We have finally made it to our destination, and it could not feel more amazing. We were welcomed by a wonderful team at the Hanifl Centre after travelling for nearly forty-eight hours straight. Instantly we recognized many different cultural norms. Some are more noticeable than others, such as the transportation or sanitation.
When relating these norms to leadership, decision making is what I recognize most. In the United States we often find ourselves making decisions based only on how much the outcome benefits us. This is largely due to the fact that the U.S. is a very individualistic nation, India is quite the opposite. India culture implements the ideas of unity and hard work to complete their tasks at hand. The U.S. and India are essentially on complete opposite sides of the spectrum when it comes to decision making. As a result, I anticipate this to be a challenge when learning about leadership as I will have to adjust the ideas of leadership that I have grown up with to more team-based leadership. I am excited to start this style of learning as it may be majorly beneficial to me in the future.
Branching from this topic, I believe that leaders are made through opportunities and experiences, rather than born. Without the opportunity to lead, it is impossible to have a leader. The experiences from these opportunities are majorly important as well. This is due to the fact that learning and adapting as a leader is crucial for the team or group to be as efficient and productive as possible. However, I do believe that leaders can be born with the appropriate traits or characteristics of a good leader. Such as good communication skills or the ability to stay organized when in a stressful situation. This means that they have the potential to be great leaders, but without any opportunities to showcase their skills they will never be seen as the leader.
Along with the lack of opportunity a leader could have, I believe ethically controlling the group to function at the best of its abilities is amongst the hardest parts about being a good leader. The leader must work alongside members to satisfy individual needs, while maintaining unity and organization. Controlling these factors seems very difficult to me, however not impossible as long as the group has consistent communication and understanding. A prime example of this struggle occurred when we arrived at the airport. This example occurred not with me, but rather our guide Vipul. He was in charge of gathering both groups to travel to the YWCA hotel, and then to the Hanifl Centre the following day. Throughout stressful times, Vipul would be able to communicate with his coworkers and team in order to make traveling go as smoothly as possible. His ability to rapidly adapt and communicate showed me that it is very difficult to control a group, however not impossible.
Overall, I have already gained a large amount of information about leadership, culture, and a multitude of other items. I cannot wait to continue to learn and experience these opportunities over the next four weeks. I already know this trip is one of the best decisions I have made in a long time.
