What Leadership Means to Me

by Umut Joldoshalieva
Everyone has the ability to be a leader. But not all of us can realize it. This ability lives inside of us. To be a leader depends on the community where we live and also on the person, of course. A true leader has great vision to see difficulties before they arrive and ways to use this vision to make decisions. A great leader can not only use her own opinion, but also can listen to the ideas of others and make better conclusions from them. The leader uses her great ideas to attract followers who support her goals or plans. But leaders must beware not to lead down the wrong path. We know from history, there are two types of leaders. The first one is the wolf leader. Take, for example, Chingiz Khan who managed his army with fear. The second one – a fox leader, who is like Lenin who could inspire all different classes of people with his words. In my opinion, a modern leader should be a combination of these two types. This is an important responsibility of women leaders in Kyrgyzstan. There are some situations which require a leader to be polite, or other situations that require her to be strict and strong. The Kyrgyz women are expected to be obedient but with an education she can develop her independence and he own leadership skills. In my experience begin active in the community and building relationships also helps me to develop my skills as a leader. As a young woman in my country, this is very challenging. With my coming experiences in America, I can return to Kyrgyzstan with these new skills to meet these challenges and to teach my peers to improve their own leadership abilities.