The purpose of this paper is to discuss how the lessons I have learned through leadership class at USNA have been important to my leadership development and made me more committed to USNA as a whole. Through reflecting upon the lessons I have taken part in, the lessons on values and schemas have been the most important to my leadership development and my commitment to the mission of USNA overall. Leadership class at USNA has covered a wide range of topics related to how one should think and act as a leader. However, through interacting with my classmates and looking back at past experiences growing up, I found that both schemas and values have been central to my leadership development. I have been able to become more aware of how I view others …show more content…
Our lesson on values primarily defined what values are and how we come about to gaining specific values. First, values are “concepts or beliefs about desirable end states or behaviors that transcend specific situations, guide selection or evaluation of behavior and events, and are ordered by relative importance” (Schwartz 53). Values are the bases of who we are, for they give us an overall identity and purpose behind the interactions we will have. In many ways, they are the pulling factor in how we act. For example, a person is driven to do well on a test, not driven to have a care for academics and the collection of knowledge. They simply have the values of caring for academics and having a love of learning. Additionally, it has been found that most people gain their …show more content…
Schemas are related to our social perception and how we observe the world around us. Schemas are the well-organized structure of cognitions about some social entity, which change by people group (Schwartz 53). Additionally, schemas are separated into different types; person, self, group, role, and events. Schemas aid in processing information and inferring, but may lead to stereotypes. Relating to my leadership development, learning more about schemas has improved my relationships with those I am leading. Schemas allow the leader to have a guide on how a particular individual may act in a certain situation. For example, when I was Plebe Company Commander for a period of time, my developed schemas for my peers allowed me to understand how to have the best interactions with each person. I was able to use schemas to infer how a peer would like to be approached, improving the eventual interaction, taking more away from the situation. I have found that USNA puts Midshipmen into situations where they need to rely on schemas to make decisions. Additionally, through learning from past failures, USNA forces an individual to check their inferences to see if they are making a fair judgment. For example, when presented a certain situation, like Plebe Summer, Midshipmen are able to develop a schema for how to successful act in that situation. That is why learning about schemas has made me more committed to USNA. The Academy