Acquire Leadership Skills
The Center For Inquiry's campus outreach supports over 200 campus groups around the world. CFI's student initiative provides leadership training, promotional and educational materials, volunteer and activism opportunities, and more. Student leaders learn the skills they need to manage successful groups on their campuses, organize major events that have far-reaching impact at their colleges and in their communities, and get other students and faculty involved in key issues, including free inquiry, church/state separation, secularism, skepticism, science advocacy, and humanistic ethics.
If you are not a student and want to develop leadership skills, these are some of the qualities you want to focus on:- Integrity
Integrity is having deep convictions which influence your behavior and the choices you make. Integrity means honesty and having strong internal guiding principles that one does not compromise. Integrity promotes trust, and not much is accomplished without trust. It is an important example of an essential leadership quality. Integrity is reflected in thinking, attitudes, and actions. People judge your integrity pretty accurately based on your actions and your words. It means people can trust that you mean what you say.
To develop a greater degree of integrity and honesty, you may want to read An Atheist's Values by Richard Robinson. or The Atheist's Way: Living Well Without Gods
- Communication
Communication is another example leadership skill that must be cultivated by all leaders. It is the foundation of all human interaction Leaders need to learn to be proficient in both the communication that informs and seeks out information (gives them a voice) and the communication that connects inter-personally with others.
If you are in a position to teach a course that would benefit Freethinkers, you could make a little extra money by teaching adult education courses. You can polish your skills by speaking at local Freethought meetings or try Freethinkers Toastmasters first. or Freethinker's Club which is a division of Toastmasters International or Freethought Toastmaster's Minnisota or Find another Toastmaster's group
- Relationships
Networking (the art of social “schmoozing”) is also a relationship skill. Relationships develop from good interpersonal and group communication skills but relationship skills also go deeper. A leader who likes dealing with people issues, who can initiate and deepen relationships with others, has a great leadership advantage. This is a leader who can build a team and achieve impressive results. Since 1936, the essential book on the subject has been How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
- Teamwork
To what extent do you value working cooperatively as part of a group? No one person can do it all. That’s why a team, comprised of others with different skill sets, is essential. A leader must know how to build and nurture such a team. A good leader knows when to be a leader and when to be a follower. For a better understanding, try reading The Evolution of Cooperation by Robert Axelrod and/or No Contest: The Case Against Competition by Alfie Kohn
- Decision-making
A leader must be able to wade through information, comprehend what’s relevant, make a well-considered decision, and take action based on that decision. Making decisions too quickly or too slowly will impede your leadership effectiveness.
Consider taking on-line courses from certificate to PhD. Or if you are leadership material, you may offer to mentor others on the atheist nexus skills exchange group.