Photo by Ian Schneider on Unsplash
Course: Cultivating Transformative Leadership, Part 1 (2023)
Faculty Mentor: Joan Hernandez
In Cultivating Transformative Leadership, Part 1, I have gained insights into the qualities or new framework for becoming a transformative leader, being service-oriented, personal and social transformation, moral responsibility to investigate and apply truth, transcendence, and developing capabilities. Now I am trying to be a leader who embodies all of these qualities, even as I know that it’s a process and we’re all learning on our own paths!
I appreciated the activity of setting goals for personal and social transformation—these are goals I’ve been working on, but the course helped me to deepen on them and focus on trying to achieve them in my life, especially the goal of being detached. I’ve been praying daily about this and can see a big difference in my life. I’m thankful that I focused on this goal in this class, and reading the prayer daily helped me to know that what’s most important is the confirmations from God’s kingdom and knowing that He is with us on our paths at all times.
I think that transformative leadership is a really important subject because of the disintegrative forces that are enveloping our world. This approach is part of the integrative forces, part of the solution, and is what we need in the world. It’s important to share this with friends who are open to learning and to share with our youth as they are our future leaders. I have scheduled a fireside and have invited local friends to come learn more about transformative leadership, and I plan to start a study group with those interested in learning more.
Among the goals I accomplished, I hosted a youth camp at our home in July for 5 days—it was an amazing success! We shared the materials of transformative leadership with the youth through the curriculum, a leadership challenge course, gardening, nature hikes, service, and physical activities. The youth learned about consultation, why transformative leadership is needed, and about its capabilities.
I’ve also used transformative leadership at my work, focusing on being service-oriented, seeing all beings as noble, and developing their capabilities.
I’ve been a Bahá’í for 16 years and so I’m familiar with many of these values and beliefs, but I love these materials and think they are very effective, especially to share with friends.
