By Armaan Monshizadeh
The most interesting that we have talked about in class in my opinion is leadership. The mission statement of my high school was to “form faith-filled leaders” and I ended up choosing this high school because I had always wanted to be a leader. Once I started high school, I tried to jump on every opportunity I could to be a leader. I became part of the leadership committee at my school, developed my leadership skills, and learned that the most positive and best style of leadership is visionary. According to Goleman, a visionary leader is a person who mobilizes people toward a vision. During my time in Rome, I noticed that I exhibited the visionary leadership style. Goleman also states that this style of leadership is the most positive. I engaged in using my leadership skills and qualities I developed over the years when I wanted to do something in Rome. When I wanted to do something in Rome, I would tell my roommates. Usually, they wanted to come with me because we liked to stick together. Before leaving, I would sometimes look up the route if I was unsure of where to go, see how long it would take to get there, see how far it is from our apartment, and read reviews about the place or restaurant where we planned to go. My roommates were either lazy, tired, or unmotivated sometimes so I had to motivate them. In these situations, I would use my visionary leadership style to get them to come with me. When we went to the Spanish steps, I wanted to see a hotel I had stayed at in Rome when I came to Rome twelve years ago. So, I told my roommates the hotel was at the top of the steps and it was not that far to the top. I told them to come with me and started running up the steps and they followed me up. Also, when we leave for class, I am the first one to say “let’s go” when I want to leave so we will not be late for class. I am usually the first one out the door with my roommates following behind me. It was very interesting to me that without even realizing, I used leadership in Rome. I never realized that I acted as a leader subconsciously until I actually thought about the things we did in Rome. Most of the things we did or saw were things that my roommates wanted to see, but I wanted to do and see the same things. So, when I wanted to go do or see something, I acted as a leader without even thinking about it. I learned a lot about the different types of leadership and leadership in general from the speaker we had in class. Leadership has always been a part of my life. I was glad to see that I continued to use it in Rome and that I learned more about leadership itself.