Capstone Sa

What?

 

Consciousness of self relates to a leader’s awareness of his or her - as well as that of his or her followers – personal beliefs and values. Being able to lead others starts with the ability to know and recognize my traits, values, personality, and beliefs such that I can better set a vision and act upon my goals as a leader. As such, consciousness of self refers to a leader’s ability to know him or herself as well as their respective followers as best as possible.

 

Consciousness of self is one of the social change values that I have explored the most as a leader and as an individual since the beginning of my undergraduate experience. Coming to college and deciding to venture into learning more about leadership through the Leadership and Social Change minor have allowed me to explore my abilities and my flaws as well as those experiences gave me a chance to learn who I really am, the things I am good at, and the things that I need to improve on.

 

Another important experience regarding my learning of the meaning of consciousness of self was through the LDRS 1015 class in which my peers and I explored the nuanced meaning of this social change value as you can see reflected in the papers I wrote for that class.

 

So What?

 

Learning about consciousness of self has been important to me because this social change value revealed to me who I really am as a leader, a citizen, and definitely as an individual. Through the learning experiences I had during my undergraduate studies at Virginia Tech, especially as a result of some classes I took as part of the leadership and social change minor, I was able to discover my likes and dislikes, I learned to explore my potential to its fullest, and I became aware of my limitations.

 

Being aware of who you are is definitely one of the best gifts you can give yourself and that is the main reason why I regard consciousness of self as an important social change value. Leaders have to know themselves in order to explore how far they can go with their plans, their ideas, as well as to what extent they can push their followers, or when to ask for help, for example.

 

Now What?

 

Now that I am finishing my undergraduate studies and as I prepare to enter the so-called real world, being aware of my abilities as a leader will help me educating future leaders such that they also can learn about their power in society and in their own lives. I plan to be an advocate for education as means of social change; as such, consciousness of self will always walk hand in hand with me as a leader, as a professional, and individually because I would love for more people to discover themselves such that they can also help others find themselves.

 

I believe strong leaders know themselves first and foremost which is why I am confident that this social change value is critical to bringing about any changes and definitely in leading others.