medicines that have not been introduced and that will
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change the lives of many. For this, I believe a leader must be innovative, creative and
original. So when I imagine myself reaching 100 I want people to not only admire my work
but that it will influence their lives to a greater extent. Similarly, I dont want people seeing
my work and be able to do the same but being able to do more. I want my work to function
as a motivation for them to create a better society and future.
For this reason, I am so excited to learn more about leadership and theory and how I
can apply it to my life. The concepts that I am most interested about are the Situational
Approach and Team Leadership. I am eager to know more about the Situational
Approach since I strongly believe that leadership consists of knowing how to lead people
depending on the situation. For example, you are not going to give the same directions to
an employee who has been working in the company for more than 10 years and an
employee that just started. For each, there are two different leadership approaches one
must take. Due to this, I am interested to learn more in depth about this approach and what
other philosophers or specialists have to say about it.
Similarly, I am ecstatic to learn about Team Leadership since being able to cope
with people is part of being a leader. Someone who cannot work as a team will never be a
leader. So the importance of working in a team is essential for becoming a leader. Similarly,
I want to learn on how a leader stands out from a team and what are the traits that stand
out from a team leader. I believe we can change the world a better place if we all work
together. I am excited to learn the theory behind Team Leadership and what other
specialist have to say about. I am also looking forward to the discussion groups in this class
since it will enable everyone in the group to say their opinion about the different
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leadership concepts. Overall, I am ready to learn all the theories of Leadership and be able
to acquire from them. One day I hope I become that leader that marks a change.