Reflection On Leadership And Empowerment

Women across the globe have been using leadership and empowerment to make advances in a society that once saw us as less than. Leadership and empowerment go hand in hand - without empowerment, one cannot lead, and without leadership, one cannot empower. Throughout this class, we have explored ways in which women can become better leaders and can empower others to follow suit. Through the reading of Presence by Amy Cuddy and Vital Voices by Alyse Nelson, I have developed my own definitions of leadership and empowerment, and have used those definitions to help me determine, enhance, and apply my personal strengths. Leadership is defined as having a strong sense of self and being able to utilize one’s set of skills to motivate others and work towards a goal. An effective leader must be confident in

Personally, I think that female empowerment means to motivate and encourage women to be who they are and to make the changes that they want to see in the world. We read in Presence by Amy Cuddy that in order to make a change, women need to find their “best authentic selves.” This means being comfortable with who one is and being confident in one’s ability to establish change. In the book Vital Voices, we read many examples of how women across the globe stepped up to make advances for the feminist movement. Each one of those women knew who they were and where they wanted to go. Many were raw with their emotions and experiences and used that to connect with their audience or inspire others to join a cause. This demonstrates that in order to empower others, an effective leader needs to capture the idea of authenticity. One can share their experience about having a personal drive to do something or share how they fearlessly utilized their skills to insinuate change. Most importantly, an effective leader can empower others by being the one that believes in someone else’s