Leadership Reflection

The Laidlaw experience has been extraordinarily transformative, helping me develop into an ethical leader. The Peat Rigg weekend was a highlight of the leadership experiences that I participated in, and it definitely had the biggest impact on me. During this weekend, we not only learned about effective leadership but also put it into practice with exercises. Practicing them in a fun way and seeing different styles of leadership was amazing, as it offered a practical experience of what different leadership styles look and feel like. 

I had learned about leadership techniques before, in a different context, but the comprehensive nature of a weekend-long experience made it so the skills offered have definitely stuck with me. I also appreciated the more reflective sessions, as they offered time to reiterate the key skills and ensured they stuck with me. As I’ve taken on more leadership roles throughout my time at university, I’ve definitely used the techniques and strategies we were taught. 

This weekend was also a great experience to meet everyone from my cohort; I was so inspired through getting to know the motivated, smart individuals who came from a variety of backgrounds across the university. I met so many people who I would never have otherwise met, and it was refreshing to learn so much from people with completely different academic backgrounds.

I learned so much about myself from the other leadership and general life coaching as well. For example, I still use to this day and even taught one of my friends the bike spoke analogy, which is a tool used to evaluate different areas of your life in order to best balance various priorities. I certainly used some of these skills and reflections when undertaking my LiA, which involved a relatively independent project in a new field to me.

Global Citizen Reflection

Beyond these personal/life skills, I also found the program pushed me a lot, helping me develop hard skills I would not have learned in my degree. I completed a different kind of research than what I typically do in law through both my LiA and initial research, and I was exposed to a variety of more international opportunities. These real-world experiences showed me firsthand what some careers look like and offered a more in-depth look into areas of academia that bachelor’s degrees typically do not cover.

These experiences have shaped what I intend to do with my career, and the impact of exposure to new experiences from the Laidlaw programme cannot be understated. I feel more comfortable with research in a variety of contexts now, and the overall Laidlaw scholar experience has influenced me to likely pursue a more internationally-focused career. 

I’ve really valued and enjoyed my time on this programme, and it has been transformative in many ways, big and small. From changing how I prioritise tasks in my personal life, to offering me life-changing exposure to important fields, Laidlaw has helped me grow so much as a person.