Week 2 blog reflection

This week, we learned about the differences between management and leadership.  Throughout the readings I also considered my own personal strengths and weaknesses regarding both management skills and leadership skills.  In one of the articles I read, it talked about how management usually comes before leadership.  When you read about these concepts, it does sound like it would be more logical for management to come first and leadership would eventually follow.  Through my own personal experience, I have had a lot less experience with management and more experience with leadership.   For example, when I was a student at Rutgers University, I joined a student organization called RU for Troops.  This organization was designed to help veterans transition back to an academic life at Rutgers.  The objective was to aid their process in getting accustomed to everyday life as a student and also helping them with their course work.  I got very involved in the club and attended every weekly meeting.  When the time came to elect a new president I was ready for the challenge and was voted into the position.  This was a great opportunity to grow my leadership skills.  I gained experience in recruiting others to join a club with a shared vision of giving back to those who scarified for our country. 

I also had the chance to bring new ideas and concepts to the club and so started partnering with other student organizations to help drive awareness and gain new members.  I got us involved with campus blood drives, fundraising events, and strategic partnerships.  We grew club activity and involvement and I was so happy to be leading a group of students in supporting our troops and veterans.  I also helped recruit students to expand the subjects we tutored in, as the program was entirely voluntary and so it was important to share our vision and objective in order to get people on board.  By the end of my term we had over 50 members and were tutoring in over 7 academic subjects.  This experience was very helpful in developing leadership skills.  I feel like I can expand my management skills and am looking forward to learning more about ways you can gain management skills both in and outside of work.