Homework for A-SMYLE students

Congratulations!  All of you should be very proud to have been selected as A-SMYLE Finalists.  This experience in the upcoming year will be an exciting journey.  You will not only see a new country, but you will grow and change personally.

Part of this experience is learning about leadership and how to become great leaders in your own countries.  Each of you was accepted into this program because we recognized your potential for leadership.  In your essays and interviews, you exhibited qualities that are needed for good leadership. 

Throughout your upcoming experience in the United States, we want you to continue to build upon your leadership potential.  We will have activities and assignments that are aimed at building your capacities to be leaders.

Let’s start first with thinking about exactly what leadership means.  We hear that term so often, but what is leadership? Sometimes it is easier to say what leadership is NOT.  Leadership is not imposing your will or force upon others.  What do you think are qualities of good leadership?

Top Ten Qualities of a Good Leader

  1. Visionary:  Leaders have a clear idea of their goals and how they will go about achieving these goals.  They create plans for how to realize these goals
  1. Decision-maker:  Making decisions can be hard, but great leaders are not afraid to make difficult or unpopular decision because they are confident in their ability to lead. 
  1. Risk-taker:  Good leaders have to make decisions when they don’t know what the outcome will be.  They have to be willing to risk failure or endure negative reactions.
  1. Motivator:  Leaders need to be able to inspire others with their vision.  It is important that a leader builds a sense of pride and commitment among people, which makes them want to work for the common goal.  
  1. Team builder:  Leaders should be able to bring people together in teams and build consensus among the group, encourage collaboration and resolve conflicts fairly. 
  1. Self-awareness:  Good leaders are able to evaluate themselves.  They should be able to be objective with themselves about their own strengths and weaknesses.   When they recognize a weakness, they are open to feedback and willing to make necessary changes.
  1. Honorable:  A good leader must have integrity and earn the trust of others.  This trust can be gained by being reliable, honest, consistent and genuine.  Other people are able to sense these qualities in a person.  
  1. Learner: Leaders have a desire to continually learn and grow and are open to new ideas.
  1. Good communicator:  Communication is not just speaking but also listening.  While leaders need to be able to effectively convey their ideas to others, it is just as important that a leader can listen to others’ ideas. 
  1.  Encourager:  Good leaders want others to improve and to reach their own potentia


A great leader is one who creates more leaders and not followers.

Not all leaders can have all of these qualities.  Anyone who had all of these characteristics would be perfect; however, we know that no one can reach complete perfection.  It is important that you strive for being the best leader that you can be but also know your own strengths and weaknesses. 

ACTIVITY #1- LEADERSHIP JOURNAL

As mentioned in the list of leadership qualities, part of being a good leader is self-awareness.  For your first A-SMYLE activity, we would like you to start a leadership journal.  This will be a book where you record examples of your strengths and weaknesses in terms of leadership and personality.  We would like you to write about examples from your daily life when you think that you have shown a strong quality or an area that you would like to improve.  These can be in everyday interactions with your friends, family or teachers.  The purpose is to have you begin to think about yourself in terms of leadership and to initiate the process of self-awareness.  You are not being judged on how great of a leader you are.  We are interested in you learning about how to be honest with yourself.

Here are some simple examples of how you might begin.

EX:  Today I was in a group of friends and we were deciding whether to play basketball or football.  A fight broke out and I began yelling, which was not a good decision because it made the disagreement get bigger.  I was not a good team builder and I could learn to be _______________
_____________________________________________________________________

EX:  In school last week we had a group project to complete.  I noticed that one of the members in my group was not speaking.  I decided to ask for his opinion about what we should do and he had great ideas to share.  I was a good motivator in this instance because______________________________________________________________________________

Your assignment is to keep a journal for four weeks and bring it to your PDO. We will use your journals at the orientation, and there will be follow up activities later.  

American Councils :
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