Groups and Leadership- oops, this is out of order :)

In class, we talked about adjusting your leadership for different kinds of groups - volunteer groups, paid groups, etc. Take this time to reflect on your leadership in the different types of groups of which you are a member (even if you didn't see them all this week). How does your leadership style change? Are you more effective in one group versus another? Do you fall into a pattern such that you are in the same role in all groups? Or, as is typical in family groups, do you find yourself regressing to the same role in the family that you've always played, regardless of other accomplishments? Think about other leaders in these groups. What do they do that is effective and how can you learn from them?

Its funny... I thought about this for a bit, trying to reflect on my recent behavior when going out with friends, interacting with my team at work, and spending time with my family... and the funny truth is, I think I am pretty consistent across all of those areas. I'm going to talk through this though, just rationalize why there would be so many similarities in my style... there is a good chance that I have not delved deep enough into thinking about this, so maybe a new truth will come out as I write... :)

Within my family, I am the oldest of the 5 kids, so I while I am by no means the strongest personality, I have a kind of default position of power just based on the fact that I am the oldest amongst my siblings. Do I run the decision making... absolutely not. To be honest, my next youngest sister, who is 28, is the one who I think is the most dominant and controlling personality within our family... and I would say that more often than not she is the one who will forcefully vocalize her opinion and often get her way when it comes to group decisions. I think this is partly because she is very aggressive, which translates into being driven in her outside world, a quality which has served her greatly. But additionally, I think this is also because several of my other siblings, myself especially, have a very laid back personality when it comes to making decisions that we don't consider "vital". Whereas my sister has a voice for virtually everything and anything that comes up, trivial or not, I tend to not mind just going wtih the flow on things that don't really effect me negatively one way or another- such as choosing a location for a family dinner, deciding what group gift to get my parents for Christmas, choosing a menu for my parent's anniversary dinner that we cook them every year, etc. Additionally, aside from the fact that I genuinely don't mind just taking the back seat sometimes, I also don't think some things are worth fighting or debating over. If it is an issue or topic that matters to me, then of course I will stand my ground and fight for what I think is best.