Leadership Experience with Positive Influence on Others

Taking on a leadership role in any project or teamwork certainly gives me a sense of fulfillment and purpose in life. As someone who is naturally driven and ingenious, I was often selected as the leader in group scenarios. One of the notable examples of my leadership experience is when I helped my friends overcome their ignorance and ensuing high school conflicts. Throughout my life, my friends were people of different cultural backgrounds and personalities, and, therefore, I had to learn to adapt to the variety of cultures growing up. Nevertheless, I could never feel the true belonging to neither of the groups regardless of pleasing people and having a fear of disappointing them.

However, whenever I witnessed bullying and disputes at school, I felt the urgent need to stand up and take a leadership role because I refused to be complicit in such behaviors. The primary causes of increased ignorance and hate among the students were based on individual differences, including race, religion, sexuality, or inconsistency with the established beauty standards. Given that some of my friends were involved in this type of behavior at high school, I was determined to take critical actions. I hosted a meeting where I confronted my friends for their misbehavior and ignorant attitudes and demanded them to be responsible for their actions; otherwise, our friendship would come to an end.

Despite my assertive and rational nature, everyone was taken aback. After of several confrontations, the group of friends responsible for such inappropriate behavior reluctantly apologized, as well as promised to change and grow. I still made a decision to cut contact with these problematic people for months, in spite of their multiple apologies, which I believed were not genuine. Eventually, after my intervention, I witnessed their efforts in educating themselves to become more compassionate and understanding individuals. Ultimately, I decided to give them a second chance for our friendship. This leadership experience taught me to stand up for myself and advocate for those who find it challenging. Nowadays, I feel more comfortable with who I am and the influence I have on others.