Be a Leader

 "A good leader inspires people to have confidence in the leader, a great leader inspires people to have confidence in themselves."

- Eleanor Roosevelt, former First Lady

(A good quote for President's Day, I thought!)

Isn't that something we all want?  To be inspired by a good leader?  To catch the charisma, the spirit of what motivates that individual to make her mark on the world?  To be confident that she knows what she wants? That it's a good thing?  And that we want to join her.

And how does that make each of us feel?  To follow a great leader who inspires us, causes us to rise up and take on the challenge?  To challenge us sufficiently that we want to grow and in doing so, gain confidence in ourselves and our own abilities?

Wouldn't that make us more confident to go out on our own, gather a team to lead, and share the journey with them?

I think so!  And I think that's what we're asking our middle schoolers to do. We want them to see good role models, to have a safe place to learn, to grow and to try on new roles.  Girl Scouts is a safe place for girls, and so it's also a place to have safe failures.  The girls have the opportunity to learn and grow in confidence.  And that confidence is going to be strengthened as they move towards their Silver Award.

Because in the Silver Award Take process, we're asking our girl to be a leader!  To inspire the team she's leading, and to work cooperatively to achieve the goal.  It doesn't happen overnight, darn it!  But as leaders/advisors, we have the opportunity to model good behavior and to inspire the girls to gain confidence in their abilities.  

Using the Journey books helps this process.  The girls can take leadership roles in their own Journey experience.  This gets them ready for their Award work.  It's a process, and it does work! Slowly....but still, it works!