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My Social Identity

Decent Essays

My social identity plays a huge part in shaping and defining my role as a leader. The way I view myself combined with the way that others view me frames the narrative of my opportunities to be a leader in many ways. Of my various social identity characteristics, the two that play the largest part in my life are my gender and appearance as a woman and my economic standing as lower middle class. First, being a woman and embracing my femininity has both positive and negative impacts on my ability to lead. Because I am a woman I have to work harder to glean access to similar caliber opportunities as men. Even though the gender gap is not as large as it was in decades past, it still exists with in my society and is a huge obstacle to my …show more content…

In the Komives article on leadership, servant leadership is defined as “viewing the leader first as a servant - a person who first wants to serve others,” (Komives 2013, p. 69). Empathy for others plays a huge part in this leadership theory. In order to serve others, you have to understand their struggles and what they need. Komives continues on the say that a leader leads “with the sole goal of serving others to make a difference,” (Komives 2013, p. 69). My identity as a woman has informed my understanding of leadership by opening my eyes to the reality of dealing with stereotypes while in a leadership position. I gravitate to the servant-leadership style because I am a woman. Second, my economic status has affected how I see myself. As one of the many Americans in the lower middle class I’ve had to work for everything that I have. I grew up in a very wealthy and privileged town and while most of my friends lived in the lap of luxury, I started working when I was 13 so that I could help my mom support our family. In being from a less fortunate economic background, I’ve pushed myself through multiple adversities. For example, in applying to college I knew I would have to get a scholarship to in order to attend. The motivation I found to apply to and win a scholarship was developed by my economic background. Being lower middle class has shaped my work ethic and my levels of motivation to get things done. In Goleman’s article about what makes a leader in

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