Perfect leader of all time - Jesus Christ.

         We have been discussed and learned more about our best leader of all time – Jesus Christ. He is a perfect model for us to follow.  He contained five main characteristics of a great leader: motive, vision, challenge, example, and serve.

         Talking about motive, Christ had a good purpose for us from the day he is on Earth. He wants all of us to be happy and lead us to our Heavenly Father.

         His vision is about peace, service, and community on the Earth. He saw the day when all human can be together in heaven with Heavenly Father – peaceful and happy. It was the main key which helped him got through all the pain and suffer. He knew, in order to work for something, he has to see it first.

         He accepted the challenge from God to come down to the Earth and changed thing. He encouraged people and challenged the unrighteousness.  From this point, he set himself as a perfect example just like a drum major lead the parade.

         He served others so they may act and know their heart. He taught me how to act, how to serve, and how to know each heart. Love is also very important. Without love, he couldn’t lead anyone.

For instance, as we discussed in the lab about his example, my group had a chance to discuss about his story in Mathew 21: 12-14. The story is about when people used the temple as a place to buy and sell. It also mentioned that these people just like thieves. Jesus was very disappointed and wanted to lead them back to the main point of a temple. The blind and the blame came to him to be healed.  From the story, I can see he is the righteousness and made him as a model for others. I also learned love was his greatest attribute. He loves his own enemies. I’m wondering at the same time: “Will I able to do that?”

         We all know love enemies are a very hard thing to do. But nothing is impossible. I’m not an exception. I always try my best to not having any argument with that person (in VSA) and create a peace between us. Life is also not easy, that person do bad thing behind me, but I know I shouldn’t do the same thing like him/her. The only things I can do are pray and show love.

         I took the leadership role as a Vice President of VSA, also means I accept the challenge to be a better leader, a better person. I learned to show love to everyone around me. I cared more about VSA’s activities, such as helping plan for our Tet Holiday activity next week and choosing songs for this event. I learned to ask for help from VSA members. I called them to help our event can go smoother and have a better connection with every members

         On Monday, I learned from the virtue of Nike: “Just Do It.” Nothing is going to happen, unless you try – that is my virtue!

Hitler. Is he a good or bad leader?

From the previous lab, I learned one more definition of great leaders: they are who can changed the world. Actually, I don't know a lot of leaders, but Adolf Hitler has impressed me with his leadership skills. He is the one who can occupied most of Europe and Northern Africa.

Have you ever wonder how can he did that when he just a human being like us? The answer can be very simple because he has a big influence in his followers. He has a strong spirit for his nation which is also the motivation for his big dream. He used his motivational and powerful speaking abilities to gain support and popularity.

People think he is a devil for so many bad thing he had done to the world. I think it is not right or wrong. It is right because he used his power to  fear people. It is not right when he brought his love to Germany in a wrong way. I have a thought: he will be a great leader if he can use his leadership skill and power in a good way.

Through the example of Adolf Hitler, I learned how to become a leader is getting motivate and respect from people. I applied these characteristics to my leadership role. I wrote down my motivation in a paper. I showed respect to everyone is the best way to have respect from people. For example, last Friday I had a BYUVSA presidency meeting, I learned to calm down and show respect to other VSA presidency members when we have an arguing.

We are going to have another meeting on Tuesday nextweek. I'm excited to be an active members of VSA club and apply all of the great leadership skills of Hitler to my role.

Characteristics of a Great Leader!

How do you define "Great Leader"? I would define "Great Leader" as the one who has a good communication skill, love people around, and be ready to step up to take challenges.

Those are some characteristics I have learned and applied to my leadership role this week. I learned to step up to take my role and be ready for the new challenge. I can see myself a week ago as a shy person. But today, I was able to call the President of BYU Vietnamese Student Association without hesitation.

Communication is one of the aspects which I need to improve. I briefly prepared my talk with the President of BYUVSA before I had a meeting with him. Surprisingly, it worked and I was able to serve BYU as a Vice President for BYUVSA.

Another aspect for a good leader is showing love. I think love is very important not only in a normal life but also in a leadership role. I showed my love to people around me clearer simply by a little chat on facebook, invite them to have dinner, or ask how their lives are. I let them know I can be there for them whenever they needed me.

This is how much the class has improved me to be a "Great Leader" for the first week of class. I'm excited to see how much I can improved to be a "Great Leader" at the end of the semester!

Misunderstanding sometimes can lead you to be more active!

     Last night, I figured out that I was misunderstanding in my leadership role assignment. I have to choose the role and actually do it.
     Instead of worrying about it, I called the BYUVSA President and had a little meeting with him today. I talked about my situation, and how much I want to serve BYUVSA as well as to improve my leadership skill.
     He gave me a big smile after my talk and said : "I would love to have you as a Vice President for VSA. We need you help in next Friday, make sure you have 1 hour for us".
     VSA Vice President will be my leadership role! Yay!

My Leadership Role!

        Honestly, this is a very exciting class. From the first day of class, I learned to break my fear and get to be more confident in myself which is the most important thing to be a successful leader. I fear to stand up to do anything in a crowd, and I fear that I might fail to do anything.

        Yes, I feared to be the first person to come up and break the fear board. Inside me, I always remember a quote from a very successful leader in Amway Vietnam: "To be a successful leader, you need to get out of your comfort zone". I did sometimes, and I succeeded in my career. Then, I came to BYU and couldn't reach my goal in education for the first semester. I also lost my confidence from that time. 

        I know for myself: I need to get my confidence back! What do I need to do? I want to do something for people around me! I tried, tried, and tried! I got involved in the BYUVSA club with a lot of other clubs. I found a great leader in BYUVSA. I talked to her and learned so much from her. She just left BYU last month to come back to Vietnam. I really want to run for the President of VSA club, so I can devote more for my society. I want to make BYUVSA a better club to join in, and more popular not only to BYU students but also to everyone. Ghandi has said: "We must be the CHANGE we wish to see in the world". So I chose to be a CHANGE as a President of BYUVSA club.

       So what is your definition for successful leader? From my perspective, leadership is how to serve people around you successfully. And yes, leader will always the first person to stand up. That is my view about leadership. How about yours?