ASU

OGL Pro 482

Leadership Journey

Arric Self

March 30, 2024

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Until you start learning about Organizational Leadership / Project Management and

leadership roles or styles, I don’t think leadership is something you think about, or understand; it

is more so in a sense, a feeling. I can remember feelings and thoughts of just knowing that I was

“taking the lead” in adolescence, growing into my teenage years, into adulthood, and even now

growing older still. Assuming those leadership roles did not always bode well or feel great to say

the least. The title “Leader” comes with pros and cons; much like many other roles and titles do

in life. I never thought myself to be a leader though, up until I learned what it really meant to be

a leader. Knowing what I know now about leadership roles and styles, reflecting on my life I

know now that there were many instances in which I was a leader in ways, even when I did not

know it.

In the year 1995, I was four years old, and it was around that age and that time, without

even knowing it, my first leadership role was assumed. You see, in a small town just outside of

Spokane, WA., where my family lived, I became a big brother to a little sister. I did not know it

then, but as the oldest brother, I automatically assumed a leadership role. My mother always told

me, “Lead by example, your little sister is watching you”. At the time I could not manage to

quite know what that meant though, or the weight of that responsibility. It was just the two of us

growing up after we moved from our homes state of Washington to the state of Nevada; leaving

the rest of our family behind, including cousins our age. It was not completely transparent to a

young boy like me, that I had a sibling who wanted to be just like her big brother. You know, my

favorite color was blue, so her favorite color was blue, my favorite meal was butter and noodles,

so her favorite meal was butter and noodles. I was in karate, so she was in karate, we both moved

forward to earn our level one black belts! There were times as a big brother I manipulated my

sister into mischievous behaviors, no doubt like kids do. In those instants my actions and
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decisions as a leader figure to her, I could have, well I did at time lead her down the wrong path.

Now I know the severity of what some of those manipulations could have ended with critically

uneasy results. I would say in ways my leadership style with my sister in adolescence was a mix

of coaching and perhaps transactional. “A coaching leadership style is when a leader focuses on

developing team members as individuals. Additionally, this style elevates a team’s entire

performance by showing each member the importance of their position within the group”

(Coaching Leadership Style Explained – Examples and Use Cases, 2023). As whereas a

Transactional Leadership style is “a more structured approach to management that relies on

rigorous checks and balances throughout a company’s production lifecycle” (Western Governors

University, 2021) I would exchange things of value with my sister for her to do my household

chores, even sometimes my homework, she did housework much faster than I could, and I had

things she wanted. It was a win-win for the two of us. However, that tactic made me a very lazy

leader, instead of doing my tasks, I delegated them to her in exchange for goods. That is not in

my opinion a great leadership and will not heed great results.

Speaking of black belts, during my years of practicing karate I was privileged to become

a “youth leader” in my dojo once I received my black belt status. As a youth leader amongst my

fellow students who were not yet a black belt, I had the liberty to assist teaching and guiding

lower ranked students in stances and forms. The style here for leadership was most definitely

coaching. While I was a youth leader, I was tasked with leading a white belt/orange belt class. I

remember being so excited and feeling so important, I was getting the honor and privilege to

teach my very own class of students, rather than working individually with students. Mind you I

was around twelve to thirteen years old at the time, so this was a huge bump for my ego. I went

into class with my head held high, my shoulders back, and my hands ready to fly. Short lived, I
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left class dragging my knuckles across the mat slumped over and full of regret and

disappointment. One skill that my prepubescent brain did not yet acquire was time management.

I was so preoccupied by my happiness and pride that I was the “man” (said lightly) in charge,

that time slipped away from me. I was so used to my one-on-one sessions that I was not able to

apply a broader teaching method to embody the entire class at once. Needless to say, by the time

class was over, timewise that is, we had only made it halfway through the lesson. I had a vision,

and I was not able to see it through. This leadership task, albeit not successful, taught me big

important lessons, number one on that list being time management. This one important, yet hard

lesson shaped my leadership style for my future endeavors.

Four to five years later, I’m a Junior in high school in Las Vegas, NV. I had the

opportunity to take a 3D animation course. I have a slight hidden passion for digital art and

animation creation. It was in this class that I found I had real raw talent creativity, I have what

they call a broad-spectrum eye, I can see the project beginning to end all in my head and how we

will get there. Unrelated to animation of any sorts, my YES Incorporated class, which is

basically a workforce class designed to teach students basic workforce skills: computer

programs, clocking in and out of class, making a “paycheck” instead of a grade etc., introduced

me to a club called “Skills USA”. It was in this class and club that pointed me and a few others

into a competition for 3D Animation Creation and it required 3 things: a team, an application

submission, and an anointed leader. I was the lucky anointed lead for our project to come. This

passion really brought out the best qualities in my leadership skills, for this venture I displayed

excellent time management (was not making that mistake again) and organizational skills, while

using a delegative leadership style. This competition meant a huge deal to the team, our task was

to bring to life a single category better than any other team in the competition. That category was
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futuristic car, and the prize was to compete in a national championship, which awarded a full ride

scholarship to the top school in 3D animation available at that time, cash, a PC, and a few others.

My team and I had three total hours start to finish to complete this project, as a leader my first

step was to use strategy on how to campaign and market a futuristic car; I used a democratic

approach and collectively we created a story board on how we were going to see this through.

After that I delegated tasks, one person on creating the car, one person on the background of the

car, one person rendering and finishing textures to make the picture look more realistic (to put it

blankly video editing). Something my team did that nobody else did, we reorganized every hour

to make sure our respective jobs were bearing results and neither of us were getting bogged

down or worn off. That day was an excellent display of leadership for myself, because we won.

That pride I had felt in myself in my team was something I had never felt before.

The skills and styles of leadership mentioned previously have proven to be skills and

management form worth continuing to display and use for years to come. Time management is

obviously one of the most important skills to learn, and that goes hand in hand with organization

skills. If you are organized well, you should have little to no time waste during projects, and just

simple day-to-day tasks. Not all skills and methods of leading are appropriate for every task,

project, or person. That is why even though my leadership thus far had gotten me into a national

competition beaming with pride and joy, I still had much to learn.

One year later, I found myself in yet another competition, this time it was a video game

competition. Some random competition that was organized by Michelle Obama and her

organization. Our task this time was to create a functional, educational inspired video game with

at least 2 levels. This time around however, I was not choses as leader, that honor was granted to,

Johnathan Duck. The reason I’m bringing in someone else’s leadership journey here is because I
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admired him as our leader. He exhibited pristine leadership skills with communication, time

management, organization, and conflict resolution. Group projects have been around forever and

there are times where people argue, something I have never been easy with. I do not do well with

conflict; I do not like it, nor do I know how to handle it. Johnathan showed me that there are easy

and well-mannered ways to de-escalate a conflict and find a solution to satisfy multiple parties’

needs or wants. Another skill I don’t quite have or didn’t at this point in time is communication.

Communication is by the hardest skill for me to achieve, as stated I do not do conflict, and the

two of those qualities again go hand-in-hand.

Seeing people in a position of power, even for a silly project, demonstrate excellent

leadership skills, is how you too become an excellent leader. Leaders are not necessarily born,

they are taught. People can certainly be born with the confidence it sometimes takes to be a

leader, but skills are still taught. The point is as people we grow, and we learn, and we are taught

by our peers and predecessors, without proper guidance, lessons, or role models, how else would

you learn to be a strong, confident, unbiased, kind leader?

My growing knowledge and skills did not go unnoticed. In my Junior year I had obtained

a job working for a video game company, and once I graduated from high school I was promoted

to an assistant manager. My abilities learned in previous years and over the projects and

situations paid off and again my pride was shining. As an actual manager at a store, assistant or

not, your leadership skills and limits are tested. As previously stated, skills and styles are not a

“one size fits all”. For example, my organizational and time management skills, along with my

communication and conflict resolution training did not prove useful when my store was robbed.

Granted I was only eighteen years old; I could have handled the situation much better. Neither

my employees nor I were harmed in the situation, but my reactions were less than favorable. I
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did not display an ounce of a role model worth looking up to. Instead of being strong, calm,

collected, and prepared; I was frantic, terrified, and ill prepared. Reflecting, I know there were

things I could have done differently, procedures I should have followed, and overall, I just would

have made it a different experience for myself and my staff. Moving forward I made strides to be

a better me.

In the year 2012 I started working for a tobacco company, I worked for them in total,

eight years. In those eight years I went from sales rep to account executive to unemployed,

eventually when they sold the business. It was not until the year 2020 when I started a new job

that taught me the previous 8 years of my life were wasted outside of experience. In my 8 years

working for the tobacco industry, I assumed an unofficial role of “manager”, I helped my boss

run his business. I was his account executive, his assistant, shipping and receiving handler,

receptionist, and bookkeeper. I was not treated or handled well as a subordinate, I did not see it

then, but I know it now. Because in those eight years, in total I received a two dollar raise, was

robbed of an extra week of paid time off for the last 3 years I worked for him, and deprived of

the severance package I was promised once the sale of his business was successful. This was the

crossroads, the defining moments if you will, that I came to that allowed me to be the leader I am

today and strive to be every day now, and in the future. I gained knowledge once again of how

not to lead and the skills and qualities a leader should not have. These hard lessons are just as

important to learn as are the lessons we take with joy. It was the overall and the aftermath of this

one employment that made me want to hone the skills of communication, time management,

empathy, patience, problem solving, adaptability, accountability, and integrity.

We are a constantly evolving species through techniques and experiences. Some of the

best leaders often talk about experiences of great failure because they learned something from
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this failure. For example, Henry Ford said “failure is simply the opportunity to begin again; this

time more intelligently.”. Our biggest learning moment happens upon these failures. We must

take them, learn from them, and adapt. Through my years there have been many times where

mistakes were made, and it taught me how to never make them again. This growth is what great

leaders are made from. I can only talk about my own personal experiences from my youth to the

present day. When the mistakes happened, I wished they never did often fight them out of fear

but as I look back at them through this leadership journey I am reminded of the good times and

the bad times. It is a map of who I am and how I became what I am today. The best part is it is

just the beginning of my journey as a leader. I have many goals I wish to hit and eventually be a

business owner or running a large corporation. Steps and lessons through sheer hard work are the

only way I will reach these goals and I can only give it my all without any regrets. "You gain

strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the

face. You must do the thing you think you cannot do."(Eleanor Roosevelt). As I continue my

leadership journey, I will look towards the future but remember where I started and how I got

there along with those that came before me and their lessons they left for the world.
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Big Brother Black Belt 3D Animation Video Game Game Stop Tobacco
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References

Coaching Leadership Style Explained – Examples and Use Cases. (2023). Www.personio.com.

https://www.personio.com/hr-lexicon/coaching-leadership-style/

Gomez, A. (2023, November 3). 16 Must-Have Leadership Qualities. Www.ollusa.edu.

https://www.ollusa.edu/blog/leadership-qualities.html

Miranda, D. (2023, April 27). 10 Management Styles Of Effective Leaders – Forbes Advisor (K.

Main, Ed.). Www.forbes.com. https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/management-

styles/

Russell, J. E. A. (n.d.). Just Move On: The Best Leaders Own Their Failures And Learn From

Them. Forbes. Retrieved March 31, 2024, from

https://www.forbes.com/sites/joyceearussell/2021/12/29/just-move-on-the-best-leaders-

own-their-failures-and-learn-from-them/?sh=39d0a3f731a2

Western Governors University. (2021, March 10). Defining Transactional Leadership. Western

Governors University. https://www.wgu.edu/blog/transactional-leadership2103.html