Values As A Leader

This past weekend I spent in Modesto. I know what you're all probably thinking: "What is there in Modesto that would possibly worth spending the weekend for?"

I spent the weekend there as part of board bonding with my regional board. My youth group, USY (United Synagogue Youth), elects a regional board each May to represent our region, New Frontier (which is made up of Northern California and Reno). This past May, I was elected to the position of Communications VP along with 6 other people on my board. We had a really rough start because a new director was supposed to hired way before summer but wasn't actually hired until the beginning of August, leaving us way behind schedule.

Anyways, during Friday night, our new regional youth director planned a program for us to discuss what values were important to us personally, as a USY leader, or both. There were nearly 250 values for us to sift through. After organizing those, we had to pick 5 values for each. But the catch was they needed to be values that built upon each other (For example: organization is a value that feeds into hard-working or something like that). It was EXTREMELY hard, but I managed to do it. I wish I could type out my values for you guys, but she has my copy. Maybe I'll edit this entry.

I noticed that even though every single one of us had a distinct path of values, they were each important and really are what determined the type of leaders we are and are going to become. It was our first task as a team to come up with a path of values for our board. These involved good communication and trust, which I consider to be very important in laying down foundation for leadership.

I think it's something that can be applied to journalism as well because when you're working with your editor or your fellow writers, it is important to have good communication or trust. A good publication does not stand solely on excellent, sharp writing, but on the work of a team and the competency of its leaders to get their staff through.