Kelsea Fink, a junior accounting major, is a prime example of how LeaderShape really does impact and inspire the students who attend it.  Kelsea shared with us some of what she learned and it sounds like she had an amazing experience.  Check it out:

“It is the end of Day 4 at LeaderShape and all I can think about is how strong the word “leadership” is. The term “leadership” is so diverse and unique to everyone, yet it is so important and profound in our world. It can be hard. It can be emotional and confusing. It can be frustrating, but it is worth it to figure out what kind of leader we are and follow our passions using our own strengths and weaknesses. Leadership is authentic. It is accepting the fact that you may fail, and being humble when you succeed. It is never perfect and it is dynamically changing. Leadership is recognizing our own limitations and moving past them. Nobody will ever have the answer to what being a leader means. It is using ethical integrity in every decision. It is striving for inclusiveness, vulnerability, honesty, and trust.  Leadership is about forming relationships with those around you, recognizing one another’s strengths and weaknesses, and using these differences to achieve goals and visions together. It is active listening, asking questions, and providing and receiving constructive criticism to those around us. It is understanding when to be quiet and letting someone else share their thoughts and beliefs. Leadership is finding out who YOU are and what YOU want. It is fighting your inner voice that tells you “I can’t” and replacing those words with “anything is possible.”  It is being happy with yourself so you can lead by example. It is having a healthy disregard for the impossible. Leadership isn’t, and will not ever, be easy. It is hard work and a continuous process.”

Kelsea believes that throughout the program she found the answer to the age old question about leaders; are leaders born or made? She says she learned at LeaderShape that no leader is ever born, they are made and it will always be worth it to strive to be the leader you want to be in every aspect of your life.

“Here’s a dirty little secret about LeaderShape- you will not leave the week the same person you were walking into it. It transforms you from the inside out. It is Day 5 and as I look around at the other 60 students experiencing the Institute, I know they feel the same way I do. We are confused. We are scared. We are happy. We are 1000 different emotions all mixed into one. How do we leave this week and allow ourselves to go back to our daily routines? How can we sit back and watch unethical things happen and be okay with it? Exactly- we can’t. Because after all, we did learn that “Indecision is a decision” and if we were to sit back that would make us naïve. It is amazing that one week ago all these individuals were strangers to me, yet now I know their goals, passions, personal experiences, and visions. We have opened up to one another on levels that are indescribable. Visions were made, relationships were formed, and we were all transformed from the inside out. All of our visions are different, unique, and passionate, but most importantly all of our visions are attainable if we want them to be.”

The following are key ideas and quotes that Kelsea would like to share from her experience:

• Dreams come into being as we speak. I will speak my dreams into reality and I will achieve what I want.

• We see the world not as it is, but as we are.

• Our mind is our only limit. We must have the courage to quiet the inner voice that holds us all back, doing this will empower us to achieve our visions and goals.

• Humans get too busy doing and forget to live. Be a leader, but do not ever forget to live.

• Integrity is expensive.

• You have to change your people, your places, your things, and reflect on your life and what you want and what makes you happy. All people who made a significance difference were not changing THE world, they changed THEIR world. YOU determine your own success.

• Live like you have already accomplished your goals.

• Live authentically, always.

• Great leaders have a healthy disregard for the impossible.

• Everything in life is the perception YOU have of it.

• Embrace everything you possibly can, because one day it’ll all be gone.

• FAILURE is the best teacher.

• I cannot fix somebodies internal thoughts; I can only create the environment around them and lead by example.

• Excellence is a habit. We are what we repeatedly do.

MYTHS ABOUT LEADERSHIP

1. Leaders are born, not made.
2. Leaders have all the answers.
3. Leaders exist only at the top.
4. Leadership is magical and mystical.

TRUISM ABOUT LEADERSHIP

1. Leadership requires inner work as well as outer work.
2. Leadership is about integrity and character.
3. Leadership is based on trusting relationships.
4. Leadership means having a healthy disregard for the impossible.
5. Leadership begins with the heart and ends with results.