Looking back across the Summer, what is the most important thing you have learnt about yourself as a leader, and how will it influence the way you lead in the future?
Today marks the end of the six-week Research Summer and it's a bitter-sweet moment. I have really enjoyed the summer, despite the challenges faced along the way. Although my group has had to pivot from our initial plans for our research, it has been fulfilling to develop new skills; better understand the city of Oxford and get to know the Laidlaw cohort a bit better.
A highlight of this summer were all the guest speakers. Each of them brought fresh and insightful perspectives on what being an ethical leader means, ideas which I hope to learn more about and implement in the future. The guest-speaker sessions revealed that I didn't really know what type of leader I was, or the type of leader that I wanted to be. I started off with vague concepts of what "good" and "ethical" leadership is, but across the six-weeks, I have learnt the importance of understanding the kind of leader you want to be before you're even in a position to lead. Being aware of the traits that you want to embody as a leader, and developing these traits before stepping into leadership positions is incredibly important for self-perception and how others perceive you as a leader. This does not strictly mean that you cannot change how you think as you grow as a leader, rather it means being a person of integrity, who ensures that their actions align with their beliefs across time.
Leadership can take many forms and it doesn't necessarily involve a mass following or the largest platforms. What matters more are the values you carry, and how you as a leader can foster an environment where people want to genuinely contribute to what you're working towards and feel that their opinions/ideas are valued by you. Equally, I have learnt the importance of seeing things from different perspectives. In leadership positions, it is inevitable that you'll have to work and talk with people who don't share the same opinions as you, but instead of seeing these differences as obstacles to collaboration, these difficult conversations can be used as tools to developing outcomes that benefit a wider range of people.
To conclude, I am truly grateful for this opportunity! Many thanks to Ben, and our Impact Advisor, and the Oxford SDG Lab for the support given.